Blacktown City continues to grow and thrive into a grand metropolis , the jewel in the crown of Western Sydney . It ’ s the largest and fastest growing city in NSW . Here ’ s some of the memorable events and people we reported on who continue to make our city both proud

and progressive .

JANUARY

Blacktown City ’ s disability awardees were honoured . Volunteer of the Year was Laura Naing , with Kylie Smith , Ally Horspool and the Minchinbury Jets JRLFC Try Time taking out Inspirational Person , Young Person and Organisation of the Year awards respectively .

We celebrated the life of Rod Payne , a stalwart of the Windsor Rugby League Club , and reported on the official opening of The Junction Works at Seven Hills , a disability day centre .

Doonside Senior Citizens Club was featured in our Making a Difference column while Mt Druitt disabled athlete and multi-sport award winning

Jason Hooper , was interviewed as one of our Finest .

FEBRUARY

The NSW Seniors Festival was our cover story , while we reported on the $ 15million Disability Sport Centre of Excellence funding announcement for multipurpose indoor training facilities in Blacktown International Sportspark .

Blacktown ’ s Finest , double-amputee Dwayne Fernandes , of Minchinbury , shared his amazing sporting accomplishments and introduced us to Minds at Play , a national social gaming company .

National Corrections Day was marked at Parklea Gaol and we read Sir Stuart Mackenzie the greatest sculler of all time , hailed from Seven Hills . We met Carevan Blacktown volunteers , who provide hot meals and company every Tuesday night at Lalor

Park Community Hall . MARCH

State Government elections were held , with Labor taking a resounding win and our local Labor MPs were now sitting as government ministers .

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The history of the Blacktown Show was fascinating , it was first held in the Blacktown School of Arts , not a showground .

Nurragingy Reserve ’ s Wawai Ngurra playspace is the first fully inclusive playground to be designed and opened by council .

Our Finest was Steve Warwick of the Blacktown PCYC Spartans , who won the Mayor ’ s sports award and told his tale of scouting and supporting for local rugby league .

Blacktown City Football Club marked its milestone 70th anniversary while we also reported on Super 6 High Performance , namely its founder strength and conditioning high performance coach Carl Jennings , building talent for the Western

Sydney Two Blues group .

APRIL

Anzac Day was observed across our city and one of our articles featured the history of the Anzacs .

Emma Hoskins was our Finest for the month . The Young Citizen of the Year is decorated with sport and dance awards and named our cultural ambassador .

The massive Westpoint Blacktown celebrated its 50th birthday ! And we recounted its history .

Council announced its $ 2 billion agreement with Walker Corporation to revitalise the city with public spaces , development and thousands of local jobs .

The community work of the Blacktown Older Women ’ s Network was highlighted and stage 2 of the famous Nurragingy Miniature Railway opened in Doonside .

Making a Difference was the Young Warrior Women Program and Linden Reginia , Blacktown ’ s SWR 99.9FM host was showing us the power of positivity .

We heard about the Minchinbury Jets Try Time Rugby League squad ’ s program and how Sydney West Rugby Referees , sponsored by Headstart , were giving back

to the community .

MAY

We met our new Riverstone MP Warren Kirby , and were introduced to consultant , trainer and speaker Om Dhungel , author of Bhutan to Blacktown .

Council announced a $ 90,000 investment in a sand bagging machine , which produces up to 750 bags to assist the SES in emergency work . Blacktown SES ’ s Daniel Groom , Matthew Elliot and Adrian Phu received bravery citations .

Blacktown ’ s Finest was former sheriff Barry Wademan , superintendent for Parramatta District Courts and 45-year veteran of the SES .

Doonside came alive with the Outback Blacktown Country Music Festival , while the Blacktown City Medieval Fayre and Streets Alive Parade kept us all talking .

Aboriginal artist Leanne Jones won a Blacktown City Art Prize and we met Melvin Gray in our Making A Difference column – the founder of the Adopt a Road project in Blacktown .

Michael Geelan , member of the NSW Disability Ten Pin Bowling team shared his story about winning state championship gold and bronze medals and Blacktown walker Chris Barton introduced us to the

Batyr mental health charity .

JUNE

Riverstone Police Station held its first ever open day .

Andrew Beattie , champion jouster , showed us how to enjoy the sport of kings .

We had an in-depth interview with locally acclaimed Bhutan to Blacktown author Om Dhungel , who was our Finest for the month .

Stephanie Pinto was the subject of our Making a Difference column showing us how to raise emotionally intelligent children .

Millie the wonder dog ’ s story about waking her humans to alert them their

Blacktown garage was on fire , almost made our Finest story for the month .

The famous Bob Turner ’ s life and achievements were discussed , including his marketing of Basketball Australia , ownership of the Sydney Kings , involvement with Australian Baseball League and now chairman of Blacktown

City FC .

JULY

We congratulated Sportsperson of the Year , Commonwealth Games silver medallist and champion weightlifter Kyle Bruce , along with a host of other Blacktown City awardees including John and Lyn Channells ( Mayor ’ s Shield ); Bianca Infante ( Female Junior Sportsperson ); Isaac Beacroft ( Male Junior Sportsperson ); Riverstone Razorbacks JRLC ( Club of Year ); Patrician Bros College Blacktown U13 RL ( Team of the Year ); David Beacroft ( Coach of the Year ): Katelyn Pickett ( Sports Administrator of the Year ); Brad Fahey and Bianca Infante ( Seniors Sports Officials of the Year ).

