Ms Chapman won the award at the inaugural Public Sector Spring Charity Ball for her position as senior project officer for the Dubbo Transformation Strategy, better known locally as the Gordon Estate redevelopment.

In what she described as a nerve-racking experience and a “bit of a blur”, she had to get up and make a speech in front of 500 people at the overseas passenger terminal in Sydney.

The speech came after receiving the award from Minister for Ageing and Disability Services Kristina Keneally.

“I used the speech to say that it’s fantastic that public services are recognising young people because the public sector usually goes unnoticed,” she said. “I spoke about the complexity of working in public service, particularly in the human sector.

“I had absolutely no idea, it was really overwhelming and I was very nervous. It was all a bit of a blur.”

Ms Chapman said the transformation strategy was going well and that she had received positive feedback from numerous clients.

Thirty houses have been purchased in Dubbo by Housing NSW during the past 18 months.

Thirty-six out of 69 clients from precinct one of the plan have been relocated so far.

“Some have gone outside of Dubbo by choice,” she said. “The sales are going really well, it’s created the opportunity for a lot of single people and long-term renters to get out of the rental market and become a buyer.

“I don’t think people out there realise the process we follow - we do everything down to dropping off boxes to our clients, organising the transformation of pets. It’s not just a matter of handing them the keys and saying, ‘you have to move by this date’, we walk through the process with our clients.”

The money raised at the charity ball went to a youth strategy project developed by a Dubbo man, called Apex Australia Destiny Youth Trust.

emily.wheeler@ruralpress.com