Caloundra City Australia Day Awards 2008

The Caloundra City Australia Day Awards, presented with the National Australia Day Council, are an opportunity to recognise and thank community members whose tireless efforts so often go unnoticed.

The Australia Day Awards 2008 were announced during Australia Day celebrations at Kings Beach Park on Saturday 26 January 2008.

2008 Caloundra City Citizen of the Year

The 2008 Caloundra City Citizen of the Year has been awarded to a man best described by the broader Maleny community as a professional volunteer, Chris Brooker.

Chris, a Vietnam veteran, has a long list of community achievements, including:

• membership of the Maleny Rotary for the past 20 years, holding office as President, Vice President and Community Projects Officer
• office bearer of the Maleny Show Society
• member of the founding board of the Erowal Retirement Village Hostel and Nursing Home
• member of the RSL Maleny sub-branch

Chris’s commitment to the broader community has been unwavering for many years.

2008 Young Citizen of the Year

2008 Young Citizen of the Year is Jarrod Bleijie, an aspiring and inspiring young professional with a sincere dedication to serving his local community, and an ambition to one day serve the country.

Jarrod, a junior law practitioner with a young family, is an active member of Caloundra Rotary, and the Caloundra, Maroochy and Kawana Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a Director of Mercy Ships Australia.

He regularly volunteers for Salvation Army, Australian Volunteer Coast Guard, the Queensland Cancer Fund and the Leukaemia Foundation.

He has represented the Sunshine Coast on the National Youth Leadership Forum and National Youth Congress, and has served as the National Coordinator for the Australian Youth Parliament for the Environment.

2008 Sports Person of the Year

2008 Sports Person of the Year is local cricketing sensation Ashley Noffke.

Ashley has risen through the local cricketing junior and senior ranks to take more than 300 first class wickets, and made his second first class century against Tasmania in last year’s Pura Cup match.

Not only has he been awarded numerous local and state awards, he has also made it to a national representative level. And despite his achievements, he still finds time to coach and mentor local Sunshine Coast cricketers.

2008 Young Sports Person of the Year

The Young Sports Person of the Year is talented athlete Zoe Sharplin. At just 16 years of age, Zoe has enormous talent across many sporting disciplines, notably athletics and surf live saving.

Zoe is a state and national Hepthalon champion, and after being invited to train at the Australian Institute of Sport, Zoe’s hopes to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games in 2010, and the London Olympics in 2012 are a realistic goal for this very talented, ambitious young sports star.

2008 Cultural Award

Beverly Hand, a descendant of the local Gubbi Gubbi people, is this year’s recipient of the 2008 Cultural Award.

Beverly is described as a proud Aboriginal woman who has followed from other proud Aboriginal women in being able to unite non-indigenous and indigenous people in a culturally appropriate and historically significant way.

Beverly has a passion not only for cultural awareness, having organised the Bunya Dreaming Festival in 2006, but is also a respected sustainable land management practitioner, playing a key role with local landcare groups.

2008 Community Event of the Year

The 2008 Community Event of the Year is the inaugural Caloundra Music Festival.

Attracting more than 15,000 people to Kings Beach, the success of the inaugural three day event, held in October 2007 was in no small part a tribute to its organisation, heavily supported by more than 150 local volunteers.

The beneficiary of the event – the surf live saving movement, received almost $10,000 from the event.