Australian of the Year Finalists 2009
Layne Beachley
Surfing legend
Layne Beachley is regarded as the best female professional surfer in the sport's history, having won the World Championship seven consecutive times. She now holds the record for the greatest winning margin in the world title race and for the greatest number of consecutive World Championship victories by any competitor. Having experienced the financial pressures of supporting her career for the first eight years, Layne established the Aim for the Stars Foundation to inspire girls and women to achieve their academic, sporting, community and cultural dreams. Layne Beachley is a phenomenal competitor and an outstanding role model for women around the world.
Professor Simon Chapman
Anti-tobacco campaigner
Based at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health, Professor Simon Chapman has worked for many years championing public health causes. He has been particularly inspirational in taking on the powerful tobacco industry, successfully lobbying for measures to reduce the uptake, usage and flammability of tobacco products. In 2003, he was listed in The Bulletin's top 10 smartest, most innovative and creative people in the field of health and medicine. Professor Chapman analyses the most important tasks facing global tobacco control with penetrating insight, providing a road map of what must be done to ensure the health of our community.
Liz Ellis
Netball great
Liz Ellis played in the Australian Netball Team for 14 years and is a former captain of the Sydney Swifts. She helped Australia win two Commonwealth Games gold medals, three World Netball Championships, and captained the Australian Netball Team for three years. She is the most capped netball player of all time with 122 test matches, winning the World Championship Gold Medal in 2007. Although Liz retired from netball last year, she has continued contributing to the sporting community through her netball clinics.
Glenn McGrath AM
Cricketer and fundraiser
Glenn McGrath is one of Australia's most loved cricketing legends. The most prolific fast bowler in test cricket history, he spearheaded Australia's bowling attack for over a decade. Professionally he has always demonstrated an unerring will to succeed, but off the field it is the way he has handled personal struggles that has gained him admiration. Glenn's wife, Jane, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997, then with cancer of the hip six years later, and had a brain tumour removed in early 2006. Together they established the McGrath Foundation, a major fundraiser for and supporter of people with breast cancer. In June this year Jane lost her battle with cancer. Throughout it all Glenn has shown enormous strength and dignity, setting an inspirational example.
Senior Australian of the Year Finalists 2009
John Bell AM
Actor and director
John Bell may have started life as a shy child with a stutter but he has become a great Australian actor and a daring director. As co-founder of the Nimrod Theatre Company, John presented many premiere and landmark productions of Australian plays. In 1990 he launched his radical brand of Shakespeare with the Bell Shakespeare Company. It was founded on the ideals of uninhibited access to the great classics for as many Australians as possible through productions and education activities. John is undoubtedly a theatre legend who has helped shape the Australian theatrical tradition and make it what it is today.
June Dally-Watkins OAM
Business woman
The name June Dally-Watkins is synonymous with etiquette, manners, and modelling. In 1950, she built on her success as a model to establish Australia's first ever deportment school followed by our first modelling agency In 1953, she started a family but continued working hard to develop her business at a time when women in business were rare. For the last 58 years she has passed on her skills to more than 300,000 eager students. At 81 years of age, June remains incredibly active in supporting charities, including as an ambassador for Crossroads International, which provides for the destitute in Third World countries.
Dr Catherine Hamlin AC
Fistula surgery pioneer
Dr Catherine Hamlin is an obstetrician, gynaecologist and co-founder of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, the world's only medical centre dedicated exclusively to providing free fistula repair surgery to poor women suffering from childbirth injuries. It is also a global centre of expertise in fistula repair and trains surgeons from around the world. Dr Hamlin has opened hospitals in three other Ethiopian cities, and the Hamlin Midwifery College in Addis Ababa in an attempt to prevent fistula damage. She has treated more than 34,000 women, restoring their health and dignity. The New York Times has described her as a modern day Mother Teresa.
Lorraine Peeters
Stolen Generation supporter
Like many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children of her generation, Lorraine was forcibly removed from her family at the age of four and placed in an institution. Through the healing journey necessitated by this traumatic event, she established a healing program called Winangali-Marumali, to support survivors of the Stolen Generation. Lorraine also played an important role in the National Apology given by the Prime Minister in 2008 to the Stolen Generations. Following the apology, she presented the Prime Minister with a glass coolamon, an Indigenous carrying vessel, to thank him for offering the apology. Lorraine has had a profound impact on helping members of the Stolen Generation to heal.
