Australian of the Year
Encyclopedia
Since 1960 the Australian of the Year Award has been part of the celebrations surrounding Australia Day
(26 January), during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual Australia Day celebrations. The official announcement has grown to become a major public event, with thousands of onlookers witnessing the televised ceremony in Canberra
. The award offers an insight into Australian identity, reflecting the nation’s evolving relationship with world, the role of sport in Australian culture, the impact of multiculturalism
, and the special status of Australia’s Indigenous people. It has also provoked spirited debate about the fields of endeavour that are most worthy of public recognition. In this way the awards have advanced a national conversation.
The Awards have served an important role in drawing attention to Australia’s national day which, despite very strong participation has struggled to find a rich resonance with all Australians. The award program has also grown in importance as a way of promoting active citizenship and recognising role model
s. Three companion awards have been introduced, recognising both Young and Senior Australians, and proclaiming the efforts of those who work at a grass roots level through the ‘Australia's Local Hero’ award.
With over fifty years of history and a high public profile, the Australian of the Year Awards are unique around the world. It is unusual for such a program to have broad public support and the endorsement of its national government. In the USA the Time Magazine
‘Man of the Year
’ (more recently ‘Person of the Year
’) predates the Australian award by 33 years, but the Time award has not been reserved for any particular nationality. Furthermore, it does not necessarily focus on positive role models and has chosen such figures as Adolf Hitler
and Joseph Stalin
. Elsewhere, the Canadian Club of Toronto
honours a 'Canadian of the Year', but the award does not have a strong link with the national government. Since 2004 the ‘Great Britons’ awards program has honoured such figures as author J.K. Rowling and Olympian Sebastian Coe, but relies almost entirely on financial support from the bank Morgan Stanley
and the newspaper The Daily Telegraph
. The Australian of the Year award receives substantial sponsorship from private companies, including a relationship in excess of thirty years with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, but its close association with the Australian Government ensures its profile and reputation is significantly enhanced.
. The most active and best resourced of these was the Victorian
Australia Day Council, which had grown out of the Australian Natives Association
. In January 1960 the council’s chairman, the unabashed patriot Sir Norman Martin, announced the introduction of a new annual award for the ‘Australian of the Year.’ He explained that Australia Day was a fitting occasion on which to give proper recognition to a leading citizen, whose contribution to the nation’s culture, economy, sciences or arts was particularly outstanding.
For the first two decades the Australian of the Year was chosen by a panel of five, which included the Victorian Premier, the Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne, the Vice Chancellor of Melbourne University, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne and the President of the National Council for Women. Although the panel was certainly distinguished, it would in time become too closely associated with Melbourne
to be appropriate for a national award. The panel’s first choice of Nobel Prize
winning immunologist Sir Macfarlane Burnet gained general approval. The editors of The Age
proclaimed the new honour was symptomatic of Australia’s growing confidence as a nation: ‘We are beginning to count for something in the world and we should be intensely proud of this fact.’
International achievement remained a key criterion during the award’s first decade. Several sporting heroes were honoured, from America's Cup skipper Jock Sturrock
and swimmer Dawn Fraser
, to world champion motor racer Sir Jack Brabham and boxer Lionel Rose
. The pioneering neurologist Sir John Eccles followed Burnet’s example, becoming the second of five Australians to take out the Nobel Prize/Australian of the Year double. Achievers in the artistic realm were also well represented, including opera singer Joan Sutherland, renowned dancer and choreographer Robert Helpmann
and the chart-topping singing group The Seekers
. The focus on international achievement reflected the philosophy of the award organisers, who described the Australian of the Year as ‘the person who has brought the greatest honour to Australia in the year under review.’
Australia Day Council. This fact became abundantly clear in 1975 when the newly formed Canberra
Australia Day Council named a rival Australian of the Year. The Canberra
council was run by a vibrant group of Canberrans, who pursued a more progressive
agenda than their Victorian counterparts. In particular, the Canberra council was sympathetic to the emerging republican
movement, while the Victorian council was staunchly committed to constitutional ties with Britain
. The Victorian council also battled a common perception that it was an exclusive organisation that represented the Melbourne Establishment. Australia’s turbulent political climate nourished this division and the Australian of the Year award was embroiled in a wider debate about Australian nationalism
.
Between 1975 and 1979, the Canberra Australia Day Council named four Australians of the Year. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
lent his support to the new award when he presented the inaugural honour to Major General Alan Stretton
, the commander of the emergency response to Cyclone Tracy
. The Canberra council also made good use of the federal parliamentary press boxes to promote its award to the national media. The Victorian council was singularly unimpressed that a rival Australia Day organisation had copied its idea – in 1978 it described its own winner, Dame Rae Roe, as ‘the real Australian of the Year.’ The impasse was only resolved when the Fraser Government
created the National Australia Day Council
(NADC) in 1979. The Victorian council willingly transferred responsibility for its award to the new national body, while the Canberra council agreed to discontinue its rival program. In 1982 the Victorian council was further sidelined when John Cain
’s Australian Labor Party created a new Victorian Australia Day Committee within the Premier’s Department, which joined the NADC’s official national network.
The NADC made immediate changes to the selection process, appointing an independent panel of ten leading Australians from diverse fields. Despite this rigorous approach, the panel’s first choice of historian Manning Clark
did not please conservative politicians, as Clark had been critical of the Fraser Government’s social policy. If nothing else, the controversy was a clear sign that the award had become a prominent and valued feature of the Australia Day celebrations. In time the selection of the annual winner fell to the board of the NADC itself, whose members are appointed by the Prime Minister of the day. Former NADC chairman Phillip Adams
recalls that heated debates were common. Typically the Australian of the Year was chosen at a special two-day board meeting, which Adams likened to the election of a Pope: ‘We would go into conclave, there would be lots of hot air, then a puff of smoke.’
During the 1980s, there was an expectation that corporate sponsorship would replace Government funding and that the NADC would become self-sufficient. The list of former Australians of the Year provides circumstantial evidence of this shift towards a more popular imperative. Economist Sir John Crawford and judge Sir Edward Williams thoroughly deserved their awards, but were perhaps not well placed to promote the importance of Australia Day to mainstream Australia, or to secure corporate sponsorship for the NADC. Subsequent winners included marathon runner Robert de Castella
, comedian Paul Hogan
, singer John Farnham
and cricketer Allan Border
, who were far more likely to attract public attention. In 1988 the Sydney Morning Herald editors expressed concern at this development: ‘One worrying trend with the award is its attachment to ratings. This year’s candidates appear to have been people who held high public profiles.’ Yet the steadily rising numbers of nominations indicated that the award was capturing the public imagination.
lead singer and prominent aboriginal identity Mandawuy Yunupingu
, environmentalist and republican Ian Kiernan
and Chinese-Australian paediatrician John Yu
. Yunupingu’s award continued a strong tradition of honouring Indigenous Australians
. The first Aboriginal winner was boxer Lionel Rose
, who quipped: ‘One hundred and eighty-two years ago one of my mob would have been a dead cert’ for this.’ Since then a further seven Indigenous people have been named Australian of the Year, for achievements in sport, music, politics, law, public service and academia. Many have played a role in Indigenous advocacy and some have raised concerns about the celebration of Australia Day on 26 January, most notably the 1985 recipient Lowitja O'Donoghue
.
