Victorian community leaders, celebrities on Australia Day honour roll
Victorian community leaders, volunteers and celebrities have been recognised in the annual Australia Day honours, with the nation acclaiming the honorees for their stellar contributions to the country.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
More than 800 community heroes, celebrities and volunteers have been lauded in the Australia Day honours.
Monash University vice-chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner is one of just five Australians to receive the nation’s top honour – the Companion of the Order of Australia.
Professor Gardner said she was grateful for opportunities at different times of her working life.
“I’ve been thankful that I haven’t been afraid to make a move or taking a risk,’’ she said.
“It’s been a long career but I’ve worked with a lot of great people. It enables you to get good things done. I’ve been blessed with great colleagues.’’
Former Victorian premier Ted Baillieu was honoured for his parliamentary and business service.
Mr Baillieu, an architect by profession who was the state’s leader between 2010 and 2013, said he was humbled by the recognition.
“I accept it with pride and honour and it’s also recognition for my wife Robyn and the kids,’’ he said.
US-based country singer Keith Urban was named among the great and the good, as was Melbourne singer Deborah Conway, actors Rachel Griffiths and Hugo Weaving, INXS founding member Andrew Farris, dancer Paul Mercurio, performer and writer Tim Minchin, Painters and Dockers frontman Paul Stewart, and ex-swimmer and TV presenter Johanna Griggs.
Jane Turner, one half of the Kath And Kim comedy legend, was acclaimed for her contribution to the performing arts.
Another Australian comedy great from a previous generation, Noeline Brown, who created the pioneering The Mavis Bramston Show in the 1960s, received the same honour.
Long-time RSL president David McLachlan was saluted for his long service to the veterans’ organisation as well as the Shrine of Remembrance.
Victorian disability advocate Carly Findlay was acclaimed for her tireless work and helping to change the national conversation.
Prominent Melbourne socialite Rosie Lew, ex-wife of retail tycoon Solomon Lew, was acknowledged for her charity and arts service.
Community worker Jim Markovski, known as “the Father of Braybrook” and victims of crime campaigner George Halvagis were also celebrated for their decades of helping others.
Governor-General David Hurley described the 837 Australians honoured as “dedicated, committed, selfless’’.
“The people recognised today are outstanding and exemplify the best of Australia. I congratulate them,” Mr Hurley said.
“Behind every medal and citation is a story. Whether through their service, sacrifice or significant achievement, these people help others and make our towns, communities and nation better.
“They’re extraordinary but also, in the best possible way, ordinary.’’
About 41 per cent – or 348 – of recipients are female, continuing the trend of recognising more women.
The oldest recipient was 97 years old, the youngest aged 19.
GRIFFITHS’ GRATITUDE TO HER BELOVED COUNTRY
AcCLAIMED actor, director and arts advocate Rachel Griffiths says she is humbled to have been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.
Griffiths received the honour for her significant service to the performing arts as an actor.
The 51-year-old, who directed the hit film Ride Like A Girl, has been acknowledged internationally for her acting with a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Six Feet Under, an Academy Award nomination for her role in Hilary & Jackie and five Emmy nominations.
“I have never been prouder of receiving an award than to be given this acknowledgment by my beloved country,” Griffiths said. “It’s been my greatest privilege to tell Australian stories and hopefully add some small joy and meaning to our national culture.
“I am humbled by this unexpected honour as rather than feel deserving I feel a great debt to my nation: for giving me an education, a privilege that few third children of a single mother could have afforded in many countries around the world; for supporting me and my family though the safety net during hungry times; and for supporting my mother as she finished her degree with young children, which allowed her to support us through our teenage years.
“It was through national support of the arts, that I have my career.
“Our national film funding, state agencies, theatre companies and community groups gave me the grounding to learn my craft before such opportunities launched my career internationally.
“Lastly I am blessed to have had incredible cultural mentors come before me and peers who have inspired me with the beauty and courage of the marks they make.”
SECRET BALLET LESSONS PAY OFF
Paul Mercurio kept his childhood ballet lessons a secret because he feared being beaten up by bullies.
