2024 AUSTRALIA DAY AMBASSADORS ANNOUNCED
The Australia Day Ambassadors for the 2024 Australia Day events in Dubbo and Wellington have been announced.
The Ambassadors will join with other dignitaries in the official ceremonies and presentation of the 2024 Australia Day Awards.
The Dubbo event will welcome Sam Cawthorn.
Mr Cawthorn is a thought leader, expert in resilience and corporate turnarounds and is also one of the world’s leading speaker coaches. He is the CEO for SpeakersInstitute.com.au, a company dedicated to advancing humanity by being the incubator for the next generation of speaker talent to help them get their message out into the world commercially.
He is an accomplished author, having written six books including an international best seller and a philanthropist after starting a charity working with kids living with a disability in developing worlds.
Sam is the 2015 Entrepreneur of the Year and the Young Australian of the Year.
The Wellington event will welcome Rhys Muldoon.
Mr Muldoon’s varied career encompasses film, television, theatre, radio, comedy and journalism. He is known for his starring role in five seasons of the hit television show House Husbands and was most recently seen in the ABC series Les Norton.
Selected television credits include Fighting Season, Dead Lucky, The Secret River, Rake, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Bastard Boys, City Homicide, Valentine’s Day, Grass Roots, McLeod’s Daughters, Blackjack: Ghosts, The Secret Life of Us, Blue Heelers, Farscape and Big Sky.
Dubbo Regional Council Mayor Mathew Dickerson said it was an honour to welcome this year’s Australia Day Ambassadors to the Dubbo region.
“We’ve have had some exceptional ambassadors in past years and this year is no different. I encourage everyone to come along to the Dubbo and Wellington events and hear from Mr Cawthorn and Mr Muldoon,” Clr Dickerson said.
The Wellington Australia Day event will be held on Thursday 25 January from 5.30pm to 8.30pm in Cameron Park. The official ceremony, including the Australia Day Awards, will start at 6.30pm.
The Dubbo Australia Day event will be held on Friday 26 January from 7.30am to 11am in Victoria Park. The official ceremony, including the Australia Day Awards, will start at 8am.
More information on Sam Cawthorn
In October 2006 Sam’s life changed forever when he was involved in a major car accident, where he was pronounced dead. He was thankfully resuscitated but left with an amputated right arm and a permanent disability in his right leg.
Sam was hospitalised for over 5 months and was told that he may not survive, and best case was that if he was to survive, he would never walk again. A year later he defied all odds taking his first steps into a new life, where his story would continue to inspire and change the lives people all over the world.
Forever the opportunist Sam chose life, and is now a hugely successful professional keynote speaker, reaching over 20 million people around the world each month. Sam is at the forefront of global trends and has the unique ability to transform impossibilities into possible realities. Sam’s thought leadership is in peak performance and turnarounds and his research is in his message to not bounce back but bounce forward through difficult times.
Sam founded and is now CEO for Speakers Institute and The Indian Institute for Professional Speakers. He is dedicated to empowering personal and organisational development and is doing this through his speaker protégés who are becoming the best speakers in the world.
Sam has a diverse background within the Australian Government as a Youth Futurist and is also a highly skilled musician, and one of the only people in the world that plays the guitar with an above elbow amputation. He also brags as having the most advanced bionic arm in the world which he programs with his iPhone 5S.
Sam’s passion stretches as far as India where he has set up his own charity supporting people living with a disability in some of the poorest places on earth.
Sam walks his talk, and it is through his experience that his authentic message is heard. After all we only have one life…
More information on Rhys Muldoon
Rhys also appeared in the telemovies Jack Irish: Bad Debts & Jack Irish: Black Tide alongside Guy Pearce and starred as Ben Valentine in Valentine’s Day. Rhys was a long-time presenter on Play School and starred in children’s drama Lockie Leonard. Rhys has twice been nominated for AFI Awards for his work on Grass Roots and Lockie Leonard.
Rhys’ film credits include Book Week, Chasing Comets, 33 Postcards, Bitter and Twisted, The Extra, Danny Deckchair, The Sapphires and Love Is Now; as well as the Oscar nominated short The Saviour.
Rhys’ extensive theatre credits include Nearer the Gods for Queensland Theatre, Steven Soderbergh's Tot Mom and Don’s Party for STC; Stuff Happens as Tony Blair, Gethsemane, Power of Yes for Belvoir St Theatre and Design for Living for MTC. Rhys has also appeared in such classics as Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Decadence and as Mozart in Amadeus.
Last Edited: 20 Dec 2023