, science
and the arts
. Fourteen winners have excelled in sports as diverse as cricket
, [swimming, athletics
, sailing
, tennis
, boxing
and motor racing. A recurring criticism that sport features too regularly peaked in 2004, when Steve Waugh
was the fourth sporting winner in seven years and the third Test Cricket
Captain to be honoured. Despite the perception of an over-emphasis on sport, the list of past winners reveals a strong endorsement for scientific achievement; by 2009 thirteen Australian scientists have received the honour, including a remarkable ten from the medical sciences. A long-term view also reveals that Australia’s talented artists have not been neglected; ten winners have excelled in creative pursuits, including six musicians, a dancer, a painter, a comedian and a Nobel Prize
winning novelist.
Many Australians of the Year do not fit neatly into categories such as sport, science and the arts. Phillip Adams
once described the past winners as ‘an eclectic collection of people who reflect the diversity of achievement in this country.’ Australians of the Year have also excelled in public administration
, the military, social and community work, business enterprise, academia
, religious leadership and philanthropy
. There has been relatively little public debate about the gender balance of past winners. In 1961 several news outlets incorrectly referred to Sir Macfarlane Burnet as ‘Man of the Year’; the mistake was not allowed to continue, as Joan Sutherland
took out the second award, but it is certainly true that women are under-represented. By 2009, 11 winners out of a total of 56 were women.
While the selection of a single Australian of the Year is bound to stimulate debate, the awards program as a whole recognises a much wider range of achievement. In 1979 the NADC named its first ‘Young Australian of the Year,’ community service
volunteer Julie Sochacki. Twenty years later the veteran country music star Slim Dusty
received the inaugural ‘Senior Australian of the Year’ award. In 2003 the NADC introduced an award for ‘Australia's Local Hero’, which honours outstanding contributions to local communities. With four award categories and a system of state and national finals, the NADC now recognises a total of 128 inspiring Australian role model
s every year.
, Shane Gould
, Lionel Rose
and Evonne Goolagong
. Gould remains the youngest person to be named Australian of the Year.
Shortly after the formation of the NADC in October 1979, the Northern Territory
representative Dr Ella Stack convinced her fellow board members to introduce a new award that focussed specifically on the achievements of younger Australians. The inaugural winner, youth unemployment worker Julie Sochacki, was named Young Australian of the Year in January 1980. The NADC coordinated the announcement with the Victorian Australia Day Council, which choose the Australian of the Year for the last time. The following year, the NADC assumed responsibility for both awards.
declared 1999 the ‘International Year of Older Persons
,’ the Minister for Aged Care Bronwyn Bishop
approached National Seniors Australia with a plan to increase the prominence of the award. The Department of Health and Ageing took over responsibility for the program and Prime Minister John Howard
presented the award to veteran country music star Slim Dusty
in October 1999. Bishop arranged for the NADC to administer the program on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing, but the award continued to be presented in October, with no discernible link to Australia Day. Three years later the NADC streamlined its awards programs. The council was running three separate awards, as even the Young Australian of the Year was announced earlier in January and had a separate nominations process. The Senior Australian of the Year announcement moved from October to January (skipping 2002 altogether) and joined the other two awards. By integrating the various programs, the NADC increased the prominence of the companion awards by announcing them at the same function as the Australian of the Year. Since then, many remarkable Senior Australians have been honoured on a national stage on Australia Day Eve.
In 2003, the NADC addressed the issue by introducing a fourth award category known as the ‘Local Hero Award.’ The new award was part of a shift in thinking at the NADC towards the key goal of promoting good citizenship
. It provides an important national forum for acknowledging those who work for the benefit of their fellow citizens.
selection committee was unanimous. If this is true, then it is in stark contrast to the selection process in the 1990s, when Phillip Adams
recalls that heated debates were common. In 1980 the NADC had formed an independent panel to decide the award, but eventually the selection fell to the NADC board itself. Typically the matter was considered at a special two-day board meeting, which Adams likened to the election of a new Pope: ‘We would go into conclave, there would be lots of hot air, then a puff of smoke.’
The most significant change in the selection procedure has been expansion of the nomination process. In the 1960s and 1970s,
the committee usually chose the winner from a relatively small list of nominees; for example, in 1971 Evonne Goolagong edged out only 18 other nominees. At a meeting in 1982, the directors of the NADC and its state based affiliates identified low nominee numbers as a cause for concern. The problem persisted and board members were regularly encouraged to spread the word and encourage nominations. A public relations report commissioned in 1989 recommended greater community involvement in the nominations process: ‘Allow the “ordinary” citizens of Australia a chance to vote for, or in some way have a say in, who should be Australian of the Year.’ During the 1990s glossy brochures calling for nominations were distributed well in advance of the awards deadline.
More recently, the NADC has realised that the nominations process is important not only to the integrity of its various awards, but is also a crucial means of engaging with the Australian community. In 2004 NADC Chair Lisa Curry-Kenny
proudly reported that nominations had doubled from the previous year: ‘This is a key indication that increasing numbers of Australians of all walks of life are actively engaging with the awards program.’ Public interest in the awards serves a much broader purpose, as NADC Chief Executive Warren Pearson explains: ‘The awards program is not primarily about choosing four national recipients; it is about engaging with Australians about citizenship.’ The introduction of the Local Hero award was directed towards this goal, as were various other changes made in 2004. Most importantly, the NADC introduced a new selection process based around state finals. This approach meant a more prominent role for the state-based Australia Day councils and committees, which now oversee the selection of the finalists and host official functions to announce the contenders in November each year. The NADC board now only chooses between the eight state finalists in each category and organises the national announcement in January.
Award by Category
Award by Gender
The National Australia Day Council works with and for the people and government of Australia to:
The third of these aims is predominantly addressed through the Australian of the Year Awards, which offer a high profile moment for the celebration of outstanding achievement. The awards greatly assist the NADC in its central task, which is aptly summarised by its Chief Executive Warren Pearson: ‘On 26 January each year, the National Australia Day Council encourages Australians to celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian.’. The Australian of the Year Awards have certainly attracted controversy and criticism, but in doing so they have advanced a national conversation – they have encouraged citizens of this country to consider, who are the ‘Australians who make us proud’?