Twenty years after first taking those dance classes at age nine, Mercurio (below) shot to global fame as the star of Strictly Ballroom.
Today, in the Australia Day honours, Mercurio, 56, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the performing arts, particularly to dance.
“I guess it’s an acknowledgment of my body of work ever since I stepped on stage,” he said. “Since then, I’ve done a lot of things, and I’d like to think with everything I’ve done, I’ve touched people in a positive and nourishing way.”
Mercurio, who grew up in Perth, said a boy taking ballet lessons in the ’70s was frowned upon by his peers. “It was a pretty tough time,” he said. “I had to hide it or I’d get beaten up.”
His role in Strictly Ballroom, director Baz Luhrmann’s quirky take on competitive ballroom dancing, changed his life.
“It’s the ultimate underdog story,” Mercurio said. “Baz wove a couple of fables into that film, but it resonated all over the world.
“We had a lot of fun making Strictly Ballroom. Most of us were first timers making our first feature film. We were a bit naive, but I think we infused the film with a sense of joy.”
Mercurio is still an actor. His recent film credits include the gritty drama A Silent Agreement, and romantic drama Promised, co-starring Tina Arena.
“I’d like to be doing more movies. Australia is not an easy place to have a full time acting career,” he said.
VOICE, SHOULDER FOR VICTIMS
He left Greece aged 15 as a deck boy on a passenger ship.
But as the anchor let loose in Port Melbourne, George Halvagis felt a change in his seafaring heart.
“I just walked off the boat, I didn’t tell anyone,” Mr Halvagis, now 81, said.
“I left everyone I knew behind. I knew I wanted to make a life for myself in Australia.”
Mr Halvagis met wife Christina and had four children. But he would become a champion for victims of crime years later when daughter Mersina was murdered as she visited her grandmother’s grave at Fawkner Cemetery in 1997.
Mr Halvagis — today honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community — has dedicated his life to his daughter’s memory.
He lobbied politicians and police for a $1 million reward to find his daughter’s killer, and pushed for police to have greater powers to question prison inmates.
Serial killer Peter Dupas was later found guilty of Mersina’s murder.
Between daily visits to his precious daughter’s floral garden bed, Mr Halvagis lectures police recruits about helping victims of crime, makes twice-weekly visits to Melbourne’s courts to help families torn apart by crime and this week clocks up 10 years of service as an advocate for Crime Stoppers.
Before Mr Halvagis receives his Australia Day honour, he will visit Mersina, who would have been 47 this year.
“My Order of Australia Medal honour has come from my family,” Mr Halvagis said.
“I am proud of my country.
“My aim is to make sure no one can feel my pain and that I protect the innocent from criminals.
“I see Mersina in my grandchildren; she was so loveable and loved children.
“I am getting slower but I never sit down and say I’ve had enough for the day — that’s what my daughter would have wanted me to do.
“If I can save one young lady’s life, I know my Mersina would have said ‘thank you, Daddy’.
“She was an angel, and now she’s an angel with wings.”
TRANS ADVOCATE ‘OVER THE MOON’
Transgender activist and actor Georgie Stone says being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the trans and gender diverse community will inspire her to continue her advocacy.
Stone, 19, is a role model for trans youth and a powerful voice for gender diversity.
“It is really overwhelming but such an honour. I am over the moon,” Stone said.
At 10, Stone became the youngest person in Australia to be granted hormone blockers. At 15, she started hormone replacement therapy.
She was named the 2018 Victorian Young Australian of the Year, and in November 2018 successfully campaigned to change the law that required transgender children and their families to apply to the Family Court to access hormone treatment.
She is now a full-time cast member of the much-loved drama Neighbours.
“It really does give me a drive to continue doing what I am doing,” she said.
“It is always really lovely to be acknowledged and have your work acknowledged, but to me it also shows that trans people in general are being seen and acknowledged.
“An award like this continues to shed light and provide greater awareness for the general public on what we are doing and what we hope to achieve.”
