Community members feted on Australia Day
LES Erdi and Tara Winkler – finalists for Senior Australian of the Year and Young Australian of the Year respectively – have missed out on the top gongs.
LES Erdi and Tara Winkler – finalists for Senior Australian of the Year and Young Australian of the Year respectively – have missed out on the top gongs.
Legal academic Professor Ron McCallum, who is totally blind, was this week selected over Erdi, a Holocaust survivor, philanthropist and businessman, while round-the-world yachtswoman Jessica Watson pipped the founder of a Cambodian orphanage Tara Winkler.
The awards were announced on Tuesday evening by Prime Minister Julia Gillard outside Parliament House. At the ceremony, Ronni Kahn, founder and director of OzHarvest, handed her Australia Local Hero award to NSW suicide prevention advocate Donald Ritchie, who at 84 years old keeps an eye on The Gap in Sydney’s Watson’s Bay and coaxes those who look like they may be contemplating suicide away from the cliff edge.
Meanwhile, at least11 Jewish achievers were recognised by Governor-General Quentin Bryce in this year’s Australia Day honours.
Among those singled out were two of Australia’s leading medical professionals.
Associate Professor Ivan Goldberg, a glaucoma specialist was named a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), as was Professor Michael Friedlander, an oncologist.
The two Sydneysiders are both highly respected in their respective disciplines – Prof Goldberg was president of the World Glaucoma Association in 2005-05 and is currently president of the Asia Pacific Academy of Opthamology, while Prof Friedlander is the director of medical oncology at the Prince of Wales Hospital and past president of the International Gynaecological Cancer Society.
Businessman and philanthropist Robert Smorgon was another Jewish recipient of an AM. His service extends from the Jewish National Fund to the Australian Council for Children and Youth Organisations.
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) included Melbourne-based volunteers Susan Balint and Kathy Kaplan and Perth-based National Council of Jewish Women of Australia bigwig Angela Davis. Educator and former executive director at the Jewish Holocaust Centre Bernard Brzegowski-Korbman was recognised for preserving Jewish history, while in Sydney, Moriah College and Wolper Jewish Hospital stalwart Graham Einfeld was singled out.
Among the other OAM recipients were Joy Balkind, Professor David Copolov and Orli Wargon.
The Australia Day awards are approved by Governor-General Quentin Bryce and this year, there were a total of 441 recipients.
“I want to give my strong support to the awards made through the Australian Honours System”, Bryce said. “They elevate the concept of giving to others. They heighten our respect for one another, and they encourage Australians to think about the responsibilities of citizenship in our democracy.”
NAOMI LEVIN
Tara Winkler at the Cambodian orphanage she founded
comments