All over Australia, people are celebrating Australia Day this 3-day long weekend (and some even long before and after that!). Australia Day is celebrated every 26th of August, with the following Monday a nationwide holiday.

But to the winners of this year’s Australian of the Year Award last August 25 at a ceremony in front of Parliament House in Canberra, the celebration is doubled. Congratulations to the following winners of the Australian of the Year 2008.

Australian of the Year 2008

Lee Kernaghan - dubbed ‘champion of rural Australia’ because of his dedication to helping others and a country music legend; from Queensland

Senior Australian of the Year 2008

David Bussau AM - a micro-finance entrepreneur from New South Wales. He helped less fortunate people by offering small business loans

Young Australian of the Year 2008

Casey Stoner - the World MotoGP champion, and he’s only 22; also from New South Wales. He started racing at the age of four, and won his first national title at six for a race of under-nine’s.

Australia’s Local Hero 2008

Jonathon Welch - famous for the ‘Choir of Hard Knocks’ from Victoria. This choral conductor has touched the heart of nation by the sheer power of singing in building and renewing promising lives that have been rained with problems.

To partake of the celebrations, head over to the Australia Day official site to check out the events all around Australia. If you’re a new visitor, learn more about the country by reading some Australia travel reviews and choose from the numerous hotels in Australia. Stay longer and check out the areas where the best five movies are filmed in Sydney.

Posted in Australia, Events

This entry was posted on Monday, January 28th, 2008 at 8:52 am and is filed under Australia, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.