2014 VIC Pride of Australia finalists
We are very proud to announce the 2014 Pride of Australia Medal finalists for Victoria.
Pride of Australia
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We are very proud to announce the 2014 Pride of Australia Medal finalists for Victoria. Read below the incredible stories of the leaders, campaigners, care givers, volunteers, teachers and everyday Australians whose extraordinary actions set them apart.
CARE AND COMPASSION MEDAL
To recognise a professional or volunteer carer or group, or a member of the health professions who has made a significant improvement to the lives of those around them.
Kerry Joyce, Kyle Lee
When ambulance paramedics Kerry Joyce and Kyle Lee were required to take a terminal cancer patient from home to palliative care in North Geelong, they recognised that this might be the man's last journey with his wife of 58 years, who was accompanying him. The paramedics decided to take him past the waterfront, stopping at the Botanical Gardens and opening the back of the ambulance. The ailing man was able to share a special moment with his wife and the couple's family later wrote to Ambulance Victoria to thank Kerry and Kyle for their kindness and compassion.
Lisa Gray
With up to ten children living in her home at any one time, Lisa Gray is pretty busy at dinner and bath time. Lisa and her husband Mark have two biological sons, but as a passionate and committed foster carer, Lisa has parented more than 70 foster children. Supporting babies, sibling groups and disabled children with temporary care, Lisa now has permanent care of three of these children and long term care of four, including a teenage girl whose life has been turned around due to the family's love and compassion.
Deborah Murphy
Over the past 30 years, Deborah Murphy has fostered between 45 and 50 children from disadvantaged backgrounds, before adopting three sons and conceiving a daughter via IVF.
Despite suffering the loss of one of her sons and her own brother, Deborah continued to put the welfare of the children first.
She eventually gave up fostering to care for her parents, who have since passed away. Deborah's daughter Jadai says her mother has given her and many others a great gift in life and deserves to be acknowledged for her efforts.
COMMUNITY SPIRIT MEDAL
To recognise an individual or a group whose selfless, tireless and largely unacknowledged actions have enriched the lives of those around them in their community.
Melinda Shelley
Melinda Shelley is the president of Seaford Junior Library Inc, a community organisation that for 50 years has fostered literacy in children from birth to age 4. But when her now five-year-old was just a toddler, Melinda founded 123Read2Me, to provide free children's books in the areas of Frankston North, Seaford and Carrum Downs, with a "Book Bag" program now being piloted through kindergartens and the Frankston Toy Library. Recently, 123Read2Me has been adopted by VCAL students at a local high school and also by the Mordialloc-Mentone Lions Club.
Graham Boyd
As Graham Boyd's 71st birthday approached, he received a letter from the Red Cross, telling him that he would no longer be eligible to donate blood. With the blessing of his doctor, Graham set about changing the maximum age for blood donors. Graham persevered with his campaign and in June 1998, he was advised the decision to lift the limit from 71 to 80 years had been approved. Now 88, Graham has received a certificate of commendation from the Red Cross and an estimate that his campaign had helped to generate as many as 13,000 extra blood donations per year.
Ken and Sue Gooding
In a church hall in suburban Carrum, Ken and Sue Gooding and their team provide food assistance each week for around 170 people from all over the Mornington Peninsula. Their not-for-profit organisation Pantry 5000 supplies fresh fruit and vegetables, cereal, tinned or frozen food, soup and milk for single parents, the elderly, disadvantaged families, the disabled and the homeless. No-one is turned away by Ken and Sue – "the angels of Carrum" according to one recipient – while there is food to distribute.
ENVIRONMENT MEDAL
For an Australian or group of Australians whose actions have demonstrated leadership, raising awareness and/or teaching others about environmental issues.
Les Smith
At 86, Les Smith could be forgiven for wanting a quiet retirement at home. But this lifelong environmental activist continues to volunteer as a committee member of various environmental organisations, writing on the importance of indigenous plants and still getting his hands dirty every week, propagating native species. A former organic chemist with CSIRO Les has supported the work of untold numbers of conservation groups, including Environment Victoria, Victorian National Parks Association, the Mullum Mullum Festival, and Friends of the Little Desert.
