Barossa
Sony Centre Arts Award
Winner – Barossa Under the Stars
Barossa Under The Stars is an annual event of international standard that showcases and blends art and music, wine, food, hospitality, culture and landscape with international, Australian and local artists/musicians of the highest calibre. The reputation of the event ensures recognition and publicity is generated locally, nationally and internationally.
Barossa Under The Stars commenced in 1997 with a sell out 6,000 patrons attending the inaugural concert featuring Shirley Bassey.
Since then the capacity has been expanded to 9,000 and featured artists have included Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, Rod Stewart, Michael Crawford, Sir Cliff Richard, John Farnham, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, Chris Isaak, Tina Arena,
Jimmy Barnes, and in 2011, STING with Maestro Steven Mercurio and The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Artists have always been carefully selected to appeal to the identified target market and the ethos of the event.
Elders Community Group Award
Winner – Barossa Area Fundraisers for Cancer Inc
Barossa Area Fundraisers for Cancer was established three years ago by a group of cancer survivors, families and friends of cancer patients to financially assist, support, maintain and improve the quality of life for cancer patients in the Barossa Valley and surrounding areas.
As a group, they have been able to establish close working relationships with a number of organisations in the area including the Barossa Council, Country Health department, hospitals and a variety of businesses who support them with donations of goods as well as donation tins in their business places to collect donations.
The group raises funds in a number of ways in the community by holding various functions, including concerts, stalls in the local shopping centre, girl's night pyjama parties and coffee mornings. One of their biggest challenges in the community is not the support they receive but rather letting people know who they are, what they are about and the number of services they offer.
In the past 12 months, the group’s focus has been to raise awareness of the services they provide and to obtain feedback from the community regarding requirements for cancer patients and their families.
Elders Community Individual Award
Winner – Elly Milne
Elly has always been drawn to helping the less fortunate in the Barossa community. Over many decades she, with her husband Scotty, has fostered countless numbers of children; offering short, medium and long term care to those in need of love and attention.
Elly has spent the last 19 years researching, developing and implementing transport solutions for residents of the Barossa and Light Regions who are transport disadvantaged.
The Barossa community also benefits from another of Elly’s initiatives, “Collaborative Wheels for Community Access” program, which brings several stakeholders together, pooling resources and funding in a collaborative manner to provide effective, efficient, affordable transport solutions to local residents seeking social inclusion.
Elly was instrumental in the development of the Barossa Regional Home Assist Scheme, which she also co-ordinates. Home Assist is a scheme that aids people to maintain an independent lifestyle when they become unable to cope with or manage their day-to-day chores and have no other available assistance.
Westpac Large Business Award
Winner – Gawler Custom Specialist Joinery
Gawler Custom Specialist Joinery specialises in the custom design, manufacture and installation of a wide range of high quality, domestic and commercial joinery. They have a reputation for workmanship, quality and taking pride in their work. They service local and country regions across the state, including Yorke Peninsula and Eyre Peninsula.
Gawler Custom is a partnership consisting of the two directors Alan Norsworthy and Justin Sloan. The pair began working together in 1992 from a shed in the backyard of Alan's home. Three years later they moved to a premise boasting a 400sq m shed and employed six staff. As their reputation grew, so did their business and they had to move again to their current site with potential to expand.
In 2001 they expanded by adding a Polish shop section, in 2002 they added a mezzanine showroom, in 2003 they added a machine shop section and in 2006 added a mezzanine office structure to accommodate the setting out and production management. This allows all processes to be quality controlled in-house. In late 2008 they expanded again, this time putting a full-length extension to join to the other three expansions.
Westpac Small Business Award
Winner – Barossa Valley Cheese Company
Barossa Valley Cheese Company’s (BVCC) cheese is sold in gourmet food shops and supermarkets throughout Australia through distributors, and as a retail product in their shopfront. Their Cheesecellar excels as a big contributor to food and wine tourism in the Barossa, welcoming interstate and intrastate visitors through its doors in increasing numbers. In 2010/2011, they welcomed more than 40,000 visitors.
Despite this growth, BVCC insists it will not stray from its foundation ethos and become a mass producer of cheese. BVCC will always be an artisan producer, sourcing milk from local dairies and creating cheese with the character of the locale and passion of the maker.
The BVCC Cheesecellar is open daily and offers a variety of tourism experiences, all focussed on cheese, food and wine. Visitors can choose to immerse themselves in the cheese and wine experience or simply taste and purchase cheese for their own enjoyment.
