Hills and Coasts

Sony Centre Arts Award

Winner – Fine Art Kangaroo Island

Fine Art Kangaroo Island opened in January 2008 and has grown in physical size and reputation since. It was initiated by local artist and community development workers Fred and Fleur Peters, who realised the development of the arts industry on Kangaroo lsland was limited by its lack of a quality commercial outlets.  Located in the central retail precinct in Kingscote, it provides a quality exhibition and gallery outlet for Kangaroo Island residents, ratepayers, artists and artisans.

The gallery and exhibition space provides an active promotional vehicle for local artists to increase their exposure and sell their works. It is a high quality display venue with industry standard hanging and lighting fixtures, and offers curatorial service and consignment opportunities to other Island based businesses such as accommodation providers and wineries.

Fine Art Kangaroo Island caters to the many visitors to Kangaroo Island, approximately 180,000 per annum. The high number of visitors makes a quality art business dealing exclusively with local original art works viable. The current permanent population of approximately 4,500 could not sustain a business of this kind. However, they do still provide a service to local residents looking for quality gifts for special occasions, and business owners and government agencies who purchase corporate gifts.

 

Elders Community Group Award

Winner – Duck Flat Community Garden (2011 Telstra Hall of Fame inductee)

Duck Flat Community Garden is an initiative of the Mt. Barker and District Health Services. It was opened in 2001 with the aim of providing a unique opportunity for artistic, horticultural, environmental and community development, with the added benefit of being able to offer the Community Health Service clients, volunteers and general community a venue to undertake holistic primary health practices.

Duck Flat continues to provide opportunities for teaching, socialising, therapy, training and skills exchange, creative workshops and expression, cross cultural and cross generational exchange, meeting spaces and contemplative places, public and private celebrations and commemorations.

Duck Flat develops partnerships with individuals, organisations and groups to promote and develop sustainable gardening practices and responsibility. Since its inception it has attracted volunteer contributions worth approximately $125,000 per year.

Over 100 volunteers, ranging in age from six to 82, have contributed directly to the making of the garden, offering skills as diverse as organic gardening, building design and construction, art, landscape design, administrative support, and donations of materials.

 

Elders Community Individual Award

Winner – Julie Reece

Julie Reece established the commemorative project Connecting Spirits in 2006, which involves students and adults from Meningie Area and Birdwood High Schools.

The project involves young people locating, researching and commemorating soldiers who fought and died in World Wars One and Two and who have a connection to those in the project either via family or community ties. The group travels to Singapore, London and the former battlefields of the western front in France and Belgium.

Julie’s role has been to establish the group from its infancy, lead the research process, oversee fundraising programs and organise all travel arrangements. She also established a Youth Leadership aspect of the Connecting Spirits project, where students who take part in one tour return as high school graduates to work with her on a subsequent project, participating in the planning, leadership, mentoring, promotion and fundraising.

Julie has established a website in collaboration with Meningie Area School Deputy Principal Mal Jurgs where they publish the work of the project and write a daily blog while overseas.

 

Westpac Large Business Award

Winner – Kangaroo Island Pure Grain Pty Ltd

Kangaroo Island Pure Grain (KIPG) was established in 2009 with the mission to provide premium returns to Kangaroo Island grain growers, encouraging existing farmers to increase their grain production and to encourage others to enter the industry. KIPG now represents 94% of growers on the Island and receives, stores, classifies, markets and distributes grains, oil seeds and pulses to premium domestic and export markets including Japan, India and Egypt. In the last twelve months we have expanded our exports to include racehorse oats, faba beans and noodle wheat. They have also facilitated the establishment of a completely new market for Kangaroo lsland beekeepers, producing canola honey, which is not genetically modified, for the exclusive Japan market.

KIPG owns and operates substantial infrastructure on Kangaroo Island, together with state of the art software and handling systems, to enable them to segregate, store and ship small premium quantities of grain, and to provide full traceability all the way back to the paddock. They now have the storage capacity for up to 22 segregations by grain type and quality. Their services to growers include support and information-sharing on best practice for the production of grains, oil seeds and pulses with minimum chemical inputs, and identifying and marketing to countries with the highest cash return to their farmers.