The third of these criteria supports the NADC’s key goal of encouraging good citizenship.
Since the 1960s, the annual announcement has become progressively more sophisticated. After the NADC took over in 1980 it usually presented the award at an Australia Day concert, which moved around the nation and was often televised. In the 1990s an Australia Day breakfast at Admiralty House in Sydney was the usual venue for the announcement, but more recently the concert has been revived and is held in the national capital.
A highly memorable Australian of the Year function occurred in 1994, when the guest of honour was the His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The Australian of the Year, environmentalist (and republican) Ian Kiernan, sat on the stage after receiving his award, when a gunshot was heard and an assailant rushed toward Prince Charles. Kiernan jumped to his feet and wrestled the intruder to the ground with the assistance of New South Wales Premier John Fahey
. Kiernan later recalled: ‘the Premier and I lay on the stage, panting as the adrenalin began to flow, and wondering what to do next.’ As it turned out, the man was armed only with a toy cap pistol, but the incident was a serious security breach and somewhat upstaged Kiernan’s award.
Since 2004 the award presentation has been held on Australia Day Eve in Canberra. The 32 finalists enjoy an eventful day including morning tea with the Prime Minister at The Lodge, and lunch with the Governor General at Yarralumla
. The winners are announced on a specially erected stage in front of Parliament House, witnessed by a crowd of thousands and a national television audience. Specially produced video packages describe the winners in each of the four categories. The scale of the event displays a marked contrast to Sir Norman Martin’s modest press conferences of the 1960s.
Greenhalgh’s bronze medallion was presented to winners of the Victorian-based Australian of the Year award for two decades. When the NADC assumed responsibility in 1980, it apparently overlooked the issue of a trophy, so Manning Clark received a framed certificate. For the 1986 award to Dick Smith
, the NADC commissioned artist Michael Tracey to produce a more appropriate trophy, which the council described in its journal Australia Day Update: ‘The trophy, symbolising achievement, incorporates a figure holding the Australian flag. The figure is made from steel and the lettering is in pewter.’ In the bicentenary year Tracey was asked to cast his trophy in bronze instead of steel.
In the early 1990s the NADC commissioned glass sculptor Warren Langley to create a new trophy based on the updated Australia Day logo. NADC Chairman Phillip Adams had been criticised for removing the Australian flag from the logo and replacing it with a hand reaching for a star. After Adams resigned his position in 1996, the NADC asked Langley to produce an alternative trophy, which featured a map of Australia.
Melbourne-based artist Kristin McFarlane designed the current Australian of the Year trophy in 2004. Like Langley, McFarlane works with glass, but she is also trained as a graphic designer; she combines both text and images and sets them in kilned glass to produce striking works of art. The task of designing a new trophy prompted McFarlane to think more deeply about national identity than she had before: ‘It made me look at Australian identity and think about what was an Australian? Who is the archetypal Australian?’ She quickly realised that an image of one person, or even a group of people, would not work, and that her images needed to be generic. She decided to use a map of Australia: ‘It is one of the oldest continents in the world and it is a very recognisable form for anyone who lives here.’ McFarlane also chose to use the text of the National Anthem, but gave particularly prominence to the lesser-known second verse.
was designed by the National Capital Authority
and comprises a series of plinths, seats and lighting. Incorporated in the pathway are five metal strips set flush in the concrete, representing the five music stave lines. The plinths are placed in musical note position to the score of Advance Australia Fair
(Australia's national anthem). Fixed to each plinth is an anodised aluminium plaque containing the names and images of the Australians of the Year. There is one plaque for each year of the award. The plaques are arranged chronologically, starting at the western end of the path near Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. The lake side is bordered by white paving stones, the land side by a white paved walkway.
The Walk is situated along a straight section of shoreline on Lake Burley Griffin
between the National Library of Australia
and the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge( 35.295°S 149.129°E).
The Walk was opened by the then Prime Minister of Australia
John Howard
, on Australia Day
, 26 January 2006.
In December 2007 journalist Mark McKenna visited the Australian of the Year Walk and interpreted it as a highly symbolic form of national memorial. The empty bollards stretching into the distance particularly intrigued McKenna:
The Sydney Morning Herald critic who in 1960 lambasted the ‘all-Victorian’ selection panel for the inaugural award, also offered a more general critique of the proposed honour: ‘It is seldom that one citizen is so obviously raised above his fellow-men as to deserve solemn investment with the title of the most representative or meritorious Australian.’ The journalist correctly forecasted that it would be almost impossible to choose a universally acceptable winner; but perhaps he overlooked the potential of the award to promote productive debate about Australian identity. Critics of the Australian of the Year are inevitably drawn into a national conversation about active citizenship and about what it is that Australians value about individual achievement and effort. There might not be consensus, but the awards encourage a conversation about national identity and the values of a civil society. In this way, the Australian of the Year Awards have inherent value, which is largely independent of the choices made by the selection committee each year.
Nevertheless, an ongoing challenge faced by the NADC is that it is hard to represent the diversity of Australian achievement when there is only one winner per category in each year. The ongoing debates about the numbers of winners from the sciences, arts and sport are evidence of this. In the future, these debates might revolve around other issues, including gender balance and ethnic diversity. Awards Director Tam Johnston suggests that the value of the awards program is best measured by consulting the complete list of finalists for each year. In its 2005 Annual Report the NADC included a summary of the 111 finalists honoured nationally, which revealed a remarkable variety of achievement and a diversity of personal backgrounds. Importantly, the NADC has recently devoted attention to promoting the state finals, which emphasises the wide variety of achievement that is recognised each year.
Not all of the debate and discussion generated by the awards program has been of a serious nature. A more light-hearted portrait can be found in the award-winning television satire We Can Be Heroes (2005), in which actor Chris Lilley plays five obscure nominees for the Australian of the Year award. One reviewer suggested that Lilley’s creation was both a humorous mockumentary and a serious critique of the awards program: ‘if you want a show that skewers the nation’s pretensions and aspirations, while providing laugh-out-loud comedy, this is the real deal.’ All five characters have in one way or another inspired people in their local community, but none of them appears even a remotely suitable choice for Australian of the Year. Although primarily a vehicle for Lilley’s comic talent, We Can Be Heroes is also a biting critique of what we look for in role models. In contrast, the magazine Eureka Street offers a strong endorsement of the awards program’s potential:
The editors of Eureka Street suggest that the awards have been successful in achieving one of the core goals of the National Australia Day Council, which is to ‘promote good citizenship, values and achievement by recognising excellence and service to the communities and the nation.’
