What is the Order of Australia and how do you get on it?

ON the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, people from across the country are receiving honours in the Order of Australia.

These awards are a national acknowledgement, and thank you, for major contributions people have made to various activities and communities in their lives.

Order of Australia Association, Central Highlands-Wimmera chair, John Burt OAM received his honour this time 13 years ago.

He said anyone can nominate a person they think is deserving, contacting the Order of Australia secretary in Canberra, but the nominee is mostly kept in the dark, and sworn to secrecy through the process.

“You must have two or three supporting people to support that nomination. From the day they started my process it was nearly two years until it was completed,” Mr Burt said.

“The important thing about these awards is not so much the individual, but what that individual represents, and in my case that was the Ballarat Specialist School.

Val Sarah AM was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2001 for services to women globally, having been the president of Zonta International.

She said the high-profile award helped open further doors of community opportunity.

“I was invited to join the committee of Ballarat: A Learning City, to be a patron for Relay for Life, a member of the Her Majesty’s Theatre board, and later chair,” Ms Sarah said.

“These are things that otherwise, I might not have been invited to do. People are respectful of receiving an honour in the Order of Australia, especially if its community based, rather than your working career alone.”

Anyone can nominate any Australian for an award in the Order of Australia. If you know someone worthy, nominate them now at gg.gov.au.