Reflect, respect and celebrate Australia Day 2024 is a day to Reflect, Respect and Celebrate the Australian spirit and the best of this vast country; our mateship, our sense of community, our resilience, and looking to the future with optimism and unity. Forbes Mayor Phyllis Miller OAM said it was important to reflect and respect our community and its beginnings as well as celebrate Forbes on where we have been and where we are going. “We have been a community in recovery and we have been working together to come a long way in the last 12 months, one of the many, many reasons I love Forbes,” she said. Australia Day in 2024 will start at 7am with the traditional Rotary Breakfast with bacon and eggs rolls at Lions Park. Local musician Georgia Sideris will provide entertainment and the Rotary Community Awards will be presented. The Forbes CWA will host a damper competition with entries for open and under 12 years categories. Later in the day will be time to celebrate at the Party in the Park starting at 6pm with a range of activities for the whole family, including paddle boats on Lake Forbes until sunset, roaming entertainment and jumping castles. A range of food vans will be on site for the BYO event. “The day will be capped off with the Annual fireworks display at 9:00pm, just make sure you get in early to get a prime location!” Mayor Miller added. Forbes is looking forward to welcoming Paul Featherstone BM ASM from the NSW Ambulance Special Casualty Access Team. Twice the recipient of the Ambulance Service’s highest bravery award, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Australian Bravery Medal and the Humane Society’s Bronz, Silver and Gold Medals, the Prince Phillip Helicopter Rescue Award and the Ambulance Service Medal from the Queen’s Birthday honours list. Paul has been a part of emergency response assisting victims in major emergencies such as the Granville Train Crash 1977, Forbes Flood 1990, Bali Bombing, Beaconsfield Mine Rescue 2006 and many more. He developed the Special Casualty Access Team (SCAT) in 1986 and has since been a team leader in developing patient access methods and high levels of care under hostile environments.