SA Australia Day honours recipients: A salute to our best
From scientists to singers, executives to philanthropists, they help knit our community together – we profile 14 great South Australians who featured in this year’s Australia Day Honours List.
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- FULL LIST: SA’s Australia Day Honours recipients for 2020
- SA doctor James Muecke named Australian of the Year
Notable South Australian recipients of Australia Day Honours in 2020.
Professor Anthony William Thomas AC
It was almost 70 years ago when curiosity got the better of Professor Anthony William Thomas with near-devastating consequences.
At just 18 months old he severely burnt both hands on a bar radiator in a shocking accident that nearly left him a double amputee.
Today, the physicist is being recognised for his eminent service to scientific education and research through academic leadership roles in nuclear and particle physics.
Prof Thomas is the sole SA recipient of the Companion of the Order of Australia – the highest general division award in the Australia Day and Queen’s Birthday honours.
“It’s a surprise and an honour for which I’m really grateful,” Prof Thomas, 70, of North Adelaide, told the Sunday Mail.
“I take it as recognition that you can carry out first-class science and really be a full player in the international scientific enterprise from within South Australia.”
His career path could have been so different if it were not for a doctor whose persistence and medical expertise saved his hands. Prof Thomas was staying at his grandparents house when his mother had just come out of hospital and said she was cold.
“Apparently I heard it, toddled into the next room and picked up an old bar radiator,” Prof Thomas said.
“It was cold at the time but somebody heard (my mum) say she was cold and turned up the radiator to warm up the room not knowing I had toddled in.
“(My family) walked in and found me holding on to a red-hot bar in shock. I don’t know why but apparently I couldn’t callout.
“Fortunately, I remember nothing. I wasn’t so stupid at that age that I would pick up a red-hot radiator. It was the old days when there was absolutely no protection.”
Prof Thomas recalled his mother told him that every doctor they spoke to said his hands could not be saved and they needed to be amputated.
“One doctor – Dr McKay – saw there was a little skin on the tips of the fingers and thought he could save them,” Prof Thomas said.
“Until I was 12, I had a whole host of skin grafts to make fingers. I’ve been pretty lucky I’ve been able to do most things.” He said he was still indebted to Dr McKay.
Prof Thomas graduated from Flinders University, where he obtained a PhD, before working overseas in Canada and Switzerland.
He returned to Adelaide in 1984 and was appointed Adelaide University’s Elder Professor of Physics in 1989 – only the sixth person to hold the chair first held in 1886 by British physicist and Nobel prize winner Sir William Bragg.
In 2014, he was recognised as South Australian Scientist of the Year. “It is a privilege to work in fundamental science and from time to time be the first person to really understand one of nature’s secrets,” he said. “It is also an honour to share access to that scientific world with my students and benefit from their enthusiasm.
“Putting Adelaide University on the world map of outstanding centres working in fundamental nuclear and particle physics is the achievement of which I am most proud,” Prof Thomas said.
Adelaide University Vice-Chancellor Peter Rathjen said: “Prof Thomas has made a significant contribution to international research in nuclear and particle physics, to development of physics … and to the scientific standing of Australian physics in general.”
– Steve Rice
Jacqui McGill AO
Over 30 years Jacqui McGill broke down barriers in the male-dominated resources industry, culminating in a three-year stint overseeing the economic powerhouse that is the Olympic Dam mine in the state’s far north.
In recognition of her success in the industry, and her commitment to changing attitudes and workplace culture, McGill has been awarded an AO for her service to the minerals and mining sector, and to gender equity and workplace diversity.
McGill spent 17 years with BHP, joining in 2001 as a technical superintendent and working her way up to become Olympic Dam’ asset president in 2015.
While pleased with her professional achievements, she is particularly proud of the contributions she has made to developing workplaces that support and celebrate diversity.
“I started in the (mining) business in 1988 – it was a very different world,” she said.
“If you look at what I experienced it wasn’t unique at the time but if you heard it today you’d be quite shocked.
“Over thirty years the industry has changed and if I’ve played a part in that then I’m incredibly proud of my contribution.”
McGill left BHP in June 2018, handing over the Olympic Dam reins to another woman – Laura Tyler.
As female representation in the resources sector continues to improve, McGill says it presents an opportunity for young women to pursue a rewarding and varied career.
“I’d say never shy away from a challenge because they really are just opportunities to stretch yourself and achieve something pretty special,” she said.
