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5. 2025

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The Dubbo Australia Day event was held on 26 January 2025 at Dubbo Regional Theatre and Convention Centre with the hard work of community members recognised during a morning ceremony.

Dubbo Regional Council Mayor Josh Black welcomed residents to the event.

“Australia Day is a time to reflect on our nation’s rich history, its diverse culture and the values that unite us as Australians. It is an opportunity to honour our past, celebrate our achievements and look forward to the future we are building together,” Clr Black said.

Elder Lewis Burns provided a Welcome to Country, followed by an address from Dubbo’s Australia Day ambassador, Anupam Sharma. Attendees heard from Ms Kathy Furney of the Dubbo District Family History Society, who spoke about the early residents of Dubbo and how Dubbo has evolved to become a culturally diverse and inclusive city.

During the ceremony six outstanding citizens were recognised as Dubbo’s 2025 Australia Day award recipients.

Jason Dearmer was announced as the 2025 Citizen of the Year.

Jason is well-known to many volunteer organisations, always getting in and giving a hand. He has volunteered for many local events and sporting groups including Relay for Life; Daffodil Day; Australia's Biggest Morning Tea; Dubbo Triathlon Club; Dubbo Roos; Hear our Heart Bus Project and many more.

John Gibson was announced as Dubbo’s Senior Citizen of the Year and Miley Shipp as Dubbo’s Young Citizen of the Year. Valerie Clark received recognition as the Cultural Person of the Year.

Raisa Kolesnikova was announced as the 2024 Sportsperson of the Year and Alex McGrath is the Young Sportsperson of the Year. 

Clr Black expressed his honour in presenting the awards to each recipient and extended his gratitude for their contributions to the community.

“I want to thank all the Australia Day Award recipients for their dedication to the Dubbo community.”

“Their expertise, experience, and commitment greatly enhance the quality of life here,” Clr Black said.

It was the first time the Australia Day event was held at the DRTCC, being moved to the indoor location following a Council decision in 2024.

Jason is well-known to many volunteer organisations, always getting in and giving a hand when needed. He is known for the valuable support he gives to the community.

This is only a snapshot of the many volunteer roles Jason has undertaken and there would be many more "little" things that he does in addition to those listed below.

Jason has been known to dress up as Santa for community work and fundraising, for Macquarie Homestay and also to brighten the day of residents of Bracken House or visit the Western Cancer Centre.

In 2024 his Santa appearances were part of his fundraising for Stars of Dubbo 2024 raising money for Cancer Council NSW. His involvement with Cancer Council - Stars of Dubbo ranged from organising committee, judge, wait staff and finally a performer.

Jason has volunteered for many other local events and sporting groups amongst others including but not limited to; Relay for Life; Daffodil Day; Australia's Biggest Morning Tea; Dubbo Triathlon Club; Dubbo Roos; Hear our Heart Bus Project and many more.

Jason embodies the spirit of Dubbo. He is the happiest, friendliest, most thoughtful and considerate person and he is always the first to put his hand up and help out. He is an extraordinary person who isn't motivated to help because he has a personal interest or reason for doing so, he just does it to help and by doing this he makes our community a better place and he is a good role model for other community members and volunteers. 

Jason is a humble person who sees an opportunity to help out and just gets in and helps to make things happen and this is why he is a worthy winner of the 2025 Citizen of the Year Award.

John was one of the founding members of the Dubbo Men’s Shed. He is very talented with his hands with woodwork and computers and has been the secretary for many years. He is neat and proficient, and he is always helping other members of the shed with their projects.

He wears many hats and deals with the public schools and pre-schools, organises jobs that come into the shed and he also runs a half day a week for clients of Breakthru Dubbo, helping them create woodwork projects and with lots of patience attends to their needs.

His other passion is working with dementia clients and patients at Walanmarra (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 as he loves helping people.

For these reasons, John is a very worthy winner of the 2025 Senior Citizen of the Year Award.

Young Citizen of the Year – Miley Shipp

Miley is a young lady who is excelling in her schooling and sporting life. She is one of two school captains at Dubbo College Delroy Campus.