Stone’s mother Rebekah Robertson, the founder of Transcend, a support group for parents and guardians of trans people, has also been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the trans and gender diverse community.
“I am so proud of her and I am really glad that her work is being acknowledged as well,” Stone said.
“We are a great team and I would not be able to do everything I have done without her.”
SERVICE CONTINUES OUTSIDE OF POLITICS
Amanda Vanstone jokes that her lengthy political career was “more a testament to endurance than to intelligence”.
But the straight-talking former senator’s service to Australia’s parliament is one of the reasons she has been appointed an Officer of the order of Australia (AO).
Ms Vanstone, a senator from 1984 to 2007 and Australia’s longest-serving female Cabinet minister, said she could not take sole credit for her political achievements.
“Nothing is achieved in politics on your own,” she said.
“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 a number of things that were really good but other people played a part too.”
Among the portfolios Ms Vanstone held were immigration, indigenous affairs, family and community services, justice and customs, and education.
Ms Vanstone’s Australia Day honour was also in recognition of her service to the community. She has been the federation chair 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.
“It’s very flattering isn’t it (but) it’s also a bit embarrassing at the moment,” she said.
“We’ve got other people who visit people in palliative care who don’t have anybody and we’ve got people helping disabled people go surfing … (firefighters are) putting their life on the line (and) I’ve not done that.”
Volunteering was its own reward.
“You feel better when you do something for no reward.”
TIMOR CLOSE TO HIS HEART
For Melbourne punk rock favourite Paul “Paulie” Stewart, a chance encounter with a Timorese nun provided an unlikely connection he believes helped save his life.
Stewart, a journalist and long-time frontman for the band Painters and Dockers, was awaiting a liver transplant at the Austin Hospital 10 years ago when a nun working on the wards visited him.
She was from East Timor, a country that has long had an emotional connection for Stewart, whose brother Tony, 21, was one of the Balibo 5, a group of journalists murdered by Indonesian soldiers in 1975.
“She said she’d get me a liver and I thought she’d been drinking the altar wine!
“She said she would ring all the nuns in Timor and pray for me and get me a liver.
“The next day the doctor said, ‘This is remarkable but overnight a liver has come in and it’s perfect for you.’’’
Stewart said that when he next went to Timor, he visited the 400 nuns who care for disabled and abandoned kids.
Stewart, 59, now works at the Artful Dodgers Studio — a music and art space in Collingwood for youth.
He also plays for the Dili All Stars, raises funds for Timorese causes and was the musical consultant on the movie Balibo, about the killings.
As the creator of Painters and Dockers hits including Die Yuppie Die and You’re Going Home in the Back of a Divvy Van, being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) by Her Majesty’s government is somewhat perplexing.
“I’m surprised, just blown away,” he said. “If this award draws attention to the group of nuns, that’s a good thing.’’
BROWN PLAYS BIG ROLE
Actor Noeline Brown says she is surprised and delighted to have been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the performing arts as an actor and entertainer.
Brown, 81, is best known for her work in the Australian TV satire The Mavis Bramston Show, the television and radio series The Naked Vicar Show, My Name’s McGooley, What’s Yours? and Graham Kennedy’s Blankety Blanks.
She was an ambassador for ageing from 2008 to 2014 and spent 15 years involved with the NSW division of the Actor Benevolent Fund, including a term as chair.
“The award means a great deal to me because I have spent my entire life in show business and things that are around show business,” Brown said. “It must be 60 years ago that I first got on a stage and I have been a professional actor since 1962.
“I was in one of the most important shows in Australia, The Mavis Bramston Show. It was important and everybody watched it because it was one of the first shows created here about Australia.
“It (the OAM) has been a huge surprise and I can’t tell you how delighted I am.”
BAINI BREAKS DOWN BARRIERS
Australia’s first Lebanese woman to be appointed Commissioner for Multicultural Affairs says empowering others has spurred her success.
Rosanna Baini, from Mernda, appointed to the role in 1994 and now Australia Lebanon Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice-president, has received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the Lebanese community.
