By JESSE GRAHAM
A RELENTLESS drive to better the world around him saw Kalorama-raised Thomas King crowned with one of the highest honours for a young person in Victoria late last year.
Mr King, a passionate environmentalist, was named as 2015 Victorian Young Australian of the Year and made his way up to Canberra over the weekend as a finalist for the Young Australian of the Year award.
He joined the cream-of-the-crop of Australian citizens, who had received similar honours in their home states, to see who would be named as the top of the lot on Sunday 25 January.
Sadly, Mr King was pipped to the post by Western Australia’s Drisana Levitzke-Gray, who has been an advocate for the deaf community both in Australia and overseas.
He told the Mail before the ceremony that he had no expectations of winning, and had been humbled to receive the Victorian honour in October last year.
“I was very overwhelmed – it is such a great honour, and very humbling as well,” he said.
“I was shocked to be a state finalist – I wasn’t expecting anything more than that.
“It’s a very pleasant surprise to have such an honourable accolade, and to have the opportunity to connect with other incredible young people in Canberra this weekend, I’m really looking forward to it.”
Mr King has been campaigning for global causes since the age of 13, when he saw a television campaign about unsustainable palm oil production in South East Asia.
He established the website, SayNotoPalmOil, which acts as an online resource to direct people to products that don’t contain palm oil and draws up to half a million visits each year.
In recent years he has also reported from the London Olympic Games in 2012 as a journalist, reporting for a number of small island nations that did not have the resources to send their own media crews.
Now 18, he works with the Oaktree Foundation on their Live Below the Line fund-raiser, where people are encouraged to try living on less than $2 – the extreme poverty line – each day.
Though he had to remain scant on the details, Mr King said that he would be starting a new campaign with Animals Australia in coming weeks.
A current Mooroolbark resident, Mr King grew up in Kalorama and the Dandenong Ranges, and said that his environment helped to foster his environmental passions.
“I’ve always had an interest in nature and animals from quite a young age, so I guess growing up in such a beautiful area as the Dandenong Ranges has reinforced that passion,” he said.
“It definitely has been an ideal location to grow up in, being able to experience the natural world in my own backyard.”
Chairman of the National Australia Day Council Ben Roberts-Smith VC, MG, congratulated all of the award recipients, which included Australian of the Year Rosie Batty, and all of the finalists for their efforts.
“From an extraordinary group of finalists, all of whom are inspirational Australians and great ambassadors for their home states and territories, we have four award recipients who stand as role models for us all,” he said.
The 2015 Senior Australian of the Year is 61-year-old Jackie French from New South Wales, while Australia’s Local Hero award was given to Queensland’s Juliette Wright.
All of the award recipients were selected by public nominations, including Mr King’s Victorian award.
Though the national award has eluded him, Mr King is a journalist, an advocate, a filmmaker and, award or not, an inspirational Australian, and a fine example of how hard work and passion can breed results.
