DISMAL it was, but Australia Day’s cloudiness came with plenty of green and gold splashes.
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Camden Haven locals scooped the pool in the Hastings Australia Day Awards.
Father and son Garry and Thomas Fajks were honoured by Port Macquarie-Hastings Council on the eve of our national day.
State Emergency Service veteran Garry was named Citizen of the Year, acknowledging his strong involvement in the volunteer organisation and his ongoing commitment to flood management planning and education.
Thomas, 17, was named joint winner of the Young Citizen of the Year Award with MacKillop Senior College student and young filmmaker Michael Wilkie.
Port Macquarie-Hastings Council administrator Neil Porter and local dignitaries presented the winners with certificates and medallions to honour their achievements.
“Garry has dedicated many years to our local community through his work with the SES and it’s wonderful to be able to honour this commitment in such a significant way,” Mr Porter said.
Volunteering for the community runs strong in the Fajks family. Garry has served with the SES for 18 years. His wife Chris is involved in the Laurieton Lions, Girl Guides and childrens charity Canteen.
Five of the six Fajks children are SES members and two are in the armed services.
One of the most memorable operations Garry has been involved with was the 1999 Sydney storms.
He was in charge of the SES Camden Haven unit and served 3000 hours over eight weeks as part of a crew.
Other winners recognised at the Australia Day awards included Kevin Waldron (Male Senior Citizen of the Year), the Camden Haven’s Yvonne Fisher (Female Senior Citizen of the Year) and the Kendall Community Op Shop was awarded the Community Group of the Year.
“Everyone nominated are actively living the values of what it means to be Australian and on behalf of the Australia Day sub committee I want to thank each and every one of them for their contribution to our thriving community,” Mr Porter said.
“It’s the efforts of people like those nominated and the award winners that inspire us to celebrate how fortunate we are to live in Australia.”
One of the Camden Haven’s active community groups, the Johns River Community Progress Association was honoured with an Australia Day Award in Taree.
At the ceremony in the chambers of Greater Taree City Council, the association president, David Shepard, accepted the 2012 Community Organisation of the Year from Council.
Following an address by Australia Day Ambassador Aden Ridgeway, the award was one of four given out to exemplary contributors to community.
While most celebrations in the Camden Haven were cancelled or postponed due to the weather, activities at the Laurieton United Services Club went ahead. Any break in the weather saw the games like gumboot throwing go ahead outside. Other games were modified to suit undercover play, like paper aeroplane throwing, musical chairs, the hokey pokey and pavlova eating contest.
See our pictorial coverage on Pages 12 and 13 inside today’s Courier