Historian named Victorian Senior of the Year

4 October 2011

Inspirational Warracknabeal volunteer Doug McColl, 82, has been announced as the winner of the Premier's Award during the 2011 Victorian Senior of the Year Awards at Government House.

Mr McColl is a dedicated and passionate volunteer who contributed as a gardener, fund raiser and historian in the Warracknabeal community.

Video transcript

The Governor of Victoria, Alex Chernov AO QC

The Victoria Senior of the Year Awards provide the chance to recognise some of the extraordinary people in our community who have enthusiastically devoted themselves to making a difference to the lives of others. These awards do not recognise them on basis of the age of course but rather for their genuine community service, outstanding work and true spirit of generosity.

Premier of Victoria, Ted Baillieu MP

These seniors demonstrate that it doesn't matter how old you are, you can still contribute, you can still do that extra thing which makes life more rewarding and helps others and it's a pleasure to be here today to see so many seniors being acknowledged and honored in this way.

Promotion of Multiculturalism Award winner, Helen Jurcevic

I feel humbled but I feel honored and I think it’s just a wonderful thing for the women in our group and to promote multiculturalism, assimilation of all the nationalities is wonderful, we are one.

Minister for Mental Health, Women's Affairs and Community Services, Mary Wooldridge MP

I was very pleased to actually nominate Helen for her award because celebrating what people achieve within our community and in Helen's case, multicultural senior women is absolutely fantastic. We must continue to recognise, enjoy and promote the incredible work that happens right across communities in Victoria and so it's very important, that in this people's house, Government House, we can celebrate the work that's being achieved on a day to day basis.

Premier's Award winner, Doug McColl

I'm absolutely stunned, I don't think I've done anything very exceptional in Warracknabeal, possible I've done things for a long, long time and I'm still doing things and I've very happy that I'm still able to help a lot of people.

Minister for Health, David Davis MP

These awards for Victorian Seniors are a fantastic way to recognise the contribution that people have made across the state, people who in good faith with generosity and humility have contributed to their communities. They may not recognise it, but the community recognises it and I'm very proud to have been a part of these awards today and proud to have handed over the awards to many of our recipients.

Mr McColl was one of 13 seniors recognised at the 2011 Senior of the Year Awards, with awards presented by Premier Ted Baillieu, Minister for Ageing David Davis and the Council on the Ageing President Janet Wood.

Among the other award winners were Bill O'Connor of Croydon who won the Healthy and Active Living Award, Joan Gillespie of Heidelberg West who won the Veteran Community Award and Helen Jurcevic of Lower Templestowe who was presented with the first-ever Promotion of Multiculturalism Award.

Nine other Victorian seniors received a Senior Achiever Award from the Council of the Ageing.

The awards were a fitting lead-up to the annual Victorian Seniors Festival that runs from 2 to 9 October 2011.

Find out more

Further information on all the award recipients can be found on the Seniors Online website.