City of PAE Australia Day Awards Ceremony 2017 – on a Navy ship!

This was such a great occasion, I thought it worthy of a post here.

This year’s City of Port Adelaide Enfield Australia Day Awards & Citizenship Ceremony (which we always hold on January 25th) was on held on board the HMAS Leeuwin whilst docked in Port Adelaide’s inner harbour.

As CEO Mark Withers drily pointed out, it was one of Mayor Gary Johanson’s better ideas, and we were told it was the first time a Citizenship Ceremony had taken board upon a Royal Australian Navy ship.

I guess that makes the HMAS Leeuwin the first New Australian Citizen Ship.

We had to gain entry to the ship’s main deck by walking across the gangway and then up a flight of steps and what naval personnel call a ‘set of steps’ but was really a metal ladder!

 

Due to this and lack of room on the main deck, some guests listened to events from the dock below.

 

 

 

 

The marvellous Enfield Brass Band played the music for the ceremony, as they do every year, but also from the dock below.

 

 

We started the ceremony with a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country from Jack Buckskin.

   

 

We followed that with our Citizenship Ceremony where 35 people from 7 countries became Australian citizens and then the Australia Day Award winners were announced.

City of Port Adelaide Enfield Service to Community winners included:

 

 

Norm Ogier

President of the Northgate Oakden Residents Assn for many years & very busy with many other community activities.

 

 

 

   

 

Pam and Perry Brook

from the Gaza Cricket Club.

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa Burnie for her work

with the Hillcrest Girl Guides.

 

 

 

And the Citizen of the Year was Yunus Noori for his work with the Afghan Community, and as he put it, an Afghan helping to teach Afghan immigrants Australian values and culture.

    

 

 

Young Citizen of Year is Kyran Dixon for his work in the indigenous community and also for fundraising for leukaemia prevention, a cause close to him as a survivor of the disease. A truly remarkable and lovely young bloke.

 

 

 

 

 

The Community Event of the Year went to Izla’s Purple Crusade, organised by Kym & Jarrod Meers to raise awareness and funds for epilepsy research.

 

And there were joint winners of the Emerging Event or Community Groups Award, with the Port Adelaide Shellfish Restoration Group (sorry, no photo) sharing the honours with the Punjab Aussie Association of SA.

There were lots of politicians there:

Federal: Christopher Pyne, Sturt; Mark Butler, Port Adelaide and Tony Zappia, Makin.

State: Michael Atkinson, Speaker, Croydon; Russell Wortley, President, MLC; Tung Ngo MLC, Peter Malinauskas MLC; Dana Wortley, Torrens; Frances Bedford, Florey; Stephen Mullighan, Lee and Jing Lee MLC.

Council: Mayor Gary Johanson, Deputy Mayor Vanessa McCluskey, Cr Carol Martin, Cr Ray Guscott, Cr Michael Iammarrone, Cr Anne-Marie Hubycz, Cr Paul Russell, Cr Tony Barca, Cr Helen Wright, Cr Kim Dinh, Cr Guy Wilcock, Cr Michelle Hogan and Cr Peter Jamieson.

Both Christopher Pyne and Mark Butler gave short, humorous speeches relevant to Australia Day and citizenship. Mr Pyne told us that since the inception of the Nobel Prize, Australia has had fifteen winners, five of whom have been South Australian – amazing!

We finished off with a rendition of Advance Australia Fair, complete with child visitors leading the singing along with the Mayor’s Official Singer, and the traditional Port Adelaide Enfield rousing Australian sports cheer, “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi”.

Thanks must go to the organisers of the event: Council staff and wonderful members of our Navy and the HMAS Leeuwin, Australia Day Award recipients, the Enfield Brass Band and all who attended to make it a truly memorable experience for all.

 

Left, myself, Dana Wortley MP and Norm Ogier, with wife Andrea.

 

Right, Northfield Ward recipients of Australia Day Awards, with Dana Wortley MP.

 

 

 

 

Last two photos by the Hon Russell Wortley MLC, all others by Mark Basham

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