Queen’s Birthday Honours 2019: Luminaries and lesser-knowns receive official accolades

From Hollywood to the stage, the recording studio to the page, several prominent arts figures have been recognised this year.

Actress Sigrid Thornton has been awarded an AO in recognition of her long creative career.

From Hollywood to the stage, the recording studio to the page, several prominent figures from Australia’s arts community have been recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

The highest profile recipients require little introduction: actors Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana and ­Sigrid Thornton, author Di Morrissey, and dancer turned choreographer Meryl Tankard.

While Jackman receives the nation’s highest honour — the Companion of the Order of Australia, for “eminent service to the performing arts” and for his global advocacy against poverty — Bana and Morrissey both become members (AM) in the general division of the Order of Australia while Thornton and Tankard receive an AO in recognition of their long creative careers. Andrew Ross, henceforth to be known as an AM, has been recognised for “significant service to the performing arts”.

Queen’s Birthday honours

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Among his long list of accomplishments, he founded the Black Swan State Theatre Company in Perth, ran two Brisbane institutions (La Boite and the Powerhouse) and directed several well-known productions for the stage. Perhaps his best-known work is Jimmy Chi’s Bran Nue Dae, having directed the original production in 1990.

Andrew Ross.

As it happens, Ross has been engaged by Opera Australia to direct its upcoming version of the musical, which has its premiere in Sydney in January before touring interstate.

Ross tells The Australian he can remember a discussion he had on the morning after Chi’s funeral, in 2017, with Chi’s family and Stephen Pigram, musical director on the original show, about the need to restage Bran Nue Dae.

Shortly afterwards, he received a call from OA artistic director Lyndon ­Terracini, asking if he’d like to be involved in their new work.

“They’ve got me out of cryogenic storage to do the job,” he says. “Every time we’ve done it, the odd song goes in and another goes out, but this is what we probably consider the final edit, 30 years later.”

Also on the list of distinguished Australians are several music insiders: industry veteran Fifa Riccobono, former chief executive of Albert Music; Guy Sebastian, who went from singing on Australian Idol to Eurovision to judging on The Voice; and singer David Campbell, who performs this month at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival with a 14-piece ensemble.

Others include Daryl Karp, director of the Museum of Australian Democracy; London-based conductor and scholar Raymond Holden; young adult author Anna Fienberg; and filmmaker Ray Argall, who won praise for his documentary about Midnight Oil.