Community interest a cause that reaps much

Australia Day, the day I love to celebrate our heritage by enjoying a sausage sizzle and a beer, relax by the pool or swim in the ocean, and enjoy the festivities and the fireworks.

At the tender age of 15 I had spent the past year-and-a-half fighting with a local government blinded by wanting progress and development of a world-class foreshore.

In 2010 the City of Geraldton Greenough used an independent risk assessment to close an iconic structure on Geraldton’s foreshore — the 50-cent swing.

The council at the time didn’t expect the uproar, let alone the fight and the end result.

I can remember one night I saw a week-old copy of the Geraldton Guardian on my kitchen bench and opened it to find a column by former editor the late Alex McKinnon (one of my biggest supporters).

The piece was of the shock overnight bolting of the historic structure next to the decaying Old Library Building, which is being restored.

I took to Facebook where I created a Facebook page called Keep the 50-Cent Swing Swinging, which in 24 hours climbed to more than 1900 Geraldton locals calling for its unbolting. (2887 likes today).

I was contacted by former mayor Vickie Petersen, who would ultimately be my guide and mentor on this journey.

We had countless one-on-one meetings and create petitions, talking to local and national media, radio and TV interviews.

Very quickly I started to see that a small idea could spread like fire and my support grew.

A special electors’ meeting was held and then the final result was a $2.2 million youth precinct and the permanent bolting of the swing.

It didn’t hit me until later when I realised the State Government had chipped in a large amount of money to the project.

I received the news in late 2011 I had been nominated for an Australia Day award and, to my shock and surprise, I won young achiever of the year award for the City of Geraldton Greenough.

Still to this day I have similar people from other States wanting to know my story and how it all unfolded.

The true answer to that and the only answer is I didn’t set out to achieve what I did, it just happened.

I went with the flow and the end result was amazing.

Regardless of what you achieve, if you have service to your community at heart, go for it and try your best.

NOMINATIONS OPEN

The City of Greater Geraldton invites nominations for the Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Awards. Categories include Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Award, Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Award for a person under 26 years, Premier’s Australia Day Active Citizenship Award for a community group or event, and City of Greater Geraldton Young Achiever of the Year for a person under 21 years.

Nomination forms are available from City of Greater Geraldton offices or online via the council website.

If you have service to your community at heart, go for it and try your best