‘I’m so proud’: Hundreds of Victorians recognised on Australia Day 2025 Honours List
From Melbourne hospitality legends to scientific and medical researchers, meet the Victorians that have been recognised on the Australia Day Honours List, and which three were received the nation’s highest honour.
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A Melbourne restaurant legend, custodians of two great family wineries and an epidemiologist who gained public attention during the Covid pandemic are among hundreds of Victorian’s acclaimed in the 2025 Australia Day honours.
The annual list contains just six Australians to receive the nation’s highest honour — the equivalent of knighthoods and damehoods — and three of those are Victorians.
Epidemiologist Professor Allen Cheng, former Human Rights Commission president Gillian Triggs and arts benefactor Lyn Williams were all appointed to the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
Former Liberal MP and Howard and Abbott cabinet minister Kevin Andrews, who died on December 14 age 69, was honoured posthumously with an AM, for his long career of public duty.
Melbourne restaurant icon Jacques Reymond received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his lifetime’s service to the hospitality industry.
The same honour was bestowed on leading sports journalist Kelli Underwood, the first woman to commentate on an AFL game on TV in 2009, for services to broadcast media.
Prof Cheng the director of Infectious Diseases at Monash Health, was the state’s Deputy chief health officer during the Covid pandemic. He has worked in a range of roles tackling infectious and communicable disease both in Australia and overseas.
The 54-year-old has been professor of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology at Monash University’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine since 2015.
Emeritus Professor Triggs was honoured for her service to humanitarian law. The human rights lawyer, 79, was president of the Australian Human Rights Commission
for six years and Assistant Secretary-General at the United Nations from 2019 to 2024. She was also assistant high commissioner for protection with the UNHCR refugee agency until her retirement last year.
Ms Williams, the widow of noted Australian landscape artist, Fred Williams, was recognised for dedication to the arts as an administrator and also in managing his estate containing hundreds of valuable artworks.
Two of Victoria’s biggest names in winemaking — Ross Brown from Brown Brothers in Milawa and Alister Purbrick from Tahbilk Estate in Nagambie — were made Members of the Order of Australia (AM), both honoured for their families’ commitment to the industry dating back to the mid-19th century.
Among the OAM recipients were respected biographer and literary historian Philip Ayres, who died in 2021 aged 77, three-time Glen Eira mayor Jim Magee and former Melbourne city councillor and now Thai Honorary Consul Tessa Sullivan.
Scientific and medical researchers also featured in the honours list.
Melbourne marine ecologist Professor Hugh Kirkman and leading microbiologist Professor Richard Strugnell were both appointed to the Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).
And University of Melbourne specialists Professor Lauren Aytonand Professor Kim Bennell can now add AM after their names after their achievements in vision research and physiotherapy respectively.
Five Victoria Police officers were recognised for distinguished service with the Australian Police Medal. The state’s longest-serving Indigenous officer the late Senior Sergeant James Egan, counter terrorism expert Detective Inspector Anthony Wheatfill, forensics expert Sen-Sgt Rodney Munro, and frontline veterans Detective Sen-Sgt Tracy Meyer and Superintendent Kelvin Gale were all honoured.
Also, Family Violence Command director Rena De Francesco received the Public Service Medal for helping to improve the force’s response to sexual assault, child abuse and family violence.
Senior-Sergeant James Egan
The family of the late Senior-Sergeant James Egan, who died in November, has described his Australia Day honour as both “overwhelming and bittersweet’’.
Sen-Sgt Egan was Victoria Police’s longest-serving Indigenous officer with 39 years on the beat until his death at age 57.
A proud Gunditjmara and Bangerang man, Sen-Sgt Egan was a pioneer in supporting the force’s First Nations employees, and was instrumental in developing the Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Training which is now compulsory for the force’s 22,000 employees.
He was the first recipient of Victoria Police’s Aboriginal Service Medal.
In a statement, his family said they were immensely proud of him and were committed to carrying forward his legacy.
“Receiving this award in his honour is both overwhelming and bittersweet.
“Although he is no longer with us, we know that he would have approached this recognition with the humility that defined his character.
“Dad was a quiet achiever, and we can only imagine the pride he would have felt, knowing he made a difference in the lives of others.
The family said his Australian Police Medal for distinguished service held significant meaning.
“It symbolises the wonderful legacy he has left behind and serves as a reminder of the values he instilled in us.’’
James Egan joined Victoria Police in December 1985, working in a range of general duties roles at Frankston, South Melbourne, Morwell and Traralgon.
For nine years, he was officer in charge of the one-member Raywood station near Bendigo, and later worked as a firearms trainer at the police academy later before working in
proactive policing and as a training officer.
Chief Commissioner Shane Patton described Sen-Sgt Egan as a “trailblazer among our ranks’’.
“He leaves a legacy of change that will benefit not only the Aboriginal community but all Victorians.’’
Melbourne restaurant legend Jacques Reymond
Just 18 months ago Melbourne restaurant legend Jacques Reymond was bestowed a high honour from his native France. Now he has been acclaimed by his adopted nation.
“It’s an immense feeling. I’m so proud.
“The two of them in just a few months is just amazing. My two beautiful countries. It’s just amazing.’’
Reymond’s culinary contribution over more than four decades in the Melbourne dining scene has been acknowledged with an Order of Australia medal (OAM) in this year’s Australia Day honours.
The medal comes after receiving an Order of Agricultural Merit honour, presented by French ambassador Jean Pierre Thebault.
