NT Australian of the Year Awards
The 2012 NT Australian of the Year Awards were announced in Darwin on 10 November 2011. These awards celebrate the achievements of some great Territorians.
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2012 NT Australian of the Year
Dr John Boffa
For 23 years, Dr John Boffa has committed his career to re-shaping attitudes toward alcohol in Indigenous communities. A GP and public medical health officer in Alice Springs, John’s work looks beyond the individual to focus on the systems and structures that contribute to people’s behaviour, through supply reduction, early learning and mental health support.
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2012 NT Senior Australian of the Year
Laurie Baymarrwangga
Laurie Baymarrwangga has made a lifelong commitment to caring for kin, culture and country. She has initiated a Yan-nhangu language dictionary project, with a more recent online version for school children. Laurie donated her reimbursement of back rents of around $400,000 to improve education and employment on her beloved Crocodile Islands and to establish a 1,000 square kilometre turtle sanctuary. Now in her nineties, she continues to sustain the cultural, linguistic and biological diversity of the pristine region.
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2012 NT Young Australian of the Year
Rebecca Healy
Growing up in the remote town of Elliott, Bec Healy had a troubled childhood which led her to leave home when she was 12. But in her late teens she turned her life around and started helping others at a refuge. She bought a house, became a young mother, fostered children, began her law degree, created youth mental health programs in Tennant Creek and was recently named Barnardos Australian Mother of the Year. With tenacity and compassion, Bec has made an enormous difference not only to her own life, but the lives of those around her.
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2012 NT's Local Hero
Rob Cook
After surviving a helicopter crash three years ago in the Tanami Desert, pastoralist Rob Cook emerged from months in hospital, determined not to give up. He has since travelled on a Nuffield Scholarship overseas, researching best practice on food production. To encourage other farmers with disabilities, Rob was the first person to travel the Tanami Track in a wheelchair, travelling the 730 kilometres to Alice Springs in 24 days.
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