She was unable to attend festivities on Australia Day but Joyce Brogden was finally presented with her Mount Isa Citizen of the Year this week.
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Mayor Joyce McCulloch presented Joyce Brogden, with her certificate, medallion and pin at her home in Mount Isa on Tuesday afternoon and paid tribute to the award winner.
“Mrs Brogden devotes extraordinary amounts of her time to look after native animals, including orphaned or injured kangaroo and wallaby joeys, and has done so for more than 30 years,” Cr McCulloch said.
“She doesn’t do this work for any acclaim or recognition – she just has a love for native wildlife. She is a true unsung hero of our community.
“She is a most deserving recipient of the Citizen of the Year Award, and the community is incredibly grateful for everything she does to nurse native wildlife back to health so that they can be released back into the wild”.
Cr McCulloch said the selection committee had an easy decision to make when it came to choosing this year’s Citizen of the Year.
“Unfortunately, due to her commitments as part of North West Wildlife Carers, Mrs Brogden couldn’t make it to our Australia Day ceremony last month, so we decided to personally present her with the certificate, medallion and pin instead.”
Mrs Brogden’s nomination for the award she was “committed to, and passionate about, the cause of wildlife rescue and has cared for hundreds of animals over more than a decade, nursing them back to full health so they can be released back into the wild”.
Mrs Brogden thanked Cr McCulloch and everyone involved for the honour.
She is currently looking after 22 animals, including several red kangaroos, rock wallabies, a young brushtail possum, and a diamond dove.
She said she started looking after native wildlife about 30 years ago, after a neighbour brought in an injured kangaroo, which Mrs Brogden ended up naming Wilhelmina.
Since then she has cared for and nursed hundreds of animals, marsupials and birds, which are brought in from across the Mount Isa area as well as from the Cloncurry and Dajarra districts.
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Derek Barry
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
Editor of the North West Star Mount Isa since January 2016. Prior to that, an editor at several regional southern Queensland newspapers. Passionate about telling local stories. Comes with a strange accent to due an Irish accident of birth.