Ray Thomas
For nearly two decades Ray Thomas has persuaded an army of volunteers to give up their weekends to help save the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater and other endangered native species. Working with local farmers who donate land to his cause, Ray entices hundreds of volunteers to Benalla for planting weekends. He puts them up in the Benalla Scout Hall and organises social events that keep his volunteers coming back year after year. Over the years, Ray's various conservation projects have involved more than 30,000 volunteers of all ages.
FAIR GO MEDAL
For an Australian permanent resident or citizen, born overseas, who has enriched Australia through their community involvement, hard work and willingness to embrace their new home.
Michael Gallus
Melbourne school teacher and dedicated father of three, Fiji-born Michael Gallus is the power behind the volunteer children's sporting foundation Footys4All, which aims to deliver a ball into the hands of every disadvantaged child, worldwide. Michael has organised the delivery of more than 9000 new balls to children in need across Australia and internationally to Africa, India, Fiji, New Zealand, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Children in Australian refugee detention, African orphans with HIV, indigenous children in the remote outback and Indian children with special needs have all benefitted from his work.
Asfaw Sahlu
For many years, Ethiopian-born Asfaw Sahlu has used the sport of soccer to encourage and mentor hundreds of young people from refugee backgrounds. As a former refugee himself, the married father of three identifies with the issues faced by the young people he meets from countries including Vietnam, Eritrea, Somalia, Ghana, Ethiopia, Djibouti and South Sudan. Asfaw has even published a soccer book in Amharic to support parents who are unable to speak or understand English. With his application of coaching discipline and consistency, Asfaw has inspired many of these young people who now call Australia home.
Gina Poulos
Not content with decades of handing out home cooked meals and food parcels to the disadvantaged in her community, Gina Poulos opened up her own house in Morwell for people who had nowhere else to go. Theodora House welcomes families, people with mental illness or recently released from jail. With no regular source of income for her charity, Gina holds sausage sizzles to generate funds, but it is Gina and her family who often make up the shortfall.
COURAGE MEDAL
For an Australian, who through his or her act/s of courage have overcome personal adversity through
determination and strength of character.
Rosie Batty
Few Australians have not been inspired by the courage of Rosie Batty, whose 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father at cricket practice in February this year. Despite her unimaginable loss, Rosie has become an advocate against family violence, campaigning for reforms to the system that let her and Luke down. Her brave, calm and measured response in the days following Luke's death helped put family violence on the community and government agenda.
Phineas Meere
Born at 26 weeks and weighing 780g, Phineas Meere has not let his premature beginnings define his life's goals. Phin has disabilities including cerebral palsy and poor eyesight. He also has two degrees from Deakin University, is actively involved in the Malvern Bowls Club and has completed two Malvern Marathon swims. He also co-hosts a 30 minute disability advocacy program on 3CR community radio, is a panellist on No Limits on Channel 31 and acts as a judge on the disability themed "Other Film Festival".
Glen Wood
A fall from a double-storey roof almost ended Glen Wood's life, with his family being told he would be "a vegetable" or a quadriplegic if he survived. But that prognosis did not take in Glen's fighting spirit which allowed him not only to survive, but to embrace his new life in a wheelchair. He takes part in various wheelchair sports and half-Ironman competitions and is a regular swimmer in the Lorne Pier to Pub. Glen enjoys speaking at schools, where his message to students is that people can live strong and active lives in a wheelchair.
INSPIRATION MEDAL
To recognise a member of our teaching professions from early childhood to university education or a role model whose compassion and wisdom while teaching, coaching and mentoring our youth has been truly inspiring.
Oliver Harris
Oliver Harris left the marketing and advertising industry to retrain as a teacher, with a personal goal of educating children outside the traditional classroom. At Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital Education Institute, Oliver has achieved his aim many times over. Primarily based in the hospital's cancer ward, Oliver teaches some of Victoria's sickest children, giving them a focus beyond the illnesses that can keep them confined to hospital for months on end.
