Sixteen members of the Dubbo Community have been recognised at the annual Dubbo Day Awards Ceremony, held at the Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre on Thursday night.
Dubbo Day marks the anniversary of Dubbos gazettal as a village on 23 November 1849, with the awards recognising members of the community who go above and beyond, volunteering their time and energy to help better the Dubbo Region.
This year Council also recognised 175 years since Dubbo was gazetted as a village. The declaration was made in the NSW Government Gazette on 23 November 1849, following a plan for the village which was presented to the colony’s Surveyor General in May 1949.
“In recognising 175 years this year we are honouring the pioneers who shaped our city and the generations that followed,” Dubbo Regional Council Mayor Josh Black said.
“Each year when we recognise residents through our Dubbo Day Awards we are acknowledging people who contribute to the growth and development of the region that we know today,” Clr Black said.
Clr Black said it was a privilege to present the awards to the 16 citizens, including Anthony Chapman who received the 2024 Tony McGrane Award.
Named in honour of Tony McGrane, a former Mayor and State Member for Dubbo, Mr McGrane always worked for the betterment of Dubbo and the surrounding region. This award recognised the people who go above and beyond what is expected from them within their paid employment or career and make significant contributions to the community through their dedication to their work.
Mr Champan has been working and volunteering with Orana Aquatic Swimming club for over 20 years. He has been president and head coach during this time. When he was president of the club, he progressed the club from a handful of members to one of the leading swimming clubs in western NSW.
He stood down from the committee to concentrate on coaching the children and members of the club to improve their swimming skills. He has trained hundreds of local children, with some holding Australian Records.
He also coaches’ children with disabilities and has achieved fantastic results with two girls with down syndrome who have achieved national records.
“Anthony goes far above what a swimming coach normally does, taking children to carnivals and meets across the country. He also assists with fundraising and on Thursdays you will normally find him selling raffle tickets for meat trays at one of the local hotels to assist taking swimmers to carnivals, which in turn reduces costs to parents,” Clr Black said.
“Anthony is at the pool at 5am each day to train swimmers before school, then back at 3pm for afternoon training. He is 100 per cent dedicated to his sport and his teams and I can’t think of a better recipient for this award this year.”
“Congratulations Anthony and all those who have received Dubbo Day Awards this year,” Clr Black said.
Dubbo Day Award recipients:
Annabel Peet: Annabel has been a passionate supporter of the RFDS Dubbo Base since before 2012. Her volunteering started at the Visitor Education and Tourism Centre where she enthusiastically promoted the Royal Flying Doctors Service and the vital role it undertakes. In 2012 Annabel joined the RFDS Support Group inc. and in 2015 took on the management and control of the Visitor Education Centre. She has also been a tireless ambassador for the RFDS Dubbo Support Group Mobile Education Unit (MEU) travelling over NSW each year promoting the RFDS. Annabel has made an outstanding and worthy contribution to Dubbo tourism by enriching visitor’s experience.
John Gibson: John was one of the founding members of the Dubbo Men’s Shed and has been the secretary for many years. John is talented with woodwork and computers, neat and proficient and he is always helping other members of the shed with their projects. John works with public schools and pre-schools organising the jobs that come into the shed while also running a half day for clients of Breakthru Dubbo. His other passion is working with Dementia clients and patients at Lourdes Hospital, looking after their needs and taking them for outings. He is in his element when working with these people and has often wished he had taken it on as his career earlier in life.
Lorna Breeze: Lorna has been volunteering for over 30 years and has been involved in the Rotary Club of Dubbo Macquarie, Red Cross Blood Bank, Dubbo Show Society and Meals on Wheels. Lorna was a foundation member of the Rotary Club of Dubbo Macquarie and the only one still serving with the club. Lorna has held every position in her 30 years with the club, received the Rotarian of the Year Award twice and a Paul Harris Fellowship. She currently provides monthly meals for Macquarie Homestay, catering for Clearing Sales, undertakes fundraising BBQ’s at Bunnings and volunteers at the Michael Egan Memorial Book fair. She has also been volunteering for over 20 years with the Australian Red Cross Blood Bank, for the past 15 years with the Dubbo Show Society, preparing and serving meals for up to 10 hours a day in the functions marquee and is a volunteer driver three times a week for Meals on Wheels.
Vaughn Simmons: Vaughn joined the Scouts in 2015 and resurrected the Joey section and is currently leading the Cub group. The weekly sessions provide such a positive impact, with up to 40 members in the sessions at a time. Vaughn has organised many camps and activities for these groups and is currently organising a camp for 120 youth from the area, which includes at least 15 different activity bases, one of them including flying in the Sea Scouts Planes from Sydney. He has overseen the maintenance on the local hall, fixing minor issues, upgrades and obtaining grants to assist with these upgrades. In addition to this, he also obtained two grants for the upgrade to Regional Scout Camp site Minnamurra.
Julie Nott: Julie has been a volunteer for more than 16 years involved in the Girls Brigade, Girls Brigade Connect, the Palmer Street Community Garden and the Baptist Church. Julie runs the Girls Brigade, a Christian organisation for girls and young women in Dubbo while also hosting Girls Brigade Connect online with people from areas including Broken Hill, Molong and Mendooran attending. She is also involved with the Palmer Street Community garden where she assists with maintaining the gardens and is involved with preschool and kindergarten student visits.
