SOUTHERN Grampians’ outstanding contributors are being celebrated with the shire’s Community Recognition Awards, presented at the Australia Day ceremony in the Hamilton Botanic Gardens.

The awards recognise the recipients’ contribution to the community, whether through volunteer work or their dedication to their profession, for the benefit of others.

This year’s recipients are:

Dr Brian Shepherd Coulson

DR BRIAN Coulson is a health professional who has a practice located here in the Southern Grampians Shire Council in Coleraine as well as Casterton.

Over the years, Brian has travelled extensively around the world to attend many medical conferences.

He has continually upgraded his skills and knowledge to keep abreast of new treatments and medications to benefit his clients.

His depth of knowledge is incredible.

Training doctors always appreciate his patience and willingness to share his knowledge, with the trainees able to ask questions and participate in the examinations. 

More recently, Brian and his wife Coralie have spent a significant amount of time worked hard to keeping the medical facilities open and available in Coleraine and Casterton for those communities are extremely grateful.

Leigh Coggins

LEIGH Coggins is the person you need when promoting our beautiful Hamilton Botanic Gardens.

Her knowledge through studying for an Associate Diploma in Horticulture at Burnley College, her own interest in gardens together with her network of horticultural and botanical people are a great asset.

Leigh has had a long love affair with the Hamilton Botanic Gardens being an active voluntary member of The Friends’ Committee for nearly 20 years.

During this time, Leigh has been president, official tour guide, active on the Stakeholders Group formed to implement the Master Plan and is the official Project Control Group Co-ordinator for the Friends.

Leigh worked assiduously to obtain a Master Plan for the Gardens so that there was a botanical document as a reference, historically and for the future development.

Leigh puts in many hours behind the scenes working towards projects and assisting in obtaining grants for projects such as the interpretative signs, the restoration of the historic fence and the Thomson Fountain. 

Robyn Agnew

SECOND Bite in Hamilton has a wonderful volunteer in Robyn.

Starting out she thought it would be a valuable lesson to teach her young son that giving is far better than receiving.

In the lead up to Christmas, Robyn and her son Kane decided to make 10 hampers filled with groceries and toiletries all purchased by themselves and take them to the Uniting Church for the church to then distribute to those that were less fortunate than others.

Unfortunately, one year Robyn broke her elbow and so reached out to the community for help to make the hampers happen for the church. The response from the local community was overwhelming.

Robyn has been organising these hampers for five years now and last year alone helped 120 hampers of food be distributed.

Ama Cooke

AMA’S focus is to make Penshurst a better place for everyone.

For her, caring literally begins at home, where she is the carer for her mother.

Since Alma moved to Penshurst, she has been involved with the show committee, the VDC Committee, the hall committee, the Penshurst Men's Shed, Advance Penshurst, in which during that time she created the Penshurst Victoria website and Facebook page, the Mt Rouse News & Views Community Newsletter and Penshurst Creative Arts Inc that will be hosting its seventh art exhibition and first photography competition in 2022.

She is also secretary of the Penshurst Uniting Church and has an Advanced Diploma in Theology and Ministry.

Over the past nine years, Ama has applied for and received many grants for the various organisations, including the extension of the Men's Shed and ongoing renovations at the Hall.

Her question is always: “What next can we do?”

People, communication and making a difference continually drives her commitment to do more.

She knows the importance of community spirit and loves the sense of community that she has found in Penshurst, believing life should be celebrated and we should never stop creating a better world, one step at a time.

Ashley Binny

OVER his life Ashley has had a deep commitment to the Uniting Church.

Through the generosity of the Hamilton and District Community, the Uniting Church regularly received donations of furniture and other items.

Eventually this led to the establishment of the Argyle Shop.

The benefits of such a project were threefold: people would have somewhere to donate unwanted items, the public would have the opportunity to purchase second-hand items and the church could make some money for its own purposes.

Importantly, the latter to include being able to work with other agencies as well as in its own right to provide items for needy families at either no cost or very low cost.

Ashley has been a prime mover in the establishment and running of the Argyle. 

