Community
24 January, 2025
Reward for garden volunteers
NATHAN McKane has been named Warrnambool City’s 2025 Citizen of the Year.
Nathan was presented with the award during a special ceremony at Emmanuel College last night (Thursday).
The award recognises his tireless work in raising awareness and encouraging life-changing conversations about mental health.
In July 2023 he took part in “Ks for R U OK?” which challenged participants to choose a distance that they aimed to complete over the course of the month.
“I did that out of curiosity and I didn’t really fully grasp it. About a week into it, I saw that it was really gaining some traction with friends behind the scenes,” Nathan said.
Despite challenging conditions, including walking in -4°C hail, Nathan’s dedication to the R U OK? cause didn’t stop at the end of the challenge, and his ongoing efforts were recognised by R U OK?, who appointed him as an ambassador in 2024.
“Feedback told us it was the most heart-warming session they’ve ever done.”
Nathan’s passion for the R U OK? message stems from personal experience.
“Unfortunately I’ve lost a mate. Twenty years, you never know when those ripples will present,” he said.
“The reality is, it was suicide and it’s a very hard word to use. If what I’m doing impacts one person who picks up a phone, that’s fantastic.”
As well as spreading the message to people he doesn’t know, his greater awareness of mental health has made him a beacon for people in his various friendship circles.
“When you walk along the promenade with the shirt on and somebody might read that logo and think ‘I’m going to check-in myself, or I’m going to go home and ring a mate,’ that’s the depth of it to me,” he said.
Looking ahead, Nathan is hopeful about the future of mental health awareness.
“Through the ’90s, there was none of this around, and now schools are implementing this stuff,” he said.
“I don’t know where things will be in 20 years, but I think that’s the exciting part.”
Nathan was characteristically humble when speaking of the award.
“I’m just an average bloke having a crack,” he said.
“There are so many people involved and you get to stand up there and represent those people which is cool.”
Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain said that there was no telling how many people Nathan had helped with his positive messages.
“Every conversation could save a life,” he said.
“What might seem like something small to you could make a world of difference to someone who is having a tough time.
“Whether he’s walking down the promenade with an R U OK? t-shirt or discussing mental health with hundreds of high school students as a guest speaker, Nathan has made it his mission to do everything he can to spread a positive message and support anyone who needs an ear to listen.”
The 2025 Young Citizen of the Year Award was presented to Sharna Rogers.
Despite juggling three jobs, Sharna also finds time to volunteer in her local community.
“If there’s a gap in my calendar I’ll fill it,” she said.
The bubbly 22 year-old believes life is about making human connections, gaining skills and sharing them.
She plays an integral role in the Warrnambool FReeZA crew, helping to create more opportunities for young people in the region.
“Music is a huge passion of mine, it always has been, and to be involved in the industry in any way possible to promote it, I’ll do anything I can to help that,” she said.
“FReeZA has definitely helped me gain more skills and confidence, but also allowed me to give back and teach others as well.
“Anyone under the age of 25 who thinks there’s not enough happening in our region, I urge them to get in contact so we can get something happening.”
And for existing clubs looking for more involvement from young people, Sharna’s advice was to give youth the freedom to purse the ideas they thought would work best.
“If you’re an adult running a community group or some kind of club, make it as easy as possible for them. Make sure you’re giving them space to do what they want to do,” she said.
Mayor Cr Ben Blain congratulated Sharna on her award.
“Sharna is an absolute dynamo, and the embodiment of the collective youth energy that isn’t always noticed by everyone, but is definitely simmering away and delivering results.”
The 2025 Local Achiever Award was won by Mike Toone.
After retiring to Warrnambool a decade ago, Mike wasted no time in getting involved in his new community, joining the Rotary Club of East Warrnambool and Standing Tall.
“I’ve been a member of Rotary East for 10 years,” he said.
“That was the best thing I did and I met 40 people straight away.”
Despite only playing golf about once a year, the hole-in-one competition run by the Rotary Club of East Warrnambool struck a chord with Mike.
What started as a fundraiser 20 years ago has grown into one of Warrnambool’s most popular summer activities, with entrants competing between Boxing Day and Australia Day to win a car.
“It’s our main money spinner for the year, and everything we make goes back into local charities.
“We make $70,000 to $80,000 a year, so it’s nice when people need some money. At the Pomonal fires, we were able to just go and give $10,000 to that so that’s one of the real drivers behind it.”
Mike also became involved with Standing Tall shortly after arriving in Warrnambool.
Inspired by Father Chris Ryan, who worked with youth in Sydney, Mike jumped at the opportunity to work with young people in his new hometown.
He’s also a regular visitor to the Merri River School each December where he dresses up as Santa, and as a self-described “football tragic” Mike also works with young footballers with the Greater Western Victoria Rebels.
Reflecting on his award, Mike expressed his deep appreciation for Warrnambool.
“I just think that Warrnambool is such a wonderful community,” he said.
“Straight away I saw that Warrnambool was a very giving community.
“Warrnambool has been great to us. It’s a beautiful place, so why not do what you can?”
The Warrnambool Community Garden Open Day received the Community Event of the Year award.
Held in October 2024, it was the first open day at the gardens for five years, with over 500 people flooding through the gates of the Grieve Street site.
A lot has changed at the gardens since the last open day, with the quarry amphitheatre, Chook Hilton, Healthy Urban Building (the HUB), herb garden, shed, composting area, worm farm and frog pond all new additions.
Highlights included the opening of the children’s garden and Sprouts Club area and the renewed all-abilities gardening nursery area.
Warrnambool Community Gardens Deputy Convener and Open Day organiser Geoff Rollinson said that while individual plots were popular, the garden had grown over its 15 year history to include a wide range of different programs.
“Clearly the word has spread because we now have 200 members, of which just a quarter are plot holders, so that speaks volumes for the reasons why people come to the gardens.”
Convener Courtney Mathew agreed, saying that the Open Day demonstrated just how many different aspects there are to the gardens, with more events on the horizon.
“I think the Open Day really inspired and sparked a lot of people’s interest to see it’s not just about digging in the ground, there’s a whole lot of other activities that we do that everyone can get involved in,” she said.
“We’re really excited to be hosting our first harvest festival, we’re calling it Harfest, in March. We’ve got an awesome line-up of bands, we’re going to be celebrating different cultures and the ways they celebrate their harvest.”
Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain said that like a well-cared-for plant, the Warrnambool Community Garden continued to grow healthily throughout the years.
Last night’s award presentation evening also included an Australian citizenship ceremony, with 49 people taking the Pledge and officially becoming Australian citizens.
