Taronga National Volunteer Week Awards 2010

Category B: Be supportive and enth usiastic

This award acknowledges volunteers who go above and beyond to support our people and show outstanding enthusiasm in the execution of their role.

Winner: Marion Arnott

Marion Arnott has been a volunteer with Taronga Zoo for over 30 years. Marion has volunteered in many areas of the zoo and has made outstanding contributions in her role as coordinator of the Platypus Club, for retired volunteers, and as an administrative assistant in the Zoo Parent department, Taronga’s animal sponsorship program. Marion is an extremely reliable and committed volunteer who always makes herself available whenever she is required by the Zoo Parent team. She always shows a keen interest in the work she is assisting with, often giving some good advice (as she knows the Zoo extremely well). Marion is always very enthusiastic with each task she is given, no matter how minor it is, and she is always happy to help with an array of different tasks. Marion always displays a selfless attitude and is often more than happy to come in to assist with spur of the moment tasks. Marion is a quiet achiever who works very diligently until her work is completed and is always very willing to work additional hours until the job is completed. She always goes above and beyond to make sure tasks are completed satisfactorily. Marion’s devotion to the Zoo makes her an extremely valued volunteer. Marion’s lovely and caring nature makes her a very admired and inspirational member of the Zoo family.

Highly Commended: Lachlan McFeeters

Lachlan has been a long term volunteer on the Carnivore Division. He has extensive knowledge on all aspects of his role as volunteer. He is very consistent in the standard of execution of his duties and willingly finds new jobs and opportunities on which to expand his knowledge and work base. He is a quiet achiever, never seeking praise or recognition but consistently works on all tasks required of him. Lachlan shows great initiative, rarely needing to be asked to do a job; he knows what is required and just gets to it! His work ethic is fantastic and he has been entrusted to do many duties that require a higher level of complexity. He relishes the opportunity to use his initiative and provide support in solving problems. An example of this is that he was asked to devise a temporary way to block a gap in the otter slide (that had developed over the weekend) so that the otters could not stick their fingers through. The device needed to be easily inserted and removed by keepers every day, and designed so that the otters themselves would not be able to eat or remove it. He came up with two options and implemented one of them in the space of 15 minutes. This innovation ensured the safety of the otter’s fingers and was convenient for the keepers. Lachlan often travels a great distance to get here (Nowra) during university holidays, showing great enthusiasm, passion and commitment to his role. Lachlan is a true asset to the Carnivore division and to Taronga Zoo.

Category A: Accept and take responsibility

This award recognises volunteers who go out of their way to accept and take responsibility which results in excellent customer service for our visitors and builds positive, strong relationships between our people.

Winner: Ian Maynard

Ian Maynard has been a volunteer in many areas of the zoo for over 10 years now. Ian has been nominated as winner of the ‘Accept and take responsibility award’ for his outstanding contribution in coordinating requests for the Media Relations team and for his role and responsibility as a Volunteer Coordinator. As a government agency, we have a commitment to attend to all requests from other not-for-profit organisation requesting gifts, free passes or other contributions to their organisation. Ian has been facilitating this process for the Media Relations team relatively unsupervised for many years now, without a single complaint from the public. In fact, Ian has received many personal thank you letters and accolades from other organisations in this role. Ian’s dedication, acceptance of responsibility and his keen sense of humour make him a very valued member of the Media Relations team. As a coordinator, Ian is fair and flexible and goes above and beyond in accepting and taking on responsibility for the development of new volunteer recruits.

Category S: Show dignity and respect

This award pays tribute to volunteers who are committed to being honest, accountable, and transparent and who treat each person as they expect to be treated.

Winner: Mary O’Dwyer

Mary O’Dwyer has been nominated as the winner of the ‘Show dignity and respect’ category for her outstanding ability to connect, engage with and make people from all walks of life feel important and special. Mary’s sparkling personality and energy make her a vibrant and very likeable person who is obviously dedicated to her role as a volunteer. Mary’s honesty and her constructive and positive advice is always well received and made her a very efficient chairman of the committee during her recent time in that role. Mary is a role model of dignity and respect and a genuine picture of someone who enjoys life. Mary is a valuable asset to our volunteers and to the TCSA.

Category I: Innovate and take initiative

This award highlights volunteers who stand out from the crowd because of their willingness to use their initiative or embrace changes that will lead to the realisation of our Vision.

