People of Wollongong who have made exceptional contributions to their local community and beyond have been recognised for their hard work and achievements with the city's Australia Day awards.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Olympian Emma McKeon was named Citizen of the Year, while the first female president of the Rotary Club of Wollongong, Dot Hennessy, was honoured with Senior Citizen of the Year.
The title of Young Citizen of the Year went to two young women: Alana Todorovski, for her extensive volunteer work, and Faith Clark, for her achievements in the field of robotics.
McKeon delivered a video message after she was announced as Citizen of the Year yesterday, giving her thanks for the honour.
She said she was grateful for all the city's support during her career, especially over the past year and throughout her record-making Olympics campaign in Tokyo.
Mrs Hennessy told the Mercury she did not expect the accolade given there were "so many amazing people in this city".
"I do what I do because I love this city and everything it stands for," she said.
Meanwhile, 17-year-old Faith said she hoped to continue her work in robotics.
"It's really shown me that the work I've been doing has really been making a big impact," she said.
Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said this year's winners list "shows you the wonderful diversity, passion and talents of those who call Wollongong their hometown".
The full list of winners
Citizen of the Year - Emma McKeon
Australia's most decorated Olympian, McKeon won seven medals at the Tokyo games in 2021, including four gold - all in record time.
Her seven-medal haul is the equal greatest number of medals ever won by a female athlete at any single Olympic Games.
She was also overall champion at the FINA World Championships and was recently named World Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World.
Back on home soil, she lent her considerable star power to the COVID vaccination campaign #VaxTheIllawarra, in a bid to protect the community from the virus.
Senior Citizen of the Year - Dot Hennessy
Mrs Hennessy devotes much of her time to volunteering and notably was the first female president of the Rotary Club of Wollongong.
One of her major achievements is her role in creating Greenhouse Park, just south of the CBD, which was a former waste site.
Mrs Hennessy and other Rotary Club members are upgrading the site for public use.
She's also had three scholarships dedicated to her name, honours she says are humbling: one for young volunteers in emergency services, a vocational training scholarship, and one from the PCYC.
Young Citizen of the Year - Alana Todorovski and Faith Clark
This year's title went to two young women doing very different but equally impressive work.
Alana has dedicated an enormous amount of time to volunteering - her efforts include fundraising for NSW bushfire relief, the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, the Salvation Army, and the Heart of Love Foundation.
During COVID she also baked biscuits and muffins for frontline hospital staff.
On top of this, she has been a tutor through SCARF for Syrian refugee children and was co-president of the Interact Club, the Rotary service club for young people.
And she achieved it all while studying for her HSC during the disruptive COVID period.
Last year, Faith led the Project Bucephalus robotics team - the most-awarded and longest-running robotics team in Australia - to national success for a second consecutive year.
Since the age of 11 she has represented Australia in International Robotics Championships, and has established Wollongong as a centre of robotics learning overseas.
Over the past eight years, Faith has taught robotics to almost 3000 people, and she has been a regular visitor to a nursing home, teaching residents about her passion.
She has also been instrumental in arranging and teaching free robotics classes for special education students in the Illawarra.
Community Group of the Year - VOX FM
This community radio station has been on the airwaves as a non-profit organisation for over 30 years.
It offers a diverse range of content, broadcasting in more than 20 languages and playing music from an array of decades and cultures.
During the pandemic, it has provided important updates and community service announcements to its listeners.
Arts Achievement Award - Matthew Verhelst
Mr Verhelst has been recognised for his work supporting the youth performance scene, especially during the pandemic.
He has used his marketing skills to help two not-for-profit arts organisations, Southern Stars and So Popera.
This included creating and running an online show for Southern Stars, and helping put on the largest performance event in 2020-21 with So Popera's production of Jersey Boys at the WIN Entertainment Centre.
