Mid-Western Region Australia Day ceremony recognises those who make a difference

Hosted at Robertson Park on Tuesday January 26, the ceremony was led by Mudgee icon, Ken Sutcliffe and featured words from the region's Australia Day ambassador, Andrew Lock OAM who spoke of his many achievements as an accomplished high-altitude mountaineer.

A pair of doctors who were instrumental in keeping the local community safe during the horrors of 2020, Dr Gary Moore and Dr Alex Ghanem, were awarded for their efforts each being named Citizen of the Year.

For both, the award is a testament to the hard work and dedication displayed by the entire medical community across the region in their fight against the coronavirus.

"We are really surprised and honored to be a part of the wide list of people who have done great things, it's something we weren't expecting because we have just been doing our job," Dr Gary Moore said.

"It's a recognition of everyone's efforts, not just the clinic, but the entire medical community in town. It's a team of willing people who didn't have to work with us but are really important. It's also the people who help out in any capacity, there's been a much wider effort in the clinic's success.

"This [respiratory clinic] was designed to keep the community safe, we recognised that COVID was and still is a very serious illness and had it entered our community and hospital, it would have done untold damage," Dr Alex Ghanem said.

"There was a lot of benefit with this service but you never introduce a service for recognition. This award really goes to the whole team including the council who have supported us willingly.

"Our job hasn't ended, COVID hasn't finished, we will keep going. The next phase of our project is to immunise the population and we'll be working on that very soon.

"The Federal Government sees respiratory clinics as vehicles to immunise the population so our work is not done, this is a task we need to complete. Whatever it takes, we will get it done."

Among the award winners was Max Beechey who was named Young Citizen of the Year. For Max, the award is not a symbol of his individual achievements as a Piambong Cudgegong District deputy captain, but rather the efforts by his entire team.

"It's a great honour but as everyone else in the RFS would say, you don't do it for the recognition but it's always an honour to receive such a big award," he said.

"It was a bit of a shock to get nominated at all. It's not just a testament to me but all the other crews I work with, I am just a player of a big team.

"Everyone did a fantastic job over the season, it's impossible to recognise everyone and I'm very fortunate to be the one chosen to represent our team."

For 13-year-old swimmer Charlotte Wilson, being awarded the Sports Award is something that will assist with her continued motivation in becoming the best athlete she can be.

"I'm very excited to have received this award. I have worked really hard with my team, including Mick O'Sullivan, to achieve my goals," she said.

"For me, it's not really about winning or getting awards, it's about trying my hardest every time, and that's just what I always strive to do.

"I've got Nationals in April but before that, we have Country Champs where a few of my team and I will go down to Sydney to compete.

"I would like to thank Mick O'Sullivan for training us all and giving us the skills to continue to achieve our goals, and I would like to thank my team for the continuous support they give me."

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