Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to acknowledge this afternoon that four senior Indigenous students from South Grafton High School, who have been selected to perform for the 2015 Aboriginal dance ensemble at the 2015 Schools Spectacular in Sydney. Three of the Students, Nicholas McGrady, Thomas McGrady and Mason Graham, have just completed their HSC, while the fourth student, Shonta Morris, has just commenced her year 12 year. This is the second year that Shonta has been accepted into the New South Wales Public Schools Aboriginal Dance Company, a company run by the prestigious Bangarra Dance Theatre. The Bangarra Dance Theatre is a very well-known professional group that facilitates and promotes the Indigenous Children Australia program throughout New South Wales public schools.

Earlier this month, the four South Grafton students attended a week-long troupe rehearsal in preparation for the spectacular. I would also like to acknowledge South Grafton High School for giving the students this opportunity—in particular, the school's dance teacher, Sarah McCann, and the Aboriginal support teacher, Wendy Dalton. The Maclean High School will feature at the spectacular with several of their students selected to perform in the combined schools choir.

After a lengthy audition process, 12 students from years 0, 10 and 11 will perform This Is Our World. Year 11 student Kate Thomsen will play the violin in the orchestra, while the other 11 students will perform as part of the secondary arena choir. Those students are    Andrew Butler and Lachlan Fischer, both singing baritone. Singing in the alto section will be Shannay Davis, Natasha Glaser, Koa McCaughey, Lillian O'Neill and Lauren Essex. Singing soprano will be Mary Evans, Bella Ridgeway, Freya Ramsey and Maneesha Davis. I congratulate all these students and good luck to all of them from both South Grafton and Maclean high schools at the Schools Spectacular.

I recently went to TheDaily Examiner Clarence Valley Sports Awards, held at Maclean, a couple of Fridays ago. The evening was well attended with local sports identities and teams. Key speakers during the night included Brent Livermore, the former Kookaburra and hockey gold medallist and Tegan Harrison, a local young lady who is following her dreams of becoming a well-known jockey. Peter Connor, from Southgate, was the sportsperson of the year. He beat 728 competitors to win the Mort & Co Rockhampton Open Draft in July. The coach of the year went to Dallas Waters for his turn-around of the South Grafton Rebels, taking them to their first premiership in four decades, and that was a great game. Laura Moloney won the Australian under-13 girls squash championship in October last year, and she followed that impressive result in April this year when she won the under-15 title. This earned her the female junior sportsperson award. The male junior sportsperson of the year went to Cody Walker, who represented the Australian Rugby Union schoolboys against Samoa and New Zealand.

The Lower Clarence Pony Club won the award for the Club of the Year. The club has over 50 junior members and 11 of them were on hand to receive the award from country jockey Tegan Harrison, who is an ex-member. The recipients on hand were Shannon and Abi Moran, Matilda and Isabelle Addison, Jackson, Harrison, Georgie and Bryson Lee, Lachlan and Caleb Foster and George Sutherland.

The Ernie Muller Award for leadership was presented to Tim Ryan. The award recognises leadership, administration and commitment to sport in the Lower Clarence. Tim has spent the 15 years guiding the Yamba Touch Football Association and advocating for better sporting facilities. The Max Godbee Award for dedication to sport went to Kerry Godwin. As a youngster, Kerry played rugby league and excelled at athletics, winning the Macksville Gift in 1971 and the Brunswick Valley Gift in 1976. He has been the conditioner-strapper for the Grafton Ghost Rugby League team since 1977.

The Masters Sports Award went to Brian Elvery for his impressive year on the International Triathlon Circuit. His efforts during the season saw him placed 18th in the Hawaiian event, eighth in the Chicago Triathlon and 11th in the Austrian event. The People's Choice Award went to Di Ellis from Wooloweyah. Di competed in the over-35 women's longboard surfing festival after overcoming serious illness leading into the event. The contributor of the year went to Peter Hughes for his weekly column called 'Within the Peloton'. It kept readers up to date with all of the information from the local cycling scene. The photographer of the year, for the second year in a row, went to Shane Sedger for his outstanding photo coverage throughout the hockey season.

The Grafton under-15 hockey team won team of the year after their impressive tournament win in the New South Wales state titles. Coaches, Rick Sampson and Sam Young, had tremendous success, with the team scoring 34 goals, whilst goalkeeper Toby Power only conceded one. Abe Herbert was named player of the tournament.

In The Daily Examiner Wall of Fame Brent Livermore, formally of Grafton, was inducted for his dedication and success with Australian hockey team the Kookaburras. He was also the guest speaker and gave some wonderful insight and knowledge into how you can excel at your chosen sport. The second recipient was Harold Kratz. Harold is 88. He was inducted for his outstanding contribution to rowing. Harold has been an administrator, coach and competitor for many decades. As a competitor, he has been a medal winner at the masters events every year since 1994. Last year alone he won three gold medals in Adelaide. He is a life member of the Clarence Amateur Rowing and Sculling Club and the Combined High School Rowing. Congratulations to all those people.

A group of high school students from Kyogle have done a great job representing the region at the New South Wales Combined High Schools athletics competition. I would like to acknowledge the athletes: Veronika Kosmider, James McPaul, Sam Walters, Mikailah Piggot, Shania Porter, Carletta Owen, Tegan Graham and Larry Condon, as well as Juliarah O'Donahue who attends Casino High but lives in Kyogle. Between them they won two gold, three silver and a bronze medal in their various sporting disciplines. To reach this level the students had to compete at school, the Zone carnival and the North Coast Regional Athletics before reaching the state athletics championships in Sydney. I congratulate all of them.

It was a very momentous day for many people on Friday, 20 November in Lismore when a well-known business icon and local identity finally called it quits. John Daley, better known to many as Toby or the Woodlark Street 'Mayor', finally retired after 55 years in homewares. He was known to many for his friendly personality and great customer service, as well as his good quality manchester. John commenced work at 15 years of age in a business known as Glynns homewares, which later became McLeans. In 1989, along with his wife, Noeleen, he decided to take the plunge and start up his own business known as Daley's Homeware and Monogramming Specialists. The business commenced in the Strand Arcade in Molesworth Street and later moved to its current location in Woodlark Street. John's wife, Noeleen, retired from the business eight years ago, but John continued along with his loyal staff, Noeleen Riley and Val Hayward. Both staff continue with the new owner, John's cousin, Mathew Healey. I would like to congratulate and thank John on his 55 years of quality customer service and wish him well with his retirement.