MEDIA RELEASE - Local legends and newest citizens take the stage at Sutherland Shire Council’s Australia Day celebrations
A stellar selection of the local volunteers, service organisations, characters and champions who play a pivotal role in shaping the Sutherland Shire have again been honoured for their contribution to our community as part of Sutherland Shire Council’s annual ‘Citizen of the Year’ awards and citizenship ceremony.
With this year’s ceremony once again taking place at the Pavilion Performing Arts Centre, hundreds of local residents gathered to recognise the incredible achievements and selfless contributions of those honoured at this year’s awards, with recipients having made an impact across a diverse range of sports, vocations and civic-minded causes.
Sutherland Shire Mayor, Councillor Jack Boyd heralded the amazing contributions of all those who had been put forward by their peers as nominees for the annual awards, acknowledging the incredible calibre of this year’s award recipients.
“Each year our Citizen of the Year awards shine the spotlight on so many incredible local residents and organisations who serve to make a real difference in our community and who bolster the reputation of the Sutherland Shire as a vibrant, inclusive and incredible place to call home,” Mayor Boyd said.
“Through the achievements and contributions of each of those honoured at this year’s Citizen of the Year awards, our community has been represented on the world stage in numerous sporting events and disciplines, as well as benefiting from invaluable contributions to our natural environment and our service sector.
“I would like to congratulate the winner of our Citizen of the Year John Veage, who after 39 years capturing images of award winners at this event as a photographer for The Leader finally gets a turn in the limelight as a very deserving winner of our community’s top honour.
“I must also acknowledge the support our community has once again shown for this event, with special thanks to everyone who submitted a nomination for their role in putting forward some incredible local residents who each play a role in making a difference in our community.”
This year’s award recipients were drawn from a wide array of individuals and service organisations, each nominated for outstanding contributions made through their work or volunteer efforts across the following categories: Citizen of the Year, Young Citizen of the Year, Community Group of the Year, Environmental Citizen of the Year, Sport Citizen of the Year and Young Sports Citizen of the Year.
With Sutherland Shire Council’s Australia Day events program also including a bumper citizenship ceremony, Mayor Boyd said he was delighted to have been able to confer Australian citizenship on 132 local residents as part of the ceremony.
“Throughout my time serving Council I have always been awed at what a joyful occasion it is for local residents drawn from all over the globe when they get the opportunity to take up Australian citizenship,” Mayor Boyd said.
“At our Australia Day citizenship ceremony again this year we have seen people hailing from an incredibly diverse array of countries and cultures, many of whom have called the Sutherland Shire home for years, but each of whom is united in their belief in Australian values and a desire to contribute to our society.
“It is a tremendous pleasure to officially welcome each of our newest citizens and to be part of an occasion I know they will treasure for the rest of their lives.”
Please see the following 2025 Sutherland Shire Citizen of the Year award winners:
Winner | Details |
Citizen of the Year John Veage
| John Veage spent a staggering 39 years as a photographer for The Leader, a tenure which has seen him become just as much of a recognisable face to our community as many of the headline grabbing subjects of his photos. His contribution to our local media landscape cannot be underestimated, with his photography capturing the newsmakers, sports stars, personalities and everyday people who have been part of our community over this lengthy career in local news. On top of his work with The Leader, John has also served as the official photographer for both Cycling Australia and Surf Life Saving Australia and has pursued his lifelong passion for surfing in his roles as a founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire. His incredible surfing photography was the subject of a solo exhibition at Hazelhurst Arts Centre, one of the best attended exhibitions ever staged at the gallery. |
Young Citizen of the Year Harrison Edwards
| At only 12 years of age, Harrison is a tireless contributor to the Barden Ridgebacks Football Club, involving himself in almost every facet of the club’s operations. Harrison helps his team coach set up and pack up the fields for his team training session and organise equipment for the weekend game, and paints the fields lines for the weekend’s games throughout the football season. During the weekend he is an active referee for the ‘Mini Roo’ competitions and helps guide new referees when they start. He jumps on BBQ and canteen duties at any time over the weekend to help during busy times and helps stack and organise the canteen, change rooms and game sheets for the weekend’s games. Throughout August, he attended Club Menai to help sell meat tray raffle tickets as a fund raiser for the soccer club. Harrison also plays a major role during finals and grand final weeks setting up and packing up of equipment and most significantly, he hosts the presentation of the premiership medals to the winners and runners up often in front of hundreds of adults from our community. |
Community Group of the Year Project Youth
| Project Youth is a local organisation which works tirelessly with young people across the Sutherland Shire and Georges River regions to address youth homelessness. In addition to the organisation’s work in preventing youth homelessness they also work to ensure that when local young people do find themselves without stable accommodation that this is brief and non-reoccurring through early intervention, employment, education and training and Housing. Last year Project Youth helped close to 3,000 local young people. |
Environmental Citizen of the Year Rhonda Daniels
| Rhonda has been a Bushcare volunteer since 2004 and works at several reserves, the community nursery, and Joseph Banks Gardens, as well as attending seed collecting days and leading tours. Rhonda is dedicated and enthusiastic about Bushcare, willingly promotes the program and assists new volunteers to learn new skills by sharing her extensive knowledge. She is always keen to research and educate on new or unusual species. Rhonda has also been a member of Australian Plants Society since 1993, where she has held several positions at district, state and national levels. She has been the editor for the quarterly publications of Native Plants and Australia Plants journals. Rhonda has also written and co-authored several submissions to local and state governments on issues relating to the conservation of native plants. |
Sutherland Shire Sports Citizen of the Year Daniel Michel
| An inspirational member of the Sutherland Shire, Dan is a two-time Paralympic medalist and three-time Paralympian who has proudly represented our country on dozens of occasions in his chosen sport of boccia. Daniel earned a bronze medal in the boccia mixed BC3 category at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, Australia’s first ever Paralympics medal in the discipline. Last year Daniel built on this success, claiming the silver medal at the Paris Paralympics in the boccia BC3 category, Australia’s best ever result in the sport at a Paralympics. These accolades come in addition to his haul of two gold medals at the world championships in Rio de Janeiro in 2022 and silver and bronze medal wins at the 2018 world championships in Liverpool. Together with fellow boccia competitor Jamieson Leeson, Daniel was awarded the 2023 ‘Sport NSW Team of the Year with a Disability’ and the Australian Institute of Sport Performance Awards Team of the Year, further adding to his astonishing achievements in the sport of boccia. |
Sutherland Shire Young Sports Citizen of the Year Jarvis Earle
| Jarvis has dominated the Junior World Series in Surfing for many years and is a serious competitor on surfing’s world stage and a real threat for championship tour qualification. Among the many achievements Jarvis has notched up in his surfing career to date include winning the Australian Junior Championships, the Australian Open of Surfing, Skull Candy’s Oz Grom Open as well as multiple grom competitions. The Cronulla based surfer has also earned himself a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport at the High-Performance Centre for Surfing. He has won numerous world class events and regularly achieves top results. |