Time For Being One On Australia Day?

NOMINATIONS for official Australia Day awards across the Shire have dwindled over the years, with nobody nominated for many of the awards.

Cr Lee Watts who has chaired the Aberdeen and Scone committees for the last 15 years, said at last night’s Council meeting it was time the whole community came together on Australia Day with one official ceremony held on a rotating basis through the major towns.

“There are four Australia Day committees across the Shire which all put a huge amount of effort into the ceremonies each year, but each year there are fewer nominations and fewer people attending, many awards don’t get any nominations at all,” said Cr Watts.

“Cassilis and Merriwa already share their ceremonies and alternate each year and I think it’s time we follow their lead across the Shire and come together for one official ceremony,” she said.

“Each town would still have all the Australia Day activities such as the free pool entries, BBQ’s and so forth, but one official ceremony would be held and each major town would host the ceremony on a rotating basis, ” she said.

“It’s time we all came together to celebrate and recognise the outstanding people in all of our towns,” Cr Lee Watts said.

Cr Ron Campbell said at last night’s Council meeting that he opposed one ceremony explaining that people from Merriwa and Cassilis would not drive to other parts of the Shire.

Cr Watts said it was time we “all came together” and each town would have their turn to host or travel. 

“I think it is the fairest solution that the ceremony be held on a rotating basis, there will be years when it is held in Merriwa or Cassilis and everybody else from around the Shire will travel there for the ceremony and so they should, to say some people won’t travel to other towns in the Shire is a shame and I think another reason to do it on Australia Day,” said Cr Watts.

“People from around our Shire travel to other towns for events all the time and it’s important to see what is happening in all of our towns, if some people won’t leave their own town to visit another in the Shire, that is a real shame, but I hope they are the exception to the rule and I think most people enjoy all of the towns in our Shire for the unique things they offer,” she said.

Cr Joshua Brown said he was open to the idea, but wanted more time to consult with the community on the structure of the awards.

Cr Lee Watts said it was important to make a decision quickly as the committees were already preparing for next year’s events.

“Each committee works incredibly hard on the ceremony and we need the committees to come together and talk about how they think next years ceremony could work; the people on these committees make things happen and I’m sure together they could come up with what would work for everyone, then we can go to the community with those ideas,” Lee Watts said.