Department of Trade and Economic Development Innovation Award
Winner – Teusner Wines
The Teusner philosophy is to produce exceptional, affordable wines with fruit sourced from old, low-yielding and well-maintained vineyards. This fruit is then guided, with minimal inputs, to create their wine, which speaks of the soils of the Barossa Valley and the passion of the grape growers and winemakers.
In the short time since their humble beginnings, Kym and Michael have managed to secure parcels of fruit from some of the Barossa Valley's best vineyards, stretching from Williamstown in the South to Ebenezer in the North. They produce a range of wines that have garnered rave reviews in the press and a loyal and passionate fan base of savvy wine drinkers. From starting the business in 2001 and thru to approximately 2007, Kym and Michael produced all their wines in their own time while both holding down full-time jobs. This gave them the opportunity to establish themselves as a winery without external financial backing.
Since inception the business has been run on a shoestring budget, which is one of the main keys to its success. This year alone they expect to turnover approximately $3,000,000 (ex GST). With only four full-time staff at the beginning of the year (including the owners), this is quite an achievement.
Viterra Sports Award
Winner – Daniella Lambert
Daniella has been playing for St Georges Netball Club at the A Grade level for seven years and coaching in the junior levels for the past 4 years of Winter and Summer seasons. She started with an under 11's team and then had an under 13's and moved to an under 15's team this past season. She has also stepped into the umpiring section and has been a modified and junior level umpire for the club.
As an A grade player she has been able to pass on not only skills to the young girls she coaches but also a positive attitude and the belief that they can achieve whatever they set out to do on the court and in life. This has been beneficial when dealing with young teenage girls who are at an impressionable age.
After studying a Diploma of Sport Coaching and Development at TAFE, Daniella became involved with the Australian Sports Commission's Active After School Communities (AASC) program. The AASC program allows children in primary school access to free sport and physical activity programs from 3.00pm to 5.30pm during the school week.
Hames Sharley Sustainability Award
Winner – The Green Room
The Green Room Salon and Spa is an environmentally focussed salon and day spa, located in the village of Angaston in the Barossa Valley. The salon is owned and operated by Tracy Collins. It started in the middle of 2009 as a home-based business and has grown to an operation employing eight staff over a short period of time.
The business offers two types of experience - hairdressing services provided in a busy and vibrant open space and beauty services provided in the day spa in more serene, private rooms.
Whilst The Green Room Salon and Spa operates with sustainability and environmental issues paramount to its core ethos, it also acts as a conduit for other companies that operate with this same philosophy. In short, their commitment is shown in the choices they make. From the coffee that is served to their customers to the hairdryers they use, they always strive to make the best choice for a sustainable future.
StatewideSuper Tourism Award
Winner – Barossa Vintage Festival
The Barossa Vintage Festival is the largest and longest running wine tourism festival in Australia, with a proud history dating back to its inception in 1947. The original Vintage Festival was held to aid healing within the community after World War ll.
The Festival is a series of community driven events including art and craft, music, literature, heritage and of course, food and wine. Local heritage and the strong church-based tradition of the Barossa are reflected in the Festival program.
Over time the Barossa Vintage Festival has grown to meet the needs of locals and visitors alike and is the jewel in the Barossa events calendar. Visitors are provided with many unique experiences and rare opportunities to see a side of the Barossa not accessible to visitors at other times of the year.
Adelaide Event & Exhibition Centre Youth Award
Winner – Barossa Young Ambassador Program
Since its inception in 1999, the Barossa Young Ambassador Program has become an integral part of the biennial Barossa Vintage Festival. The Barossa Vintage Festival is one of Australia's leading wine festivals, and celebrates the Barossa's food, wine and heritage.
The aim of the program is to develop skills, provide mentoring and reward excellence in young adults aged between 18 and 25 years, who have an interest in promoting the Barossa's wine tourism industry.
The program offered 12 young adults, who may not have previously had the skills or support, the opportunity to be sponsored and trained to actively participate in hosting and promoting the 2011 Barossa Vintage Festival. It gave these young adults the opportunity to undertake self-development within their local community.
Employers, community groups, churches, schools, youth organisations and service clubs were encouraged to nominate a young person to be a part of the Program. Young people also had the opportunity to self-nominate. To be eligible, each nominee addressed certain criteria relating to their interest in the Barossa region, and commitment to the program.