Winner: Cris Penn

Cris has volunteered every Monday in the Australiana Fauna precinct for over ten years. She is punctual, friendly and truly has the animals’ interests at heart. Cris has become a very reliable volunteer whom not only provides great husbandry assistance to our Macropod keepers but has also taken it on her own initiative to bring huge amounts of fresh browse for the macropods to eat every Monday. Cris uses her own initiative to source the browse and transport it to the zoo. This is a very valuable addition to the enrichment program that we have for the Macropod yard and Nocturnal house. Her initiative benefits our animals and helps our keepers immensely.

Highly Commended: Dick Gall

Dick is a true ‘quiet achiever’. He is always top of mind for anyone who needs someone with initiative and an ability to get the job done. Dick is a reliable and genuinely dependable volunteer who will not only do a job but suggest improvements along the way. Dick is there to assist and create efficiencies with anything that needs fixing, building, cataloguing, organising or tidying.

Category C: Clear and simple

This award celebrates those volunteers that are committed to finding effective, creative, clear and simple ways of carrying out their role.

Winner: Pauline Gibbs

Pauline has been awarded the winner of this category for her amazing ability to carry out her role as a Volunteer Coordinator clearly and simply. Pauline’s ability to effectively organise everyone with efficiency and understanding ensures that everyone has had a great day. Pauline is an invaluable asset to our volunteers, to our zoo visitors and to the TCSA.

Category B: Be supportive and enthusiastic

This award acknowledges volunteers who go above and beyond to support our people and show outstanding enthusiasm in the execution of their role.

Winner: Howard Oakley (in memorium)

Howard has been nominated winner of the ‘Be supportive and enthusiastic’ award due to his passionate and enthusiastic involvement in TWPZ enrichment workshops since their inception. Along with his wife Veronica, Howard was a crucial part of the program’s ongoing success.

Howard attended every enrichment workshop and was happy to be tasked with any number of enrichment requests. Outside of the zoo, Howard was responsible for the constant sourcing of materials for enrichment items. His ability to find and use materials that others would throw away was inspirational and resulted in our animals being provided with a very wide, interesting and often unusual range of enrichment items. Most notably, Howard will be remembered for the many hundreds of metres of decommissioned fire hose he found use for enrichment items, including “Fire Hose Balls”, “Hanging Head Bangers” and primate hummocks. Howard also sourced materials to make other unique items such as bongo browse feeders, hanging bongo feeders, fake termite mounds and Echidna feeders. 

Howard was always positive toward new enrichment ideas from keepers, especially those that posed a challenge and went above and beyond to turn the ideas into a reality by researching the web for any potential existing designs and spending hours at home and back of house at the zoo developing and completing his creations. Unfortunately, in April 2010, Howard passed away from a terminal disease, but continued to show outstanding enthusiasm toward the ongoing development of enrichment item for the animals at his beloved Taronga Western Plains Zoo to the very end.

Highly Commended: Leonie Saville

Leonie has been highly commended for this award for her long term involvement in many ways with the Taronga Western Plains Zoo volunteers. During the period of Zoo Friends volunteers, Leonie became Honorary Secretary of the group, then went on to become a Councilor of the Association of Zoo Friend NSW Inc. which ultimately led to her becoming President of that body, the first person from the country to take on that position. At the time of the appointment, the Council was in the process of amalgamating with the Taronga Conservation Society Australia. This process involved meeting many requirements which Leonie handled in a supportive and enthusiastic way and with calm professionalism.

Leonie has always carried out all her volunteer duties with enthusiasm and is always supportive of other volunteers in whatever role they take. Leonie’s enthusiasm is infectious in her role as an Early Morning Walk guide and every role Leonie has taken on, whether an executive position, or participating in Stream watch, animal watches, or her contributions to the membership newsletter ZooNooz through her fantastic photography which involves many hours of work seeking the best shots, and continues to inspire everyone who sees her work.

Leonie is held in high regard by all the volunteers, long serving and new alike, and by Zoo employees for her ongoing support and enthusiasm.

Category A: Accept and take responsibility

This award recognises volunteers who go out of their way to accept and take responsibility which results in excellent customer service for our visitors and builds positive, strong relationships between our people.

