I rise to publicly acknowledge residents of the Pullenvale Ward who were recently honoured with Australia Day awards.
These ranged from recipients of the Lord Mayor’s Australia Day awards and national honours, through to those who were simply winners by becoming Australian citizens on our national day of celebration.
First, it was a pleasure to attend the Lord Mayor’s awards and witness the Brookfield Show being named the most popular local community event in Brisbane last year.
For more than 100 years, (with apologies to my colleague Cr. Adams), “Brisbane’s Best Little Country Show” has provided an important link between Brookfield’s rural past and present.
After suffering from Covid and wet weather two years in a row, the 2024 Show demonstrated its importance to our local community, attracting more than 30,000 patrons over three days.
In accepting the award, former Show Society President, Dan Petrie acknowledged that a key to its success was the support provided by local volunteers and local community organisations, as well as the Schrinner Council which has been a long-time supporter of this event.
The second recipient was Professor Neville Marsh from Moggill who oversaw the memorial honouring the 50th anniversary of the two defence personnel tragically killed helping local residents stranded in the 1974 flood.
Professor Marsh spent more 1,000 hours over two years working with a range of stakeholders to organise the event which culminated with the unveiling of the memorial at Booker Place Park, Bellbowrie last year.
It was a pleasure to work closely with Professor Marsh on this project to secure the funding for the memorial and to nominate him for this award.
Chair, I also want to congratulate the four local residents who were recognised in the recent Australia Day honours list.
They are the Venerable Heather Toon of Kenmore Hills who received her Order of Australia for service to the Anglican Church; Beverley Smith of Karana Downs who received her OAM for service to the museums and galleries sector; Catherine Lawrence of Pullenvale who received her OAM for service to tertiary education; and Alan Gillott of Chapel Hill who received is Honorary Member of Order Australia for service to golf and women’s sport.
I have known Mrs. Toon for more than 40 years and remember when she began her journey in Rockhampton to be ordained as a Deacon in the Anglican Church. It was unheard of at the time but the many women who are Anglican Deacons today can thank Heather for helping pave the way for them to achieve their dreams.
Chair, it should be acknowledged that Mrs Toon is the grandmother of Cr. Collier and it was a nice moment recently when two Brisbane City Councillors were able to visit Mrs Toon at the same time to offer our congratulations.
And finally, I want to congratulate the 50 new Australians to whom I presented their certificates of citizenship at the Moggill State School, on Australia Day, the 26th January.
As those on this side of the Chamber know, presiding at citizenship ceremonies on that day each year is one of the great joys of the role of being a Councillor.
I was pleased to be joined by the State Member for Moggill, Dr. Christian Rowan but sadly, the Federal Greens Member for Ryan was again not present at our local citizenship ceremony.
I can only conclude that her ongoing absence from this event is connected to her and the Greens Political Party’s abhorrence of the Australian flag which she knew and feared would be proudly on display that day.