Order of Australia
From QueerBio.com
The Order of Australia is that country's highest civilian honour, established in 1975 to replace the British honours system, and is awarded for significant national and international achievement and meritorious service. Nominations to the order come from the public and it is administered by the Governor General of Australia. The order is divided into the following:
- Knight or Dame of the Order of Australia (AK or AD – Civil division only – Closed to new appointments in 1986);
- Companion of the Order of Australia (AC);
- Officer of the Order of Australia (AO);
- Member of the Order of Australia (AM); and
- Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
We have identified the following individuals as LGBTQ recipients of the Order of Australia:
- Alyson Annan, field hockey player
- Virginia Bell, Justice of the High Court of Australia
- Neal Blewett, former Member of Parliament
- Bille Brown, Theatre and film actor
- Deborah Cheetham, Soprano Opera singer, playwright
- Carin Clonda, squash player
- Natalie Cook, beach volleyball player and the first Australian to play in five successive Olympic games
- Rodney Croome, activist
- Ken Duncan, photographer
- Don Dunstan, Premier of South Australia
- James Gleeson, surrealist painter
- Brian Greig, former Senator and LGBTQ activist
- Daniel Kowalski, Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer
- Michael Kirby, lawyer and retired justice of the High Court of Australia
- Neil MacGregor, Director of the British Museum (honorary AO)
- Ian Thorpe, five-time Olympic Gold swimmer
- Lex Watson, Activist
- Helen Westwood, Member of New South Wales Legislative Council
- Patrick White, writer and Australia's only recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature
