Australia Day ceremonies start bright and early in Lachlan Shire, with a free community breakfast at 7am, prior to the main ceremony to be held at the Condobolin SRA Pavilion. Traditionally rotating between Lake Cargelligo and Condobolin, the festivities focus on Condo this year with the ceremony starting at 8am. 

With 17 worthy nominees across the Shire, the winners will not be known until that morning. Nine citizenship ceremonies are also scheduled. 

Australia Day Ambassador for the Lachlan Shire region is Carolyn Mee. Ms Mee is the CEO of Sound Scouts, a company focused on improving access to children’s hearing screening.



In December 22, with the support of the Department of Health, Sound Scouts celebrated enabling over 110,000 children’s hearing checks, with the service being used in metropolitan areas, but also in rural and remote areas where audiology services are not readily available.  

Ms Mee and her team have utilised technology to make hearing checks more accessible and have improved the lives of many children in the process. 

Carolyn is no stranger to awards, having received numerous accolades herself, including the Women in Digital, Innovator of the Year Award in 2020. Ms Mee was also selected in the AFR Westpac 100 Women of Influence. 

"Awards are great," Ms Mee said. "But improving children's lives is the perfect prize. 

Locals have the chance to meet Ms Mee at the official Lachlan Shire Australia Day Award and Citizenship Ceremony or later in the day at Tottenham. 

Ms Mee and the Lachlan Shire Mayor, Mr John Medcalf OAM, will travel north to Tottenham after the Condobolin event, via Fyfield and Albert. 

The Tottenham community have their own ceremony planned, with awards to be presented in the evening to the Local Young Citizen of the Year, Local Citizen of the Year, Community Event of the Year and the Local Australia Day Award for Community Service. 

The town pool will be open from midday with free entry for everyone, plenty of fun planned and a free barbecue to wind up the day. A yabby race is planned for 6-30om with awards announced shortly after.