Australia – Earth Champions Quest

Australia – The Inaugural Earth Champions Awards

The first Earth Champions Award was launched by Nelson Mandela in Melbourne, in 2000. The Most Outstanding Earth Champions Award (Athena Award at the time)  went to Gina Litton of Western Australia for her work saving the Old Great Forests.

Footage of this special event will be posted shortly.

Byron Bay, Australia

Byron Shire residents acknowledged and celebrated their local outstanding environmentalists at the Earth Champion’s Award Ceremony in Byron Bay on Saturday 23rd August 2002.

The Earth Champions Quest was run for six months to inspire youth, and inform and involve the community in seeking their own champions for solutions to environmental problems. The residents of Byron Shire were invited to nominate their own ecological heroes and 47 nominations were received in various categories.

All nominees were honoured at the Earth Champion Awards held at the Byron Bay Community Centre Theatre on August 23, and 17 Outstanding Earth Champions were named. The Earth Champions were awarded for their significant impact on an environmental issue related to the soil, water, forests, biodiversity and business, council and government initiatives. They are individuals of all ages and groups of individuals working together. The work of all 47 nominees was acknowledged and will be summarised in a worldwide interactive website – the Knowledge Pond.

The Byron Shire Earth Champions Quest was conducted by the Earth Champions Foundation in partnership with the Byron Shire Council and sponsored by Byron Bay Beach Hotel. Guest speakers at the Awards included local Federal MP Larry Anthony, Mayor Tom Wilson, and Jane Niall from the Victorian Department of State and Regional Development.

The Awards were as follows:

Individual Award

Veda Turner
A volunteer worker with the Green and Clean Awareness Team, he regularly cleaned up and regenerated the beaches and township of Byron Bay. He worked to protect unique dwarf heath land and to preserve the threatened species habitat of Patterson’s Hill. Veda is an exemplary role model and public speaker for these causes.

Dudley Leggett
A founder of the Sustainability Research Institute and Byron Council of Peace. He instigated the first forest blockade in Australia at Terania Creek, helped the Tasmanian Wilderness Society with the blockade of the Franklin Dam and co-ordinated sand mining demonstrations near Macksville. Dudley is a mainstay of at least six community environmental committees including CAN and BEACON.

Biodiversity Award

The Seed Savers Network was founded by Jude and Michel Fanton in 1986. They have inspired thousands of farmers and gardeners to save and swap seeds across Australia and have taught communities around the world to plant local seeds and thus preserve regional biodiversity.

Council Award

Byron Shire Council Water and Sewer Department under the leadership of Phil King has undertaken wetland rehabilitation of a 24 ha site adjacent to the West Byron Sewerage Treatment Plant. Included in this work is the Effluent Management Plan for Byron Bay. 500,000 trees will be planted over four years and watered with effluent from the STP. This project will improve the impacts of acid sulphate run-off from the site and improve the quality of the Belongil Estuary.

Forest Award

Kelvin Davies is executive officer of Rainforest Rescue whose mission is to save our rainforest for current and future generations and to facilitate community involvement in supporting rainforest restoration.This group has initiated Big Scrub Rainforest Days and financially assisted Byron Shire landcare groups. Beryl Maslen and her late husband Russell worked tirelessly to regenerate weedy riverside acres in Mullumbimby and created a beautiful rainforest park. They lobbied for two nature reserves to stop sand mining at Broken Head and Brunswick Heads and helped to save the Border Ranges in a campaign to make it a national park.

Federal Government Award

Wilsons Creek Huonbrook Landcare Group has 350 households that are proactive in assisting landholders to address weed infestation problems and increase the biodiversity in an area surrounded by three national parks.

Indigenous Wisdom Award

Ian Fox has spent three years mapping the tribal areas of the Bundjalung people. Ian was motivated by the destruction and loss of sacred sites, and with the permission of the Bundjalung Elders Council, has developed a technology to clearly identify sacred sites.

Soil Award

David Pont co-ordinated the rehabilitation of the Belongil Estuary where water quality had reached a very poor level. Many species of crabs, prawns and fish were threatened due to degradation influences especially from acid-sulphate run-off from the Belongil catchment area.

Water Award

Peter Dupen initiated the Binyabutt program to prevent stormwater pollution, which has resulted in a major reduction in butt litter. He has worked with the Byron Environment Centre and others to restore the health of the Belongil Cumbewin wetlands.

Beach Hotel Community Adult Award
CONOS is a lobby group which was formed by Stan & Val Scanlon and other concerned local residents in 1990 to conserve and preserve the natural cultural heritage of North Ocean Shores and to save 950 hectares from development.  This group also helped to protect the Billinudgel Nature Reserve in the northern part of Byron Shire. Bob and Raylee Oehlman from CONOS are environmental conservationists who have been caring for wildlife since they were teenagers. They have devoted their lives to the protection of local flora and fauna by preserving the habitat of native animals.

Gary Opit has been active in the conservation movement since 1964 and is a founding member of the Wildlife Preservation Societies of Australia and of Conservation Of North Ocean Shores (CONOS). He has worked to protect habitat especially in the Billinudgel Reserve and wildlife corridors in Marshall Ridges. Peter Hamilton has worked with community groups for the last thirty years to create a sustainable relationship with the environment. He played an active role in the Patterson Hill project, and was responsible for forming the Rural Settlement Taskforce, which influenced government policy on multiple occupancy allowing environmentally sustainable housing.

Beach Hotel Community Youth Award

Cape Byron Rudolph Steiner School under the leadership of headmaster Gavin Colley has reforested degraded swampland. Children of all ages did plantings and worked with excessive water levels to reduce flooding. The school also implemented a solar power energy system and an onsite sewerage treatment works.

Business Award

Santos, under the management of John Dolman, 
is a community owned business whose purpose is to provide environmentally friendly wholesome food to the community. Santos has environmentally audited its own business practices and is dedicated to raising public awareness of genetically modified foods with ongoing petitions and education campaigns. It has also provided a home for the Byron Environment Centre.

Brian Robinson Environment and Humanity Award

Mo Hughes started “Kids Off the Streets” in 1988 to provide a home for street kids and has worked ever since to find a solution for the homeless.  Mo’s dream is to have long-term housing in the form of a creative educational village with permaculture gardens set up outside every town and city for homeless and needy people

Read about the inspiration that fuelled the establishment of the Earth Champions Foundation, and the first Quest.