Sue rewarded for dedication

Mrs Pickrell received the honour at an official ceremony yesterday at Nundle Public School, organised by the Nundle Australia Day Committee and Tamworth Regional Council, and featuring official Australia Day ambassador, television presenter Catriona Rowntree.

Ten-year-old Riley Leys of Duncans Creek was named Junior Citizen of the Year, while Rebecca Linich was honoured with the Community Hero Award.

Hanging Rock 10-year-old Wunda Jaffer-Williams won the Nundle Junior Sport Award for reaching state level in cross-country and athletics, while the Community Appreciation Award was presented to Heath Atchison, who has been an active volunteer for the Nundle Riverside Walk Project, fundraises for the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service and is involved in the Go For Gold Festival.

The Nundle Australia Day Committee also acknowledged the contribution of four local residents with community appreciation awards: Hamish Adams, for volunteering with the Upper Peel Landcare Group; Lindsey Burnes, for excellence in debating and sports and showing great leadership potential; Saskia Fitzgerald, for outstanding support of the Kids’ Cancer Project; and Jackson Worley, for great civic awareness in all aspects of school life and for excellence in music.

Mrs Pickrell was described as being a “significant part of the co-operative teamwork that leads to a sustainable community”, through her seven years as a member of the former Nundle Community Development Committee and her current membership of the Nundle History and Heritage Research Committee.

During her time on the community development committee, she helped drive numerous projects, including village seating, heritage building repair and renovation, woody weeds eradication, library improvement works, and native tree planting days.

Through the heritage research committee she has contributed papers, photographs and maps to the committee’s collection of resources, including material on the Aboriginal history of the district.

Riley has achieved a level of academic achievement “beyond her years” and has excelled in her chosen sport of karate, finishing with a second and third at the World Koshiki Karate Federation Oceania World Cup.

The Woolomin Public School student is also a keen rodeo and campdraft competitor and was described as “an amazing ambassador for rural youth who demonstrates, every day in every way, the qualities of an outstanding young leader’’.

Rebecca Linich is a twice-deployed returned veteran who raises awareness in the community about post-traumatic stress disorder and runs to fundraise for a different charity every month.

The registered nurse is also the secretary of the Nundle RSL Sub-branch and the treasurer of the Nundle Rural Fire Service.