From the formation of the committee to investigate the viability of the project through to its present-day existence, Ashley has been a key driving force.

He chaired the initial management committee, recruited volunteers, negotiated with property owners and local government, served as co-ordinator for some years, continued helping with the physical work and did everything he could to establish a good profile for the Argyle.

Heather Funk

HEATHER Funk has been a significant contributor to the Dunkeld & district community over many years.

She has been a member of the Mothers Club at the Dunkeld Consolidated School, a member of the Moutajup & District Red Cross, a trustee of the Dunkeld Cemetery Trust, a member of the Dunkeld Community Centre Project Steering Group and continues to be an active member of the Hamilton Embroidery Group which has donated many beautiful embroideries to community facilities in Hamilton and Dunkeld.

She has also been a significant contributor to the Dunkeld Museum, serving as the Research Officer for a number of years, and as president.

Heather is a Life Member of the Dunkeld Museum.

In all of the organisations in which Heather has been a volunteer and continues to volunteer, she has been a committed contributor, participating in working bees, fundraising activities and other events.

Like many of the volunteers in our community, Heather has been a significant contributor who has seen the opportunity to make a difference to her community and has committed time and effort to making her community a better place to live and work.

David Mutch

DAVID is a part of the Balmoral community and is always the first to put up his hands to help out.

He takes an active role as the vice president of the Balmoral Lions Club, previously our Lions Tamer (who welcomes guests and introduces them and calls meetings to order), member of the Balmoral RSL branch and recently the booking officer.

David looks after the RSL lawns and makes sure that they are nice for Anzac Day and any other events that are held there.

The older generation of the Balmoral district see him out and about on weekends and knows that he will give assistance where possible without hesitation. David is a great man that says that he's just doing what he can for the community, but all little things eventually add up to big things.

He is the best person to do a Bunnings barbecuewith as he keeps you entertained all day.

Jackie Peacock

HAVE you ever met someone that has chased their goals and supported so many in the community while doing so?

Jackie Peacock is compassionate and dedicated to bringing awareness of mental health to all parts in her community.

She decided to tackle the famous motorbike race, ‘Finke’, which is one of the biggest annual sporting events in the Northern Territory and Australia.

It has the reputation of being one of the most difficult off-road courses in one of the most remote places in the world.

All while preparing physically and mentally for the race, Jackie also raised more than $20,000 for Beyond Blue!

Neil Henry

NEIL has lived his whole life in Glenthompson and is a quiet achiever who does most of his community work behind the scenes.

Over the years, he has been involved with the Glenthompson Primary School Council, the Glenthompson Tennis club, Glenthompson Junior Cricket Club, and the Glenthompson/Dunkeld Lions Club holding various executive positions.

Neil has also been a member of the Glenthompson Fire Brigade for almost 50 years.

Two committees Neil has had a long association with - the Glenthompson Recreation Reserve and the Glenthompson Cemetery, where you will often find him mowing, spraying weeds, and generally keeping an eye on the facilities.

It is people like Neil, who take on executive positions on committees while doing a thorough job manage to quietly help maintain and enhance communities.

Robert Baillie

ROBERT has been an active member of the Penshurst and Hamilton community’s all his life.

A member of the Penshurst Youth Club, Golf Club, Flower Show and 30 years in the CFA.

His involvement within the Lions Club district chairman took him all over Australia.

Robert was also on the Victorian State Committee of Crime Watch, President of the Hamilton Combined Probus Club.

With numerous acts of kindness for friends and neighbours Robert has spent a lifetime helping his community.

Dunkeld Public Lands Committee

THE Dunkeld Public Lands Committee does an outstanding job managing and maintaining many areas of public Land in Dunkeld including walking tracks, parks, playgrounds, picnic areas, tourist attractions and a caravan park.

The committee has worked extremely hard to develop the caravan park into a successful community enterprise with Cabins and powered sites which now employs full-time caretakers.

Dunkeld Public Lands Committee is a small group of volunteers who are committed to improving Dunkeld for both the community and tourists and in turn contributing to a better economy and community for Southern Grampians Shire Council.