Cultural Achievement Award - Aunty Lorraine Brown and Aunty Narelle Thomas
Aunty Lorraine and Aunty Narelle founded the Coomaditchie United Aboriginal Corporation in 1990, an organisation dedicated to "raising the esteem, pride and dignity of young Aboriginal people in their Aboriginal culture and heritage".
It was because of them that the former Kemblawarra Community Hall was transformed into an accessible community space and art gallery, where Aboriginal people can access support, art classes and cultural workshops.
They also restored the then-degraded Coomaditchie Lagoon, an aesthetically, scientifically and culturally important landmark.
Sports Achievement Award - Alexander 'The Great' Volkanovski
The current UFC featherweight champion, Volkanovski has a record of 23 wins from 23 fights.
He maintained his grip on the championship despite having been hospitalised with COVID last year.
But Volkanovski's impact goes outside the ring - he mentors young people, shares his story at schools, donates to charity, and has even written a children's book.
Like McKeon, he supported the #VaxTheIllawarra campaign in a bid to encourage people to protect themselves and others against COVID.
Innovation Achievement Award - Professor Kathleen Clapham and Professor Lisa Kervin
The selection panel also couldn't decide on the most deserving recipient of this award and chose to give it to two.
Professor Clapham is a Murawari woman and Professor of Indigenous Health at the University of Wollongong's Ngarruwan Ngadju First Peoples Health and Wellbeing Research Centre.
She promotes Indigenous content and delivery in health and medical education, and has a special focus on Indigenous injury prevention and safety promotion, especially child health.
Professor Clapham's research looks at the experience between place and health at Aboriginal health services in the region, using culturally appropriate methods to engage the community in discussions.
She also provides support to many Indigenous organisations and is committed to the training of young Indigenous researchers.
Professor Kervin is Associate Dean (Research) in the UOW Faculty of the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities, director of Early Start Research, and leads the UOW node of the Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, which is contributing to world-first research on the impact of digital technology on Australian children.
She is an internationally renowned expert on literacy development in children and their use of technology, and her research helped shape the national English curriculum reform.
Professor Kervin has also developed resources and professional development for educators; plus, she has published five books, 25 book chapters, 62 journal articles and has been awarded over $20 million in research funding.
Diversity and Inclusion Award - Green Connect
Last year, Green Connect provided employment for 111 refugees and young people.
It also diverted 157 tonnes of waste from landfill and provided 35,000 kilograms of fresh food from its Warrawong farm, mostly to people in need.
During lockdown Green Connect helped people doing it tough through food hampers and care packages.
Its achievements were recognised when it was named one of just 15 winners across the world of a Commonwealth Secretary-General's Innovation for Sustainable Development Award for 2021.
Wollongong to the World - Dr Benjamin Clasie
A UOW graduate, Dr Clasie is now saving the lives of cancer patients in the US through his work as now director of proton engineering and physics at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
He played a lead role in the introduction of a new and highly precise radiation therapy known as pencil beam scanning at the hospital, highly specialised work that took two years.
Dr Clasie was also responsible for installing the hospital's second proton therapy system.
He is Assistant Professor at Harvard University's Medical School, but is in the process of being promoted to Associate Professor.
Lord Mayor's Awards - Illawarra Academy of Sport and Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District
The Illawarra Academy of Sport has fostered some of Australia's greatest sporting talent - in 2021 alone, nine alumni competed at the Olympic Games (including Emma McKeon) and two at the Paralympics.
If the academy was a country, it would have finished 22nd in the final medal tally at Tokyo.
In 2020-21, it offered 300 scholarships in 13 programs, and last year dealt with the disruption of COVID by creating at-home programs.
The Illawarra Shoalhaven LHD is honoured for its response to the COVID pandemic and the health services it generally provides to the region's residents.
Its chief executive Margot Mains, the Wollongong Hospital COVID intensive care team, the hospital's COVID ward and Illawarra ambulance personnel were also afforded special mentions.
The Illawarra Mercury newsroom is funded by our readers. You can subscribe to support our journalism here.
Sign up for breaking news emails below...