Ben Johnson, Colin Butt, Nellie Mooney and Robyn Reynolds named in Australia Day Honours

Residents of Michelago, Moruya Heads, Burrill Lake, and Pambula are among the recipients of Australia Day Honours.

Ben Johnson of Michelago has been recognised with the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to social welfare, through helping veterans and first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He comes from a family with a long tradition of serving in the armed forces.

In 2016 Mr Johnson co-founded Integra Service Dogs Australia with Ken Lloyd OAM, a long-serving Special Forces veteran.

“I was motivated by the work of a colleague and friend, Ken Lloyd, to set up an organisation to provide high quality, trained assistance dogs to help reduce suicidal ideation in veterans and first responders,” Mr Johnson said.

“It was seeing people struggling with highly complex mental health issues like PTSD and seeing the power of highly trained assistance dogs to give them the skills to get them back to their families and communities and, in some instances, work.”

Integra Service Dogs Australia has been running as a charity for 10 years and is a national organisation.

Mr Johnson is inspired by the transformational work of assistance dogs and their life-changing power to help people regain their lives.

He said he felt humbled by the award and appreciated the recognition, particularly for everyone in the small committed Integra team of volunteers and professionals.

Colin Butt has been recognised with the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the community of the Eurobodalla Shire.

In 1994 and 1995 while living in Canberra, he and his wife Jennifer Butt OAM rallied Canberra and Batemans Bay residents to donate 67 tonnes of non-perishable food for the families of farmers affected by the severe droughts in NSW and southern Queensland. They enlisted the help of a local delivery service, Delfast in Fyshwick, to make weekly deliveries to the CWA rooms in many small towns. There, the CWA sorted the collected items under the banner of Rural Drought Relief for Women and Children and delivered them to the families in need.

“Volunteering is something everybody should experience in life because it is so fulfilling,” Mr Butt said.

They left Canberra in 2001 and settled in Moruya. For several years Mr Butt was involved in community transport and fundraised for the Snowy Hydro South Care Rescue Helicopter to the Eurobodalla shire and Westpac Rescue Helicopter. He volunteered for the Careflight Helicopter and helped support local “Special Olympians”.

Robyn Reynolds of Pambula has been recognised with the Australian Fire Service Medal for 26 years of service, dedication and leadership in the Pambula Rural Fire Brigade. Not one for the limelight, Mrs Reynolds said she felt honoured.

She likes helping people and has been a volunteer of one sort or another all her life.

“The RFS was something I wanted to try,” Mrs Reynolds said. “There weren’t a lot of females and I discovered I was good at it.”

Her husband had joined the brigade four years earlier and her family was not surprised when she said she was joining too.

“Basically when the brigade said I couldn’t, I said I can.”

Mrs Reynolds works with a great team at Pambula Rural Fire Brigade where she has been captain for the past six years.

“We have each other’s back; you have to,” she said. “We all get on together, and you have to trust the people you work with.”

Mrs Reynolds’ highlight of volunteering with the brigade is training. It is something she loves and continues to do.

It has been a family affair, with two of Mrs Reynolds’ daughters also volunteers at the brigade over the years.

Aunty Nellie Mooney of Burrill Lake, who was a founding member of the South Coast Medical Service Aboriginal Corporation (formerly Nowra Aboriginal Medical Service) in 1982 and an inaugural board member, has been recognised with the Medal of the Order of Australia.

Aunty Nellie founded the Aboriginal Homework Centre, Milton-Ulladulla District, in 1987 and was coordinator until 2008. She was an inaugural member of the Ulladulla Local Aboriginal Land Council in 1988 and was a board member for nine years, president for nine years, and chairperson for nine years.

In 1988 Aunty Nellie also founded the Wandarma Aboriginal Education Consultative Group for Ulladulla and was president until 2018. She was made a life member in 1996.

Shoalhaven City Council named Aunty Nellie its Australia Day Citizen of the Year in 2018 and in 2015 won the NSW Schools Nanga Mai Award for Outstanding Contribution to Educational Achievement by a Community Member.

If you or someone you know needs help, you can contact:
Lifeline’s 24-hour crisis support line – 13 11 14
Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467
Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800 or kidshelpline.com.au
MensLine Australia – 1300 789 978.