Congratulations Australia Day Award winners!
Published on 27 January 2025
Pyrenees Shire Council Mayor Cr Tanya Kehoe has congratulated the winners of the 2025 Australia Day Awards after presenting the awards at an event in Lexton on Sunday 26 January.
Cr Kehoe said it was an absolute honour to present the awards to:
- Citizen of the Year – Alan Streeter from Natte Yallock
- Young Citizen of the Year – Rory Wakefield from Amphitheatre (pictured with Australia Day Ambassador Rowan Martin)
- Community Event of the Year – Waubra Community Hub for hosting the 2024 Australian Off Road Championships
- Pyrenees Leadership Award – harness racing driver James Herbertson from Lexton
Cr Kehoe said the Australia Day Awards were a wonderful way to celebrate and acknowledge the contributions of local volunteers who give so much to making the Pyrenees a great place to live, work and raise a family.
“Council is so grateful that we have so many residents willing to give their time and energy to making our Shire a vibrant and connected community,” she said.
“We thank and acknowledge not just our Australia Day Award winners, but all the other unsung heroes in our community who coach teams, cook meals, organise events, or support their neighbours through thick and thin. Pyrenees Shire would be a poorer place without them.”
The Pyrenees Australia Day Awards were presented at the Council’s Australia Day event hosted by Council and the Lexton Community Hub with support from the National Australia Day Council on Sunday 26 January. The event included morning tea and lunch provided by the Hub committee, a performance by the Pyrenees Chorale and free activities including a mobile zoo, airbrush tattooing, a wood working workshop, facepainting and a display from the Lexton CFA.
The event also included an address by Pyrenees Australia Day Ambassador Rowan Martin, a retired army officer of 28 years who served in Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands, and undertook operational deployments in the UK, Canada, the USA and New Zealand.
A citizenship ceremony was also held at the Australia Day event, when citizenship was conferred on three community members:
- Ms Jane Llewellyn – originally from the United Kingdom
- Ms Mary-Ann Ogle-Joyce – originally from New Zealand
- Ms Elena Benay Tommasi – originally from the United States
About the award winners
Citizen of the Year Alan Streeter
Alan has lived and worked in the Natte Yallock community his whole life. He is an executive committee member, a long-term CFA member, a mentor and president of the Natte Yallock Recreation Reserve since 2015. The number of volunteer hours he has given over the years is countless and his selflessness and dedication is well-known across the region.
Alan’s achievements over the years include, but because he gives so freely, are not limited to:
- Natte Bealiba Football Netball Club – premiership player and coach, life member and part of the current executive committee.
- Natte Yallock Recreation Reserve – member since 2005 and president since 2015.
- Natte Yallock Cricket Club – member for more than 40 years, club president for 29 years.
- Natte Yallock CFA – member for more than 40 years.
- Natte Yallock Cemetery Trust member.
- Blood and plasma donor – 89 donations.
- Annual Santa duties for more than 20 years.
Alan’s nominator commented in the application: “This district would not be the same if it was not for Alan Streeter and his generosity.”
Young Citizen of the Year Rory Wakefield
Rory is a quiet achiever who always turns out promptly for CFA events both emergencies and community. He pulls his weight without making a fuss and without realising it, he is an excellent role model for the young men in the town, showing compassion for others and a willingness to pitch in wherever needed.
According to his nominator, Rory has been active in the CFA since childhood and embraces all the training and experience the organisation offers. He is a skilled and valued member of the Amphitheatre brigade, and he is respected for his fantastic attitude and commitment to the cause.
Rory’s nominator said: “I have fought fires and attended CFA community meetings with him, and I’ve developed a respect for his attitude, which I feel is unusual and commendable in one so young.”
Community Event of the Year – Waubra Community Hub Committee for hosting the 2024 Australian Off Road Championship
The Waubra Community Hub hosted an event that helped the community fundraise $15,000 and attracted visitors from across the country, with a record number of riders competing from the 19th to 21st April last year.
The championship was held on Mt Misery within the Pyrenees Shire with the Waubra Hub Committee providing on-site food and off-site meals and showers for around 1,300 riders, helpers and support staff.
A small group of Waubra residents came together to ensure the community could deliver on hosting commitments, organising more than 100 local volunteers, developing menus and finding sponsors to help with the mammoth effort. The community saw this as a great fundraising opportunity and banded together to make it happen.
Over the weekend, more than 100 helpers were rostered, starting at 5am serving egg and bacon rolls and finishing with, according to one rider, the “best parma” served at the hub facility. The hub and other Waubra community organisations raised more than $15,000 over the weekend, a fantastic achievement for the town.
These efforts funded a trip to the Halls Gap Zoo for Waubra Primary School, an Art Gallery of Ballarat excursion for Waubra Preschool, and provided much-needed funds to other local organisations.
As their nomination form outlined: “Whilst an amazing amount was raised, it was the energy that was injected into the community and its volunteer base – from this we have new volunteers on our hub committee, new people wanting to help, and a new love for the people in Waubra.”
Pyrenees Leadership Award – James Herbertson
This year the Leadership Award goes to a young man from Lexton who is excelling in his chosen career, providing a great role model to the region’s young people.
James, 24, has recently won his first National Driver’s Premiership with almost twice as many wins as his nearest Victorian rival. According to a recent news story, James had a record-breaking season in 2024 including representing Victoria in the Australian Drivers' Championship in Adelaide. He has won 1,478 races with 2,585 placings, and has had 6 group 1 race wins, earning $12 million in prize money for trainers, an incredible achievement.
James, who is regularly referred to as “Australia’s leading reinsman”, travelled to France in November to work with some of the world’s best harness racing professionals. During this trip, he worked alongside highly regarded horseman Jean-Michel Bazire in Paris.