Queen’s Birthday Honours
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Digital health leader honoured
Harcourt North resident Professor Kathleen Gray has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to medicine through digital health education.Prof Gray said she had been working in the ever-evolving sector for more than 20 years and was delighted and overwhelmed to be acknowledged for her contribution. Digital health is the use…
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Nixon awarded AO
Former Victoria Police Commissioner and Castlemaine resident Christine Nixon has been made an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.The latest award for distinguished service to law enforcement, to women in policing and to tertiary education, adds to many awards Ms Nixon has received including the Australian…
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OAM for passionate planter
Declaring to all and sundry that you’re going to plant a million trees is a fairly big boast.But Chewton’s Dr Maggie McLeod did just that.“It was back in the ’80s at an Werner Erhard seminar that I got up and opened my mouth and said ‘I’m going to plant a million trees,” she recalls.“I had…
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A super contribution
Joe Farrugia is a self-confessed advocate for industry superannuation funds and would recommend anyone thinking of joining one to do so.It’s sound advice too, coming from a man whose 49-year contribution to the superannuation sector has just been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours. “All the…
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Distinguished service to health and education
Julien O’Connell AM has carried the titles of pro-chancellor, chair and CEO but he credits the strong teams of people around him with helping him to achieve. The Gisborne man was made an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia in this year’s Queen’s Birthday Honours for distinguished service to community health in the aged…
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An elite contribution
The worlds of football and ballet have collided under Susan Mayes’ world-leading physio research and she has been acknowledged for her work in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. The Riddells Creek resident has been named a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for significant service to physiotherapy, particularly to ballet. Working with elite dancers from…
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Fryerstown photographer gets OAM
Receiving a Medal of the Order of Australia, acclaimed local photographer Julie Millowick has taken this Queen’s Birthday opportunity to urge for decisive support for renewables transition, describing our times as at a “turning point”. The Fryerstown-based creative has received her accolade for service to the visual arts – particularly photography. The long-serving lecturer in…
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Queen’s Birthday gong for a ‘£10 Pom’
Arriving in Australia in 1957, aged 25 and a proud ‘Ten Pound Pom’, Ron Alexander never looked back. The carpenter loved the larrikin fun of Australian building sites and was soon dubbed ‘Ron the Pom’. “I didn’t take offence to it, it was a term of endearment as far as I was concerned. You give…
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A quiet generosity
Despite decades of charitable work in the community, Gisborne’s Elaine Millar “never in a million years” expected to be named in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. In fact, in her surprise, she almost didn’t reply to confirmation correspondence from the Governor General’s office. “When I first read it, I thought, ‘this isn’t right, it must be…
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An unbreakable bond
A love for his community shines through when you meet born and bred Kyneton local Eric Scoble. “It’s a bond with everyone in Kyneton, everyone seems to band together and stick together, it’s unbelievable,” he says. Born in 1951, the middle child in a family of 14 children, Eric remembers fondly the generosity and kindness…
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‘Oldest outlaw’ gets gong
Andrew Denton once called him “Australia’s oldest outlaw” – but Yandoit’s Dr Rodney Syme chuckles at the term as he celebrates news he’s just been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). The high-profile voluntary assisted dying campaigner is among the nation’s Queen’s Birthday Honours recipients, and the prestigious accolade is especially significant…