Top influential people in Gympie: Politicians, activists, entrepreneurs
From politicians to activists, business owners to artists and everything in between, these are the 30 most influential people in the Gympie region for 2022. See #30-21 of the list here.
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The Gympie region is home to many influential, successful and powerful characters.
After another tough year, including Covid resurgences and devastating flooding, these 30 movers and shakers have cemented themselves as champions of the region in 2022, influencing lives, careers and the future shape of the region.
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From politicians to activists, business owners to artists and everything in between, these are the 30 most influential people in the Gympie region for 2022.
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We’ll be rolling out the list over the next three days, with the top 10 most influential people of the Gympie region to be revealed on Wednesday, December 7.
#30: Bruce Devereaux
Division four councillor Bruce Devereaux is outspoken in his fight for transparency and accountability from the Gympie Regional Council.
Since being elected in 2020, Mr Devereaux has brought countless notified motions before council, often aimed at making processes more transparent for ratepayers.
Others have included a push for the council to recognise First Nations country on official correspondence.
Before becoming a councillor, Mr Devereaux ran the highly successful Big Family Little Income parenting blog documenting his experiences with his family of nine.
He was also a long standing customer service officer at Bank of Queensland’s Gympie branch.
#29: Ellen Hardy
Ellen Hardy has been a familiar face in the Gympie business world for two years for her tireless work running women’s networking in Gympie.
Ms Hardy is the co-ordinator of We Rise Networking in Gympie and spares no effort making a space for women in business to celebrate and support each other’s successes.
She is set to host the relaunched Women in Business Award night in December 2022 with an eye to making it an annual event within the Gympie community.
Ms Hardy launched her own online business, Her Monthly Boxes, in May 2022 in line with her passion to make women feel loved, valued and celebrated.
#28: Sam and Adam Bradshaw
Adam and Sam Bradshaw’s business Jacaranda Family Dental has become a go-to place for Gympie residents and their dental needs, a venture so successful it is moving into larger offices in 2023.
The couple sought to expand the business after reaching capacity at their Southside premises, which opened in 2016.
Their dream came true in 2022, with plans to renovate the old SuperCheap Auto building for a new and improved space to take on more clients.
Jacaranda Family Dental was crowned Business of the Year at the Gympie Chamber of Commerce Business Awards this year.
This comes after their success in winning the Customer Service award in 2017.
#27: Mal Dodt
The founder of popular social media page Gympie – The Real Treasure is the Town comes in at #27 on the back of the popularity of the page and Mr Dodt’s community work.
The page, which is dedicated to promoting the positives of Gympie, is followed by more than 16,000 people. It has gained more than 4000 new followers since January 2022.
The page is the go-to place for Gympie’s visual history, thanks to thousands of pictures past and present shared on the site.
In 2020, Mr Dodt, who is also the owner of Dodt’s Floorcoverings, was named Gympie’s Citizen of the Year, and was nominated for the Australia Pacific LNG Community Hero Award.
#26: Dr Joanne Dargusch
Dr Joanne Dargusch is a former Gympie high school teacher and now a senior lecturer and Associate Professor with the Central Queensland University.
Living in Gympie but working out of the university’s Noosa campus, Dr Dargusch has been working in teacher education since 2006.
She teaches into the Bachelor of Education (Secondary) and is currently the Postgraduate Research Coordinator for the School of Education and the Arts at the CQU.
Her research work focuses predominantly on assessment, particularly in relation to higher education assessment, equity and assessment, assessment in schools and teacher education.
Since 2015, Dr Dargusch has been working on Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program-funded equity projects (Supporting Students‘ Assessment Success, 2015-2017; Smoothing Assessment Transitions for VET students, 2019-2020).
Her thesis, completed at Griffith University in 2012, examined the formative assessment practices of Senior English teachers.
Most recently, she has published in relation to teacher education and assessment in higher education.
Dr Dargusch is also a devoted wife to husband Geoff Haig, a teach at Gympie State High, and mother to Lily and Sam.
#25: Rosie Fitzgerald
Kilkivan’s Rosie Fitzgerald has been fighting for the region’s ageing population to be able to stay in their beloved town for years.
Ms Fitzgerald was integral in the creation of the Kilkivan and District Community Care Association, which focuses on improving the life of Kilkivan’s seniors.
Her fight for quality, in-home care has borne fruit, with the association
partnering with Trilogy care and Mable to begin rolling out in-home care packages across the district in 2021-2022.
to begin rolling out in-home care packages across the district in 2021-2022.
Ms Fitzgerald has facilitated regular senior catch-ups and the KilkiVAN, which allow residents from surrounding towns to travel more freely.
#24: Deb Brown
Deb Brown has had a strong hand in pulling together the Gympie District Show and bringing together local businesses as president of the Gympie Show Society.
After being forced to cancel the Gympie Show in 2020 due to Covid restrictions, Ms Brown took over as president in 2021.
Ms Brown and the Show Society pulled the 2022 Show together on short notice after Covid restrictions were lifted five weeks prior.
The show went on for two days despite flooding hitting the region and many patrons visited the show in the rain to support businesses as well as the Show Society’s hard work.
Ms Brown was also named Gympie’s Citizen of the Year in 2021 and is a staff member of Gympie MP Tony Perrett.
#23: Joe Prendergast
A vineyard, a bakery and a hotel are just some of the business endeavours of the burgeoning empire of Joe Prendergast in the western reaches of the Gympie region.
Mr Prendergast, along with his wife Miranda and mother Margaretha, are the beating heart behind the Goomeri Bakery, Joe’s Grand Hotel and the Dusty Hill Vineyard about 20km southwest of Goomeri, at Moffatdale.
The vineyard has recently undergone a $6.5 million expansion, where Mr Prendergast added a distillery, an Irish tavern and restaurant and accommodation.
“We thought the bakery would be good for the town; we didn’t think it would be this good,” Mr Prendergast said.
#22: Tom Grady
A stalwart of the Gympie region, businessman Tom Grady has been a popular real estate agent and rural merchandise salesman for more than 40 years.
Mr Grady started his rural sales career in Texas near the New South Wales border, he returned home to the Gympie region in the mid 1980s, where he has been ever since.
Over the past three decades, he has amassed himself a stellar reputation, cementing himself as one of the most successful and well-respected businessmen in the region.
His business has continued to grow in recent years, with a new Tozer St expansion opening in 2020 and new plans to further improve it in the works.
Mr Grady has played a major part in the region’s broader agricultural and farming industries, and his passion for the region has made his iconic business a key contributor to many of its most popular ventures through sponsorship.
#21: The Nolan Brothers
One of the most famous family names in the Gympie region, the Nolans have been a fixture of the business community for more than 60 years.
Terry, Tony and Michael Nolan spearhead what has grown into one of the region’s largest private employers, boasting more than 500 employees before Covid wreaked havoc on the economy.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison visited the Nolan’s abattoir after it was decimated by the February 2022 flood disaster, and suffered up to $15 million in flood damages.
Nolan Meats criticised roadworks associated with the Bruce Highway Bypass in Gympie after their evacuation path was allegedly cut off by construction work.
Nolan Meats is far-reaching as a producer, distributor and exporter of meat products all over the world, all from its East Deep Creek facility, where they employ a staff of 350-500.
Their ongoing efforts to support and promote the region means the Nolan family will remain one of the Gympie business sector‘s most important factors for a long time to come.
Stay tuned as we roll out the next 10 Most Influential People tomorrow.
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