By Parker McKenzie
Knox Australia Day Awards saw Ferntree Gully locals honoured for their service to the local community in a wide variety of ways.
Knox Citizen of the Year Ricky Baldwin received his award for his commitment and service to the local community.
He is the founder of Victoria’s first Indigenous basketball academy, Koorie Academy, and supports the community in other ways including donations to people in need, being a board director with Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place and working with the National Basketball League to support the Indigenous round.
Mr Baldwin said he is a proud Aboriginal man who grew up in Knox his entire life.
“I’d like to express my gratitude to my mentors who have guided me with wisdom and knowledge over the years, including Barry Bonds and Charles Williams,” he said.
“This award means a lot to me and my family, a very proud and proactive Aboriginal family in the Knox community.”
He said he would like to accept the award in honour of his mother Mary Helen Darby, who was part of the stolen generation.
“It’s 2023, I’m very honored to be the first Aboriginal man to receive this award,” he said.
“Knox has one of the largest indigenous populations in Victoria, and I hope that in the future we see more Aboriginal women and men are see such awards and have a more inclusive representation within their Knox community.
“January 26 is not a day to celebrate for my people.”
Noel Addicot received the Senior Citizen of the Year award for his volunteer work with Meals on Wheels.
He said he first started volunteering with Meals on Wheels in November 2004.
“Bayswater was the location and that operation was vastly different to the ones now operating from the Knox Council headquarters,” he said.
“I started as a relief driver; if a volunteer coordinator was unavailable I was it. I covered every run we had in those days. I started on two days a week and later graduated to three. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the recipients who needed to receive meals.”
He said the average person living in suburban Melbourne has no idea how much the less fortunate people rely on the contribution and human contact given by volunteers.
“The human contact is almost as important as the food we deliver,” he said.
“There are many out there who have been volunteering longer than I, we all get back more from the people to whom we deliver just from the thanks we receive on a daily basis.”
Knox TAC L2P volunteer John Draffin was the recipient of the Volunteer of the Year award, for assisting learner drivers without access to supervising drivers or vehicles to gain the required 120 hours of experience.
“In the case of young adults, it can provide them with the ability to assist with further education, employment opportunities and in some cases helping other family members who are not able to thrive to make medical appointments and other day to day activities,” Mr Draffin said.
“If you are considering volunteering, I can highly recommend it and I’m absolutely certain you will get more from it than what you put in.”
Friends of Koolunga Native Reserve President Rowan Jennion won the Sustainability Leadership Award for his passionate environmental conservation work.
“I’ve been shocked when seeing that our local creeks are heavily polluted and turning different colours. It’s caused by people knowingly or unknowingly dumping pollutants down Stormwater drains,” he said.
“That’s not fair to the native fish, eels, frogs and yabbies they rely on clean water to live in our creeks.
“More needs to be done by governments, businesses and individuals. It’s time to change how we think about street drains that are in front of our houses or businesses.”
