Gerald Carnie Memorial Award

Honorary Life Members

NSW Landcare Awards

GERALD CARNIE MEMORIAL AWARD

In June 2011, Gerald Carnie, a committed Landcarer, Regional Landcare Facilitator and Landcare NSW Council member from the Parkes area, died suddenly at the age of 46, leaving his wife Lorraine and sons, Ryan and Jarrod, grieving and the Landcare community shocked.

The Gerald Carnie Memorial Award for Keeping the Landcare Flame Alive was established by Landcare NSW to recognise this very special individuals’ contributions to the Landcare movement.

The Gerald Carnie Memorial Award stands as a testament to those who ignite passion and action in others, serving as a beacon of inspiration for greater involvement in Landcare initiatives.

It is awarded to an individual in recognition of their contribution to the development of “the philosophy of Landcare”.

The recipient champions the development of Landcare as a means to support and engender change in attitudes, which translates to a more cohesive and resilient community that acts to achieve a healthier environment and/or more productive and sustainable farms.

Applicants are judged on the impact they have had at the local and regional or state scale to ensure that Landcare can prosper.

THE GERALD CARNIE MEMORIAL AWARD RECIPIENTS

2024 – Stephanie Cameron, Tamworth Regional Landcare Association

2022 – Brian Hilton, Redhead Bluff Landcare Group (part of Lake Macquarie Landcare Volunteer Network)

2019 – Rob Dulhunty

2017 – Robyn Watson, Boggabri Landcare-Rivercare Group

2015 – Bill Pigott, Berry Landcare

2022 Gerald Carnie Memorial Award

Brian Hilton, Redhead Bluff Landcare (presented by PFL Chair Gurmesh Singh, Member for Coffs Harbour)

2019 Gerald Carnie Memorial Award

Acceptance speech to accept award on Rob Dulhunty’s behalf

2017 Gerald Carnie Memorial Award

Landcare NSW Councillor, David Walker’s speech

Parliamentary Friends of Landcare, The Hon Greg Aplin’s speech

2015 Gerald Carnie Memorial Award

David Walker’s speech, announcing the inaugural winner

Proudly Sponsored by the Parliamentary Friends of Landcare

The Parliamentary Friends of Landcare is a cross-party group of NSW Members of Parliament in support of Landcare – both at the state level and locally in suburbs, regional towns and farming communities.

The Gerald Carnie Memorial Award, is proudly supported by the Parliamentary Friends of Landcare.

The 2024 Parliamentary Friends of Landcare is Co-Chaired by:

Michael Kemp MP – PFL Co-Chair (Member for Oxley)
Steve Whan MP – PFL Co-Chair (Member for Monaro)
Roy Butler MP – PFL Co-Chair (Member for Barwon)

In 2019 Dugald Saunders MP, Mick Veitch MLC and Tamara Smith MP shared a message to the 2019 Gerald Carnie Memorial Award nominees and recipient:

2023 – Stephanie Cameron was awarded an honorary life membership to Landcare NSW in November 2023. Stephanie has consistently represented Landcare NSW in the community at large, being an exceptional ambassador, promoting our organisation’s values, mission, and achievements to a wider audience. Her professionalism, integrity, and genuine enthusiasm for Landcare has garnered respect and admiration from stakeholders and partners.

2023 – Hunter White was awarded life membership in November 2023. Hunter has been an integral part of Landcare NSW for many years; serving as a board member and navigating the role of Treasurer with strong and safe hands, especially through the transitioning of Landcare NSW to a Board. He has been an exceptional contributor to Landcare NSW, demonstrating outstanding commitment, and an unwavering passion for Landcare.

2023 – Mandi Stevenson was awarded an honorary life membership to Landcare NSW in November 2023. Mandi’s pioneering contribution to Landcare NSW built the foundations of today’s success. This award recognises her contribution to the movement and for her role as past Chair and Eldership for the movement.