Alan Lachman
Alan Lachman's third daughter Francesca was born with serious eye problems that left her totally blind. Leaving his job, Alan dedicated his life to creating a specialist primary school for the blind. Insight Education Centre for the Blind and Vision Impaired opened its doors in Berwick in 2012, with its specialist primary school beginning last year. Alan's successful fight for funds from the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments and his partnership with Monash University have helped him develop the "Insight Model", which helps mainstream schools run specialist units or mobile classrooms to support vision impaired students.
Katherine Tsagaris
Katherine Tsagaris describes her teaching role at Parkville College as "the job of a lifetime". At just 29, she leads a team of teachers at the College at the Parkville Youth Justice Precinct, where her students are all juvenile offenders between 15 and 19. Providing these young people with the education that will show them crime is not their only life path, Katherine's positive and inspiring approach means that many of her students have been able to progress a whole school year in just two months under her tuition.
OUTSTANDING BRAVERY MEDAL
For an Australian, or group of Australians, who, through their act/s of bravery, helped save or attempted to save a life/lives.
Rebecca Barbara, Rebecca Biron, Vinay Dass, Andrew Di Lollo, Jo McIntyre
In February this year, neurosurgeon Michael Wong was stabbed repeatedly in the foyer of the Western Hospital in Footscray. Cancer patient Andrew Di Lollo and a group of staff took on the assailant in remarkable acts of bravery that saved the specialist surgeon's life. Staffer Vinay Dass, 43, grabbed an A-frame sign and distracted the attacker long enough for the group to pull the bleeding doctor out of harm's way and race him to the emergency department.
Cassandra Grigoriadis
On an art excursion to Melbourne in June this year, 16-year-old Cassandra Grigoriadis was standing outside the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) at Federation Square when she heard someone saying a pram was rolling down the hill. The Mater Christi Girls' College student could see the pram gathering speed and rolling towards busy Flinders Street. Sprinting after the pram, Cassie managed to stop it just a few metres from the roadway, to applause from her teacher and classmates. The baby's mother, who also had a toddler on a trike, had been distracted and was close to tears when Cassie returned the baby safely.
Donald Romey
Donald Romey was a guest at a rural Raywood property when the homeowner David Paris walked out of the house and was shot by a middle aged man. Fearing for the safety of David's partner Rebecca, their eight-year-old son and Rebecca's mother who were all inside the house, Don bravely went outside and confronted the gunman, unarmed. Don argued that the man should get in his vehicle and go, and after some time, he did. Although Don and Rebecca gave David CPR until paramedics arrived, David unfortunately died at the scene. However, Don's actions may have prevented his own death and those of three others on that night in June.
YOUNG LEADER MEDAL
A person under 25 years who has advanced a community, or will advance a community, through academic or personal endeavours.
Sissy-Amelia Austin
As the first in her family to complete VCE and attend university, Sissy is passionate about helping and mentoring indigenous youth. Her involvement in international youth and indigenous affairs took her to Peru last year, but it is in her local area that she shines brightest. Now employed as the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Officer at Loreto College in Ballarat, 20-year-old Sissy also works for the Australian Indigenous Mentoring experience and the Centre for Multicultural Youth.
Will Austin
Will Austin is described as a natural leader. Motivated by his engagement with the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy, 18-year-old Will has made it his mission to raise awareness about Australia's devastating youth suicide rates – rates that are 3-5 times higher for indigenous youth. Will is now an R U OK? Community ambassador, running events, delivering inspiring speeches and working closely with other mental health and youth organisations.
Louise Frith
Diagnosed with curvature of the spine at just 10, Louise Frith looked online for support from other young Scoliosis sufferers. Finding nothing locally, Louise discovered the Curvy Girls Scoliosis support group based in the US. The group was run by girls for girls, with the aim of providing support, compassion and wider awareness of the condition. With her mum's help, Louise contacted the US founders and undertook the training required to establish the Melbourne Chapter. Now 12, Louise spends many hours online mentoring other girls with scoliosis nation-wide, and holding regular meetings.
