EVERY day, ordinary Australians do amazing things within their communities.

For their efforts they are recognised at the annual Pride of Australia Medal awards, which honours achievements that sometimes fall under the radar of the general public.

One of our local heroes is Lockyer Valley resident, Peter O'Brien, who travelled to Brisbane as one of three finalists out of more than 1000 entries across the state.

“All the finalists were there and on Friday we went down to Brisbane for lunch at the Customs House,” Mr O'Brien said.

The event was televised last year and included the likes of dignitaries like Anna Bligh and Wally Lewis in attendance.

Mr O'Brien is area co-ordinator of National Tree Day and a former councillor of the Gatton Shire Council as part of the environmental portfolio.

“Lockyer Tree Day has been running for 12 years, and I have been doing it for 10 years locally in the Lockyer Valley,” he said.

“We are growing better people not just trees and enthusing the next generation,” Mr O'Brien said.

“The one we had this year was the largest combined school event in Australia with 23 schools involved.

“There were 2000 students roughly altogether, and we had a talk about the environment and special planting of a bottle tree to represent the environmental commitment of the school.”

He said it represents the growing contributions made to the school and next year it will go towards a plant plan for rarer species of plants.

“I think it is a brilliant idea and we have a wonderful committee,” he said.