By KATH GANNAWAY
MEMBERS of C3777 Healesville and District Township Group and Healesville 150 Steering Committee are the joint recipients of Yarra Ranges Council’s Community Group of the Year Award.
Councillor Noel Cliff presented the award to representatives of the groups at the council’s Australia Day Awards ceremony in Upwey yesterday.
Cr Cliff acknowledged the success of the festival, and the hard work of C3777 and the Steering Committee saying “Last year Healesville celebrated its 150th with a bang”.
He said that in 2013, C3777 took on the role of co-ordinating a celebration of the past 150 years with support from the Healesville Historical Society.
“The group formed the Healesville 150 Steering Committee, which included representatives from a range of diverse community groups,” he said.
He said the Steering Committee, led by C3777, made a significant commitment to the event meeting fortnightly over 12 months to create a framework for the celebration, secure sponsorship, develop relationships and a communications plan.
“Their hard work contributed to a calendar of dozens of community-run events which ran over several months, culminating in an explosion of events, activities and exhibitions in November,” he said, adding that more 30 community groups were involved in the event.
C3777 also secured a council community grant for the Healesville 150 Grand Street Parade which saw around 1000 community members participating in the parade and many more watching from the sidelines.
“The parade was led by Healesville’s Indigenous community and included residents of all ages and abilities,” Cr Cliff said.
Other highlights included securing sponsorship to provide local school children with a commemorative badge.
“Healesville’s 150th anniversary brought the community together to celebrate its unique diversity,” Cr Cliff said in congratulating the groups.
C3777 chair, Kath Holton, said it was wonderful to have the amount of work put into the festival, and the number of people involved in it, acknowledged.
She said C3777 was approached by the Historical Society who felt the 150th was an important event that should be celebrated, but that it was beyond their capacity, with other projects on the go, to take it on.
Running through a long list of events put on by various groups in the community, Ms Holton said she felt it was a successful community celebration.
“I felt that no matter who you were in the community there was something on for you,” she said.
She said the award was recognition of the many people who had put their hands up to ensure that the Healesville community was able to celebrate the strengths and the diversity of the town over the last 150 years.
