Australia Day

Australia Day

Reflect. Respect. Celebrate.

Each Australia Day, the community is encouraged to Reflect, Respect and Celebrate our nation and our people – especially our strong sense of community as we work towards reconnecting.

Australia Day is a time to recognise the resilience of all Australians and to focus on what we can achieve when we move forward as a community and a unified nation.

Australia Day means different things to different people, and everyone is encouraged to acknowledge Australia Day in a way that’s meaningful to them. We acknowledge the significant contribution that everyone makes to our nation, from First Nations people who have lived here for 65,000 years to our newest citizens who call Australia home.

Australia Day is an opportunity to celebrate our cultural diversity and rich migrant heritage, which is very much part of our unique Australian identity and has helped shape a nation proud of its strong and successful multiculturalism.

Regardless of our origins or our past, it’s a day for Australians from all backgrounds and communities to come together to share stories, embrace our diversity, and celebrate our unity.

Australia Day in Bathurst

Each year Bathurst Regional Council Reflect, Respect and Celebrate Australia Day with a number of community events and activities. New citizens in our community are welcomed at the annual Citizenship Ceremony and the Bathurst Australia Day Awards see members of the local community recognised for the contributions and achievements.

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What's On

For more things to do visit the Bathurst Region website here.

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Australia Day Ambassador

We're honoured to have Mrs Cheryl Koenig OAM, author,  motivational speaker and 2009 NSW Woman of the Year, as our Australia Day Ambassador for 2025.

Cheryl Koenig OAM, is a Sydney-based author of five published books and a highly sought after motivational speaker.  Her speaking roles have taken her all over Australia, as well as invited to speak at a Neuropsychological Symposium in Brazil in 2008.  She has been a Keynote Speaker on many topics, in many forums - in April 2016 delivering an inspiring speech to graduating students at Macquarie University.  In August 2016 Monash University requested her services to judge 30 short stories in their WordFest Competition.  However, Cheryl sees her most important role as that of being a Carer.

She has been an Australia Day Ambassador since 2011; as well as an Ambassador for several not-for-profit organisations; and sits on various Government and NGO committees in the health care arena.

In 2009 Cheryl was named NSW Woman of the Year for her huge commitment to community and fundraising work.  

In 2014 she received the Medal of the Order of Australia for “services to people with dis­abilities, their families and carers”.  Her involvement with disability services arose out of caring and advocacy for her son who was severely injured in a motor vehicle accident.  That story was captured in her 3rd book, award-winning ‘Paper Cranes – A Mother’s Story of Hope, Courage & Determination’, Exisle Pub. (2008/2009) - and reproduced in three other countries.

Optimism, resilience, audacity, hope, surviving daily challenges for themselves and those they love; carers embody all of these qualities. Cheryl Koenig’s fifth book, a memoir, deals with all those human qualities necessary to not only survive a life-threatening diagnosis and a subsequent insidiously painful disease, but to thrive in spite of them.

Her fourth book, ‘With Just One Suitcase’ Wild Dingo Press (2015), is an historical memoir, launched by the NSW Minister for Ageing, Disability & Multiculturalism – The Hon John Ajaka – at a Gala Dinner for Carers in June 2015, raising almost $20,000.00. ‘With Just One Suitcase’ is Cheryl’s homage to her father and her father-in-law, and her belief in the importance of history to understanding ourselves.

Her previous publications - The Courage to Care’ (2007) and ‘There’s Always Hope…Just Alter the Dreams’ (2006) - were written in a voluntary capacity for NSW Health.

Cheryl continues to volunteer her time to improve health care services, which she combines with her passion for writing.   Her message of triumph over adversity and the importance of HOPE is a powerful one - and her personal motto…

“Never underestimate your potential to beat the odds – it’s not important where you finish, but it is important that you try!”  

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