Top citizens named at Trafalgar breakfast

Trafalgar honoured its top achievers on Australia Day, announcing its citizen and young citizen of the year at an annual breakfast.

Peter Farmer was named citizen of the year while Cooper Burgess took out the young citizen honours.

Anglican Minister Sue Jacka presented the two awards.

Cooper was recognised for his outstanding work at Trafalgar High School last year as school captain, showing a high degree of leadership through tough times.

He helped create content for social media and pioneered student participation for Anzac Day, as well as represented students for a uniform change and student forums.

He thanked his family and said it was a real honour to be recognised for the award.

Peter was named citizen of the year for his service to the community and was thanked for being a valued member behind the scenes for over 65 years.

Most notably, he helped set up the Trafalgar Probus club, as well as being a member of the bowls club and the treasurer there for 30 years alongside many other community achievements.

Peter thanked family members for their support over the years and those who thought he would be a worthy recipient on the day.

David “Wombat” Lyons welcomed everyone to the breakfast and acknowledged the traditional custodians of the land, before Cr Darren Wallace talked about what Australia Day means to him.

Well-known local doctor Michael Kunze was guest speaker.

Dr Kunze touched on the events of the past year, and how proud he was of Australia, Victoria and

Trafalgar and his community’s handling of the COVID19 pandemic.

“As individuals, we’ve had to face so much adversity, changing policies, can we go out, when can we go, it’s really been an incredible effort by everyone.

“We’re a country who invests in our community. We value things such as health, education and much more and we respect it.

“All of you coming today shows how much you value community too,” he said.

He thanked everyone in the community for their work over the past 12 months and said Trafalgar would remain committed to volunteering and being a safe and strong town.

With COVID safe measures in place, a good turnout of community members enjoyed a cooked breakfast prepared by Trafalgar Lions and Lioness Clubs.