 

Westpac Small Business Award

Winner – Fleurieu Crash Repairs

Fleurieu Crash Repairs is the leading collision repairer on the Southern Fleurieu and has been in business for almost 26 years. Fleurieu Crash Repairs commenced on 15 September 1985 in McKinley Street, Victor Harbor and moved to their current purpose built premises in November 1996. Since then the premises have been expanded twice, most recently in April 2011.

Fleurieu Crash Repairs provides exceptional customer service, superior quality and the ability to consistently deliver their clients vehicles on time using the latest technologies at an affordable price.

Services include panel beating, spray painting, air conditioning service and repair, windscreen and glass repair and replacement, window tinting, and supplying and fitting new panels and accessories. They also have a local valet service and hire cars at a minimal daily rate to help customers that cannot manage without a vehicle.

 

Department of Trade and Economic Development Innovation Award

Winner – Temple Bruer Wines (2011 Telstra Hall of Fame inductee)

Temple Bruer is a small to medium winery located in South Australia’s Langhorne Creek wine growing region. The company sources grapes for the production of their wines from its own vineyard located at the winery, and from a group of trusted growers from across South Australia. The company has a strong dedication to innovation and sustainability, which has seen them adopt organic, vegan friendly, and ecologically sustainable practices. They have also become leaders in the production of preservative free wines. All of this has been achieved while ensuring neither the flavour nor value of their wines has been compromised.

Demand for the company’s wine has increased significantly over the last five years because they have been able to satisfy a number of niches without compromising the quality or integrity of their product. This has resulted in an 11% growth in sales during the 2010/2011 financial year, and their wines being sold in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and New Zealand.

The growth in demand for Temple Bruer’s wine nationally and internationally has been accompanied by an expansion of the range of wine they offer. Currently the company produces four white wines and seven red wines, with three from that range being preservative free.

 

Viterra Sports Award 

Winner – Onkaparinga Swimming Club

 

Hames Sharley Sustainability Award

Winner – Sinclair's Gully (2011 Telstra Hall of Fame inductee) 

Sinclair’s Gully was established 14 years ago when Sue and Sean Delaney discovered and purchased their 26-acre property at Norton Summit in the Adelaide Hills. Sinclair's Gully is a family run sustainable wine and ecotourism business, employing owners Sue and Sean Delaney in a full time capacity, and local businesses and residents on a part-time and contract basis.

Sustainable practices are the foundation of Sinclair‘s Gully's business operations, including the conservation of the fragile bush land in the 20-acre sanctuary on the property, sustainable biodynamic vineyard management practices, a zero waste program, the onsite collection of all water and reuse of waste water on the surrounding garden, an energy program and solar power project, and measuring and implementing strategies to minimise the carbon and ecological footprint.

Sue and Sean's commitment to sustainable practices and the environment made it a natural progression for Sinclair’s Gully to complete the national tourism accreditation with Ecotourism Australia and the advanced eco certification accreditation program, making Sincliar’s Gully one of only two cellar-doors to achieve this nationally.

 

StatewideSuper Tourism Award

Winner – Adelaide Hills Magazine (2011 Telstra Hall of Fame inductee)

Adelaide Hills Magazine is a glossy magazine first published in April 2009. Its rich editorial content and stunning photography tell the stories of the Adelaide Hills region; of its people, places, history and culture.

With 38% of magazines sold outside the region, the quarterly publication is driving real tourist dollars into the Adelaide Hills and helping to define its niche in the tourism sector.

They aim to create a strong regional brand that defines the Adelaide Hills. With a philosophy of ‘Adelaide Hills first, everything else second,’ Adelaide Hills Magazine offers residents, visitors and potential visitors a genuine insight into the region. Its high-quality editorial content, award-winning photography and stylish design provide a deeper reading experience than any specific tourist-targeted literature could hope to do. It therefore reaches people who would not have picked up a brochure or flyer and paints a picture of the region that goes beyond its attractions, portraying something of its character and soul.

 

Adelaide Event & Exhibition Centre Youth Award

Winner – Kaitlin Taylor