“I’d recommend to young men and women to look at a career in the resources industry. It’s been incredibly rewarding for me – I’ve lived all over Australia and the world and have been able to learn about some great communities.
“I also think there’s a real opportunity for leaders to realise that there’s such a great growth opportunity for them to be inclusive – because it’s real a win-win.”
McGill, who now runs her own consulting business, is chair of TAFE SA, a member of the Premier’s Economic Advisory Council and director of the Art Gallery.
– Giuseppe Tauriello
Vincent Tremaine AM
While former Flinders Ports chief executive Vincent Tremaine relished working with “enormous” kit which was vital to building the nation’s economy, it’s working with inspirational people which really gets him fired up.
Mr Tremaine, 61, of Henley Beach, has been named a member in the General Division of the Order of Australia for significant service to shipping infrastructure and freight transport.
But his curriculum vitae paints the picture of an individual who also has a strong commitment to public service, whether it be in the business community or via his love of sports.
Mr Tremaine was chief executive of Flinders Ports – which operates Port Adelaide as well as six of the state’s seven regional ports – for 16 years, before handing over the reins in 2018.
He has also served in various capacities dating back to the mid-1980s on the boards of the Ocean Grove Surf Lifesaving Club in Victoria, the West Lakes Triathlon Club, where he was president from 2005-12, and where he is a life member, and has served as vice-president of Triathlon SA.
Mr Tremaine has competed in the gruelling Hawaiian Ironman five times and has 10 marathons under his belt. He was also chairman of Business SA from 2010-18 and on the board from 2003. He said he was “surprised and delighted” to be awarded an Australia Day Honour.
“I’ve always found it really enjoyable, whether it’s Business SA or Surf Lifesaving or triathlon. I just enjoy working with motivated people,” he says.
Mr Tremaine said whether it was business or sport, doing things well came from a combination of having a goal, leadership and teamwork.
“It doesn’t matter what organisation you’re in, it’s the same … working with good people to get the job done,’’ he says.
Mr Tremaine was working for Arnott’s before joining the Port of Geelong, then moving over to Flinders Ports.
“Everything which we dealt with was enormous, whether it’s building wharves or dredging or putting in massive new equipment,” he says.
“Everything about it is big and exciting to do. And when you’re talking about major infrastructure it’s a bit risky, and therefore a bit more exciting I guess.’’
Mr Tremaine is enjoying a bit more freedom to train at a reasonable hour these days, not having to fit his gruelling training regimen in around a CEO role, but is keeping busy with four board roles and another in the offing.
He also mentors several people, which gets back to his desire to surround himself with enthusiastic and driven people.
– Cameron England
John Francis Lynch OAM
The former chief executive of the Royal Flying Doctor Service has dedicated his Medal of the Order of Australia to his family and beloved wife Anita.
John Francis Lynch, of Grange, served for 32 years in the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, and spent his last 18 years as CEO. He first joined the service in 1986 as an accountant in Broken Hill, NSW.
“The award is recognition for my family, who also allowed me and made sacrifices to let me enjoy what I do,” he says.
Mr Lynch said he was “proud” to receive the honour and it was also recognition for the medical service itself.
“It’s an organisation that exists simply and purely to help those in need … and what a wonderful privilege to serve others,” he says.
Mr Lynch, 68, was born in Broken Hill, a town he said deserves to share the award, because it gave his family “their start in life”.
“I know that we wouldn’t be who we are today without that moulding, without that shaping.”
Mr Lynch also paid tribute to those suffering in bushfires around the country.
“I know at the moment we are going through tough times in many ways in many places,” he says.
“But at the end of the day we will survive and we will thrive, because of who we are.
“We refuse to be defeated, we refuse to give in … that’s the spirit of Australia.”
– Gabriel Polychronis
Amanda Vanstone AO
Amanda Vanstone jokes that her lengthy political career was “more a testament to endurance than to intelligence”.
But the straight-talking former South Australian senator’s service to the Australian Parliament is one of the reasons she has been appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia.
Ms Vanstone, pictured, who represented the state as a South Australian senator from 1984 to 2007 and is Australia’s longest-serving female Cabinet minister since Federation, says she could not take sole credit for her political achievements.
“Nothing is achieved in politics on your own,” she says.
“So, I don’t really think it’s much chop to go around and say ‘I did this’ and ‘I did that’ – I was a part of several things that were really good but other people played a part, too.”