Miley is actively involved in the school cultural dance group leading the dancers during their performances across the community. Miley is often selected to participate in the Department of Education NSW promotional information highlighting achievements of Aboriginal students.

Miley is an exceptional leader and provides mentoring to students at Delroy Campus without hesitation. She is highly regarded among her peers, fellow students and staff at Delroy Campus.

Miley also has a list of football accolades to her name and is an up-and-coming sports star.

She plans to continue her leadership path as part of her transition to Dubbo Senior Campus, it is this determination and ambition that makes Miley a very deserving recipient of the 2024 Young Citizen of the Year Award.

Raisa has had some remarkable results over the past several years predominantly in distance road and trail running, specialising in marathons and completing the 6 Abbot World Marathon majors (Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, London, Chicago and New York).

In recent years Raisa has been seeking out new challenges and made the transition to track running whilst continuing her passion for road and trail running.

In 2024 Raisa competed at the 2024 World Masters Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden. 

Raisa competed in multiple running events from 800m up to the half marathon. She won a silver medal as part of the Australian Cross Country team finishing 13th in her age group. In the half marathon Raisa finished 10th in her age group, setting a new NSW record for the 65 to 69 women's age group half marathon.

At the Australian Masters Athletics Championships in Hobart Raisa won a silver medal in the 10,000m and bronze in the 5,000m.

At the NSW Masters Athletics Championships Raisa won gold in the 400m and bronze in the 800m.

Raisa also recently won her age group at the Mount Kosciuszko 50km trail run.

For these reasons and Raisa's commitment to sport makes her a very deserving recipient of the Sportsperson of the Year Award for 2025.

Alex has been a member of the Dubbo Athletics Club since he was 9 years old. In 2024 Alex has claimed para records and a swag of medals. At 16 years of age his years of training and dedication to Athletics has paid off.

At the Little Athletics NSW (LANSW) Regional Championships Alex claimed gold in both shot put and discus, setting a new para regional record in discus with a throw of 22.65m.

Alex qualified for LA NSW 2024 Australian Juniors Championship in Adelaide for discus, shot put and javelin. He placed 4th in javelin, 3rd in shot put and with a new TF21 para U17 record and second in discus.

Alex qualified for the Christian Schools State Athletics where he competed in discus, shot put, long jump and 100m, placing 1st in all four events and was also awarded multi class boys champion for a third consecutive year.

Later in the year Alex completed at NSW All Schools Championships in both discus and shot put where he placed second in both events and again broke the TF21 U17 shot put record with a throw of 6.65m.

Alex currently hold the U17 TF21 Australian records for discus, shot put and javelin and is the U20 TF21 record holder for discus. Alex is also ranked third in the Australian Open men TF21 for discus.

For the above reasons, Alex is a deserving recipient of the 2025 Young Sportsperson of the Year Award.

Val has been president of the Outback Writers' Centre (OWC), which is an incorporated not-for-profit organisation based in Dubbo and artistic director of the Dubbo Writers' Festival.

Val has been the driving force behind OWC and the Writers' Festival. Without Val's passion, dedication, commitment and time the OWC and Writer's Festival would not have achieved the success and growth they have under her leadership and vision. The OWC is now a thriving cultural group building the skills and confidences of local writers, connecting writers with publishers and demystifying the publishing process by bringing the best of industry professionals to Dubbo.

Val has guided the committee, fostered partnerships with peak bodies, key stakeholders, local businesses and community organisations. Val volunteers her time and skills to apply for multiple grant applications for the OWC and supports individuals and other groups in their own grant applications.

An accomplished writer, Val has written dozens of short stories, articles, reviews and poems which have been published in magazines, print and online anthologies. Val's short plays have been performed multiple times in Dubbo and Mudgee.

Val willingly and generously gives her time freely to mentor many local writers, particularly youth and is an active member of the Macquarie Regional Library and partners with the Dubbo Book store to showcase local authors and host local book launches.

Val believes all healthy communities need access to cultural activities and programs, which is why she volunteers her time to support these organisations and the many events they run.

For these reasons Val is a worthy winner of the 2025 Cultural Person of the Year Award.