Shamsiya Hussainpoor
A Ferntree Gully resident was awarded the Healthy and Active Living Award at the 2024 Victorian Senior of the Year Awards at Government House on Thursday 24 October.
The Healthy and Active Living Award celebrates seniors in Victoria who contribute to their communities and serve as role models, the award is part of the annual Victorian Seniors Festival, which has been honouring the contributions of older Victorians for over 25 years.
Gail White, who is 77 this year, was recognised for her outstanding volunteering work, particularly as president of Family History Connections (FHC), where she has helped over 2000 people.
“I’ve always been involved in volunteering, even when my kids were little, I helped out at their school and did various things and when I worked as a librarian, I was in charge of the family history collection, but I didn’t know much about it – I thought, ‘I’d better learn how to help people with family research.’ That was about 35 years ago, and I’ve never looked back,” Ms White said.
She’s been living in Ferntree Gully for almost ten years, before that, she spent 40 years in Boronia.
After a 30-year career as a librarian in the Hills, she now dedicates her time to volunteering, where she teaches computer skills to her peers and encourages them to stay mentally active.
“As a librarian, my main goal has always been to help others. With family history research, I found I wanted to teach people how to use different resources. It used to be all about microfiche and microfilm, but now it’s mostly online,” she said.
As president of the FHC for the past decade, she has collaborated with groups like Rotary and Probus, as well as the local library, to promote community engagement.
Ms White was nominated by her two oldest and best friends, but she didn’t expect it to go any further than that.
“They presented ten awards before mine, and I started to think, ‘Oh, I must be getting one of the bigger ones.’ I thought it might be the Healthy and Active Living Award,” she said.
“We were allowed to have 10 guests at the Government House, I invited close family and friends and it turned out to be a great day.”
This year’s theme for seniors was about keeping brains active, learning, and being part of communities, that fit perfectly with her involvement in the community.
Ms White is also passionate about learning and has volunteered with several organisations, including Friends of the Boroondara Cemetery and Knox Gardens for Wildlife.
She said the best part was reconnecting with people she hasn’t spoken to in many years.
“I heard from a lot of people I haven’t seen in years, which has been really nice, it’s been special reconnecting with those who emailed, texted, or called to congratulate me,” she said.
The prestigious Premier’s Award for Victorian Senior of the Year was given to the award-winning psychiatrist and family violence prevention advocate Professor Manjula Datta O’Connor for her tireless work in raising awareness about dowry abuse and family violence in Victoria.
With more than 25 years of experience as a psychiatrist, Professor O’Connor co-founded the AustralAsian Centre for Human Rights and Health, spearheading research projects and community initiatives that have broken the silence on dowry abuse in Australia.
“Victoria’s seniors are invaluable to our state – and today we recognise the extraordinary efforts of older Victorians who inspire all of us to strive for more,” Premier Allan.
Premier Jacinta Allan and Ageing Minister Ingrid Stitt recognised the dedication to community service and leadership of Professor O’Connor and 14 other recipients at Government House.
“I congratulate all award recipients and nominees, for going above and beyond to create positive change in their communities,” Ms Stitt said.
“We celebrate their outstanding achievements as part of the 42nd annual Victorian Seniors Festival and I encourage everyone to get along and join the celebrations.”
The Victorian Senior of the Year Awards have celebrated the achievements of older Victorians for more than 40 years who share their time, knowledge, and expertise to enrich the Victorian community.
Other category award recipients include:
• Chidambaram Swami Srinivasan (Srini), recipient of the Promotion of Multiculturalism Award
• Gail White, recipient of the Healthy and Active Living Award
• Bruce Turner, recipient of the Veteran Community Award
• Virginia Mack, recipient of the Ageing Well Award.
The COTA (Council on the Ageing) Victoria Senior Achiever Awards were presented to 10 inspiring Victorians for their contributions including volunteering to support immigrant families with literacy and numeracy skills, and providing food relief to people in need.
To read the profiles of each of the 2024 Victorian Senior of the year Awards recipients visit seniorsonline.vic.gov.au/awards.
