Tumut Region Announces Australia Day Award Recipients
Published on 26 January 2018
The 2018 Snowy Valleys Council Tumut Region Australia Day Awards celebrate the outstanding achievers who have contributed to our community in an exceptional way.
Mayor James Hayes said that Australia Day is a special day for many reasons, but first and foremost because we get to acknowledge the great work of people in our community.
“I offer my sincerest congratulations to all the individuals and community organisations whose efforts were recognised today at Australia Day celebrations across the entire Snowy Valleys Council,” Mayor Hayes said.
The Snowy Valleys Council Tumut Region Australia Day Working Group were pleased with the quality of the nominations for the 2018 Australia Day awards.
The following individuals, organisations and teams were recipients of this year’s Tumut Region Australia Day awards:
TUMUT REGION CITIZEN OF THE YEAR – Dave Eisenhauer
Dave is a legend in the Snowy Valleys Region. He has been an important part of our community for more than 16 years.
Dave is manager of Sounds of the Mountains, our local community radio station. He is known to most people as the breakfast program host.
Dave’s contribution to the radio is much greater than this. Dave was responsible for setting up the station. He also makes sure it functions technically. You will find him at the station at most times on any day doing extra to make sure the community is up to date with what is happening in our region.
Dave is a member of the Local Emergency Management Committee. During local emergencies such as floods and fires he keeps the community updated 24/7 with warnings, advice and messages from Emergency Services personnel.
Dave not only promotes our community activities on air, he attends many events as a volunteer frequently being asked to be the Master of Ceremonies.
Dave is passionate about our region and our community. He promotes it at every opportunity. He is assisting groups in smaller communities in the region to set up their own broadcast studios. This will often involve him training students and other young people to a level where they can operate on their own.
With this consistent dedication Dave has stood out in this community for many years and is very well known to be the voice of Tumut and surrounding towns.
Citizen Achievement Awards were awarded to:
Jackie Nicholes
Bruce Giles
Osman Darwiche
Colin Akers
TUMUT REGION YOUNG CITIZEN OF THE YEAR – Josh Veitch
Josh has made a significant contribution during his time as a youth council member. He is willing to volunteer his time on weekends and after school by helping out with coordinating and working at community events.
Often he is the first to set up and last to pack up after helping run a community activity during any of the holiday programs or school based activities. He has shown initiative in leadership by contributing to and representing Snowy Valleys Council by attending both the youth week conference and youth council conference this year.
Besides the youth council Josh is a talented football player with the Tumut Bulls and also with a Canberra based team. What sets him apart is his willingness to lend a hand when it’s most needed. He is selfless and leads by example. Josh has been ever reliable and an asset to any team or community he is a part of.
TUMUT REGION SERVICE TO COMMUNITY AWARD – Osman Darwiche
Osman Darwiche is a valuable member of our community, both socially and professionally.
He is the only obstetrician in our region and a popular GP always going above and beyond.
Aside from being a busy doctor, he has also co-organised the Tumut Cycle Classic with Tarek Sari in 2016, 2017 and is busily organising the event for 2018. The purpose of the cycle classic is to raise much needed funds for our community hospital to purchase equipment that they wouldn’t be able to purchase without these funds. In 2016 the event commenced and $3000 was raised and given to the Tumut Hospital in order to purchase a new oxygen saturation machine. In 2017 the event grew and raised $20,000 which was used to purchase eight mobility chairs. The fundraising goal is $40,000 for the January 2018 event to purchase an Endoscopy Telepack system for Tumut Hospital which will be a historic moment for our town.
Osman also competed in Tumut Takes Two in 2016 raising much needed funds for the Gadara Sensory Room. This involved months of after hours practising and fundraising efforts.
Our community would be lost without this valuable doctor and our hospital wouldn’t have as much medical equipment without the fundraising efforts of Osman.