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
(26 January), during which time the award has grown steadily in significance to become Australia’s pre-eminent award. The Australian of the Year announcement has become a very prominent part of the annual Australia Day celebrations. The official announcement has grown to become a major public event, with thousands of onlookers witnessing the televised ceremony in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
. The award offers an insight into Australian identity, reflecting the nation’s evolving relationship with world, the role of sport in Australian culture, the impact of multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, and the special status of Australia’s Indigenous people. It has also provoked spirited debate about the fields of endeavour that are most worthy of public recognition. In this way the awards have advanced a national conversation.
The Awards have served an important role in drawing attention to Australia’s national day which, despite very strong participation has struggled to find a rich resonance with all Australians. The award program has also grown in importance as a way of promoting active citizenship and recognising role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
s. Three companion awards have been introduced, recognising both Young and Senior Australians, and proclaiming the efforts of those who work at a grass roots level through the ‘Australia's Local Hero’ award.
With over fifty years of history and a high public profile, the Australian of the Year Awards are unique around the world. It is unusual for such a program to have broad public support and the endorsement of its national government. In the USA the Time Magazine
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
‘Man of the Year
Man of the Year
A Man of the Year award usually refers to a person nominated as the most influential or meritous in a business, organisation, a specific form of human endeavour, or amongst humanity at large...
’ (more recently ‘Person of the Year
Person of the Year
Person of the Year is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."- History :The tradition of selecting a Man of the Year...
’) predates the Australian award by 33 years, but the Time award has not been reserved for any particular nationality. Furthermore, it does not necessarily focus on positive role models and has chosen such figures as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
. Elsewhere, the Canadian Club of Toronto
Canadian Club of Toronto
The Canadian Club of Toronto is a club in Toronto which meets several times a month to hear lunchtime speeches given by invited guests from the fields of politics, law, business, the arts, the media, and other prominent fields....
honours a 'Canadian of the Year', but the award does not have a strong link with the national government. Since 2004 the ‘Great Britons’ awards program has honoured such figures as author J.K. Rowling and Olympian Sebastian Coe, but relies almost entirely on financial support from the bank Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City serving a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 36 countries around the world, with over 600 offices and a workforce of over 60,000....
and the newspaper The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. The Australian of the Year award receives substantial sponsorship from private companies, including a relationship in excess of thirty years with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, but its close association with the Australian Government ensures its profile and reputation is significantly enhanced.
1960s
During the 1950s, a network of state-based organisations worked hard to increase the profile of Australia DayAustralia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
. The most active and best resourced of these was the Victorian
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
Australia Day Council, which had grown out of the Australian Natives Association
Australian Natives Association
The Australian Natives' Association , a mutual society was founded in Melbourne, Australia in April 1871. The Association played a leading role in the movement for Australian federation in the last 20 years of the 19th century. In 1900 it had a membership of 17,000, mainly in Victoria.The ANA...
. In January 1960 the council’s chairman, the unabashed patriot Sir Norman Martin, announced the introduction of a new annual award for the ‘Australian of the Year.’ He explained that Australia Day was a fitting occasion on which to give proper recognition to a leading citizen, whose contribution to the nation’s culture, economy, sciences or arts was particularly outstanding.
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
to be appropriate for a national award. The panel’s first choice of Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning immunologist Sir Macfarlane Burnet gained general approval. The editors of The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
proclaimed the new honour was symptomatic of Australia’s growing confidence as a nation: ‘We are beginning to count for something in the world and we should be intensely proud of this fact.’
Jock Sturrock
Alexander Stuart "Jock" Sturrock MBE was a noted Australian yachtsman who won over four hundred national and state championship yachting races....
and swimmer Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser AO, MBE is an Australian champion swimmer. She is one of only two swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times – in her case the 100 meters freestyle....
, to world champion motor racer Sir Jack Brabham and boxer Lionel Rose
Lionel Rose
Lionel Edmund Rose MBE was an Australian bantamweight boxer, the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title.-Early life:...
. The pioneering neurologist Sir John Eccles followed Burnet’s example, becoming the second of five Australians to take out the Nobel Prize/Australian of the Year double. Achievers in the artistic realm were also well represented, including opera singer Joan Sutherland, renowned dancer and choreographer Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
and the chart-topping singing group The Seekers
The Seekers
The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
. The focus on international achievement reflected the philosophy of the award organisers, who described the Australian of the Year as ‘the person who has brought the greatest honour to Australia in the year under review.’
1970s and 1980s
During its first two decades, the Australian of the Year award grew steadily in national prominence, but it increasingly suffered from its close association with the VictorianVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
Australia Day Council. This fact became abundantly clear in 1975 when the newly formed Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
Australia Day Council named a rival Australian of the Year. The Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
council was run by a vibrant group of Canberrans, who pursued a more progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
agenda than their Victorian counterparts. In particular, the Canberra council was sympathetic to the emerging republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
movement, while the Victorian council was staunchly committed to constitutional ties with Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. The Victorian council also battled a common perception that it was an exclusive organisation that represented the Melbourne Establishment. Australia’s turbulent political climate nourished this division and the Australian of the Year award was embroiled in a wider debate about Australian nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
.
Between 1975 and 1979, the Canberra Australia Day Council named four Australians of the Year. Prime Minister Gough Whitlam
Gough Whitlam
Edward Gough Whitlam, AC, QC , known as Gough Whitlam , served as the 21st Prime Minister of Australia. Whitlam led the Australian Labor Party to power at the 1972 election and retained government at the 1974 election, before being dismissed by Governor-General Sir John Kerr at the climax of the...
lent his support to the new award when he presented the inaugural honour to Major General Alan Stretton
Alan Stretton
Major General Alan Bishop Stretton AO CBE is a former senior Australian Army officer.Stretton began his military career serving with the 2/9th Battalion after graduating from the Royal Military College, Duntroon during the Second World War...
, the commander of the emergency response to Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy
Cyclone Tracy was a tropical cyclone that devastated the city of Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day, 1974...
. The Canberra council also made good use of the federal parliamentary press boxes to promote its award to the national media. The Victorian council was singularly unimpressed that a rival Australia Day organisation had copied its idea – in 1978 it described its own winner, Dame Rae Roe, as ‘the real Australian of the Year.’ The impasse was only resolved when the Fraser Government
Fraser Government
The Fraser Government refers to the federal Executive Government of Australia led by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. It was made up of members of a Liberal Party of Australia-Country Party of Australia coalition in the Australian Parliament from November 1975 to March 1983...
created the National Australia Day Council
National Australia Day Council
The coordinating body for the Australian of the Year Awards and Australia Day celebrations across the nation is the National Australia Day Council ....
