Mr Polkinghorne is a well-known water advocate and was nominated for the award after walking 303km from Barham to Hume Dam, in November 2020, to draw attention to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the impacts it is having on southern basin communities socially, economically and environmentally.
The 18-day walk drew media attention from across the country as Mr Polkinghorne stopped in the small country towns along the way, speaking to farmers, business owners and community members.
Mr Polkinghorne is a mixed cropping and livestock farmer and owns the Barham Bridge, one of the few independent newspapers left in the country.
He is also vice-chair of the Speak Up campaign.
Mr Polkinghorne said he was humbled to receive the award.
“This is such a great honour and I thank the community for thinking of me,” he said.
“Our local communities and the environment have been hit pretty hard by the implementation of the basin plan and I will continue to draw attention to the issue.”
NSW State Member for Murray Helen Dalton said this award was quite an honour.
“I have only ever given out a handful of these awards over the last few years so this is a pretty big deal,” Ms Dalton said.
“Lloyd is such a great advocate for community, agriculture and water, and is very deserving of this award and I am sure he will keep up the hard work.”