Among the portfolios Ms Vanstone held while in office were Immigration, Indigenous Affairs, Family and Community Services, Justice and Customs and Education. Ms Vanstone’s Australia Day honour is also in recognition of her service to the people of SA and the community.
“It’s very flattering isn’t it (but) it’s also a bit embarrassing at the moment,” she says.
“We’ve got other people who visit people in palliative care who don’t have anybody and we got people helping disabled people go surfing. Firefighters are putting their life on the line and I’ve not done that.”
But Ms Vanstone, who has been the chairwoman and independent director for the Royal Flying Doctor Service since 2013, the chair of Vision 2020 Australia since 2014 and a board member of both Drinkwise Australia and the Port Adelaide Football Club, said volunteering was its own reward. “You feel better when you do something for no reward,” she says.
“I think we’ve all got an obligation (to give back to the community).”
– Elizabeth Henson
Peter Combe OAM
More than forty years after he penned his first tune, beloved children’s entertainer Peter Combe continues to enthral fans of all ages with his timeless songs.
“Performing now in front of 500 people between the ages of 21 and 45 at The Gov is pretty amazing,” said Combe, 71.
“It’s an affirmation of what I’ve spent my life doing that they love the songs that much. You could call them nostalgic concerts but they’re much richer than that.
“They just love to sing the songs again and it’s really quite touching.”
The man behind classics such as Toffee Apple, Spaghetti Bolognaise, Wash Your Face in Orange Juice, Juicy Juicy Green Grass and Newspaper Mama has today been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the performing arts, particularly music for children.
“Writing for children has always been a labour of love, I’ve always tried to write to the highest possible standard, and likewise when performing or recording,” he said.
“I think children’s songs really do matter. It’s quite wonderful to be recognised for doing something you love. It means a lot.”
Combe was a primary school teacher in Adelaide in the late 1960s with aspirations to become the “next Paul Simon” when he stumbled upon his true calling as a children’s entertainer.
While working at Hectorville Primary School, he turned a book about the legend of Robin Hood into a musical play for his students.
“That’s where it all started. And I remember thinking then, people weren’t writing songs children. It was like uncharted territory really,” Combe said.
“It always struck me as rather odd that people would write children’s books but no one wrote new songs for children. So I thought, ‘Why not?’”
Combe moved to Sydney in 1975 and then London, where he became a presenter on BBC TV educational program, Music Time.
After three years, Combe returned home to Australia to teach and write music, and in 1982, he released his first album for children, Songs for Little Kids, in 1982.
A series of award-winning records would follow in the 80s, including More Songs for Little Kids aka Spaghetti Bolognaise (1985), Toffee Apple (June 1987), Newspaper Mama (1988) and Chopsticks (September 1989), earning him three ARIA Awards.
“Sometimes you half stumble into things. Once I started doing this and was successful, I realised it was almost a perfect career for me, it satisfies all my abilities: I can play guitar, piano, I can sing, and I genuinely love children, I’ve got four of my own and seven grand children,” he said.
“One of the great misconceptions about children’s music is you can’t write things that are serious but you can. Never underestimate a child’s intelligence, you do so at your peril.”
His popularity has resurfaced in recent years and Combe said he has no plans to slow down.
“I don’t want to carry on performing if I can’t do it, or I don’t enjoy it any more or if people don’t want to hear me anymore.But as long as those three things are satisfied... then I think, ‘Why would I ever stop?’,” he said.
“It’s wonderful to have a job that you love, it’s a simple thing but not everyone is so lucky. It’s a wonderful privilege to be able to do this.”
– Antimo Ianella
Albert Bensimon OAM
When Albert Bensimon was a teenager his grandfather shared with him a lasting piece of advice – to give back to those in need.
“I’ve always given 2 per cent of my income, as my grandfather taught me, to charity,” the retail identity and owner of the Shiels Jewellers empire says.
“And I’ve always stood by that and I’ve instilled the same values in my children, Toby and Tanya.”
Mr Bensimon, who describes himself as a capitalist with a strong social conscience, has been recognised with a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to business and the community.
The honour recognises his past stewardship of the Retail Traders Association, the Jewellers Association of Australia and philanthropic work furthering arts in South Australia and fundraising for organisations such as the Hutt Street Charitable Foundation.
The Malvern resident said he was “surprised” by the accolade, joking that it was perhaps acknowledgment of “something behind the hoo-ha”, referencing the catchcry of his company’s long-running TV ads.