(NADC) in 1979. The Victorian council willingly transferred responsibility for its award to the new national body, while the Canberra council agreed to discontinue its rival program. In 1982 the Victorian council was further sidelined when John Cain
John Cain
John Cain may refer to:* John Cain , 34th Premier of Victoria, Australia* John Cain II , 41st Premier of Victoria, Australia* John J. Cain , American mayor of Bayonne, New Jersey, 1910–1912...
’s Australian Labor Party created a new Victorian Australia Day Committee within the Premier’s Department, which joined the NADC’s official national network.
The NADC made immediate changes to the selection process, appointing an independent panel of ten leading Australians from diverse fields. Despite this rigorous approach, the panel’s first choice of historian Manning Clark
Manning Clark
Charles Manning Hope Clark, AC , an Australian historian, was the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume A History of Australia, published between 1962 and 1987...
did not please conservative politicians, as Clark had been critical of the Fraser Government’s social policy. If nothing else, the controversy was a clear sign that the award had become a prominent and valued feature of the Australia Day celebrations. In time the selection of the annual winner fell to the board of the NADC itself, whose members are appointed by the Prime Minister of the day. Former NADC chairman Phillip Adams
Phillip Adams
Phillip Andrew Hedley Adams, AO is an Australian broadcaster, film producer, writer, social commentator, satirist and left-wing pundit. He currently hosts a radio program, Late Night Live, four nights a week on the ABC, and he also writes a weekly column for the News Limited-owned newspaper, The...
recalls that heated debates were common. Typically the Australian of the Year was chosen at a special two-day board meeting, which Adams likened to the election of a Pope: ‘We would go into conclave, there would be lots of hot air, then a puff of smoke.’
During the 1980s, there was an expectation that corporate sponsorship would replace Government funding and that the NADC would become self-sufficient. The list of former Australians of the Year provides circumstantial evidence of this shift towards a more popular imperative. Economist Sir John Crawford and judge Sir Edward Williams thoroughly deserved their awards, but were perhaps not well placed to promote the importance of Australia Day to mainstream Australia, or to secure corporate sponsorship for the NADC. Subsequent winners included marathon runner Robert de Castella
Robert de Castella
Robert Francois de Castella, MBE is an Australian former world champion marathon runner. He is widely known as "Deek" or "Deeks" to the Australian public, and "Tree" to his competitors due to his thick legs and inner calm...
, comedian Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan, AM is an Australian actor best known for his role as Michael "Crocodile" Dundee from the Crocodile Dundee film series, for which he won a Golden Globe award.-Early life and career:...
, singer John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
and cricketer Allan Border
Allan Border
Allan Robert Border AO is a former Australian cricketer. A batsman, Border was for many years the captain of the Australian team. His playing nickname was "A.B.". He played 156 Test matches in his career, a record until it was passed by fellow Australian Steve Waugh...
, who were far more likely to attract public attention. In 1988 the Sydney Morning Herald editors expressed concern at this development: ‘One worrying trend with the award is its attachment to ratings. This year’s candidates appear to have been people who held high public profiles.’ Yet the steadily rising numbers of nominations indicated that the award was capturing the public imagination.
1990s
During the 1990s, the Australian of the Year award intersected noticeably with the politics of national identity. In its attempt to encourage unified national celebrations, the NADC was a strong promoter of both multiculturalism and reconciliation. The council was also linked to the growing republican movement and the campaign to change the national flag. Australians of the Year in this period included Yothu YindiYothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi are an Australian band with Aboriginal and balanda members formed in 1986. Aboriginal members come from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land...
lead singer and prominent aboriginal identity Mandawuy Yunupingu
Mandawuy Yunupingu
Mandawuy Yunupingu , born 17 September 1956, is an Aboriginal Australian musician, most notable for being the front man of the band Yothu Yindi.-Early life:...
, environmentalist and republican Ian Kiernan
Ian Kiernan
Ian Bruce Carrick Kiernan AO is an environmentalist who organised the Clean Up Australia campaign, and in 1993 a similar Clean Up the World operation which attracted participation from 30 million volunteers in 80 countries....
and Chinese-Australian paediatrician John Yu
John Yu
John Samuel Yu AC is a distinguished paediatrics doctor. Born in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, China, he attended Fort Street High School and the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia....
. Yunupingu’s award continued a strong tradition of honouring Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
. The first Aboriginal winner was boxer Lionel Rose
Lionel Rose
Lionel Edmund Rose MBE was an Australian bantamweight boxer, the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title.-Early life:...
, who quipped: ‘One hundred and eighty-two years ago one of my mob would have been a dead cert’ for this.’ Since then a further seven Indigenous people have been named Australian of the Year, for achievements in sport, music, politics, law, public service and academia. Many have played a role in Indigenous advocacy and some have raised concerns about the celebration of Australia Day on 26 January, most notably the 1985 recipient Lowitja O'Donoghue
Lowitja O'Donoghue
Ms Lowitja "Lois" O'Donoghue, AC, CBE, DSG is an Aboriginal Australian retired public administrator.She was named Australian of the Year in 1984 and 1990, and was inaugural chairperson of the now dissolved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission .-Personal life:Lowitja O'Donoghue was the...
.
2000s onwards
Debates about the Australian of the Year award often revolve around the relative balance between sportSport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
and the arts
The arts
The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...
. Fourteen winners have excelled in sports as diverse as cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, [swimming, athletics
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
and motor racing. A recurring criticism that sport features too regularly peaked in 2004, when Steve Waugh
Steve Waugh
Stephen Rodger "Steve" Waugh, AO is a former Australian cricketer and fraternal twin of cricketer Mark Waugh. A right-handed batsman, he was also a successful medium-pace bowler...
was the fourth sporting winner in seven years and the third Test Cricket
Test cricket
Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...
Captain to be honoured. Despite the perception of an over-emphasis on sport, the list of past winners reveals a strong endorsement for scientific achievement; by 2009 thirteen Australian scientists have received the honour, including a remarkable ten from the medical sciences. A long-term view also reveals that Australia’s talented artists have not been neglected; ten winners have excelled in creative pursuits, including six musicians, a dancer, a painter, a comedian and a Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winning novelist.