George Richmond: George is the organiser behind the Rotary Club of Dubbo South’s RYDA (Rotary Young Driver Program) RYDA is set up to target novice drivers and their passengers with lifesaving knowledge and skills. The program is held over two days at the Dubbo Showground each year and so far more than 450 Year 12 Students from the region have taken part in the program.
Heather Hughes: Heather has been a valued volunteer at the Holy Trinity OP Shop for over 30 years and with the Holy Trinity Church for over 45 years. She has seen many changes from the start of the shop in two rooms in St Francis house to the current location in the grounds of the Holy Trinity Church. She assists with sorting of goods, delivery of saleable items that people drop to her house, serving customers in the shop. Heather is a strong supporter of the shop and encourages other volunteers to help out.
Steffen Frandsen: Steffen is well known in the soccer community, he has been involved with RSL78’s football club for 25 years. He has been a coach for the women’s soccer team for 25 years as well as undertaken stints as president, treasurer, secretary and junior coach. He has fundraised, attended committee meetings, organised sponsors for the teams, ordered uniforms, volunteered to referee games, undertaken canteen duties, registrations and presentations to name a few. He would have conservatively volunteered 200 hours of his time per year – 5,000 hours to the RSL 78 Club.
Marie Neville: Marie has volunteered with Emmanuel Care for 11 years. She started working in the Op Shop and over the last two years she has been doing additional days in the office. Her role in the shop is to operate the register, price and hang clothing. In the office she has been doing filing, general cleaning and maintain the pantry. Marie always has a smile on her face and has a caring and thoughtful attitude towards the clients.
Syed Hasan: Syed has been instrumental in building a strong connection between the Bangladeshi community and other multicultural groups, particularly through his position as Vice Chair at ORISCON. Syed has been involved in event management, financial management, partnership development, communication, and information management for the Bangladeshi Community in Dubbo. Additionally, Syed has initiated local partnerships, supported informed decision-making, and fostered greater collaboration within the community.
Ange Read: Ange has been tireless in her work for Dubbo Rhinos and Dubbo District Netball Association. She has coached netball teams, worked in the canteen, worked on fund raising, helped out on the Dubbo Netball Association committee. She was the founder of the Dubbo Rhinos Netball club, which she ran for six years. Whilst doing this she was also coaching club teams, playing, and running the Rhinos Netball on her own. She has been the Treasurer of the Dubbo Rhinos Rugby Union Club for the past five years. Not only doing this she has been organising and running the canteen for all home games, assisting in the running of the club in all facets.
Harshit Amin: Harshit has been a volunteer for 10 years with ORISCON, being on the Management Committee. He has also been the founding member of Orana Gujrati Samaj and volunteers with the SES and Punjabi Community Group. He has been pivotal in supporting cultural, educational, and recreational activities through his involvement with ORISCON. Beyond the cultural initiatives, Harshit selfless efforts in preparing meals for charity and assisting with SES recovery efforts showcase his commitment to serving others.
Wendy Manchester: Wendy has volunteered with Dubbo Show Society as Chief Steward of the Horse Section for 20 years and has also been the secretary of the Dubbo and District Show Horse Association for 15 years. As Chief Steward Wendy organises the events, sponsors, classes, judges, set up and dismantle the section for the Show. She is in attendance for four days before and during the Show. Wendy uses her own resources to run the three-day Horse Section during showtime, by bringing her own portable office to protect the paperwork and her helpers in the event of inclement weather. She manages all of this while still being employed full time. In addition to running the Horse events at the Dubbo Show, Wendy also orders the ribbons for every section of the Show. She stock takes after each Show, so she is ready to reorder once the new schedule is ready for the following Show.
Norman O’Neill: Norman has been a part of Dubbo CYMS Rugby League for more than 40 years. Norman played with the club from under-18 into the seniors, from there he stayed involved with the club monitoring the fitness and welfare of players. Through gaining his relevant rugby league credentials, he commenced working tirelessly in the dressing rooms to prepare players for the games, during the day and afterwards. Norman attends training twice a week and on game days he is the person who organises all the strapping and other aides’ players need to have them prepared for games. He does the purchasing and travels long distance in his own vehicle at his own expense.
David Sallustio: David has been committed for the last 38 years to donate plasma. Since 1986 he has given over 300 donations. He currently holds the record for plasma donations at the blood bank for the amount of donations. As he works full time with his days starting at 6 am 7 days a week, to find a minimum of 1 hour to donate is an achievement in itself, and to give so selflessly to others is amazing.
Monte Jones: Monte has been volunteering for the past 12 years, providing his expertise and assistance to the Dubbo Show, CSPA Dubbo Orana Branch, U3A Dubbo Chapter and CWA Terramugamine Branch. Monte has checked the financial returns for CWA Terramugamine Branch for many years. This has moved to an online system in recent years which Monte has embraced. Leading up to the 100th anniversary of CWA Monte undertook research on the Terramugamine Branch history and produced many photos and antidotes. Monte is also heavily involved in the U3A Dubbo chapter and has been the webmaster since 2018, putting many hours into keeping the website updated and ensuring it looks fresh.