“There’s a lot of different things I’ve done over the years but what stands out is the importance of empowering these members of our community and getting them to participate in everyday Victorian and Australian life,” Ms Baini said. “In my role as commissioner I could focus on areas such as youth, justice, government services, sports, the arts and business, helping various community groups.”
SURGEON HELPS OVERSEAS
He has worked in medicine for more than 30 years, serving as director of plastic surgery at Melbourne’s The Alfred hospital and Monash Health.
But Dr Michael Leung, who specialises in reconstructive procedures, says it’s voluntary work overseas of which he is most proud.
Dr Leung — appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) — has worked in Papua New Guinea, the Pacific Islands and Vietnam since 1988.
He has also volunteered in Myanmar since 2006.
“I felt the best way to help the people there is not just to operate, but by establishing a training course,” Dr Leung said.
“It took us a few years, but we developed a masters and doctorate degree in plastic and reconstructive surgery.
“That’s what I see as my biggest achievement.”
The Malvern medic, who moved to Australia from Hong Kong to study in 1971, has been recognised for significant service to medicine and the international community.
“It’s a great honour and I really didn’t expect it. It’s fantastic to have it, but is the last thing I thought I would get in my lifetime,” Dr Leung said.
“To be able to get where I am, you have to thank the government, the people.
“This is my country now. It is important to say that.
“Australia gives everyone a bit of a go.
“I think it’s important that overseas students, who get their studies done here — they can get an honour like this.
“It’s very humbling, in terms of society, to give everyone a chance; I think that’s important.”
JOY IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Philanthropist and businesswoman Jane Hansen has been made an Officer of the order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the community, education and cultural institutions, and through philanthropic support for charitable foundations.
Ms Hansen is the chair, CEO and co-founder of the Hansen Little Foundation, which she established with her husband, businessman Paul Little.
She is the chair of the Melbourne Theatre Company, the deputy chancellor of the University of Melbourne, a board member of Opera Australia and the Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, and a director of the Little Group.
Ms Hansen described her AO as “a great honour”.
“It is not something I thought about or sought when we were doing our philanthropy and working in the arts and education sectors, but it is certainly a great honour and I am absolutely delighted,” she said.
The Hansen Little Foundation has made significant donations to the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Theatre Company and the State Library of Victoria.
“It is such an absolutely wonderful joy to do it,” she said of the foundation’s donations.
“The joy is the impact and making such a massive difference to young people’s lives.
“It is a privilege to do these things.”
Ms Hansen said she believed in the importance and power of community involvement.
“You live in the world and it is sort of your responsibility as an active, thinking part of the community to do whatever you can do, and people do it on all sorts of levels,” she said.
“It does not matter what the dollars are, it is about the fact that people are thinking about other people and our world, and are making it better.”
FIRES ADD PERSPECTIVE TO BLACK SATURDAY RECOVERY
Two Black Saturday survivors have been honoured as Victoria battles another fire crisis.
Marysville businessman Tony Thompson and Kinglake church warden Peter Crook have been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for their work rebuilding their communities.
But Mr Thompson said the honour was bittersweet as the current bushfires engulfed the country.
“You can feel and know what these people are going through and what they are going to go through,” he said.
“The empathy is huge from one community to another.”
Mr Thompson’s home was one of about 30 left standing in Marysville after fires devastated the region in February 2009, claiming 173 lives.
He has spent the past decade heading up the effort to rebuild his battered town.
Mr Crook has been honoured for his work rebuilding Kinglake’s destroyed St Peter’s Memorial Anglican Church, along with his decades of service to fire fighting and the RSL in three states.
MORE NEWS
AUSTRALIA DAY HONOURS LIST REVEALED
US STAR TAKES OUT TRIPLE J’S HOTTEST 100 TOP SONG
He said the mental scars from Black Saturday remained as the physical scars faded from the land around Kinglake where 38 people were killed.
But he said at least some good had come from the disaster.
“I do think lessons have been learnt from all of this,” he said.
“Just take a look at the death toll (from the current fires), compared with the amount of land that’s burnt, it’s nothing like what had happened here.”