Many Australians of the Year do not fit neatly into categories such as sport, science and the arts. Phillip Adams
Phillip Adams
Phillip Andrew Hedley Adams, AO is an Australian broadcaster, film producer, writer, social commentator, satirist and left-wing pundit. He currently hosts a radio program, Late Night Live, four nights a week on the ABC, and he also writes a weekly column for the News Limited-owned newspaper, The...
once described the past winners as ‘an eclectic collection of people who reflect the diversity of achievement in this country.’ Australians of the Year have also excelled in public administration
Public administration
Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
, the military, social and community work, business enterprise, academia
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
, religious leadership and philanthropy
Philanthropy
Philanthropy etymologically means "the love of humanity"—love in the sense of caring for, nourishing, developing, or enhancing; humanity in the sense of "what it is to be human," or "human potential." In modern practical terms, it is "private initiatives for public good, focusing on quality of...
. There has been relatively little public debate about the gender balance of past winners. In 1961 several news outlets incorrectly referred to Sir Macfarlane Burnet as ‘Man of the Year’; the mistake was not allowed to continue, as Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
took out the second award, but it is certainly true that women are under-represented. By 2009, 11 winners out of a total of 56 were women.
While the selection of a single Australian of the Year is bound to stimulate debate, the awards program as a whole recognises a much wider range of achievement. In 1979 the NADC named its first ‘Young Australian of the Year,’ community service
Community service
Community service is donated service or activity that is performed by someone or a group of people for the benefit of the public or its institutions....
volunteer Julie Sochacki. Twenty years later the veteran country music star Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
received the inaugural ‘Senior Australian of the Year’ award. In 2003 the NADC introduced an award for ‘Australia's Local Hero’, which honours outstanding contributions to local communities. With four award categories and a system of state and national finals, the NADC now recognises a total of 128 inspiring Australian role model
Role model
The term role model generally means any "person who serves as an example, whose behaviour is emulated by others".The term first appeared in Robert K. Merton's socialization research of medical students...
s every year.
Young Australian of the Year
For the first twenty years of the Australian of the Year Awards there was no specific honour reserved for younger Australians. Nevertheless, in this period several young sports stars won the main award, including Dawn FraserDawn Fraser
Dawn Fraser AO, MBE is an Australian champion swimmer. She is one of only two swimmers to win the same Olympic event three times – in her case the 100 meters freestyle....
, Shane Gould
Shane Gould
Shane Elizabeth Gould, MBE is an Australian former swimmer who won three gold medals, a silver and bronze in 1972 Summer Olympics. It was the greatest performance by an Australian at a single Olympics.-Biography:...
, Lionel Rose
Lionel Rose
Lionel Edmund Rose MBE was an Australian bantamweight boxer, the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title.-Early life:...
and Evonne Goolagong
Evonne Goolagong
Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley, AO, MBE is a former World No. 1 Australian female tennis player. She was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s, when she won 14 Grand Slam titles: seven in singles , six in women's doubles, and one in mixed doubles.-Early life:Goolagong is the...
. Gould remains the youngest person to be named Australian of the Year.
Shortly after the formation of the NADC in October 1979, the Northern Territory
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
representative Dr Ella Stack convinced her fellow board members to introduce a new award that focussed specifically on the achievements of younger Australians. The inaugural winner, youth unemployment worker Julie Sochacki, was named Young Australian of the Year in January 1980. The NADC coordinated the announcement with the Victorian Australia Day Council, which choose the Australian of the Year for the last time. The following year, the NADC assumed responsibility for both awards.
Senior Australian of the Year
The Senior Australian of the Year award initially had no connection with the NADC. When the United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
declared 1999 the ‘International Year of Older Persons
International Year of Older Persons
In its Proclamation on Aging, the United Nations General Assembly decided to declare 1999 as the International Year of Older Persons. The proclamation was launched on 1 October 1998, the International Day of Older Persons, by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Dr. Gunhild O...
,’ the Minister for Aged Care Bronwyn Bishop
Bronwyn Bishop
Bronwyn Kathleen Bishop , an Australian politician, is a Member of the Australian House of Representatives for the Liberal Party representing the Division of Mackellar, New South Wales since 1994...
approached National Seniors Australia with a plan to increase the prominence of the award. The Department of Health and Ageing took over responsibility for the program and Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
presented the award to veteran country music star Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
in October 1999. Bishop arranged for the NADC to administer the program on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing, but the award continued to be presented in October, with no discernible link to Australia Day. Three years later the NADC streamlined its awards programs. The council was running three separate awards, as even the Young Australian of the Year was announced earlier in January and had a separate nominations process. The Senior Australian of the Year announcement moved from October to January (skipping 2002 altogether) and joined the other two awards. By integrating the various programs, the NADC increased the prominence of the companion awards by announcing them at the same function as the Australian of the Year. Since then, many remarkable Senior Australians have been honoured on a national stage on Australia Day Eve.
Australia's Local Hero
As the status of the Australian of the Year award grew, it became more common for critics to call for lesser-known winners whose achievements were not otherwise recognised. The NADC was certainly not dismissive of the this view.In 2003, the NADC addressed the issue by introducing a fourth award category known as the ‘Local Hero Award.’ The new award was part of a shift in thinking at the NADC towards the key goal of promoting good citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
. It provides an important national forum for acknowledging those who work for the benefit of their fellow citizens.
Choosing the winners
Unsurprisingly, the process of choosing the Australian of the Year has evolved considerably over half a century, including both the make-up of the selection committee and the system of nominations. In the 1960s Sir Norman Martin usually insisted that the decision of the small VictorianVictoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
selection committee was unanimous. If this is true, then it is in stark contrast to the selection process in the 1990s, when Phillip Adams
Phillip Adams
Phillip Andrew Hedley Adams, AO is an Australian broadcaster, film producer, writer, social commentator, satirist and left-wing pundit. He currently hosts a radio program, Late Night Live, four nights a week on the ABC, and he also writes a weekly column for the News Limited-owned newspaper, The...
recalls that heated debates were common. In 1980 the NADC had formed an independent panel to decide the award, but eventually the selection fell to the NADC board itself. Typically the matter was considered at a special two-day board meeting, which Adams likened to the election of a new Pope: ‘We would go into conclave, there would be lots of hot air, then a puff of smoke.’
The most significant change in the selection procedure has been expansion of the nomination process. In the 1960s and 1970s,
the committee usually chose the winner from a relatively small list of nominees; for example, in 1971 Evonne Goolagong edged out only 18 other nominees. At a meeting in 1982, the directors of the NADC and its state based affiliates identified low nominee numbers as a cause for concern. The problem persisted and board members were regularly encouraged to spread the word and encourage nominations. A public relations report commissioned in 1989 recommended greater community involvement in the nominations process: ‘Allow the “ordinary” citizens of Australia a chance to vote for, or in some way have a say in, who should be Australian of the Year.’ During the 1990s glossy brochures calling for nominations were distributed well in advance of the awards deadline.