But the dual achievements for a lifetime of work does not signal a halt.
“Why would I retire when I love what I’m doing?’’ he said.
The 72-year-old, who came to Australia in 1983 with wife Kathy, still regularly works two to three days a week, and often more for special events and functions.
“I’m still involved. Absolutely, I still work.
“I love my kitchen. I still love my staff.’’
Reymond is proud that he gets to cook and create with his four children – Nathalie, Edouard., Antoine and Joanna – at their three dining venues, with one more to come.
“We work together every day and there’s a very big family spirit.’’
The family will take possession of the Village Wine Bar in Albert Park next week.
They already run L’Hotel Gitan in Prahran, Bistro Gitan in South Yarra and Frederic Bar & Bistro in Cremorne.
The Jacques Reymond name became synonymous with fine French-inspired dining at his Prahran restaurant for 23 years until 2013.
The venue was included in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list.
Reymond and his wife will soon have another milestone to celebrate – their 50th wedding anniversary on February 7.
The couple will celebrate at the Turtle Island Resort in Fiji where has worked as a consultant for many years.
Paediatric cardiologist Robert Weintraub
Words by Sarah Booth
Royal Children’s Hospital paediatric cardiologist Robert Weintraub says he plans to celebrate his honour by spending the day with his family.
“I’ll be having a nice day with the people most important to me,” he said.
It’s a fitting tribute for the Professor, whose lifesaving work can be traced back to a family’s members’ own health struggles.
Professor Weintraub, awarded an AM for significant service to paediatric medicine and medical research, said his choice of career was inspired by his sister, who was born with down syndrome and had a congenital heart defect.
He said there had been significant advancements in treatments, therapy and surgery since his childhood, and it was a “magical feeling” to watch his patients — once critically ill — grow up and experience a “normal” life.
“I feel privileged to do what I do,” he said.
He said he was flattered and honoured by the news.
“It’s nice to have recognition from my colleagues,” he said.
His work has included directing the Royal Children’s Hospital’s national heart transplant Programme for more than three decades, giving kids from across Australia a second chance at life, and vital research.
He has authored more than 270 peer-reviewed publications and is an honorary fellow manager at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.
He has won local and overseas awards including the prestigious RT Hall Research Prize from the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, and contributed to numerous international committees including the World Congress in Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.
An RCH spokeswoman said Prof Weintraub had made an “incredible contribution to paediatric cardiology both at The Royal Children’s Hospital and beyond”.
Professor Lauren Ayton
Words by Emily Dann
Finding a cure for blindness is a deeply personal mission for Professor Lauren Ayton, whose service to optometry and ophthalmology have earnt her recognition as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Heading the Vision Optimisation Unit at the University of Melbourne, the professor has spent more than 15 years clinically researching retinal disease, visual function and vision restoration.
Growing up, she keenly observed the disparity in available optical treatments after her older brother was born blind from a brain injury, while her younger brother battled the more common and easily treatable eye condition amblyopia.
“Growing up it was always very apparent to me that it’s unfair that there are some eye conditions we can fix and some that we can’t,” she said.
“I’ve always been really passionate about trying to fix the unfixable.
“That’s what drives me, trying to make life easier for the people with these eye conditions.”
Professor Ayton said her “amazing research team” were currently in the midst of creating new treatments for blindness.
“What we’re doing is trying to come up with new treatments for blindness, I’m really excited about the opportunities we have and the treatments we’re developing to hopefully stop that from happening.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time to be working in this field when we actually have possible cures for blindness on the radar, it’s incredibly rewarding.”
Founder and Director of Blackmore Wagyu David Blackmore
Words by Conor Fowler
A giant of Victorian beef has been recognised for an outstanding career, awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the beef cattle industry.
The Founder and Director of Blackmore Wagyu, David Blackmore’s long and storied career began when was given a lame cow by his grandfather to look after at the age of 10, at his family’s farm at Mount Schank in South Australia.
“I hadn’t even left school but I had a little herd going, and my grandfather said I better start renting a paddock off of him,” he said.
“It cost me $1 an acre, and that was the start of the journey.”
After working as a stock agent and dairy farmer, it was then a trip to Texas A&M University in 1988 for embryo transfer work when he first saw Wagyu cattle, and set about bringing back the genetics back to Australia.
Since then, the fifth-generation farmer, alongside his wife Julie, have brought about making the “best carcasses that we could” of 100 per cent Fullblood Wagyu, winning numerous awards and now exporting to 14 different countries and to only fine dining restaurants.
His Dry Aged Full Blood Wagyu 240g Oyster Blade goes for $135 at Rockpool Bar & Grill, and has been on the menu ever since they opened.
“It’s satisfying that our longevity, our achievements, have been recognised by the industry,” he said.
Now 74-years-old, and while his son Ben manages the Wagyu business, David said his new hobby is attending to his Rubia Gallega cattle, a grass-fed animal that he brought out from Spain ten years ago.
“I don’t want to retire, but if I did, I knew that if I sat under my wife’s feet it might be the quickest divorce you’ve ever seen!
“All the restaurants we sell our beef to want a grass-fed product on the menu as well, so it gets us into those fine dining restaurants.”
He was also a co-founder of International Dairy Week in 1990, and was National Livestock Producer of the Year in 2012.
Originally published as ‘I’m so proud’: Hundreds of Victorians recognised on Australia Day 2025 Honours List
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