community groups, including at the Brennan Centre, and his efforts this year have again been recognised with an Australia Day nomination. John joins a list of 24 individuals and 11 groups who have been nominated for the eight categories in this year’s Australia Day awards.
There’s a long list of worthy nominees for Cobar’s 2025 Australia Day awards with 24 individuals and 11 groups nominated for the eight award categories.
Among the nominees for the Citizen of the Year category are entertainer John Peebles, Rural Outback Animals Respite/Rescue volunteer Lorraine ‘Wizzy’ Knezevic, historian and author John Collins, local doctor Dr Indra Karalasingham and performer, emcee, volunteer and all round nice guy, volunteer Colby Lawrence.
John Peebles, John Collins, Wizzy and Colby have also been nominated for the Bossie Mitchell—Service to the Community award along with golfer Narelle Kriz, the Cobar Camels Rugby Union Club (who run the Return and Earn recycling program), music teacher Judy Toomey, Wings4Kidz fundraisers Simone Martin and Jodie Jones, Rural Fire Service duty officer Greg Martin, fundraiser Emily Miller and Nymagee Gymkhana committee president Katie Nicholson.
Katie was also among the six nominations for the Young Citizen of the Year category which recognises the efforts and achievements over the past year of a young person under the age of 25.
Other nominees were: church kids club leader and junior soccer coach Isaac Theakston; sportsman and youth volunteer Caleb Theakston; sportswoman and committee volunteer Pearl Blackburn; youth centre volunteer Reece Josephson; and Lucy Kilpatrick who has been a volunteer on numerous committees over the past year.
The six nominees for the Sports Person of the Year category have also been nominated for the Kerrigundi Junior Sports Person award.
They are Isaac Theakston (triathlon, soccer, tennis and marathon running); Ryan Urquhart (rugby league, representative cricket, touch and Fast 5 netball); Henry Knight (swimming); Cobar Roosters Under 18s team (acknowledging their Castlereagh Youth League grand final win); Pearl Blackburn (track and field and cross country runner); and Reece Josephson (representative rugby league).
For this year’s Service to Sport category, there were eight nominees with four people, Robert Neate, Michael Garbutt, John Stingemore and Anita Neate nominated for their service to the Cobar Amateur Pistol Club.
Also nominated are Narelle Kriz (golf), Troy and Brenda Knight (Little A’s) and Genie McMullen (rugby league).
The nominees for Community Event of the Year were: Dancing Under the Stars, Nymagee Spring Ball, Cobar Show, Christmas Street Parade & Gala Night, Nymagee Gymkhana, PGA Golf Legends Pro-Am Tour, ‘Reach for the Stars’ Prom Night and the ANZAC Ball fundraiser.
Cobar Youth Centre’s community garden and WIRES volunteer Louise McKervey were nominated for the Environment & Sustainability category.
Cobar Shire Council’s Australia Day coordinator Demi Smith said the awards judges had a particularly hard time with the judging this year.
She said many of the nominations only supplied one or two lines of information about the nominee, others only spoke of their achievements of past years and some outlined contributions that were made in a working capacity.
Demi said while many were outstanding Cobar citizens, according to the awards criteria, the winners are chosen based primarily on their volunteer contributions and achievements over the past year.
