Tasmanian achievers on honours list
TASMANIAN arts patron Penny Clive, lawyer and sportsman Robert Badenach, doctor George Merridew, Professor Fiona Judd and Tasmania Police Assistant Commissioner Jonathan Higgins are among the Australians named in today’s Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
Sporting greats Johnathan Thurston and Frank Sedgman, media identities Ita Buttrose and Carrie Bickmore and singers Guy Sebastian and Darren Hayes have also been honoured, alongside scores of doctors, scientists, educators, business leaders, human rights crusaders and community champions.
Former PM Kevin Rudd gets a gong, as does former Australian Democrats leader Natasha Stott Despoja, and former Liberal politician Nick Minchin.
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ACTORS Hugh Jackman, Eric Bana and Sigrid Thornton are among the more than 1200 Australians who have received Queen’s Birthday honours.
Sporting greats Johnathan Thurston and Frank Sedgman and singers Guy Sebastian and Darren Hayes have also been honoured, alongside scores of doctors, researchers, scientists, educators, business leaders, human rights crusaders and community champions, who have made positive differences to the fabric of the nation.
Star of much-loved Australian film The Castle, Bana said he was shocked and thrilled to be honoured for service to the performing arts and charities.
“It’s not something I ever thought about and it’s not something I ever even aspired to, it just happened. It’s never been on my radar, so I am genuinely shocked and obviously thrilled — I am really, really chuffed,” Bana, who has just finished filming of author Jane Harper’s award-winning novel The Dry, told News Corp.
The honour was so great he might even be afforded “a good 48 hours of respect” from his teenage children, Bana joked.
Certainly his immigrant parents and his brother would be proud, he said.
Song and dance man Hugh Jackman said he was emotional about his Queen’s Birthday honour.
“I am an immensely proud Australian, and am so grateful for the opportunities I have received by being raised there. The countless teachers, mentors, institutions who have supported me along the way are immeasurable, and I will always be in my country’s debt,” he said.
More women than ever before have been honoured this year, claiming 40 per cent of the Order of Australia awards, and the ages of recipients range from 18 to 99.
Victorian father and daughter polar explorers Paul and Jade Hameister have both been awarded, with Jade, who turned 18 just last week, one of the youngest ever to make the venerable list.
The plucky teen is also the youngest person in history to pull off the “polar hat-trick”, skiing to the North Pole, the South Pole, and crossing the second-largest polar ice cap on the planet — Greenland.
Former prime minister Kevin Rudd gets a gong, as does former Australian Democrats leader and gender equality advocate Natasha Stott Despoja, and former Liberal politician Nick Minchin.
Much-loved Australian author Di Morrissey and Chinese-Australian ballet dancer Li Cunxin of Mao’s Last Dancer fame are among artists to be awarded, while anti-violence campaigner Rosie Batty is just one of the many community campaigners to be recognised for tireless efforts in fighting for change.
Among the media identities to receive Queen’s Birthday honours are News Corp’s Campbell Reid, media doyenne and current ABC chairwoman Ita Buttrose, awardwinning journalist Leigh Sales, presenter Carrie Bickmore and much- loved, retired sports reporter Ken Sutcliffe.
A total of 1214 names grace the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours List, with 993 recipients of awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia and 221 meritorious and military awards.
AN award is not singular, but is instead about many, says Queen’s Birthday Honours recipient and Tasmanian arts patron Penny Clive AO.
The Hobart grandmother, 68, and Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery Trustee has today been honoured for distinguished service to the visual arts through charitable support for cultural institutions and to the community of Tasmania.
In 2013 Ms Clive and husband, Bruce Neill, bought the former Macquarie St Mercury building and associated structures from Davies Brothers which is now home to Detached Cultural Organisation, a philanthropic Arts company she founded in 2007.
Ms Clive boasts an impressive CV.
Early in her career she spent time as a member of the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s Arts and Culture Review Panel.
She also served the University of Tasmania’s Cultural Collections Advisory Council and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
But the unassuming Queen’s Birthday Honour recipient insists she shares today’s award with a range of agencies.
“This award is for all who have been part of this journey including The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, MONA, University of Tasmania (IMAS), the artists, the builders, the makers, the Detached Cultural Organisation team, my husband, my family,” she said.
“During my time working with artists and scientists I have been able to be beside them as they reflect on our world.
“It has become clear to me that artistic activity is bound with scientific (and other) inquiry: cross-disciplinary actions affect our everyday life, our physical and mental wellbeing, our creative and innovative processes, our need to understand the disruptive challenges the world faces.”
She said while the award was described within a brief citation, and although it served to summarise an activity, “in reality the award and actions are far more complex”.
“It carries a past, a present and a future. It holds activities and responsibilities, as well as individuals, communities, questions and often challenging answers.”
Ms Clive said she has used “fear, risk and failure as beneficial enablers” to carve a path to her success to date.