Jessica Barlow
Frustrated by the impact of digitally altered images of young women in fashion magazines, Jessica Barlow, 23, set up the Brainwash Project two years ago to fight the one-sided view of beauty that these images created. In 2012, Jess ran a social media campaign asking CLEO magazine to let readers know that body shape or features had been digitally altered in some of its photographs. Attracting more than 22,000 signatures in a few months, Jess then used her own funds to fly to Sydney to meet with the magazine's editor, who agreed to publish CLEO Photoshop Guidelines in each issue.
CHILD OF COURAGE MEDAL
A child 16 years or under who has helped save, or attempted to save, the life of another or overcome personal adversity through determination and strength of character, allowing them to improve the quality of not only their lives, but also those around them.
Ella Bayes
On holiday with her mum Jo earlier this year, 12-year-old Ella Bayes heard a loud bang during the night. Ella soon realised Jo had fallen six metres from the balcony while sleepwalking. Finding her mum severely injured, Ella raced back upstairs, called the ambulance, and then followed instructions to keep her distressed mother calm and immobile until they arrived. On admission to hospital, Jo was diagnosed with a broken neck, 11 broken ribs, a broken jaw and serious head injuries. Doctors said that without Ella's quick response her mother may have died from her injuries.
Paige Casley
Nine-year-old Paige Casley was at home with her younger sister Ava, 5, and two young cousins in February this year when her dad Glenn had a seizure. While her father was bleeding profusely from a tongue bite and flailing on the floor, Paige calmed the other children, put a pillow under Glenn's head to stop him harming himself further and called her nearby grandmother, who called 000. Working with her grandma and the 000 operator, Paige continued to help her dad until her uncle and the ambulance arrived.
Eric Watkins
Eight-year-old Eric Watkins was collecting firewood in Flowerdale's woodlands with his mother Carrie earlier this year, when they decided to race their quad bikes. But the race soon turned from fun to disaster when Carrie lost control, hit a tree and lost consciousness. Arriving on the scene Eric's dad phoned 000 and drove out of the bush to guide emergency services to Carrie, whilst Eric stayed by his mother's side. Guided by the ambulance operator over the phone, Eric kept reassuring his mum she would be OK, staying calm and composed despite being scared she would die.
HEROISM MEDAL
To recognise a member or members (professional or volunteer) of the SES, police, fire, ambulance, coastguard, defence forces, air rescue service who have gone beyond the call of duty to protect the community.
Andrew Wood, Varli Blake, Emma Quick, Tony Scully
A routine welfare check in Middle Park turned to horror for three police officers and a firefighter when a gas-filled third floor unit exploded in January this year.
After knocks at the door went unanswered, police contacted the MFB to access the unit through the balcony.
Moments after entering, an explosion engulfed firefighter Andrew Wood and the officers - Constable Varli Blake, First Constable Emma Quick and Sergeant Tony Scully.
All suffered burns and despite his injuries Andrew climbed back up the ladder to bring badly burned Emma to safety.
Danny Shaddock , Jenny Wiltshire
Police officers, Detective Senior Constable Danny Shaddock and Leading Senior Constable Jenny Wiltshire were called to a Cloverlea farm where four men were trapped in a water tank. The tank contained lethal chemicals leaving the men unconscious and in danger of drowning in the toxic liquid. With Jenny holding on to his belt, Danny held his breath, entering the tank 15 times before bringing all four out through a hole cut into the side of the tank. The men were within minutes of death and both officers required hospital treatment after the rescue.
Stephen Hillman, Michael Ingram
Policemen Stephen Hillman and Michael Ingram were called to a car crash in December, 2012. The leading senior constables found a distressed woman driver pointing out a man pinned under one of the cars. He was being slowly crushed until the officers lifted the car allowing the man to begin to breathe again. Despite considerable pain, the pair held the car up for almost four minutes before help arrived. Both sustained ligament damage to their shoulders requiring surgery, but without their heroic actions the victim would have been unlikely to survive.
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