Service to Community Achievement Awards were awarded to:
Leah Ferguson
Greg Kabar
Andrew James
Lions Club of Tumut
Dave Eisenhauer
Colin Akers
TUMUT REGION JUNIOR SPORTS PERSON OF THE YEAR – CATELIN CRAWFORD
Catelin has been a passionate horse rider her entire life commencing riding before she could walk and starting pony club at the age of 6. Throughout the years Catelin has received many accolades with her horses however 2016 and 2017 have been the highlight so far in her riding career.
In 2016 Catelin was crowned Area 5 Age Champion, won the Riverina Equestrian Association Junior One Day Event and awarded Best overall Junior of the Competition, and also Reserve Champion Junior of the Year with the Riverina Dressage Equestrian Association. Catelin also represented Zone 20 Pony Club at several State events including the NSW Pony Club State Dressage Championships where she placed third and the State Combined Training Championships (Dressage and Jumping) where she received NSW Reserve Champion Rider 11&U13 years.
In 2017 Catelin was again crowned Area 5 Age Champion and competed at several state events. Catelin teamed up with 4 other riders and represented Zone 20 Pony Club at both the NSW Pony Club State Mounted Games and Team Sporting Championships in the Junior Division (U17). In October 2017 Catelin again competed at the State Combined Training Championships (Dressage and Jumping) this time receiving NSW Champion Rider 13&U15 years.
2017 also saw Catelin selected onto the shortlist of riders to represent NSW at the 2017 Pony Club National Championships in Dressage held in Toowoomba.
TUMUT REGION SENIOR SPORTS PERSON OF THE YEAR – BRUCE GILES
Bruce was a late starter in cycling, at age 31 after a ski injury and shortly being diagnosed with Autoimmune liver disorder, cycling was recommended. He took up long distance cycling with Audax Australia and soon found himself being ride organiser, along with John Quinn and Jim Goode, for many events in our local Tumut Region. Bruce started Road Racing at the age of 38 with the Cootamundra Cycle Club and continued to Road Race until the age of 53 when liver deterioration began to affect his performance. In 2014 Bruce underwent a liver transplant and returned to cycling.
In 2016 Bruce competed in the Australian Transplant Games in Penrith where he obtained a Silver medal. From this he was invited to compete in the World Transplant Games. Bruce put in 8 long months of training tackling some of Australia’s difficult endurance and road events along with pedalling up to 400km per week around the roads of Tumut week in and week out.
In June 2017 Bruce represented Tumut and Australia when he competed on the world stage in the 21st World Transplant Games in Malaga, Spain. 2,200 athletes from 52 countries, with Australia fielding a team of 59 athletes in many varied sporting events. Bruce competed in cycling events and won gold in the Individual Time Trial and silver in the Road Race. Bruce also competed in the Team Time Trial with the Australian team placing 11th.
Senior Sports Person Achievement Awards were awarded to:
Tara Arnall
TUMUT REGION SPORTS TEAM OF THE YEAR – TUMUT PUBLIC SCHOOL MIXED NETBALL TEAM
The Tumut Public School Year 5 and 6 Mixed Netball Team consisted of 10 players – 6 girls and 4 boys. These players were Jesse Baker, Lilly Beavan, Eddie Dodds, Emma-Kate Larterm Lucinda Lawson, Brie McDonald, Aubrey Petfield, Archie Rushton, Charli Sturt, Grace Whyte and Coach Emilie Rossington.
In April 2017 the team won the Netball gala day in Tumut and from there were crowned Riverina Champions at the Regional Finals held in Wagga in August.
In September 2017 they represented Tumut Public School in the NSW Schools Cup at Genea Netball Centre, Homebush. This competition had over 10,000 participants with a record number of 592 teams in the mixed year 5/6 division. After lots of training sessions with super Coach Emilie Rossington the team defeated teams from North Coast, Sydney Metro, Hunter and West Central Coast to put them into the Grand Final.
The team were victorious in the final 18-13 against Shell Cove (South Coast) and were crowned State Champions of the Netball NSW Schools Cup. The first team to ever win this competition from the Riverina.
Sports Team Achievement Awards were awarded to:
Tumut Public School Girls Basketball Team