Every year the Narromine Shire Council takes the time to formally recognize some of the wonderful contributions that individuals and groups make to their communities through the Australia Day Awards Program. 

Recipients of these awards are announced at the official Australia Day celebrations, which will be held in both Narromine and Trangie on January 26. 

Narromine: 

Narromine's Australia Day will be held at Dundas Park from 8:30am, with a free BBQ Breakfast provided by the Lion's Club of Narromine. 

The Narromine Australia Day event will be a COVID-19 safe event, therefore it will be held outdoors. 

The celebrations will also include a citizenship ceremony which will take place prior the announcement of the recipients of this year's Australia Day Awards. 

The Awards promote and recognize outstanding achievement in the Narromine community during 2021, and will be presented by Narromine Shire's Mayor, Craig Davies, and the 2022 Australia Day Ambassador for Narromine, Andrew Lock.  

Andrew is Australia's most accomplished high-altitude mountaineer, being the only Australian or member of the entire British Commonwealth for that matter to have climbed every peak in the world over 8000 metres. 

That amounts to 18 summits, including Mt Everest (which he climbed twice), three times more than any other Australian. 

"After finishing a project to climb all of the worlds 8000 metre peaks the invitation to be an Australia Day Ambassador kind of flowed on from that," said Andrew. 

"The first one was in Sydney in 2010, it was a nice ceremony in a big council area but I didn't like it very much, it's just not really my style. So I asked them to send me out to more rural communities since then." 

Andrew has since attended around 9 Australia Day celebrations since 2010 and is quick to favor his visits to rural communities. 

"I love the opportunity to travel to these areas and be part of the celebrations that the various communities have in relation to Australia day," said Andrew. 

"I'm generally asked to give my perspective on what it is to be Australian and for me the biggest part of being Australian is resilience. In regional areas, whether it is droughts or fires or floods, these areas are the most resilient and that is what I like to commemorate as being Australian." 

Andrew himself is very familiar with resilience, as it is a large part of how he has accomplished so much as a mountaineer, being the first Australian to ascend 6 of the 18 summits he has scaled places him in a very small and very impressive group of the world's best alpinists. 

As a highly experienced adventurer, he has led treks and mountaineering expeditions in Nepal, Pakistan, Central Asia, and North and South America. 

In 2000, after spending three years in Antarctica leading and training expeditioners involved in Australia's National Antarctic Research Programme, he became the first Australian to lead a commercial expedition to the summit of Mt Everest. 

Andrew has accumulated a variety of awards over his career as an expeditioner and mountaineer, even being awarded the Order of Australia in 2010 for services to Mountaineering. 

He has also been awarded the Mt Everest medal twice by the Government of Nepal, as well as an Australian Commendation award for Bravery after saving the lives of three climbers on Mt Everest. 

"For me the mountains have been very leveling, they strip away all pretense and I find a similar approach in rural areas," said Andrew. 

"The genuineness of the community, where there is no pretense, what you see is what you get and everyone looks you straight in the eye and you can have an honest chat about things." 

Following the formal event proceeding's community members and visitors are invited to attend 'Inflatable Day' at the Narromine Aquatic Centre, with FREE ENTRY from 11:00am to 3:00pm on Wednesday 26th January. 

Trangie: 

Organized by the Trangie Action Group, Trangie's Australia Day celebration will be held at the USMC at 5:30pm, with catering provided. 

The community's Australia Day Awards will be presented by the Mayor of Narromine Shire Craig Davies and Trangie's 2022 Australia Day Ambassador Rob Storey. 

Rob is the Director for Pre-Contracts for Inland Rail, Australia's largest infrastructure project, accountable for leading the Pre-Contracts phase which spans from project development all the way to awarding contracts. 

Rob joined Inland Rail in 2017 as Project Director and assumed the role of Director Pre-Contracts in 2021. 

Rob has brought a lot of experience and knowledge to the Inland Rail project, having led the planning and implementation phases of large scale initiatives for both private and public sectors in the past. 

He has a natural ability to lead and inspire multi-disciplinary teams in complex projects, providing outcomes that are aimed at optimizing value and focusing on the communities in which they are implemented. 

“In September 2020, we announced a change to our procurement process to make it more collaborative, projects smaller and less complex and provide a broader section of the industry with more opportunity to participate on Inland Rail,” he said. 

His experience and technical expertise, coupled with his focus on team culture and industry collaboration allows Rob to successfully drive the critical Program level activities which facilitate the effective delivery of the Inland Rail Program. 

On Thursday 27 January, Inflatable Day will be held at Trangie Aquatic Centre from 11:00am to 3:00pm, with FREE ENTRY for all visitors.