More recently, the NADC has realised that the nominations process is important not only to the integrity of its various awards, but is also a crucial means of engaging with the Australian community. In 2004 NADC Chair Lisa Curry-Kenny
Lisa Curry-Kenny
Lisa Gaye Curry AO MBE is a former Australian swimmer and is an Australian media personality.Curry was the chair of the National Australia Day Council from 2000 - 2008...
proudly reported that nominations had doubled from the previous year: ‘This is a key indication that increasing numbers of Australians of all walks of life are actively engaging with the awards program.’ Public interest in the awards serves a much broader purpose, as NADC Chief Executive Warren Pearson explains: ‘The awards program is not primarily about choosing four national recipients; it is about engaging with Australians about citizenship.’ The introduction of the Local Hero award was directed towards this goal, as were various other changes made in 2004. Most importantly, the NADC introduced a new selection process based around state finals. This approach meant a more prominent role for the state-based Australia Day councils and committees, which now oversee the selection of the finalists and host official functions to announce the contenders in November each year. The NADC board now only chooses between the eight state finalists in each category and organises the national announcement in January.
Statistical profiles
These summary data were compiled from the List of Australian of the Year Award recipients.Award by Category
| 1960-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-89 | 1990-99 | 2000-09 | 2010–19 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Science (Non-medical) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| Arts | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| Medical Science | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Indigenous affairs | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |
| Religion | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Community Service | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Politics/Public office | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Sport | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 13 | |
| Non-science academic | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Military service | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| Business | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
Award by Gender
| 1960-69 | 1970-79 | 1980-89 | 1990-99 | 2000-09 | 2010 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | |
| Male | 7 | 11 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 44 |
Contemporary governance
The National Australia Day Council (NADC) has administered the Australian of the Year awards program since 1979, when it inherited the responsibility from Victoria’s Australia Day Council. The NADC’s mission statement demonstrates how the awards program fits its wider purpose:The National Australia Day Council works with and for the people and government of Australia to:
- Unite all Australians through celebration with a focus on Australia Day;
- Promote the meaning of Australia Day through activity, education, reflection, discussion and debate; and
- Promote good citizenship, values and achievement by recognising excellence and service to the communities and the nation.
The third of these aims is predominantly addressed through the Australian of the Year Awards, which offer a high profile moment for the celebration of outstanding achievement. The awards greatly assist the NADC in its central task, which is aptly summarised by its Chief Executive Warren Pearson: ‘On 26 January each year, the National Australia Day Council encourages Australians to celebrate what’s great about Australia and being Australian.’. The Australian of the Year Awards have certainly attracted controversy and criticism, but in doing so they have advanced a national conversation – they have encouraged citizens of this country to consider, who are the ‘Australians who make us proud’?
Selection criteria
There has also been a significant shift in the criteria for the Australian of the Year award in fifty years. Initially the focus was on awarding the person who had ‘brought the greatest honour to Australia.’ This emphasis on international acclaim was gradually relaxed and Australian-based achievement was recognised more often from the 1970s onwards. The official criteria have usually been suitably broad in their scope, so changes in approach are largely attributable to the membership of the NADC board and the political climate of the time. In the mid-1980s there was a notable shift towards high profile winners, while in the 1990s some of those honoured reflected the prominent political issues of republicanism and reconciliation. Currently, the selection committees refer to three main criteria when considering nominees:- Demonstrated excellence in their field;
- Significant contribution to the Australian community and nation; and
- An inspirational role model for the Australian community.
The third of these criteria supports the NADC’s key goal of encouraging good citizenship.
Announcement
During the 1960s and 1970s, the Australian of the Year award was presented at Melbourne’s Australia Day Luncheon, which was held in either the Town Hall or the Royale Ballroom. The winner was usually announced about two weeks earlier at a function that provided an opportunity to promote the upcoming Australia Day celebrations. This event was a public relations exercise that attempted to capture the imagination of the media and the nation, but in 1966 a journalist from The Age did not follow the script, preferring to poke fun at the stage-managed event:Since the 1960s, the annual announcement has become progressively more sophisticated. After the NADC took over in 1980 it usually presented the award at an Australia Day concert, which moved around the nation and was often televised. In the 1990s an Australia Day breakfast at Admiralty House in Sydney was the usual venue for the announcement, but more recently the concert has been revived and is held in the national capital.
A highly memorable Australian of the Year function occurred in 1994, when the guest of honour was the His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The Australian of the Year, environmentalist (and republican) Ian Kiernan, sat on the stage after receiving his award, when a gunshot was heard and an assailant rushed toward Prince Charles. Kiernan jumped to his feet and wrestled the intruder to the ground with the assistance of New South Wales Premier John Fahey
John Fahey (politician)
John Joseph Fahey, AC is a former Premier of New South Wales and Federal Minister for Finance in Australia. John Fahey is currently the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1984 to 1996 and the federal House of Representatives...
. Kiernan later recalled: ‘the Premier and I lay on the stage, panting as the adrenalin began to flow, and wondering what to do next.’ As it turned out, the man was armed only with a toy cap pistol, but the incident was a serious security breach and somewhat upstaged Kiernan’s award.
Since 2004 the award presentation has been held on Australia Day Eve in Canberra. The 32 finalists enjoy an eventful day including morning tea with the Prime Minister at The Lodge, and lunch with the Governor General at Yarralumla
Yarralumla
Yarralumla may refer to:* Government House, Canberra, the residence of the Governor-General of Australia known as Yarralumla* Yarralumla, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra* Yarralumla Primary School...
. The winners are announced on a specially erected stage in front of Parliament House, witnessed by a crowd of thousands and a national television audience. Specially produced video packages describe the winners in each of the four categories. The scale of the event displays a marked contrast to Sir Norman Martin’s modest press conferences of the 1960s.
Medallions and trophies
The various medallions and trophies that have been presented to the Australians of the Year over fifty years are, in themselves, an interesting insight into changing understandings of what it means to be Australian. Reflecting his lofty ambitions for the new award, Sir Norman Martin announced a ‘world-wide competition’ to design the inaugural trophy in 1960. Sir Norman hoped to attract entries from the world’s finest artists, but the eventual winner was Victor Greenhalgh, the head of the Arts School at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Greenhalgh designed a bronze medallion, which reflected the prevailing mood as to the importance of Australia Day: its most prominent feature was a likeness of Governor Arthur Phillip, who was described on the medal as ‘The Outstanding Australian [of] 1788.’ In 1961 The Age reported that Sir Macfarlane Burnet was anxious when a photographer asked him to display the medallion at the awards ceremony: ‘The nervous scientist, whose hand with a pipette would be as steady as a rock, fumbled the medal and dropped it under the table.’Greenhalgh’s bronze medallion was presented to winners of the Victorian-based Australian of the Year award for two decades. When the NADC assumed responsibility in 1980, it apparently overlooked the issue of a trophy, so Manning Clark received a framed certificate. For the 1986 award to Dick Smith
Dick Smith (entrepreneur)
Dick Smith, AO is an Australian entrepreneur, businessman, aviator, and political activist. He is the founder of Dick Smith Electronics, Dick Smith Foods and Australian Geographic, and was selected as the 1986 Australian of the Year.-Electronics:In 1968, Dick Smith founded electronics retailer...