King ’ s Birthday Honours went to Cr Griffiths ( OA ), Cr Benjamin , Cr Fitzgerald ( OAM ).

Melvin Gray was awarded an OAM and Blacktown City Council ’ s Environmental Citizen of the Year award and was the focus of our Finest column .

St Marys Rugby League Club celebrated its 115th anniversary and we marked NAIDOC Week , delving into its history .

Chifley MP Ed Husic honoured Coral McLean Award recipient Samara Al-Fatlawi ; Chifley Woman of the Year Jasmine Weeks and Chifley Young Woman of the Year Sophia Stratikopolous .

Heritage listed old Prospect Post Office building underwent a restorative transformation .

International darts came to the west when Sydney Darts Club threw out a challenge to locals to play the best in the world and we found Park Run Saturday morning clubs were held in Rooty Hill ,

Werrington , The Ponds and Quakers Hill .

AUGUST

Matilda mania hits town with the FIFA Women ’ s World Cup being screened at public sites across the district .

Our Finest was a dynamic group called the Northwest Business Chamber , which was instrumental in helping support efforts in the recent flood disasters .

Blacktown City FC partnered with Momento Hospitality to launch the Momento Grassroots Community Program – which is also sponsored by the Independent Magazine Group .

New street lamp changes saved Council $ 2.2 million per year and reduced carbon emissions by 9445 tonnes per year .

$ 10.5m of federal and state funding was channelled into reducing sexual violence and improving responses – with a host of local agencies applying for grants .

We read about the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and Blacktown ’ s links with it as well as the completion of the Good Shepherd Primary School ’ s $ 1.6m government funded reconstruction project .

Marc De Paoli , lead match day commentator at Blacktown Football

Association , told us his story . SEPTEMBER

To swim or not to let people swim in Prospect Reservoir was our cover page story .

Rooty Hill was now home to a new Medicare Urgent Care Clinic , open seven days .

Thousands of trees at a cost of $ 1 million were being planted along streets and parks across the city to enhance greenspace and lower urban temperatures . Kerry Robinson , awarded Western Sydney Champion as CEO of the largest council in NSW – ours – was our Finest citizen for the month .

Ladies of the Toongabbie CWA shows us how much community work they do in our Make a Difference column , while we had a picture gallery of the inaugural Flavours of Blacktown Festival .

The Blacktown Warriors Rugby League Club showed us how much fight they had

left in them .

OCTOBER

We read about the 70-year history of Meals on Wheels as well as the Blacktown , Mt Druitt and Riverstone centres .

Blacktown ’ s Finest was animal lover and advocate Ian Burr , who has worked with Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre to find new homes for strays for 44 years .

Blacktown Leisure Centre hosted the National Pickleball Championships , while a $ 120 million boost for Blacktown Hospital was announced .

The Western Sydney Women organisation was the topic of our Making a Difference column , showing the next generation of women to achieve greatness in all work areas .

Some 80 young students led the 2023 Blacktown City Youth Forum , sharing views , concerns and ideas for the future .

Greenway MP Michelle Rowland urged constituents if they were unsure what the Voice referendum was about , they should find out more .

Matty Engesser enlightened us about the world of a triathlete , while Archery Games based in Glenwood , sounded like

plenty of fun !

NOVEMBER

Diwali – the Festival of Lights - was celebrated across our front cover , with Remembrance Day , World Kindness Day and International Day of Tolerance inside our pages .

Our Finest of the month was Bruce Shaw , president of the RSL sub-branch in Riverstone and Schofields Public School celebrated its 100th birthday .

Council paid tribute to the late Dr Russ Dickens naming a clinic in his name within the Blacktown Animal Rehoming Centre .

Kyah Simon , the girl from Quakers Hill Juniors FC , who hold the honour of being the first Indigenous player to score a goal for Australia in the World Cup Finals , proved why women are naturals when it comes to the A-League .

Rooty Hill RSL Hockey Club ended the

year as champions – all round .

DECEMBER

The Mayoress of Blacktown , Nina Bleasdale ’ s Christmas Appeal launches .

Reverand Bill Crews and his volunteer team at Lethbridge Park Food and Care Hub serve 400 meals a day , as reported in MP Ed Husic ’ s column .

Olympic legend Cathy Freeman OAM opened the $ 100 million Blacktown Exercise , Sports and Technology Hub ( BEST ) in the Blacktown International Sports Park .

Elias Nassif has been raising money for charity for more than 40 years . His life and story featured in our Finest column .

The wonderful life of Australian artist Max Mannix came under the spotlight and was our cover story .

Former Wonderland employee , Kylie Murphy , was named Family of League ’ s coveted NSW Ron Coote Volunteer of the Year .

Support the Girls , a charity which gifts bras and underwear to larger women struggling financially , founded by Jane Holmes , was the focus of our Make a Difference column .

Prospect ’ s Fortunato Vella was named overall city champion in the Blacktown City Garden Competition . Geoff Kubbere was voted second and Eddie and Margaretta Rutkowski placed third .

Blacktown Volleyball Academy has ramped up its offerings to make it a powerhouse sporting centre based in Mt Druitt .