Every year unsung heroes are unearthed and recognised. This week Moyne Shire announced Garvoc's Elizabeth (Bev) Moore would be crowned its citizen of the year. Since the mid-1990s she has worked to identify graves of many former Garvoc residents, most never marked and one who died as early as 1875.

Ash Wednesday fires destroyed headstones and the cemetery trust member who kept the records lost his house and all the documents in the fires too.

Her research started with deciphering headstone inscriptions and later researching unmarked graves using undertaking records and newspaper death notices. It resulted in more than 100 names of those without a headstone appearing on a memorial wall at the cemetery in 2015.

Warrnambool City Council announced former primary school principal Rosemary Isaac would be honoured as citizen of the year for her volunteering efforts with a number of groups including the city's historical society and family history group.

The pair are fitting recipients. Like so many volunteers, neither expected or sought recognition. Our community is a better place because of the Bevs and Rosemarys, who passionately and selflessly help others.

We shouldn't just reserve Australia Day for celebrating and thanking the heartbeats of our neighbourhoods. We should pat these people on the back during day-to-day activities and say thanks and tell them we appreciate them.

Sadly, the south-west lost a 'great visionary' and philanthropist this week with the passing of Warrnambool businessman and educator Andrew Anderson.

Tributes have flowed for Mr Anderson, remembered for his generosity, vision and wisdom. His name will live on through the Brauerander Athletics Complex and Anderson Theatre at Brauer College, facilities that would not have been developed without him. He never sought the limelight but we should always appreciate community contributors like him. And Bev and Rosemary.