“I didn’t think my wife kept any secrets from me, but even she did,” he says.
“I was quite chuffed. I’ve been on a lot of non-paying boards, and I’ve raised a lot of money for good causes.”
Mr Bensimon helped established the Helpmann Academy in 1994, which provides grants, awards, fellowships and mentorships to emerging artists. He said aside from his business success – his company has remained based in SA with his, son, Toby now running the show – his most “gratifying” role has been supporting the arts.
“The arts has always been underfunded, but the arts is what keeps us separate from the animals,” he says.
“We (family) have always been fond of all the visual arts and of music.”
Mr Bensimon handed over day-to-day control of the Shiels business in 2013 to Toby but remains chairman.
The company was founded in Adelaide in 1945 by Jack Shiels. Mr Bensimon and his wife, Nyra, bought the business in 1977.
– Renato Castello
Dr Sanghamitra Guha AM
Eminent endocrinologist Dr Sanghamitra Guha chuckles as she recalls how her doctor father tried to dissuade her from medicine because he thought the arduous study might be too much for a girl.
“Imagine saying that to a girl today,” she says.
“I visited him a couple of months ago and after 40 years he has come around and says he is glad he and my mother did finally support me.”
Dr Guha was born in India, went to school in Malaysia and came to Adelaide as an overseas student aged 16 then went on to graduate in medicine from the University of Adelaide.
Her primary work has been in endocrinology and diabetes.
“I think this award is for my work training junior doctors which is something I love,” she says.
Dr Guha has been a national examiner for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians since 1996.
“It is really rewarding and stimulating and humbling, you come across some extremely smart young doctors.” A past chairwoman of the Australian Decorative and Fine Arts Society Adelaide, Dr Guha, says the arts are a relaxation.
– Brad Crouch
Tracey Whiting AM
Tracey Whiting has been chairwoman of the Art Gallery of SA at a time when simply being custodian of the state’s billion-dollararts collection no longer cuts the mustard.
“Audience engagement is now very much the news of the day,” she says.
She has overseen massive cultural change at the gallery so that programs for children, for young people and for visual art enthusiasts of all kinds are driving huge increases to more than one million attendances last year.
With a background in business, large-scale events, media and marketing, Ms Whiting has been well-prepared to ring the changes at the gallery. She has marketed everything from the America’s Cup to Adelaide’s first two Formula One Grands Prix.
From 1997, Ms Whiting was a director of the SA Museum followed by the Art Gallery of SA, being installed as chairwoman in2014. She was a founding director of Adelaide Contemporary Collectors, a driving force in the gallery’s active collection of contemporary works.
The group has raised millions of dollars to fund some of the gallery’s most dramatic new acquisitions, and Ms Whiting and her stockbroker husband, Michael, were major contributors to one of the most controversial and expensive, the suspended horse sculpture, Berlinde De Bruyckere’s We are all flesh (2012).
“The gallery has one of the country’s great art collections of Australian and international art,” she said.
“I would like to see us continuing to contribute powerfully to culture in Australia, to connect artists to wide audiences in the belief that art and artists illuminate our world.”
Ms Whiting said she loved the buzz of getting the community on side and on raising the profile of South Australia.
“The gallery is a much-loved institution with a mighty community of supporters and benefactors and it is an honour and inspiration to work with such passionate people,” she said.
Her time at the gallery has seen the major sponsorship of BHP turn the Gallery’s Tarnanthi Festival into one of the great successes of indigenous arts in Australia while the $38 million Ramsay Bequest was announced late last year. – Tim Lloyd
Helen Louise Leake AM
WHEN the Wolf Creek 2 film ran into trouble, director Greg McLean turned to film producer Helen Leake who helmed the South Australian Film Corporation from 2004 to 2007 and who, in 2005, supported the first instalment.
After a budget trim, the film came to South Australia and took on a more irreverent approach to the mayhem for which its star, Mick Taylor, played by John Jarratt, was known.
“It had to be different, so that’s why it’s a bit tongue-in-cheek,” Ms Leake says.
“I was really pleased to make that happen for him because then all the television series was shot here. It ended up being very constructive.”
Ms Leake grew up in SA and, after running her own computing business, moved into film production, producing films including Heaven’s Burning (1997), a bank heist movie starring Russell Crowe with a script by Louis Nowra, and Black and White (2002), about the 1958 trial of Aboriginal Max Stuart who was convicted of murdering a young girl but avoided the death penalty and was later released.
