Celebrating Kempsey’s newest heroes
Published on 16 January 2023
Council is busily preparing for the Australia Day Awards and Citizenship Ceremony, an event that showcases some of the incredible people in our community - heroes for helping our community or just for joining it.
With the event only days away, we would like to invite you to come along and celebrate those who have helped to make our community a better place to live and those who are choosing to join us.
We will be joined by this year’s Australia Day Ambassador, Jolene Anderson, a talented actress, singer, and dancer who grew up in Euroka and went to school locally. If you’re a fan of Aussie television, you may have seen Jolene starring in shows such as All Saints, Rush, and Playschool.
We will welcome our newest citizens with open arms as they take the pledge to become Australians. It is fantastic that they have chosen to make their home in the Kempsey Shire - not only is our valley beautiful, but the community makes it a wonderful place to live and work.
And we will recognise the amazing work of some local heroes and citizens for their hard work and dedication to making the Macleay Valley a strong and connected community.
This year’s Awards received a record number of nominations and the Australia Day Committee had a tough time choosing the worthy recipients.
The event kicks off at 9am on Thursday, 26 January at the Slim Dusty Centre with a free breakfast, coffee, and entertainment by local musicians, Dave McGrath and Lucy Barber. Later the ceremony will commence with Uncle Bob Smith providing a Welcome to Country.
Council has a strong commitment to strengthening cultural awareness of our local Aboriginal community and we know this date inspires strong feelings and debate.
While this year’s event remains on the 26th, in December the Federal Government removed its requirement for Councils to hold a citizenship ceremony on 26 January, instead allowing them to take place between 23-29 January.
As such we will be working with the community at the event and afterwards to consider the date when future activities will be held.
We look forward to seeing you as we celebrate the achievements of our local heroes and warmly welcome our new fellow citizens.