Shellharbour City Young Citizen of the Year Tori Henderson with Citizen of the Year Mohit Tolani. Photo: Shellharbour City Council.
Shellharbour City Council has honoured the contributions and achievements of community and business leaders, sportspeople, volunteers and emergency services personnel at its annual awards ceremony.
Ten residents were recognised in the Shellharbour Community and Australia Day Awards Ceremony while another five were inducted into the Shellharbour City Hall of Fame.
Acting Mayor Kellie Marsh said the quality of the nominees was extremely high, making the judging process “quite challenging”.
“The awards ceremony proved once more just how many incredible people we have living and serving within the Shellharbour community,” she said.
Shellharbour dentist Mohit Tolani was named Citizen of the Year, while Tori Henderson was named Young Citizen in the Community and Australia Day Awards.
Dr Tolani, principal dentist at Shellharbour Dentists, was recognised as an “exceptional professional, community volunteer, and an excellent example of an admirable leader who has selflessly dedicated himself to various dental health initiatives in the local community”.
He has received international accolades, including from the Global Summits Institute which recognises leading global doctors. In 2023 it described Dr Tolani as one of the world’s top 100 doctors for his clinical excellence and community leadership in serving the healthcare profession.
Dr Tolani has offered free dental treatment for more than 3000 people in need.
Tori, Lake Illawarra High School’s captain, juggled her schoolwork with volunteering roles with the Roo Theatre and at the NSW SES.
Tori was part of the Shellharbour unit’s inaugural SES Internship Program in 2023, where students worked alongside SES mentors and volunteers to learn new skills.
After completing the internship, she received the Commander Commendation Award. She has since completed her training and is one of the youngest volunteers with Shellharbour SES.
Other award winners:
- Athlete of the Year: Ellen Perez. Ellen represented Australia in tennis at the Paris Olympics last year and is competing in the Australian Open
- Young Athlete of the Year: Indiana Dos Santos. Indiana made her debut with Sydney FC in 2023, becoming the club’s youngest ever player and recently signed for a further two years
- Outstanding Diversity and Inclusion: Gerald Brown (Uncle Gee). Uncle Gee started the Illawarra Koori Men’s Support Group in 2003 as somewhere for indigenous men to open up and start a conversation
- Services to Sport: Marcos Baez
- Community Capacity Builder: Emjae Woods
- Outstanding Contribution to the Arts: Shellharbour City Arts Society
- 2024 Community Group of the Year: Lost & Found Pets Illawarra
- Volunteer of the Year: Margaret Young.
Shellharbour Community Australia Day award winners. Photo: Shellharbour City Council.
Local emergency services from Police NSW, Rural Fire Service, and the SES were also acknowledged for their dedication to the safety and emergency response of residents, along with 2024 Australia Day honours recipient Dr Buddhima Indraratna and 2024 King’s Birthday Honours recipient Gregory Croft.
Five legends of the community were added to the 40 names already on Shellharbour City’s Hall of Fame honour board – Professor Ngiare Brown, Caitlin Foord, the late Professor Justin Yerbury AM, Alex Volkanovski and Karen Murphy.
The Hall of Fame was established in 1988 to create a source of civic pride and has included a wide scope of categories from which people may be nominated.
Cr Marsh said the five latest inductees were more than deserving of the accolade.
“Hall of Fame recognition is reserved for those who have shaped their field and contributed to the community and beyond,” she said.
“They are individuals who are adored people not only in the Shellharbour region, but also worldwide.”
Prof Brown was recognised for her work in the field of education and research. Growing up in Shellharbour and attending Warilla High School, she was the first female and first Indigenous Chancellor of James Cook University, elected in 2023. A proud Yuin woman, Prof Brown is best known as one of the first Aboriginal doctors in Australia.
Shellharbour’s Caitlin Foord is an integral member of the Matildas, having played more than 100 games in the green and gold. She has played with English powerhouse Arsenal in the Women’s Super League since 2020, in which she has scored 23 times.
The late Professor Justin Yerbury led critical research into Motor Neurone Disease (MND), which claimed his life in 2023. He received an Order of Australia and in 2022 was awarded the keys to the City of Wollongong, as well as the prestigious UNSW Eureka Prize for Scientific Research.
Alex “The Great” Volkanovski is one of the best-known sporting names globally and was the second Australian to win a UFC title.
Karen Murphy was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2024 as an Athlete Member for her contribution to lawn bowls. She is regarded as one of Australia’s greatest ever lawn bowls players in a career spanning more than 20 years and is the current national team assistant coach.
Loading ...
