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The annual Ballarat Seniors Awards acknowledge and celebrate inspirational people aged 60 years and over (and First Nations people 50 years and over), who are making a significant contribution to the Ballarat community.

Senior of the Year Award: Marion Blythman

Marion is a dedicated and reliable individual who has been volunteering at Ballarat Mechanics Institute for the last 20 years, overseeing the preservation of artefacts important to the history of Ballarat, as well as supporting the library collections.  

Marion has also been a Regional Convener in the Community Visitors Program for the Office of the Public Advocate for 17 years. She is responsible for leading a volunteer team of 10 who visit 57 group homes throughout the Ballarat area to advocate for people with a disability. Visits from Marion and her team protect vulnerable residents from abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Community Service Award: Keith Moore

Keith has been a member of the Wendouree Senior Citizens Club for many years and dedicates an average of 25 hours a week making the club a better place for all. He played a significant role in rebuilding the club after it almost closed during the pandemic and his hard work has seen the club double in size.

He is an active member of Ballarat Vintage Brass, a life member of the Victorian Bands League and City of Heidelberg Band, drill adjudicator for over 20 years for the Brass Band Festival – Mt Gambier and has also been involved in Lions and Rotary clubs.    

Community Teamwork Award: Anglicare Community Breakfast Team

The Anglicare Community Breakfast Volunteer Team is a group of 12 volunteers. They provide daily breakfast to 15 to 40 vulnerable and homeless people in Ballarat, equating to 6200 breakfasts for 450 people per year. The team prepares, serves and cleans up the breakfast meal.

During the morning rush, the volunteers engage with the attendees, many of whom they know by name and are familiar with their regular orders. Their work provides stability, helps alleviate hunger, isolation and loneliness and promotes dignity and belonging.  

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award: Maria John  

Maria is a committee member and newsletter editor at Alfredton and Lucas Probus Group, a committee member for Ballarat Indian Association, and a volunteer with Ballarat Community Health. She volunteers at welcome morning teas, welcome bus tours for Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council and coordinates Indian cultural performances in the community.    

She is seen as a role model in the Indian community for her active use of social media promoting community events and women’s health. Maria actively promotes the creative work of children in the community and acts as an informal advocate and mentor to newly arrived residents and local families and individuals.  

Healthy and Active Living Award: Jack Yang

Jack is an active member of Ballarat’s Chinese community, leading cultural and Tai Chi demonstrations at many different local festivals. He has set up the English Corner Group at Barkly Square to support the older Ballarat Chinese community by teaching English and has inspired other Ballarat residents to become involved tutoring English.  

He volunteers with connection advocates In Great Company by visiting isolated seniors, as well as teaching Tai Chi and conducting flute performances in aged care homes in Ballarat. Jack leads a free morning Tai Chi class, 7 days a week by Lake Wendouree, rain, hail or shine, sharing health benefits, social connection and intercultural friendship with anyone who wishes to attend.

Lifetime Achievement Award: joint winners John O’Brien and Ian Drew

John is a life member of the Brown Hill Cricket Club, Ballarat Cricket Association and has umpired 680 local cricket games over 34 years. He also coached junior football for many years and currently works the BBQ on Friday nights for winter Auskick and numerous other community events.

John also volunteers with the Brown Hill Progress Association, Caledonian Primary School and Brown Hill Playgroup, and manages advertising in the Brown Hill Community Newsletter and coordinates a team of eight who deliver 2750 hardcopies four times a year.

Ian has been involved in Lions Clubs for 48 years, firstly at Wendouree before establishing the Brown Hill Lions Club as Charter president in 1985, where he remains an active member. He led the project to establish a community hall, which operates as a meeting place for the club, as well as a space PINARC Disability Support Services to run programs for their clients.

Ian has also been a driving force in the establishment of Inkerman Gully Park in Ballarat North, fundraising for the annual 3BA Winter Appeal, and in door knocking for Red Shield Appeal for many years.

Read the news article Recognising Ballarat’s outstanding seniors - to see the wrap up of the night and comments from City of Ballarat Director of Community Wellbeing Matt Wilson.