2021 – Bill Pigott was awarded an honorary life membership to Landcare NSW in November 2021. An active Landcarer in Berry and former Chair of Berry Landcare,  Bill represented South East Landcare as a Landcare NSW Council member for many years. Bill has worked in roles such as coordinator of local Bushcare site, member of the local Catchment Management Authority and local council working groups and committees. Bill played an instrumental role in designing the early Musters and was also the inaugural recipient of the Gerald Carnie Memorial Award in 2015.

2021 – John Hughson was awarded life membership in November 2021. John has been involved with Landcare for over 25 years and has worked to develop, and champion, Landcare at a local, district, and regional level contributing to a legacy of strong, well-established and supported groups in Lake Macquarie and the Hunter. John was one of the main drivers behind setting up Landcare NSW as the state peak body for community Landcare in NSW in 2007. John went on to represent the Hunter region at the state level on the Landcare NSW Council for over a decade and served on Landcare NSW’s Executive Committee.  

2021 – Leigh McLaughlin was awarded life membership in November 2021. Leigh joined Landcare NSW in 2014 and led the campaign to secure the recognition and funding from the NSW Government in support of Local Landcare Coordinator and support services. Leigh played a critical role in forming Landcare NSW’s NSW Parliamentary Friends of Landcare and established excellent relationships with a number of NSW Government agencies such as Local Land Services, Biodiversity Conservation Trust, and the Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. During her time with the Landcare NSW team she made a significant contribution to the growth of Landcare and supported her many friends and colleagues in the Landcare community.

2020 – Keith Hyde was awarded life membership in November 2020. Keith was an endorsed member of the Landcare NSW Council representing LachLandcare from 2013 – 2020. He served on the Landcare NSW Executive Committee from 2014 – 2020 in various roles including Deputy Chair. Keith is still an active member of the Hovells Creek Landcare Group and Landcare practitioner on his beef cattle property in Central West NSW.

2020 – Chris Scott was awarded an honorary life membership to Landcare NSW in November 2020. Chris has been involved with Landcare for the past 20 years, contributing to the development of the movement at local, regional, state and national levels. He was one of the founders of Landcare NSW in 2007. Chris represented the Mid Coast 2 Tops region on the Landcare NSW Council and served on the Landcare NSW Executive Committee for several years as Chair and Treasurer.

2020 – Sonia Williams was awarded life membership in November 2020. Sonia has been involved in the Landcare movement for many years starting as a volunteer project officer for her local Landcare group and holding various positions at a local, district and state level for Southern New England Landcare, New England North West and Landcare NSW. One of Sonia’s career highlights with Landcare NSW was her critical role in successfully lobbying for and then designing the NSW State Government funded Local Landcare Coordinator Initiative launched in 2015.

2020 – Stuart Mosely was awarded an honorary life membership to Landcare NSW in November 2020. The membership recognises his contribution to Landcare in the Western region and as a founding member of the Buckwaroon Catchment Landcare group. He was instrumental in policy reform to the Native Vegetation Act and has held executive positions on both the Western NSW Landcare Committee and Landcare NSW Council for several years, most recently as Secretary.

2019 – David Walker was awarded an honorary life membership to Landcare NSW in November 2019. The membership recognises his contribution as founding Chair of Landcare NSW from 2007 – 2010 and for being instrumental in the genesis and growth of Landcare, both in NSW and nationally.

2018 – Rob Dulhunty was awarded life membership in November 2018. Rob has been a passionate member of the Landcare movement since his initial involvement in 1989. He was an active participant of the district Landcare network for the Glen Innes area – GLENRAC – from 1989 until 2009. After helping to found Landcare NSW in 2007, he was Chair from 2011 to 2018 during a period of phenomenal growth.

2024 NSW Landcare Awards

The 2023/2024 Landcare Awards are being run this year as a collaboration between Landcare NSW and Local Land Services.  The official award ceremony will be held in Sydney in June.

