They come from different backgrounds - doctors, professors, volunteers and lifesavers - but they all share a passion for the Hunter.
Amazing locals have been named in the 2023 Australia Day Honours List for making an impact at local, national and international levels.
The list includes Professor Bob Morgan, whose achievements span the country and include 19 years of commitment to the University of Newcastle.
Professor Morgan has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). The Gumilaroi man has served as Conjoint Professor at the Wollotuka Institute since 2008 and chaired the university's Board of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Research for the same length of time.
Further afield, Professor Morgan was the inaugural president of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, commissioner of the NSW Education Commission from 1980-86 and executive officer of the National Aboriginal Sports Foundation from 1972-74. Professor Morgan's mother inspired him to get involved in education and he believes "ashamedly in the power of education to change".
"My mother was totally illiterate, and was never allowed to go to school because she was Aboriginal," he said. "But she knew the value of knowledge and so she instilled in me a real passion for education and learning."
He said being awarded the AO on Australia Day came with mixed feelings.
"I'm a very firm supporter for the change of date," Professor Morgan said. "And I'm also a very strong advocate for a treaty in this country. We're the only colonised country on the planet that doesn't have some form of treaty between Indigenous people and the colonisers.
"I thought, do I say, 'I'm not interested?' Or do I honour the work and the recommendations of people who nominated me?
"I'm proud and honoured to have been recognised by them, so I want to honour their voice and all the other people that have worked really long and hard, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal."
Tanya Wilks also paid credit to those who nominated her. The distinguished radio host has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
"It's the people that actually take time out of their busy lives to do something so selfless," Ms Wilks said.
She has been at Triple M Newcastle, formerly KO-FM, since 2000 and but started as teenager at 2HD, where she formed Australia's longest running radio breakfast team with the late David Collins.
"I'm up at 3.15 every day," she said. "I don't think you could do these hours if you didn't love it... That's honestly what keeps me going, it's our listeners."
Her passion for broadcast media started as a child with a Coke bottle radio her grandmother bought her.
"I remember going to bed at night thinking, 'wow, I can hear people from all over the country'. At that point I was listening to different accents too, so I assumed I was listening all over the world. Little did I know there were very many ethnic stations in Sydney that I was probably tuning into. But I thought I was travelling all over the planet with this tiny little radio. So that absolutely captured my imagination."
That led to work experience, which led to a job and the rest is history.
Her formidable career has brought several awards, including best on-air team at last year's Australian Commercial Radio Awards and best documentary at the 2019 awards for Goodbye, Farewell, Amen. The documentary featured David Collins in the last 24 hours before he succumbed to pancreatic cancer, and Ms Wilks says it is one of the proudest moments of her career.
Her career has also brought proud moments outside of radio, including the creation in 1989 of the Victims of Crime Assistance League (VOCAL), of which she was founding secretary. While producing a current affairs show, she said a lot of calls were from victims of crime or their families.
"We were seeing people come through, get convicted of these horrendous crimes, and then get off or spend very little time in jail," she said. "It took over the show for months and months. Finally, we thought we need a public meeting, because there's so much injustice going on."
The Police Minister and hundreds of others attended and VOCAL was formed, which still exists today.
It was also negative experience for Cardiff's Dawn and John Lovett that spurred them to help others. They have each been awarded an OAM.
When Dawn was diagnosed with thyroid cancer after giving birth of their first child, then had to have her voicebox removed after their second was born, she didn't want to "sit in the corner". With little information about recovery, the pair joined a support group - the Newcastle Lost Chord Club, now known as the Hunter Valley Laryngectomy group.
Mr Lovett has held the position of secretary, while Mrs Lovett was previously the club president.
"Nearly all our members have done an accreditation course," Mr Lovett said. "So whenever someone is being operated on, our speech therapist will contact one of our members. Sometimes Dawn and another member will go and sit with that person that's going to be operated on and let them know what a laryngectomy is."
The group has presented to speech therapy students, while Mr and Mrs Lovett also founded the Head and Neck Cancer Social Club. They said receiving an OAM was a chance to promote what they do.
"It's something where I think if you didn't have that support, you'd get lost," Mr Lovett said. "It's a great feeling when someone will ring up and say, 'we've heard about you' and that person's come along and they've walked out a different person because they know they're normal."
Emergency services medal
- Henry Scruton, Newcastle. Service to surf lifesaving.
- Susan Chapple, Grafton. Assisted in the Dungog floods of 2015.
Public Service Medal
-
Jodi Cassar, Medowie. Public service and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Dr Wayne O'Connor, Nelson Bay. Public service in aquaculture research.
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)
- Professor Clare Collins, Valentine. Service to nutritional health and dietetics research and communication, and scientific organisations.
- Dr Bob Morgan, NSW. Service to the Indigenous community, tertiary education leadership, and health advisory roles.
- Phillip Noyce, California USA. Service to the arts as a film and TV director, producer, and screenwriter.
Member of the Order of Australia (AM)
- Nancy Dwyer, Charlestown. Service to netball.
- Professor Maralyn Foureur, Newcastle. Service to nursing in midwifery.
- Professor Brian Kelly, Newcastle. Service to medical education and professional organisations.
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)
- Ernest Alchin (late), formerly of Nelson Bay. Service to the community through a range of organisations.
- Jennifer Butters, Nords Wharf. Service to the community through charitable organisations.
- Dorothy Ebbott, NSW. Service to history preservation organisations.
- Richard French, Muswellbrook. Service to the community of Muswellbrook.
- Joseph Galea, The Entrance North. Service to the Maltese community of NSW.
- Garry Leo, West Wallsend. Service to rugby league and the community.
- Dianne Lindsay-Simpson, Gwandalan. Service to the performing arts as an entertainer.
- Julie Loblinzk, North Rothbury. Service to people with disability.
- Dawn Lovett, Cardiff. Service to community health.
- John Lovett, Cardiff. Service to community health.
- Henry Meskauskas, Aberglasslyn. Service to the community of Maitland.
- Ian Pfennigwerth, Corlette. Service to military history.
- Alan Rankins, Caves Beach. Service to business and engineering.
- Rhonda Scruton, Newcastle. Service to surf lifesaving.
- Peter Simpson, Gwandalan. Service to the performing arts as an entertainer.
- Patrick Slattery, Newcastle. Service to the community through a range of roles.
- Stuart Tipple, Terrigal. Service to the law.
- Andrew Traill, Newcastle West. Service to the community through a range of organisations.
- Paul Whittemore, Shoal Bay. Service to the community of Port Stephens.
- Tanya Wilks, Hamilton. Service to broadcast media and the community.