Young Australian of the Year Finalists 2009
Craig Ashby (Gamilaroi) - 21
Indigenous literacy campaigner
Just six years ago Craig Ashby was unable to read or write, and yet he is now in his third year of a degree in teaching. An Aboriginal man from Walgett in country NSW, Craig was treading a path that looked likely to end in jail. However a move to St Joseph's College saw his literacy skills improve and his confidence grow. He is now tutoring primary school children in Redfern, and helping develop and implement programs to encourage Indigenous children in remote communities to attend school. As an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, he believes that education is the key and wants to ensure that every young Indigenous person has a quality education.
Daniel Clarke - 30
Entrepreneur and mentor
At the age of 16, Daniel Clarke started his own computer business while still at school. Now a successful entrepreneur, he founded the Enterprise Network for Young Australians (ENYA) to fill the gap that existed in supporting and promoting Australian youth enterprise. Daniel has launched a number of programs, including the Microfinance Fund which provides small interest free loans to individuals trying to establish their own business, and Youth Enterprise Legal Centre (YELC), the only legal centre in Australia that is aimed at supporting young business people. In addition, Daniel is the voluntary director and secretary of the Life Changing Experiences Foundation, which runs free mentoring programs for underprivileged and disadvantaged young women.
Kurt Fearnley OAM - 27
Paralympian
Born without the lower portion of his spine, as a child Kurt Fearnley ignored his disability and joined in every sport possible. At the age of 14 he took up wheelchair racing and has since become an elite international athlete. In 2007, he won 10 out of the 11 international marathons he competed in, breaking six course records in the process. He is currently world champion in all five distances above 800m, and at his third Paralympics in Beijing he took home one gold, two silver and a bronze medal.
Mimi Zou - 23
Community services volunteer
Upholding the belief of 'think globally, act locally,' Mimi Zou has volunteered for many organisations that seek to improve access to and equality in the areas of education, employment, housing, health, law and justice. This year she was selected as a delegate to the 2020 Youth Summit, and is currently coordinating the establishment of a community legal clinic in the University of Sydney that will be entirely run by student volunteers. The aim is to encourage students to utilise their legal education to assist those who are disadvantaged and marginalised in the community. Mimi's goal is to become an international lawyer so that she is better able to help others.
Australia's Local Hero Finalists 2009
Susan Elder
Westleigh
Nurse and inventor
Susan Elder has dedicated much of her life to intensive care nursing and using that experience she invented the Hornsby Cooling Kit. The Kit cools a patient quickly in the event of a cardiac arrest or stroke. Previous cooling devices were expensive, labour intensive, and could not be used until a patient was stabilised in Intensive Care. Susan's kit is inexpensive, easy to use, and fully portable, so it can be used in ambulances as well as hospitals. Susan is currently developing a neonatal cooling kit, and the Australian Army is using the Kit in rescue situations and for treatment of heat stress. Susan's invention is saving thousands of lives.
John Harper
Stockinbingal
Mental health advocate
After experiencing depression himself, farmer John Harper began actively promoting awareness about the need for mental wellbeing in times of stress and anxiety. In 2006, he established a grassroots self-help program called Mate Helping Mate. His informal approach over a sausage sizzle and a beer has encouraged men to open up and discuss their concerns. In 2007, the Mate Helping Mate DVD was released in conjunction with St Vincent de Paul and John distributed thousands of copies throughout NSW. John's concept has been such a success it is now being used as a model for other rural communities.
Captain Paul Moulds
Bondi Junction
Homeless youth supporter
Paul Moulds has spent 27 years working with Sydney's homeless youth, many of whom are drug addicted, abused, damaged or suffering mental illness. As Director of The Salvation Army's Oasis program, Paul manages 70 staff, allocates Oasis's 55 beds to homeless youth and feeds more than 100 kids a night. Paul has established a host of day programs, including an onsite radio station run by the kids; a film, editing and production company; outdoor adventure therapy and counselling; and training and employment assistance. Paul invests much of himself in offering these young people hope, a sense of purpose and a chance to rebuild their lives.
Dr Jamal Rifi
Belmore
Cultural leader
In 1984, Dr Jamal Rifi arrived in Australia to study and successfully qualified as a medical practitioner. His generous nature and desire to give back to this country led him to become involved in serving the community, particularly in the areas of youth, family and community development. He was a founding member of Muslim Doctors Against Violence and the Christian Muslim Friendship Society. His efforts to build harmony between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities have been recognised with a Human Rights Medal. As the President of the Lakemba Sports Club, he has used sport as a social tool to build bridges between communities and channel young people's physical energies into positive activities.
