The east’s Queen’s Birthday Honours recipients are the best of the best in fields ranging from fashion to science.
More than 40 eastern suburbs locals have made the prestigious list of those from across Australia who have exemplified excellence and made significant contributions to society.
Actors, CEOs, local champions — you name it — we have it all.
LAW
From the judiciary there are the east’s ladies of the law.
Retired Federal Court Judge Annabelle Bennett and former Supreme Court Justice Carolyn Simpson can now add more acronyms to their growing list of titles.
Woollahra local Dr Bennett, one half of the legal power couple formed with former solicitor-general husband David Bennett, has received an AM (member of the Order of Australia) for her decades-long career from the bar to the bench in the country’s courts.
And the current Bond University chancellor is in good company with Carolyn Simpon.
A heavyweight in her own right among the judiciary and a Potts Point resident, Ms Simpson made legal history in 1999 as one of three female Australian judges to sit on an appeal courts bench for the first time.
Her work has been recognised with an AO (Officer of the Order of Australia).
MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT
It would be amiss to not mention arguably the two most notable names from the east to receive an honour — Bondi’s Hugh Michael Jackman and Ita Clare Buttrose.
Both have received the nation’s highest honour, with an AC (Companion of the Order of Australia) for careers that started in media and entertainment but reached far beyond their initial fields.
From Wolverine to Jean Valjean, Jackman is one of the most recognisable faces on the planet.
But it is his work off-camera that has earned him a spot among the country’s most highly regarded figures.
Since breakout roles thrust him into the spotlight in the early 2000s, North Bondi’s great showman has been involved in philanthropic endeavours from the Fight Cancer Foundation and Adopt Change.
A patron of the Actors Centre Australia since 2004, Jackman has split his time between his home country and the states juggling Hollywood blockbusters and charitable missions close to his heart including fighting AIDS and global poverty.
In 2016 he returned to the place of his birth — Sydney — setting up stumps with a $6 million pad in North Bondi.
Ita Buttrose, who took on the top job at the national broadcaster earlier this year, has previously been awarded with an OBE and an AO before taking on a new title.
From a 17-year-old cadet at The Daily Telegraph to the very top of the ABC her stellar career has seen her champion a number of health issues along the way including AIDS, dementia and arthritis.
Born in Potts Point but settling down in Vaucluse after a stint in New York, Ms Buttrose completed her studies at Dover Heights Home Science High School at the age of 15 to begin her media career.
Today, she has two honorary doctorates, was named the Australian of the year in 2013, and is the figurehead for the Macular Disease Foundation and Breast Cancer Network Australia.
EDUCATION
At the forefront of higher education and scientific excellence are professors Michelle Simmons and Leo Radom.
Woollahra resident Prof Simmons’ AO comes after a storeyed career focusing on quantum and atomic electronics.
The 2018 Australian of the year award winner has been a fellow at a number of prestigious institutions across the world from the UK to America.
Born in London before coming Down Under in 1998, Prof Simmons took up Australian citizenship in 2008 and soon became one of the fields rising stars.
Prof Leo Radom, from Bellevue Hill, joins his scientific counterpart on the honours list after more than five decades of work in the field of chemistry.
His list of awards and recognitions is far too long to count, but his AC, the highest honour in Australia, will rank well among them.
As the author of more than 500 peer-reviewed publications Prof Radom has left a significant mark through various roles with the Asia-Pacific Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists, World Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemists, Australian National University and University of Sydney — just to name a few.
FASHION
From catwalks to boardrooms, Rodney Levis and Sarah-Jane Clarke are household names in the fashion industry.
Both have today been recognised with an AM.
Mr Levis, from Surry Hills, is the current chair of Cue Clothing which now has more than 200 stores in Australia and New Zealand.
Growing from humble beginnings in 1968, Mr Levis blazed a trail by founding both Cue and the now iconic Levi’s four years earlier.
After decades of success with Cue’s associated labels Veronika Maine and Dion Lee Mr Levis turned his efforts to causes such as breast cancer, domestic violence.
Sarah-Jane Clarke too has focused her energies on a charity close to home.
A supporter of Bernados Australia since 2004 Ms Clarke saw a vision to impact the world beyond Sass and Bide, which she co-founded and directed between 1999 and 2014.
LOCAL CHAMPION
If you read the Wentworth Courier’s letter pages, Bruce Bland will be a name you instantly recognise.
Needing no introduction, his tireless community work on a litany of fronts in the eastern suburbs has been recognised with an AM.
Rose Bay’s own champion of everything from over-development to indigenous issues, Mr Bland has spent almost a lifetime committed to helping the community he calls home, though French connections run deep.
A former Association France Australie vice president, Alliance Francaise de Sydney president and Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur recipient, Mr Bland said his award recognising his efforts in Australian-France relations was thanks to his wife of 50 years and the country he loves dearly.
“Its people and institutions gave me life-changing opportunities which immensely enriched me, as well as fundamentally changing the course of my life, and made me a better Australian,” he said.
THE EASTS QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS RECIPIENTS:
Roger William Hounslow OAM
Rodney David Levis AM
Geoffrey William Raby AO
Peter Christopher Banki AM
Alastair James McEwin AM
Peter Arthur Rix AM
Carolyn Chalmers Simpson AO
Keith Douglas Suter AM
Anatoly Trachten berg OAM
Katherine Frances Anderson OAM
Richard Philip Broinowski AO
Alan Anthony Dupont AO
James Ernest Guthrie AM
Leo Arieh Penczewski AM
Kimberley Alan Jaggar OAM
Edward William Kraegen AO
Alan Francis Brown AM
John William Cunningham AM
Leo Radom AC
Leon Abraham Simons AM
Lizabeth Ton AM
Annabelle Claire Bennett AC
Bruce Levet OAM
Joan Helen Masterman AM
Michell Yvonne Simmons AO
Hugh Michael Jackman AC
Regis Pierre Lansac OAM
Geoffrey Craig Roberts AM
Meryl Tankard AO
Matthew Allen AM
Eleanore Goodridge OAM
Gary Hilton Weiss AM
Caroline Wilkinson OAM
Bruce William Bland AM
Alexander Gelman OAM
Roland Errol Gridiger OAM
Mary Margaret Shanahan OAM
Gabrielle Catherin Thomson AM
Sarah-Jane Clarke AM
Geoffrey Francis O’Sullivan OAM
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