Australia Day 2020 Honours: Profiles of Gold Coast recipients

Gold Coasters have been recognised for their incredible work in the 2020 Australia Day honours. From services to the performing arts to the LGBTQIA community, these are their incredible deeds.

GOLD Coasters have been recognised for their incredible work in the 2020 Australia Day honours. From services to the performing arts to the LGBTQIA community, these are their incredible deeds.

JUDITH FERBER

Judith Ferber Photo: Steve Holland

JUDITH Ferber can’t sing, dance or play an instrument yet she has been the forefront of the Gold Coast’s performing arts community for almost four decades.

She started her career in radio at 4GG before “falling in love with show business” before launching the Gold Coast’s Tropicarnival in 1982 and founding the Gold Coast Eisteddfod.

“It has been the love of my life to see the young performers – thousands and thousands of them – develop their love for performing,” she said.

“We don’t launch careers, but we give them a push in the right direction. For some it opens their eyes to what show business is all about.”

The Gold Coast Eisteddfod has grown from 600 performers to almost 70,000 annually during the past 39 years, with Mrs Ferber still leading the group.

Today she has been awarded an Order of Australia for her service to performing arts.

“People say ‘can you sing, dance or play a musical instrument?’. I can do none of those.

“I’m so in awe of the people who can actually do that. I only wish I had their skills,” Mrs Ferber said.

“I couldn’t do it without the people around me. The helpers, the volunteers – I share this award with them. I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Mrs Ferber was one of 1099 recipients who received awards in the Australia Day 2020 Honours List.

GRANT HUNT

Grant Hunt.

A GOLD Coast-based executive behind one of Australia’s most successful tourism experiences has been recognised in the Australia Day Honours List.

Voyages indigenous Tourism Australia chief executive Grant Hunt was today appointed Member of the Order (AM) for his significant service to the tourism and hospitality sectors.

He said he was an “enormous honour”.

“I’m completely humbled and over the moon by it, you don’t expect things,” he said.

Mr Hunt started his career on the Gold Coast at the Sheraton Mirage Resort but has since moved into nature-based tourism.

Mr Hunt said he had a long history with Ayers Rock Resort in the middle of Australia and pioneered some of the global best practices around tourism sustainability.

“I’m a bit out of the norm for a hotelier or tourism professional, if you like,” he said.

He said tourism can add a lot of value to sensitive places if it’s done correctly.

Mr Hunt said the greatest achievement in his career however, was the development of Longitude 131, the luxury wilderness camp just outside the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park in the Northern Territory.

He said the development has since set a lot of standards.

Mr Hunt said he was based on the Gold Coast but spent much of time travelling across the country.

He said of the award: “It’s nice that you’ve made a contribution that’s worthy of recognition, I think that’s the most important thing.”

TRINA HOCKLEY

Trina Hockley. Picture: Regi Varghese

MEMBER of the Order of Australia winner Trina Hockley reckons she’s “just a normal person getting an award”.

But most would describe the humble Worongary mum and businesswoman as extraordinary.

Ms Hockley was “excited and surprised” to be awarded her Australia Day AM honour for significant service to the community and business.

“I never expected to be acknowledged for just doing what I do,” she said.

“It’s helped me as much as it’s helped other people.”

Ms Hockley has helped disengaged youth obtain an education as chair of Ohana For Youth and Arcadia College and is assisting in the launch of the woman’s AFL team for the Gold Coast Suns as non-executive director of Gold Coast Sport.

Previously, she was part of the team which made Gold Coast TAFE “the most efficient and productive TAFE in Queensland”.

But that’s just a small sample of the 58-year-old’s long list of achievements over the years.

Ms Hockley, who runs family venture L & M Group, made special mention of her ongoing work with Arcadia.

“These kids have been kicked out of mainstream schooling. A lot of them are homeless, a lot of them have autism. To go to the graduation to find out that four of them have got into university, it’s just amazing,” she said.

The Broadbeach State and Miami High School graduate got her first board role at 38 and it “made me realise how beneficial it is to help others and not just yourself.”

When she spoke to the Bulletin, Ms Hockley had only told her three adult sons, David, Jack and Sam, about the AM award and they were “over the moon”.

The award comes after one of the toughest years of Ms Hockley and her family – poor health forced her to undergo a number of open heart surgeries, though she has recovered.

CARLOTTA

Carol 'Carlotta' Spencer will receive an Australia Medal for her service to the LGBTIQ community and the performing arts.

CABARET Queen Carol Spencer had one question after learning she was receiving an Australia Medal.

“Does it come in earring form?”

The Surfers Paradise transgender drag performer and television personality was awarded the Order of Australia honour today for her significant service to the performing arts and to the LGBTQIA community.

While she’s been in show business for 54 years, she deflects the praise and laughs while describing herself as “still a nut”.

“Poor old firemen, I think they should have given them (Australia Medals) to the firemen,” she said.

“It’s very generous. It’s a great honour, I’m still getting it together.”

The Order of Australia Awards recognise Australian citizens for achievement or meritorious service and are awarded on Australia Day or the Queen’s Birthday.

Ms Spencer starred as a drag entertainer in the long-running Sydney male revue show Les Girls and was the first person with a public profile to undergo gender reassignment surgery.

She also became the first transgender actor to play a transgender television role in Australian soap opera Number 96. She went on to appear on talk shows and continues to tour the country in stage productions.

“I think one of the biggest highlights was when I first went into television. I did seven years with Beauty and The Beast and then I did a four and a half year stint with Studio 10,” Ms Spencer said.

“It’s been a hard slog for acceptance. It was harder in the younger days, everything’s changed so much.

“They’ve got marriage equality now, I never thought I’d see that, I just think it’s marvellous.”

Ms Spencer said Australia still has a long way to go in regards to accepting queer people, but is proud to call herself an Australian.

“I’m more ocker than Hoges,” Ms Spencer said.

“I’m still concerned about the suicide rates (in the LGBTQIA community in Australia), they’re too frightened to tell their parents that they’re gay.

“This award I think helps them — you can do something with your life.

“They’ve got so much more freedom today. They didn’t get chased down the streets by police like I did in the ’60s.

“I really want to dedicate this award to the kids I grew up with, who are not out in the limelight like I am.

“They worked hard for acceptance. Some of them are gone, they’ve died. I dedicate this award to them as well. It’s a great honour.”