WITH music playing over speakers and with tables set out for the community, young and old were able to gather to celebrate Australia Day and what it means to be Australian.
Held in beautiful conditions at Nyah West Park, a good-sized crowd gathered together to enjoy the Australia Day breakfast which was organised by the Nyah District Lions Club.
The Lions Club were handing out little Australian flags, with the event important for community spirit given the last couple of years where a lot of community events have had to be postponed or cancelled due to COVID regulations.
Cr Stuart King was present to award Rory Wilkinson from Nyah District Public School a student achievement award and also spoke on the importance of community events going ahead despite the challenges they may face.
“I just want to commend the community for coming out this morning, community events are so important and it is really good to see so many people out here this morning celebrating Australia Day,” he said.
Cr King noted how much community groups have struggled over the past two years, with plenty of help on the way to ensure that community groups get the help they need to thrive again this year.
“We understand how hard it has been over the past two years and we are doing everything we can to rebuild volunteering and making sure that these groups are not alone in trying to get events back up and running,” he said.
Marge Thomson was presented with the Nyah District Citizenship Award for her years of dedication to a number of community sporting and volunteering groups, but her contribution to the Girl Guides is where she has really made her mark.
Involved with the Nyah Girl Guides since 1992, she has been a staple of the local community for a number of years, with the award coming as quite the surprise to Mrs Thomson.
“I am astounded, I wasn’t expecting this at all, I got involved because of my children and have just continued on because I love working with kids so much, it really is a shock,” she said.
Ian Brauer from Nyah District Lions Club spoke positively of the impact Mrs Thomson has had on the community for such a long period of time, and reminded community members it was up to them to nominate people.
“The community needs to nominate people who are worthy of receiving these awards, please put them forward so that we are able to recognise the outstanding contribution they have made to our community,” he said.
Speaking about how the event went, Mr Brauer was happy with how the days proceedings turned out with the local support from the community allowing them to put on events like these.
“I am pretty happy considering the circumstances that we find ourselves in, we had about 80 people here and it went very well, it is great to get the support and put on events again after the last couple of years,” he said.
The breakfast event has been celebrated in the Nyah District since 1988, with the Girl Guides helping out at every breakfast that has been held.
