Hawkesbury City Council were big winners at the 2024 Local Government NSW Awards, recognised for its Hawkesbury River Safety Campaign and the Bangadyi Nawi - Making a Canoe project.
The awards were held at a gala dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney with councils from all over Sydney and NSW.
WINNER - RH Dougherty Awards - Excellence in Communications - Hawkesbury River Safety Campaign
The Hawkesbury River Safety Campaign was developed in response to drownings in the Hawkesbury River at Macquarie Park in Windsor.
The campaign centred around new river safety signs developed in consultation with Royal Life Saving NSW using best practise design, and internationally recognised safety symbols. Versions of the signs have also been created in the five most common non-English languages for visitors to the Hawkesbury - Hindi, Punjabi, Simplified Chinese, Arabic and Filipino - which can be accessed by a QR Code via a smartphone.
The signs were supported by a multi-lingual awareness campaign on social media urging visitors to consider other fun activities around the river instead of swimming in local waterways.
Visitors to Council's tent at the Hawkesbury Show in 2024 were invited to take a river safety pledge and place their pledge on a special artwork created for the event by Hawkesbury Remakery. Pledges were recorded and used to create a multilingual video for social media that will be the centrepiece of next summer's campaign.
WINNER - Leo Kelly OAM Arts and Culture Award - Arts and Cultural Project - Bangadyi Nawi - Making a Canoe
Bangadyi Nawi was a community project between Hawkesbury Regional Museum, the Dharug community and Brewongle Environmental Education Centre.
The project has provided a transformative experience for local Aboriginal high school students who created a traditional canoe during an inter-generational camp, led by Elder Uncle Dean Kelly and with Uncle David Payne and Dharug Educator Erin Wilkins.
The canoe project remains on exhibition at the Hawkesbury Regional Museum and offers learning opportunities for the whole community. This is the second award for this project, following an IMAGinE Award in the Engagement Programs - Small and Volunteer Galleries category in 2023.
RECIPIENT - Cr Pat Dixon Memorial Scholarship - Hayden Jones
Hayden Jones from Hawkesbury City Council's Project Delivery team was the recipient of a Cr Pat Dixon Memorial Scholarship at the awards night.
The scholarship supports Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander councillors and council staff members in NSW to undertake further study, professional development or research.
