Singleton's official Australia Day celebrations, may have been somewhat low key this year, due to the ever present concerns of COVID-19, but that didn't lessen the spirit of the ceremony held in the Civic Centre where first five new citizens were welcomed and then the town's 2022 Citizen of the Year and Young Achiever of the Year were announced.
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This year's Citizen of the Year was Uncle Warren Taggart, a familiar face to many, as he attends a number of similar ceremonies as he is an Wonnarua elder and is regularly called on to give the Welcome to Country as he did a short time before accepting his award.
Uncle Warren gave an emotional speech thanking his family for their support and the community in which he lives and in particular his mother country of the Wonnarua peoples.
"We all come back to country, our mother country," he said. "It is an honour to receive this award and I want to thank the other nominees who I know have been dedicated to their community."
His particular passion is the preservation of Wonnarua culture and educating people about that rich history.
He conducts tours of significant local Indigenous sites including Baiame Cave and he has published a colouring-in book for children to help them understand the Wonnarua culture.
He loves nothing better than meeting people and telling the Wonnarua story of which he is extremely proud.
The Young Achiever of the Year was Liam Byrne a student of St Catherine's Catholic College who described himself as being raised in a military family.
He paid a special thanks to his mum Mary-Anne Holland and also shared a joke about his grandfather Gary Holland a former Singleton Citizen of the Year in 2020.
Liam is keenly aware of the needs of those less fortunate and the groups who rely on community donations to exist, and is a volunteer with Singleton Legacy and Dolly's Charity Shop.
He actively raises funds for Singleton Legacy Group, collecting donations and selling merchandise in support of the Singleton and District war widows and their families.
He has been recognised by his school with a Citizenship Award in years 8 and 9 and received the Principal's Award in 2018 for his work on the Student Representative Council. Liam is also a high achieving sportsman in swimming, cross country running and soccer.
The other nominees for the Citizen of the Year were Greg Bruce, Aunty Jean Hands and Nadene McBride.
The Australia Day guest was the former member for Upper Hunter and long term Singleton resident George Souris AM.
He served in the NSW parliament from 1988 to 2015 and rose to be leader of The Nationals and Deputy Premier.
In his opening remarks he said this country was and always will be spiritual Aboriginal land.
He went onto to describe his family's migrant history which started with the arrival of his father in Australia in 1937.
Mr Souris was born in Gunnedah in 1949, a town like Singleton, devastated by the 1955 flood.
"Our home was under 10 feet was water in that flood like many homes in Singleton. And late last year Gunnedah flooded again just as we dodged serious flooding in the Hunter Valley," he said.