With an impressive 139 submissions received, the competition was intense across all nine of the following categories:

• Australian Government Climate Innovation Award
• Australian Government Sustainable Agriculture Landcare Award
• Australian Government Individual Landcarer Award
• Australian Government Community Partnerships Landcare Award
• Greyhound Coastcare Award
• First Nations Landcare Collaboration Award
• NextGen Landcare Award
• Women in Landcare Award
• Woolworths Junior Landcare Award

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who took the time to submit a nomination, and eagerly anticipate celebrating alongside the winners and runners-up at the upcoming NSW Landcare Awards.

You can view the finalists across all categories by visiting our recent post about the Awards.

The Landcare Awards will be held in Sydney on June 3rd, if you’d like to attend you can purchase a ticket prior to 16th May.

2021 NSW Landcare Awards

The 2021 State & Territory Landcare Awards profile individuals and groups from urban and rural communities who are working together to care for our country.

From the coast to the country, and from cities to the outback, Landcare’s greatest asset is its people – all motivated by a shared vision to restore and protect the environment in their local community.

Grand champions of the NSW National Award categories will now go on to represent the whole NSW Landcare Community at the 2022 National Landcare Awards in Sydney.

The 2021 NSW Landcare Award Grand champions are:

Australian Government Individual Landcarer Award – Julie Holstegge, Milkwood Farm

Thousands of volunteer hours, thousands of tree’s, farmers engaged, an amazing sustainable legacy, Landcare hero Julie Holstegge transformed ‘kikuyu drains & paddocks ‘ to biodiversity hotspots.

Finalists:
Marg Bull – Murrumbidgee Landcare Inc.
Winsome Lambkin – Lake Macquarie Landcare

Australian Community Media Landcare Community Group Award – Upper Mooki Landcare Inc.

Upper Mooki Landcare Inc. seeks to be a proactive and innovative organisation, challenging boundaries and mainstream thinking by providing educational and networking opportunities for our communities.

Finalists:
Mulgoa Valley Landcare
Upper Lachlan Landcare Grazing group

Australian Government Partnerships for Landcare Award – Australian Association of Bush Regenerators

First Aid for Burned Bushland, a 42-entity collaboration, supported land-carers to understand the embedded resilience of their landscapes to aid recovery from the 2019-20 bushfires.

FABB was created to assist in the post-fire recovery by forming a plethora of partnerships to share expertise in bush regeneration with Landcare and landholder groups, coordinate volunteers to assess sites and implement on ground works for landowners and land managers, provide networking opportunities, develop and share educational resources, secure funding from businesses, agencies and organisations to develop targeted resources and evaluate and communicate the lessons learnt after 12 months of recovery with the bush regeneration community.  

Finalists:
Sydney Metropolitan Wildlife Services Inc.
The Protecting Little Llangothlin (RAMSAR) for Future Generation Project

Woolworths Junior Landcare Team Award – Ivanhoe Central School

The Ivanhoe community was brought together. Students now have a greater understanding of their environment, together with a sense of achievement, worth and belonging.

Ivanhoe Central School is a small school situated in far Western NSW on the Cobb highway. The school caters for students from kindergarten to year 12 with approximately 25 students in total. All students are actively involved in every aspect of the school’s ‘Outback Adventure Farm’ which is entwined through all their schooling.

The school initiative of establishing and growing a farm from bare ground has enabled the students and the wider community to see what can be achieved when you put your minds together and you work as a team.

Finalists:
Bexhill Public School
THINK SHARE ACT Grose View Public School

Australian Government Landcare Farming Award – Martin Royds, Jillamatong

Martin Royds’ work at Jillamatong demonstrates working, regenerative, future-sustaining farming, modelled on the teachings of the unique Australian landscape, Indigenous Elders and leading change thinkers.

Martin’s integrated land management techniques and leadership practices have been carried out since 1985. His property is used as a demonstration farm to trial new thinking and innovative methods in farming, facilitating many field days, open days and training events both at Jillamatong and at other farms.

Finalists:
Stuart Austin – Wilmot Cattle Company
Graham Strong – Arcadia

Coastcare Award – Budgewoi Beach Dunecare Inc.