“It was good to do a South Australian story and to do it so well,” she says.
“We went to Alice Springs to meet Max (who died in 2014) because we needed his permission, and he was the first one to seethe film”.
In 2012, she produced the thriller Swerve, directed by Craig Lahiff, and in 2014 set up Dancing Road Productions with Gena Ashwell.
“The industry is complex and high risk, but very rewarding, and changing ways of reaching audiences means new opportunities in this global industry” she says.
Ms Leake, a Flinders University graduate, has served on numerous national boards, including the Australian Film Commission (nowScreen Australia), Ausfilm and the Australian International Documentary Conference and she is passionate about mentoring the next generation of screen makers.
On her latest film project, due to film this year, Ms Leake has again teamed with Louis Nowra, this time on a story about World War I military commander Sir John Monash.
“It’s the battles behind the battlefield,” she says. “It’s a wonderful script and we have Bruce Beresford on board to direct”.
– Penelope Debelle
Dr Ken Rollond OAM
HE might have spent more than 50 years dedicated to medicine, but Ken Rollond reckons it was his reign as Holdfast Bay Mayor which captured most attention.
A visiting gynaecologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital from 1971 to 2016, among a host of other medical roles, Dr Rollond has been awarded an OAM for services to medicine and local government.
However, it was as Holdfast Mayor (2003-2014) where the Glenelg resident was never scared to publicly disagree after council decisions were made.
“I was a controversial mayor,” says Mr Rollond, who recovered from a brain tumour in 2016.
“If there was a council decision I disagreed with, I would always complain to the press. I was reported a few times to the Ombudsman and got into heaps of trouble.”
Never found guilty of any breaches, Mr Rollond always thought it was “undemocratic” for a mayor to be gagged.
Mr Rollond said the OAM was the rarest of achievements: “I was a bit surprised. I’ve never got any awards for anything.”
– Ben Cameron
Jan Sutherland OAM
JAN Sutherland was named among the state’s most influential women by The Advertiser in 2014 and, three years later, was inducted into the South Australian Women’s Honour Roll.
Now, her many years of commitment and dedication have been honoured in the Australia Day awards.
“It is very humbling,” she says.
“Sport is fun and I’ve learnt so much through sport. I’ve turned a full circle and am back in the education system as manager of school sport and water safety.”
Ms Sutherland was Netball Australia chairwoman for three years and a delegate to the International Netball Federation for three years. She was also Sport SA chief executive officer. – Warren Partland
Joanna Agius OAM
Joanna Agius has spent a lifetime breaking down barriers.
The proud Narungga woman has been profoundly deaf since birth but it hasn’t hindered her career as a community leader, teacher, artist and performer. She has many years of personal and professional experience with the indigenous, deaf and indigenous deaf communities combating prejudice and discrimination.
“I am acutely aware of the issues and barriers that people with disability face when accessing the arts,” Ms Agius, 45, says.
“I am committed to building successful partnerships between deaf and hard hearing people and the general arts community.”
Some of her most satisfying work has been among Aboriginal children with disability. “I’ve been through this experience myself. There are children out there without any help and they don’t know how to communicate effectively,’’ she says.
Appointed as the inaugural Deaf Arts Officer in 2013 by Accessible Arts NSW, the Auslan teacher established a statewide network and has been a board member of Aboriginal Disability Network NSW.
– Craig Cook
Jenny Hurley AM
Jenny Hurley runs a swag of hotels as managing director of the Hurley Hotel Group. But she didn’t win an AM for showing people a good time; instead, it was for helping them through the bad times.
Mrs Hurley, 66, of Aldgate, is patron of the Mary Potter Foundation, and has worked with other charities including the SA Cancer Council, the Neil Sachse Foundation, and Still Aware.
“I first got involved in doing some charity work when (husband) Peter’s sister was very ill with cancer,” she said. “She used to come and stay with us at the Arkaba but other women coming from Mount Gambier stayed at Greenhill Lodge or Flinders Lodge.”
And that accommodation for people going through treatment in town was not up to scratch, so Mrs Hurley got to work raising money for renovations. She now uses her fundraising skills to help the Mary Potter hospice. She said she never expected such an award.
“It’s not the reason you do these things,” she said. “Hopefully it will help me put more pressure on people to sponsor the fundraisers.”
–Tory Shepherd