Winner: Lesley Abrahams

Lesley became chairperson of the Zoo Friends volunteers committee in August 2009 after being a member of the committee for 3 years where she was always a helpful and constructive thinker with any problems that arose.  As chairperson in the changeover to becoming part of TCSA, Lesley has handled all concerns of both volunteers and zoo management calmly and efficiently and has strived to achieve a good result for all parties. The chairperson position is very demanding with lots of time needed to fulfil its obligations to ensure that volunteers continue to provide the highest standard of service to our visitors and that volunteers work well together to achieve. Lesley’s unfailing courtesy and conciliatory skills and her willingness to accept and take responsibility in her position, result in positive relationships between our people.

Highly Commended: Andrew Grindrod

Although Andrew is relatively new to his volunteer role, he has already proven that he will go out of his way to provide excellent customer service and accept and take responsibility for his role. Andrew is punctual, reliable and takes pride in his work. He is always smiling and obliging. Andrew provides excellent customer service in his daily role and goes beyond the call of duty to do extra jobs for Zoo staff while he is in town. Andrew even bought in his own silicone gun to fix up the letterbox for the zoo when he noticed that it was deteriorating. Andrew is already a valued and valuable member of the Taronga Western Plains Zoo team.

Category S: Show dignity and respect

This award pays tribute to volunteers who are committed to being honest, accountable, and transparent and who treat each person as they expect to be treated.

Winner: Patsy Forrester

Patsy is a long time volunteer who is always respectful and kind to those she encounters. Patsy always carries out her volunteer duties with a pleasant smile which shows that she obviously enjoys her role as a volunteer.

Category I: Innovate and take initiative

This award highlights volunteers who stand out from the crowd because of their willingness to use their initiative or embrace changes that will lead to the realisation of our Vision.

Winner: John Powning

John Powning has been nominated as the winner of the ‘Innovate and take initiative’ award for his outstanding commitment and initiative shown over many years of service to TWPZ.  John independently has taken the initiative to collect and collate the history of the zoo through the documentation of media articles. John has collated and prepared a number of comprehensive volumes of the history dating back to the early media reports of the development of an open range Zoo in Western NSW in the early Seventies.  He continues to research spending many hours photocopying and cataloguing this unique history and is currently working on the period from 2000 onwards.

Additionally, John is an outstanding Volunteer who gives a great deal to the Zoo. He is an active member of the volunteer committee. John has completed endless morning walks and assists in the coordination of Zoo Friends talks.  John’s outstanding initiative and innovation make him a very valuable asset to Taronga Western Plains Zoo. 

Highly Commended: Bob Coverdale

Bob has been nominated as highly commended for this award due to his willingness to continually find creative ways of carrying out his duty as a volunteer. Bob has been a TWPZ volunteer for about 10 years and offers his services in a number of ways. Bob conducts early morning walks, mentors new volunteers, provides tours for student groups, and volunteers in the reproductive laboratory. As a retired vet who is passionate about wildlife, Bob is dedicated to providing visitors with accurate information and interesting facts about our collection animals in a way which contributes to our conservation messages and the vision of our organisation. Bob has been a great help in the reproductive laboratory by doing dishes, filling supplies, and labelling tubes among many other things. He has also been involved in collecting and analysing monthly water samples from the various waterways on-site as a part of a long-term Waterwatch program. He is a delight to work with and is more than happy to help out in any way he can. He is always looking for creative ideas to improve current volunteer information sheets and activities and is committed to enhancing the visitor experience. Bob will, without doubt, be a valuable volunteer for many years to come.

Category C: Clear and simple

This award celebrates those volunteers that are committed to finding effective, creative, clear and simple ways of carrying out their role.

Winner: Liam Hume

Liam has been a member of the Youth at the Zoo (YATZ) program since 2008. He has been nominated as winner of this category due to the succinct and methodical manner in which he consistently carries out his role as a volunteer.

Liam is continually looking for ways to ease the workloads of others and effectively and enthusiastically contributes to the smooth running of all programs he includes himself in. The roles Liam participates in include, but are not limited to, Roar and Snore, ZoosnooZ, Zoo Adventures and some keeper duties

Liam’s clear and simple manner is evident when he is showing new YATZ members what is required. He instructs them in a clear, friendly and constructive manner. Liam efficiently pre-empts staff requirements and is there to assist in any way that he can. An example of this is through the way Liam will have pet packs ready on the completion of a presentation, allowing a smooth transition to the next animal and thereby increasing the quality of the overall presentation. Liam also always ensures that the animal itself is well looked after and safely and securely housed.

Liam is a great character and an even better volunteer support to the TWPZ Eduction Department.