John de Bruin was named Citizen of the Year for 2018 at this year’s Australia Day awards ceremony held on Saturday at the Cobar Memorial Swimming Pool.
Locals and visitors descended on the pool in hot conditions to see awards handed out to the Young Citizen of the Year—Hannah Kriz; Environmental Citizens of the Year—Andrew and Megan Mosely; Bossie Mitchell Services to the Community award winners—Sheena Geppert and Georgie Brown; Community Event of the Year—Running on Empty Festival; Kerrigundi Award—Ben Griffiths, Sportsperson of the Year Award—Scottie Brydon and Services to Sport Award—Jenna Fullagar.
John was nominated as Citizen of the Year due to his continued assistance, organisation and help in many community events, including the Running on Empty Festival, Lighthorse Charity Run and the upcoming dance events, all to raise money for the WW1 monument for the Cobar Heritage Park.
Other nominees for Citizen of the Year award were Barry and Virginia Knight (Miner’s Memorial Project), Wizzy Knezevic (ROAR) and Jenna Fullagar (involvement in netball and rugby league).
President of the Youth Council,
Hannah Kriz, was named Young Citizen of the Year.
Hannah has helped organise and host events including the Peaks of Colour Fun Run, Youth Week and discos at the pool.
Hannah volunteers regularly at the Cobar Youth and Fitness Centre and is a member of the Cobar High School’s School Representative Council.
Other nominees for Young Citizen of the Year were Cobar High School student Zoe Carter, and museum volunteers Cora McKervey and Chase Cavalot.
A new Australia Day award was introduced this year with Nymagee graziers Andrew and Megan Mosely the first recipients.
The pair received the Environmental Citizen of the Year Award after they transformed degraded invasive native scrub country back to a healthy grassland system using holistic planned grazing techniques.
