Warrnambool’s Janet Macdonald has a finger in many community pies.
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On some days she wears her botanic gardens hat, while on others its the city’s art gallery.
Ms Macdonald is also the president of the Warrnambool and District Historical Society.
She has been named as Warrnambool’s Australia Day Citizen of the Year, and will be honoured at a ceremony in the city on Saturday.
“I think it’s good to be busy,” Ms Macdonald said.
“We live in a great community. We have all these things and they take volunteers to run them. You do your bit. There are lots of things you can get involved in. There are plenty of activities for retired people and since retiring I’ve been working with lots of great people.”
She said she loved volunteering as it meant spending time with her friends.
“One of the main reasons is working with groups of people and it's fun,” she said.
“They are really nice people and you have a great time. You can achieve a lot with collective effort.”
She said she believed she had been nominated for the award by a group of her fellow volunteers and friends.
"I knew I had a group of friends who were plotting against me," she joked. "I think these friends have been polishing their writing skills."
The Warrnambool Australia Day celebrations will be held at the botanic gardens on Saturday from 10.30am to 4pm.
Entertainment includes the Holiday Actors and local musicians Flynn Gurry, Blake Rudland-Castles and the John Hudson Band.
Various community groups will provide food and there will be and games and entertainment for children all afternoon.
The Young Citizen of the Year is Caitlyn Garner, who is a Warrnambool Youth Councillor, and a member of the RSL Youth Choir, Emmanuel Branch of Young Vinnies, Holiday Actors Junior Committee, an eisteddfod participant and Dennington Football Netball Club canteen volunteer.
The 2019 Local Achievers are Edward White, Colleen Hughson and Valerie Carter.
Mr White spends many hours at the Allansford Recreation Reserve and works at the recreation reserve community farm which is a fundraising venture that supports the reserve.
He also volunteers with the Allansford Football Netball Club and Allansford CFA.
Last year he was instrumental in organising the first steam train in 16 years to travel to Warrnambool. The popular passenger service was sold out and large crowds gathered at stations along the way to enjoy the spectacle.
Ms Hughson brought to light the issue of a 'nurdle' spill on Warrnambool's beaches. Few people knew what a nurdle was, but Ms Hughson set about not only educating the community about this particular form of plastic pollution, but activated and motivated a huge community clean-up effort where everyone from elderly people to school groups, to interested individuals, to environmental groups and artists all joined forces for the "Good Will Nurdle Hunting" effort.
This was the start of what became a much larger campaign, again driven by Colleen, to educate the public about plastic pollution on our beaches, to reduce this pollution and to work with various bodies to monitor and prevent such pollution.
Ms Carter has been a volunteer with the Warrnambool Wildlife Rescue group for about eight years.
She has ventured into the ocean to save a wallaby, nursed injured kangaroos, climbed trees to help koalas, helped untangle seals, rescued giant birds of prey and assisted with all kinds of smaller animals, including bats and possums. Her commitment has saved many native animals.
The Community Event of the Year was awarded to the inaugural Small Things Festival, organised by Warrnambool artist Megan Nicholson.
The inaugural Small Things Festival was held on the Civic Green in October and attracted about 1500 people.
This waste-free festival was designed to inspire and raise awareness about the small things people can do in their daily life to contribute to a more sustainable community. Workshops included yoga; making bees wax wraps, eco-dying of material to reinvent and recycle; visible mending of clothes and four separate ecologically-themed children’s workshops.
The festival offered guided environmental and cultural tours of Lake Pertobe with traditional owners.
The council said the Small Things Festival was an inspiring example of how community-led events could increase opportunities for social connection, participation, inclusiveness, education, learning and change.