50th Anniversary of Australian Honours and Awards System Morning Tea

Chair of The Order of Australia Association, Queensland Branch, Mrs Ronda Nix; recipients of Australian Honours and Awards; distinguished guests; ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and to any First Nations people here this evening.

Graeme and I are delighted to welcome you to Government House this morning to mark the 50^th anniversary of the day in 1975 when Queen Elizabeth the Second, as Queen of Australia, established Australia’s own system of civil and military honours.

Today, a quarter of the way through the 21^st century, it can be difficult for us to understand (or recall) just how radical an innovation this was at the time. In fact, as a nation, we weren’t at all sure that we needed such a system. State governments were happy to continue to recommend recipients for Imperial honours and there had been no Commonwealth honours list since 1972.

But the concept of a purely Australian system, similar to that established in Canada, was not a random, fleeting notion; it was part of Gough Whitlam’s vision of a more confident, independent Australia.

He had pursued that vision in the Australian parliament since entering politics in 1952, and first raised the idea of an Australian honours system in parliament in 1967. It took a further eight years, but, finally, on the 14^th of February 1975, the letters patent establishing the Australian system of honours and awards were signed and sealed.

Perhaps not surprisingly, it was not universally welcomed, and Queensland’s Premier at the time, the then Mr Bjelke Petersen, rejected the notion outright saying that Queensland would (and I quote) ‘stick to the traditional system of honours awarded by the Queen – and the federal government could do nothing about it’!

At the time of the announcement, it had not even been determined just how the system would be managed. The members of the Council of the Order hadn’t been appointed; it was to be a full year before Stuart Devlin’s inspired ‘wattle’ designs for the medals and ribbons would be granted royal approval; and the first nominations wouldn’t be called until April – with just a fortnight to make submissions so that Her Majesty the Queen could announce the awards on her official birthday.

In just six weeks, the Council assessed a flood of nominations, and, on the 14^th of June 1975, 110 Australians were announced as recipients, including one woman and three men from Queensland. Fifty years on, in the Australia Day Honours announced just last month, 732 people received awards, 99 of them Queenslanders.

Recognition of Queenslanders has almost trebled from just 3.6 per cent in 1975 to 9.7 percent today and recognition of women has now reached parity.

As Governor, I am very proud to see such growth and I know that, with your support, as award recipients, the Australian system of honours and awards will continue to flourish as the pre-eminent way for Australians to recognise the achievements and service of their fellow citizens.

Thank you for marking this special anniversary with us today.