See the Senior of the Year Award winners from 2023

Ageing Well Services Team

We have a number of programs, services and activities to meet the needs of our residents aged 55 years and over.

Receive Ageing Well Services program promotions, information and newsletters:

1. Sign up to receive via email
2. Sign up to receive via Australia Post
3. Call via Customer Service on 5320 5500

This year, the City of Ballarat is partnering with local community groups to deliver a jam-packed calendar of free and low-cost events and activities for Ballarat’s older residents.

For popular Tai Chi instructor Jijun ‘Jack’ Yang, the practice of Tai Chi is “like a superpower”.

Aside from the “miracle” physical and mental health benefits, Jack’s Tai Chi classes for Ballarat’s older community have powers of bringing people together and demonstrating what older residents can do.

“People often think that older people aren’t capable, or they’re not physically fit, or they don’t have much to offer,” he says.

“But (at my Tai Chi classes) we gather together, we have a positive impact on each other, and we are willing to go out and help others.”

Jack and his students regularly visit different restaurants around town together and volunteer by doing Tai Chi demonstrations at schools and aged care facilities.

“It’s a small, very friendly, community,” he says.

“They are willing to go out and help others and each other, and they are really engaged in their community,” he says.

This sentiment — that older residents can try new things and are capable of positively impacting the broader community — is in line with the theme of the Victorian Seniors Festival this year, which is ‘Explore. Engage. Evolve.’

Jack’s Tai Chi classes will be one of many free or low-cost activities and events on offer for Ballarat’s older residents throughout the month of October as part of the Ballarat Seniors Festival, which forms part of the state-wide Victorian Seniors Festival. 

The centrepiece of the Ballarat Seniors Festival is the Get Connected! Seniors Festival Expo, which is designed to help people discover what's on offer in and around Ballarat and establish connections that will last long beyond the Seniors Festival.

Delivered by the City of Ballarat’s Ageing Well Services team, there will be more than 30 community groups represented at the expo, including social, art, sport, and special interest clubs, with live entertainment  and refreshments.

Among these community groups will be the Ballarat branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A), which helps seniors learn new skills and build friendships through affordable course offerings.

U3A was involved in the expo last year, which incoming President, Don Collins says was a fantastic way for older residents to build connections to other groups and other people.

“Promoting social connection underpins everything we do at U3A,” he says.

“As you age, you need to maintain connections and friendship groups.

“I think people left the expo feeling like they had a better sense of how much is going on in Ballarat.”

U3A volunteer Blake Gordon, who has held just about every title there is at U3A over the years, says events like the Seniors Festival also help build connections between groups.

“It celebrates the cohesiveness of this community, and makes other groups that also contribute to the festival aware that there are other groups that might just work together on a project,” he says.

Working together and contributing to the community, Blake says, is key to healthy ageing.

"Older people have a lot to say and they want to be heard - they like to come up with solutions to problems," he says.

“Those informal conversations when you’re working together on a project, you’re able to share your problems with someone and see solutions,” he says.

Ballarat Seniors Festival is an annual event held over the month of October and part of the Victorian Seniors Festival running at the same time. Seniors Festival is a month-long series of events for and about seniors, celebrating the contribution of older people and providing opportunities for older people to be active and connected.

The annual Ballarat Seniors Awards acknowledge and celebrate inspirational people aged 60 years and over (and First Nations people 50 years and over), who are making a significant contribution to the Ballarat community.

We have a number of programs, services and activities to meet the needs of our residents aged 55 years and over.

Receive Ageing Well Services program promotions, information and newsletters:

1. Sign up to receive via email
2. Sign up to receive via Australia Post
3. Call the Community Connections Team on 03 5320 5719

Ballarat Seniors Festival is an annual event held over the month of October as part of the Victorian Seniors Festival running at the same time. Seniors Festival is a month-long series of events for and about seniors, celebrating the contribution of older people and providing opportunities for older people to be active and connected.

View or download the full program of events in the Seniors Festival Program 2024

We have a number of programs, services and activities to meet the needs of our residents aged 55 years and over.

Receive Ageing Well Services program promotions, information and newsletters:

1. Sign up to receive via email
2. Sign up to receive via Australia Post
3. Call the Community Connections Team on 03 5320 5719