Through their dedication, Budgewoi Beach Dunecare has successfully rehabilitated the Budgewoi Beach dunes and continues to make improvements to allow the area to thrive.

Over the last 26 years, Budgewoi Beach Dunecare have rehabilitated approx 32 hectares of dunes and some parts inland of the dunes and transformed our Coastline from a degraded weed-infested, sand mined wasteland into a balanced coastal ecosystem.

Finalists:
Lennox Head Landcare
Clean4Shore NSW Inc.

Steadfast Young Landcare Leadership Award – Joel Orchard, Young Farmers Connect

‘Together We Grow’. Young Farmers Connect (YFC) is a national volunteer led, not for profit organisation committed to cultivating networks, resources and community for new, young and aspiring farmers across Australia.

Through their network they provide educational platforms and community connections that encourage young agrarians and the next generation to farm for the future. As an active stakeholder driving the regenerative agriculture movement in NSW and Australia they support the use and adoption of regenerative, holistic & sustainable agricultural practices.

Finalists:
Elisha Duxbury – Macquarie University / Greater Sydney Landcare Network
Gabrielle Stacey – Fern Creek Landcare group

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KPMG Indigenous Land Management Award – Nari Nari Tribal Council

Nari Nari Tribal Council is ensuring the ongoing protection of ecologically vital wetlands and significant Aboriginal heritage sites at Gayini (Nimmie Caira).

The Nari Nari Tribal Council has undertaken significant work to ensure the ongoing protection of ecologically vital wetlands and significant Aboriginal heritage sites at Gayini (Nimmie Caira) on the Murrumbidgee floodplains.

The network has worked on Country with staff, elders and members to support our work and protect culturally significant sites across Gayini.

Finalist:
Hunter Aboriginal Riverkeeper Team (H.A.R.T)

Australian Government Individual Landcarer Award – Nerida Croker,

Upper Lachlan Landcare/Fullerton Hadley Landcare

Australian Government Partnerships for Landcare Award – Floating Landcare,

for its program to restore weedy hotspots within national parks and on other public lands along the Hawkesbury estuary, Pittwater and waterways of the Central Coast.

Australian Government Landcare Farming Award – Justin and Lorroi Kirkby, of Amarula Dorpers,

near Moree, who discovered they can be profitable without degrading natural resources. Justin and Lorroi share what they have learnt and inspire others by welcoming landholders to their property.

Australian Government Innovation in Agriculture Award – Land to Market,

a group of more than 30 farmers who are dedicated to maintaining the ecological health of their farmland and have adopted the Ecological Outcome Verification (EOV) tool to monitor and verify the health of primary production land.

Virgin Coastcare Award – Take 3 Ltd,

a group which aims to reduce plastic pollution of our oceans. Two friends – marine ecologist Roberta Dixon-Valk and youth educator Amanda Marechal – set about identifying a solution to the problem and then joined forces with environmentalist Tim Silverwood to take simple but profound actions.

Australian Community Media Landcare Community Group Award – Martindale Creek Catchment Landcare Inc,

for its program to reduce invasive weed threats in the local area and support farmers to address issues of sustainability and biodiversity on farms.

Woolworths Junior Landcare Team Award – Megalong Valley Public and its Guulong Landcare group.

The group was formed to regenerate bushland and save the Callistemon megalongensis from functional extinction. Students and teachers have partnered with parents, neighbours and Indigenous land managers to spread the word about protecting the natural environment and local species.

Indigenous Land Management Award – Aunty Francis Bodkin,

a descendant of the D’harawal people of the Bidgiagal clan, and Adjunct Fellow at Western Sydney University. Aunty Francis played a vital role in the establishment of the Mount Annan Royal Botanical Gardens in the 1970s and has helped many Landcare groups over the years, including North Head Sanctuary Foundation and IndigiGrow.

Austcover Young Landcare Leadership Award – Richie Benson,

who founded the Cumberland Reach Landcare group. While he was still in high school, Richie rallied his neighbours to tackle the weed problem along the riverbank near their properties. He has since established Koala Fest, using a Landcare approach to managing koala habitat.