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Megan Gilmour, co-founder of not-for-profit MissingSchool, is the 2025 ACT Australian of the Year. (Supplied: Salty Dingo)
The co-founder of an organisation helping children experiencing serious injury or illness avoid missing out on school, Megan Gilmour, has been named as the ACT’s 2025 Australian of the Year.
After the 55-year-old’s son survived a traumatic illness that saw him miss over a year of school she, along with two other Canberra mothers, realised there was no framework to support chronically ill children’s friendships and schooling.
Ms Gilmour co-founded not-for-profit MissingSchool, vowing to support the 1.2 million Australian children at risk of missing school due to chronic medical and mental conditions.
Her 2017 Churchill Fellowship across six countries started the world’s first telepresence robot service, which has so far reconnected over 7,000 Australian classmates in real-time.
Ms Gilmour also co-authored Australia’s first national report on school isolation, initiating a commonwealth report in 2016, and her 2021 policy proposal for improved data and systematic support was accepted by the commonwealth.
Her campaign to sustain school connection for children’s wellbeing reached 14.1 million Australians in 2024, and she now champions “learn-from-anywhere” globally as vital school policy for students unable to attend physically.
Telepresence robots help children who are too sick to go to school maintain a presence in the classroom. (Supplied: MissingSchool)
When accepting her award Ms Gilmour said the journey began when she walked out of Sydney Children’s Hospital with her family, holding her son Darcy’s hand.
“I promised myself I wouldn’t turn my back on the needs of children who can’t attend school for reasons beyond their control,” she said.
“I’m here today because I couldn’t give up on that.”
Ms Gilmour said MissingSchool was ready to help shape schools and the school system to be 21st century operators using every day technology.
“To enable a student who can’t be there to click a button and be in their classroom, and learn alongside their peers with their teachers in their own school community,” she said.
Ms Gilmour also gave thanks to her fellow nominees.
“I look to you for inspiration every day when I want to give up,” she said.
Running supporters of the visually impaired
Peter and Marilyn Ralston have been jointly named the 2025 Senior Australians of the Year for the ACT. (Supplied: Salty Dingo)
A married couple in their 70s who help people with vision impairment or other disabilities walk or run in mainstream active lifestyle events have been jointly named the ACT’s Senior Australians of the Year.
In 2013 Peter Ralston OAM, 75, and Marilyn Ralston, 74, began Achilles Running Club Canberra.
The club teams up volunteer guides with visually impaired people to participate in fun runs, club training, and a weekly park run.
Achilles Canberra has enabled several blind members to each achieve hundreds of park runs, and in the past three years Mr Ralston has personally guided blind athletes 120 times at park run.
In recognition of his service to sport for people who are blind or have low vision Mr Ralston was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020.
Mr Ralston also serves the community as a member of Lions Club of Canberra Belconnen, as does Mrs Ralston at St John’s Care in Reid.
The Achilles Running Club Canberra teams up volunteer guides with visually impaired people to participate in fun runs, club training, and a weekly park run. (Supplied)
When accepting the award Mrs Ralston said it’s the chants of “go Achilles!” at fun runs and training that was really inspiring.
She said when starting the Canberra branch of the club she and her husband weren’t sure if it would last.
“We said we’d give it a go – short-term was the next training session, long-term was the next six months – that was 11 and a half years ago,” Mrs Ralston said.
Mr Ralston said he was proud of having influenced change, including at a Lions international charity run two of the club’s blind athletes participated in.
“A lot of people were amazed at this, but … we can help people achieve their goals,” he said.
Lived neurodiversity experience to advocate and mentor
Neurodiversity advocate Daniel Bartholomaeus is the 2025 ACT Australian of the Year. (Supplied: Salty Dingo)
A neurodiversity advocate and artist with an innate ability to inspire others has been named the 2025 Young Australian of the Year for the ACT.
Daniel Bartholomaeus, 21, has turned his challenges in life into motivation and support for other neurodiverse Canberrans.
Mr Bartholomaeus, who has autism and ADHD, has also had anxiety since he was young, and difficulties at school contributed to him developing depression.
And in 2022, when his portfolio had just won him a place at university, his mental health was at an all-time low.
Now Mr Bartholomaeus is a mentor with The With Friends Initiative, a social group for neurodivergent young people.
He has also worked with Daydream Machine, the National Gallery of Australia, and the United Nations to help young people realise that it’s not about what you can’t do, but what you can do.
Daniel Bartholomaeus is an artist as well as being a mentor with The With Friends Initiative. (Supplied)
Mr Bartholomaeus uses his art not just to express himself, but also to forge common pathways for people with mental ill-health and bridge the gap between neurotypical and neurodiverse people.
As he accepted the award Mr Bartholomaeus said it was unbelievable to win.
“It means the world to me to be able to represent people with a disability and represent neurodiverse people,” he said.
Mr Bartholomaeus said his family and friends had inspired him to get involved with the work.
“Having gone through challenges through my life I’ve been motivated to help other young people no matter where they come from,” he said.
Using hospitality to empower culturally and linguistically diverse women
Co-founders of Cafe Stepping Stone, Vanessa Brettell (left) and Hannah Costello, were jointly named the ACT’s Local Heroes for 2025. (Supplied: Salty Dingo)
Two Canberra women harnessing the power of hospitality to lift and empower the community’s most vulnerable have been jointly named the ACT’s Local Heroes for 2025.
Vanessa Brettell, 31, and Hannah Costello, 32, are co-founders of Cafe Stepping Stone, which employs women mostly from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
The social enterprise, a sustainable vegetarian cafe with two locations, offers culturally and linguistically diverse women pathways to employment.
Workers also receive on-the-job training and qualifications through registered training organisations.
Ms Brettell and Ms Costello’s inclusive employment practices target female workers who are the sole income earners in their household, newly arrived in Australia, experiencing homelessness, know limited English, or have minimal employment history.
The co-founders also run a range of events through Stepping Stone with a focus on social justice and community connection.
Cafe Stepping Stone employs women from migrant, refugee, and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. (Supplied)
In accepting the award Ms Brettell said Stepping Stone was created because they had capacity to help those with less opportunities and privilege.
“Really the mission behind it is to help those who need it most, and in Canberra we thought that the community that needed this opportunity was women from migrant, refugee and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds,” Ms Brettell said.
“[They] face multiple barriers to employment, and [we wanted] to help them in their process of settling in Australia and increasing their ability to feel at home in their new home.”
Ms Costello said she and Ms Brettell were grateful and humbled to have been nominated for Local Hero, let alone to win.
“This award is not just ours. There are so many people that allow us to do what we do and help the people that we help, and we couldn’t do it without them,” Ms Costello said.
“This is for anyone who has ever had a finger [or] a hair in Stepping Stone.”
