Champion swimmer Lakeisha Patterson’s call to honour community heroes

LAKEISHA Patterson knows the feeling of winning well and wants the region’s unsung community heroes to feel it too.

Lakeisha Patterson at the Commonwealth Games Athletes Parade. (AAP Image/Claudia Baxter)

SWIMMER Lakeisha Patterson has bagged plenty of gold medals this year, but still rates her 2017 Moreton Bay Regional Council Young Citizen of the Year Award win as one of her proudest moments.

It’s a feeling she wants unsung heroes in our community to enjoy, and so she’s issued a challenge to Moreton Bay Region residents to nominate them.

The Queen's Baton, carried by batonbearer Lakeisha Patterson, through Redcliffe.

Nominations are now open for the yearly awards, and Lakeisha is calling on locals to nominate a friend, family member or community member they think is deserving of recognition for their community, sporting, environment and cultural achievements.

“I think it’s incredibly important. Within our community, we have so many incredible people doing amazing things and helping others with different causes,” Lakeisha says.

“The silent heroes are doing it because they love it and to help others. They are the last people to put their hands up and tell people what they’re doing.”

Lakeisha won Young Citizen of the Year following two world records at the Rio 2016 Paralympics, two gold medals, three silver and one bronze. She is regarded as one of Australia’s most inspirational swimmers, urging others including school students, sporting clubs, charities and businesses to overcome life’s obstacles.

“In life there’s always going to be obstacles along the road and it’s how you deal with them and overcome them (that matters),” she says. “It’s a matter of finding a better solution … there’s always more than one way of doing something. You need to push yourself to get a different result.”

Lakeisha 'Lucky' Patterson claimed five gold and three silver medals at the 2018 Para Pan Pacific Games.

Her philosophy is paying off in the pool with five gold and three silver medals from eight events at the Para Pan Pacific Games in August, and two gold medals at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Allan Sutherland says there are plenty of residents achieving greatness across the region. “From supporting our community’s most vulnerable, to caring for our local environment and even representing our region on the national and international stage,” he says.

“They are our local heroes whose actions, which in many cases are unrewarded, inspire our community to be better.”

Applications close October 31. Visit

mbrc.qld.gov.au/ausawards to nominate.