Out of the disasters that ravaged Australia in the past three years, remarkable feats emerged and buoyed the spirit of the nation and Prime Minister Julia Gillard is bent on conferring honours to these modern day heroes.

Ms Gillard said on Wednesday that the government is set to honour people who rose beyond themselves and display heroic acts in the middle of natural disasters.

The prime minister described the heroes as new class of Australia Day honours, revealing the recognition at her Australia Day speech in Toowoomba, located in south Queensland and among the most damaged area of the state.

Ms Gillard said that the initial awardees would be honoured next year but she clarified that considerations would span heroic acts seen and performed from 2009, the year when the Black Saturday bushfires transpired, to this year, which will be remembered for the flooding disaster that practically brought Australia in a standstill.

In addressing the crowd numbering to thousands, Gillard said that the damages wrought by the disasters and the loss of lives were indeed cause for grieving but she also pointed to the occasions as opportunities to celebrate incredible feats that were volunteered by some individuals wanting to serve.

She said that while Australia mourns, we also celebrate "the tremendous community spirit as people work together in the most difficult of times and the darkest of hours and as people are continuing to work together in the rebuilding."

Ms Gillard said that the awards have been recommended to the Governor-General for approval of the Queen.

The whole day was marked by festivities that saw thousands flocking into Toowoomba's Picnic Point for a scheduled concert and the Ms Gillard herself gracing a barbeque party that authorities organised for flood survivors and emergency service personnel who saw action during the disaster.

Also, this year's Australia Day marked Ms Gillard's first occasion of presiding over a citizenship ceremony as prime minister in Canberra, which is part of the 13,000 people from 140 countries, set to be naturalised across the country on the same day.