Mr Davis said volunteering with groups including Blayney aged care facility Lee Hostel, the fire brigade, Blayney Show Society and the Masonic Lodge proved his theory that "you only get out what you put in".

"I like the feeling that in some small way I'm helping citizens of the community. Especially in work with the hostel and retirement units, because I feel older citizens deserve some help," he said. Blayney Citizen of the Year in 1997 Kath Smith said this week that Mr Davis deserved to be named Citizen of the Year again for all the volunteer work he continues to do in the Blayney community.

At the same ceremony a certificate of appreciation was presented to Millthorpe Museum volunteer Robin Oates, while the Exhibition of Ability, held in 2004 at the Millthorpe School of Arts, won the Community Event of the Year award.

Artist Nyree Reynolds said the community event honour for the Exhibition of Ability belonged to the intellectually disabled people who had contributed artworks.

"We worked with residents from the Grand Western Lodge, and this is wonderful because they don't often get a lot of recognition," she said.

Ms Reynolds' original project to teach intellectually disabled people painting and drawing skills has won acclaim with government agencies. The Australia Council will provide Arts OutWest with a grant of $18,000 to carry forward Ms Reynolds' work across the central West.

Although nominations were called for a junior citizen of the year award no award was given by the council's Australia Day Committee. Director of Corporate Services at Blayney Council Aaron Jones said there were two nominations for a junior citizen award but he understood that the committee, that includes the mayor, general manager, a member of Blayney Rotary, a representative of the Ministers of Religion Association and the 2005 Australian Citizen of the Year and Newbridge School principal Garry Fisher, decided that the standard of the nominations was not high enough for an award to be made this year.

Blayney Council's Australia Day Awards ceremony was held at Millthorpe for the first time ever in the history of the awards and attracted an audience of over 300 people. This year is the second year in a row that the Council has held its Australia Day awards ceremony away from Blayney; in 2005 the ceremony was held at Carcoar.

Members of the Millthorpe and District Historical Society provided a free breakfast of sausages, eggs and bacon, tea and coffee, funded by Blayney Shire Council, to the hundreds of residents who attended the event.

Blayney Council bussed residents from Blayney and Carcoar to Millthorpe for the ceremony. Prior to the awards ceremony the Millthorpe Village Committee engaged Millthorpe based professional musicians Chloe and Jason Roweth to perform traditional Australian folk songs for the audience. They performed from the recently restored bandstand in Redmond Oval and after the awards winners were named the Millthorpe Oz Day Choir, trained and conducted by Genevieve Wilby sang Waltzing Matilda, The Road to Gundagai and Welcome To All People. Children from Millthorpe and public schools in the Blayney Shire sang the national anthem at the beginning of the ceremony.

More Australia Day at Millthorpe and Carcoar photographs on pages 4 and 5.

Blayney Citizens of the Year

1981 Roger Nolan

1982 Eric Thompson and Dorothy Moore

1983 Ruth Oldham

1984 Audrey Hardman and Frank Ryan

1985 Fay Redhead

1986 Bob Speers

1987 Joseph Cowan

1988 Michael Commins

1989 Margaret Dowell

1990 Joyce Pascoe

1991 Lesley Patterson

1992 Leonard Commins

1993 Val McCarthy

1994 Lyn Burge

1995 Hilton Davis

1996 Margaret Fairbank

1997 Kathleen Smith

1998 Anne Oates

1999 Dr Harris (Chip) Redhead

2000 William (Billy) Soo

2001 Dr Ranjit Barui and Bob Mackillop

2002 Judy Newstead

2003 Elaine Jones

2004 Paul Kevin

2005 Gary Fisher

2006 Hilton Davis