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FRIDAY, January 27, 2023
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WE ARE ONE SHARING the celebration of Australia Day yesterday at the King George V Gardens official rural city event were (from left) Grace Cabalar, Annabel Martino and Amelia Cabalar. A large crowd enthusiastically embraced the day which also honoured our local achievers. PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
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Celebrating our nation MANY Australians certainly rejoiced yesterday as they celebrated our national pride, each in their own special way, across the Rural City of Wangaratta. The municipality’s top citizens for 2023 were announced, with Moyhu’s Neil Jarrott named the rural city’s Citizen of the Year, Thomas Willoughby the Young Citizen of the Year, and ‘art NORTH & Beyond’ - a North Wangaratta sculpture trail project - took out the Event/Project of the
Neil Jarrott named city’s y Australian Citizen of the Yearr BY STEVE KELLY skelly@ nemedia.com.au
Year award. People in the city rose early, some donning Aussie paraphernalia, attending town breakfasts put on by Wangaratta council, where local heroes were celebrated with deserving awards.
AUSTRALIA DAY RURAL CITY OF WANGARATTA The overall Citizen of the Year, who will have his hand carved onto the Marmungun Rock, was Neil Jarrott, also known as the “Mayor of Moyhu”. He was “quite overwhelmed” by the fanfare
at the Wangaratta Australia Day Ceremony, set in the picturesque King George V Gardens yesterday, but he was chuffed with his award and the chance to share the occasion with his two brothers and family on the day. Neil is usually more content working in the background for his beloved town Moyhu and it’s all about the people who live there as he described them as “a great
bunch to get along with”. He’s been with the Lions club for the best part of 40 years, the Moyhu Action Group, and the memorial hall committee, the latter where he has been intimately involved with a $350,000 upgrade to the town asset. “I love being a part of the community because having that connection to people in your home town is good for your peace of mind and
wellbeing,” he said. One of Neil’s most memorable jobs volunteering for Lions was when the Great Victorian Bike Ride stopped overnight in 2014. “We set up a fair ground type atmosphere opposite the hotel and we won the most welcoming town award for that event voted by the riders, which was probably the most memorable highlight for me in the last 20 years,” he said. More stories pages 2, 3 and 4. Continued page 2
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