, the NADC commissioned artist Michael Tracey to produce a more appropriate trophy, which the council described in its journal Australia Day Update: ‘The trophy, symbolising achievement, incorporates a figure holding the Australian flag. The figure is made from steel and the lettering is in pewter.’ In the bicentenary year Tracey was asked to cast his trophy in bronze instead of steel.
In the early 1990s the NADC commissioned glass sculptor Warren Langley to create a new trophy based on the updated Australia Day logo. NADC Chairman Phillip Adams had been criticised for removing the Australian flag from the logo and replacing it with a hand reaching for a star. After Adams resigned his position in 1996, the NADC asked Langley to produce an alternative trophy, which featured a map of Australia.
Melbourne-based artist Kristin McFarlane designed the current Australian of the Year trophy in 2004. Like Langley, McFarlane works with glass, but she is also trained as a graphic designer; she combines both text and images and sets them in kilned glass to produce striking works of art. The task of designing a new trophy prompted McFarlane to think more deeply about national identity than she had before: ‘It made me look at Australian identity and think about what was an Australian? Who is the archetypal Australian?’ She quickly realised that an image of one person, or even a group of people, would not work, and that her images needed to be generic. She decided to use a map of Australia: ‘It is one of the oldest continents in the world and it is a very recognisable form for anyone who lives here.’ McFarlane also chose to use the text of the National Anthem, but gave particularly prominence to the lesser-known second verse.
Australians of the Year Walk
The "Australians of the Year Walk" in CanberraCanberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
was designed by the National Capital Authority
National Capital Authority
The National Capital Authority is a body of the Australian Government that was established to manage the Commonwealth's interest in the planning and development of Canberra as the capital city of Australia....
and comprises a series of plinths, seats and lighting. Incorporated in the pathway are five metal strips set flush in the concrete, representing the five music stave lines. The plinths are placed in musical note position to the score of Advance Australia Fair
Advance Australia Fair
"Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia. Created by the Scottish-born composer, Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song...
(Australia's national anthem). Fixed to each plinth is an anodised aluminium plaque containing the names and images of the Australians of the Year. There is one plaque for each year of the award. The plaques are arranged chronologically, starting at the western end of the path near Commonwealth Avenue Bridge. The lake side is bordered by white paving stones, the land side by a white paved walkway.
The Walk is situated along a straight section of shoreline on Lake Burley Griffin
Lake Burley Griffin
Lake Burley Griffin is an artificial lake in the centre of Canberra, the capital of Australia. It was completed in 1963 after the Molonglo River—which ran between the city centre and Parliamentary Triangle—was dammed...
between the National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
and the Commonwealth Avenue Bridge( 35.295°S 149.129°E).
The Walk was opened by the then Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, on Australia Day
Australia Day
Australia Day is the official national day of Australia...
, 26 January 2006.
Defining Australia
The Australian of the Year Awards represent only one of many ways in which national identity is expressed, but after fifty years they have become a significant part of the ongoing conversation about Australia’s past, present and future. The awards have also attracted the interest of foreigners, including BBC correspondent Nick Bryant, who recently observed that the awards program ‘offers an intriguing perspective on the Australian national character, which is both reinforcing and revelatory.’The Sydney Morning Herald critic who in 1960 lambasted the ‘all-Victorian’ selection panel for the inaugural award, also offered a more general critique of the proposed honour: ‘It is seldom that one citizen is so obviously raised above his fellow-men as to deserve solemn investment with the title of the most representative or meritorious Australian.’ The journalist correctly forecasted that it would be almost impossible to choose a universally acceptable winner; but perhaps he overlooked the potential of the award to promote productive debate about Australian identity. Critics of the Australian of the Year are inevitably drawn into a national conversation about active citizenship and about what it is that Australians value about individual achievement and effort. There might not be consensus, but the awards encourage a conversation about national identity and the values of a civil society. In this way, the Australian of the Year Awards have inherent value, which is largely independent of the choices made by the selection committee each year.
Nevertheless, an ongoing challenge faced by the NADC is that it is hard to represent the diversity of Australian achievement when there is only one winner per category in each year. The ongoing debates about the numbers of winners from the sciences, arts and sport are evidence of this. In the future, these debates might revolve around other issues, including gender balance and ethnic diversity. Awards Director Tam Johnston suggests that the value of the awards program is best measured by consulting the complete list of finalists for each year. In its 2005 Annual Report the NADC included a summary of the 111 finalists honoured nationally, which revealed a remarkable variety of achievement and a diversity of personal backgrounds. Importantly, the NADC has recently devoted attention to promoting the state finals, which emphasises the wide variety of achievement that is recognised each year.
Not all of the debate and discussion generated by the awards program has been of a serious nature. A more light-hearted portrait can be found in the award-winning television satire We Can Be Heroes (2005), in which actor Chris Lilley plays five obscure nominees for the Australian of the Year award. One reviewer suggested that Lilley’s creation was both a humorous mockumentary and a serious critique of the awards program: ‘if you want a show that skewers the nation’s pretensions and aspirations, while providing laugh-out-loud comedy, this is the real deal.’ All five characters have in one way or another inspired people in their local community, but none of them appears even a remotely suitable choice for Australian of the Year. Although primarily a vehicle for Lilley’s comic talent, We Can Be Heroes is also a biting critique of what we look for in role models. In contrast, the magazine Eureka Street offers a strong endorsement of the awards program’s potential:
The editors of Eureka Street suggest that the awards have been successful in achieving one of the core goals of the National Australia Day Council, which is to ‘promote good citizenship, values and achievement by recognising excellence and service to the communities and the nation.’
See also
- List of Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Young Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Senior Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Australian Local Hero Award recipients
- We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the YearWe Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the YearWe Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year is an Australian mockumentary TV series created, written and starring Chris Lilley and directed by Matthew Saville.It follows the story of five unique Australians, who have each made a large achievement...
- Orders, decorations, and medals of Australia