The morning began in Jellicoe Park with the joyful strains of the Moree Pipe Band, followed by the boisterous Moree and District Brass Band.  

The ceremony then moved on to a number of patriotic rituals, including firing up the barbecue, loudly singing the first two verses of the national anthem, mumbling the third verse and having to put everything on hold because of a wild animal. In this case it was a cockatoo which perched above the crowd and starting screeching so loudly that the master of ceremonies for the Australia Day awards, Damien Crump,  had to pause his speech and wait for the bird to finish having his say. 

Moree’s Australia  Day ambassador, humour therapist Jean-Paul Bell, suggested the bird was making its own last minute nomination. 

If so, it fell on deaf ears. The Citizen of the Year award went to director of the Gwydir Mobile Children’s Services, Wendy Baldwin. She was selected from a field of four nominees, all of whom were women who volunteer for a number of community organisations. 

Max Houlahan was named Sportsperson of the Year while the Moree Show Society was Community Event/Organisation of the Year. Unfortunately, no Youth of the Year nominations were submitted.

Earlier, 16 new Australians were officially awarded citizenship, pledging to uphold the values and laws of this country and promising to enrich it with their own customs and personal skills and endeavours. 

Kamilaroi elder Elaine Sampson opened the speeches with a welcome to country. She said Australia Day was a time to remember the “injustice and suffering” faced by indigenous Australia but also for the whole community to unite and celebrate the diversity of this country. 

“We all have an obligation to protect and preserve... this rich black soil country on which we stand,” she said.