Whittlesea Community Awards

2021 Community Awards

To recognise the outstanding achievement of our residents, in 2021 Council will pilot a Community Awards program in lieu of the Australia Day Awards. 

The awards will have 5 categories:

• Access and Inclusion Citizen of the Year
• Sustainable Environment Citizen of the Year
• Senior Citizen of the Year (60+)
• Young Citizen of the Year (14-25 years)
• Citizen of the Year

More details will be available later in the year.

2020 Australia Day recipients

We announced the recipients of the 2020 Australia Day Awards at our annual event on Sunday 26 January 2020.

Citizen of the Year - Alan Roberts

Alan has been an active community member and resident of the City of Whittlesea for 51 years. Alan began volunteering for Whittlesea Community Connections (WCC) in May 2007 and continues to do so. Through his volunteering position, he assists community members with any queries they have and provides community related information to thousands of individuals. By volunteering in this role, he supports the community in accessing appropriate and integrated services and resources. Alan has provided non-judgemental and empathetic services to the community, and wants to continue volunteering and hopes to become involved in the WCC Food Collective.

Access and Inclusion Citizen of the Year – Dalal Sleiman

Dalal has spent many years volunteering for various associations such as AT Refugee Legal and Refugee Council of Australia. In her current work role as a Settlement Worker and Migration Agent, she assists new migrants and refugees to resettle in Australia. Dalal established the Australian Chaldean Family Welfare (ACFW) almost five years ago where she organises fortnightly meetings and arranges for guest speakers to provide information to the community on settlement services and mainstream services. The various skills which Dalal has obtained throughout her many years of volunteering enable her to help people who are disadvantaged in the community.

Senior Citizen of the Year – Ray Rosales

Ray has been actively involved as a member of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) for almost 12 years. In doing so, he has attended incidents, emergencies and fires and helps to protect the community, property and assets across Victoria and sometimes interstate. He is heavily involved with the fire brigade’s fundraising activities. Ray has been instrumental in the introduction of an initiative with the fire brigade called ‘Breakfast with a Firefighter’ which assists in connecting the community and CFA. Ray has also volunteered for organisations such as St Vincent de Paul Society and Christ the Light Catholic Parish. Through all of his volunteer work, he continues to show commitment to improving the lives of others.

Young Citizen of the Year – Vivian Ly

Vivian is a Year 12 student and is known to be a tireless champion for social justice. At her school she is a member of the Be More Social Justice team. As a part of this team, Vivian has fundraised for the homeless by selling cookies and hot chocolate during recess. Vivian also helped put together a Fair Trade Expo where the group promoted the value of buying fair trade to educate the College community on the issues of human trafficking and product training. Vivian also assists to support asylum seekers through fundraising activities, and she developed a sausage sizzle with a difference to highlight the plight of asylum seekers. She is a selfless individual and on her 18th birthday she asked that she receive no gifts but rather that donations be made to a not-for-profit organisation called Christmas on the Streets.