Figure 1. Special stamp and 50 cent coin issued by Australia Post and the Royal Australian Mint, respectively, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Australian honours system. Stamp image courtesy of Australia Post (design by Jason Watts). Coin image courtesy of the Royal Australian Mint.

The Order of Australia is a national honours system that recognises Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement.

Introduced on 15 February 1975, Australians celebrated the 50th anniversary of our national honours system this year with the release of a special commemorative stamp and 50 cent coin issued by Australia Post and the Royal Australian Mint, respectively (Figure 1).

This milestone year of the Order of Australia is an opportune time to reflect on the recognition of eye care practitioners, namely ophthalmologists, optometrists, orthoptists, and optical dispensers, over the past half century. Although the Australian honours system essentially recognises individuals, in many respects it also shines a light on the professions or groups with which the individuals are associated.

This article recognises all eye care professionals honoured within the Order of Australia over the past 50 years (February 1975 to February 2025) and analyses associated factors, such as level and time course of awards, as well as the geographic distribution and male/female balance of awardees.

WRITER Melanie Kell

EVOLUTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN AWARD SYSTEMS

Most nations have a system of national awards to honour outstanding individuals. When Australia was first settled by the British in the 18th century, imperial awards were bestowed upon those considered worthy of recognition. This system continued until 1975, when Australia adopted its own system of national awards.

Imperial Awards (Pre-1975)

Before 1975, honours were awarded by the King or Queen on the recommendation of the state and federal governments of Australia. Imperial honours were mostly based on merit but were tainted by patronage, politics, and position in society. Lord Mayors of the big cities, long serving politicians, senior public servants, captains of industry, university vicechancellors, and professors were made knights and accorded the title of ‘Sir’, or ‘Dame’ for the few women who found the public spotlight. The lesser members of society had their special contributions recognised by the award of Officer or Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE and MBE).

Only a few eye care professionals were recognised with imperial honours. Ophthalmologists honoured under the imperial system include Dr Archibald Anderson OBE, Sir James Barrett KBE, Dame Kate Campbell DBE, Dr JKE (Dick) Galbraith OBE, Sir Norman Gregg Kt, Dr Rueben Hertzberg CBE, Dame Ida Mann DBE, and Sir Thomas Travers Kt. Optometrists honoured under the imperial system include Sir Arthur Cocks KBE, Reginald Etherington OBE, Augustine Jackson MBE, Arthur Lay LVO, and John Merrington MBE. There were apparently no imperial awards to orthoptists or optical dispensers.

Order of Australia (Post-1975)

Australia’s own honours system was established in 1975, by Queen Elizabeth II at the instigation of the then Labor Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, to recognise Australian citizens for meritorious service. After 1975, some Australian states and territories continued to nominate individuals for imperial awards, so between 1975 and 1992, the Australian and British honours systems operated in parallel. The last Australia-nominated imperial awards were given in June 1989, although on rare occasions Australians with a British connection receive imperial honours awarded directly by the reigning monarch.

The Order of Australia is divided into General and Military Divisions, and the four award levels are the same for both divisions. The levels of awards, and their general designations, are as follows:

Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). For extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree in service to Australia or to humanity at large.

Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). For distinguished service of a high degree to Australia or humanity at large.

Figure 2. Professor Nathan Efron AC being presented with the medal of Companion of the Order of Australia by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove AK, at an investiture ceremony held at Government House (Yarralumla), Canberra, on 18 September 2015.

Member of the Order of Australia (AM). For significant service in a particular locality or field of activity or to a particular group.

Order of Australia Medal (OAM). For service worthy of particular recognition.

Individuals may also be given honorary awards, for example those who are based overseas but have some form of connection to Australia. Recipients are entitled to use the post-nominals indicated in brackets above after their names.

Any individual may nominate others for awards, the levels of which are determined by a government-appointed Council for the Order of Australia. Being nominated does not guarantee receipt of an award; only 58% of nominations have been successful over the past 50 years.1

Awards are announced by the Governor-General (the monarch’s representative in Australia) twice a year – on 26 January (Australia Day), and the King’s Birthday holiday in June. The annual number of AC, AO, and OAM awards (excluding honorary awards) is limited by quota, which is currently: AC – 35; AO – 140, and AM – 605. There is no annual quota for OAM awards.

Investiture ceremonies, at which award medals are presented, are held about three months after the award announcements. Awards at the level of AC are presented by the Governor-General of Australia at Government House (Yarralumla), Canberra (Figure 2). Awards at the level of AO, AM, and OAM are presented by State Governors at the respective State Government Houses. Award medals are scaled in size, with the lower-level medals being smaller and progressively less ornate (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Badges of the Order of Australia. From left: Companion, Officer, Member, Medal. Reproduced with permission from the Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General.

EYE CARE PROFESSIONALS HONOURED

To generate a list of all eye care professionals who have been recognised in the Order of Australia, the online Australian honours database2 was interrogated using the following search terms:

• Ophthalmologists – ophthalmological, ophthalmologist, ophthalmology, ophthalmic, vision, visual, eye, ocular, and eye health.

• Optometrists – optometrist, optometry, optometric, optometrical, and contact lens.

• Orthoptists – orthoptist, orthoptics.

• Optical dispensers – optical, dispensing, dispenser, optician.

Given that some of these search terms could be applicable to more than one profession, each identified name was checked to verify professional status, and classified accordingly.

Table 1. Ophthalmologists who have received awards during the first 50 years of the Order of Australia, ranked by level of award and listed alphabetically by surname within each level of award. *Honorary award.

Table 2. Optometrists who have received awards during the first 50 years of the Order of Australia, ranked by level of award and listed alphabetically by surname within each level of award.

Figure 4. Number of ophthalmologists and optometrists recognised at each of the four levels within the Order of Australia (1975–2025). AC, Companion; AO, Officer; AM, Member; OAM, Medal.

Figure 5. Number of ophthalmologists and optometrists recognised within the Order of Australia (1975–2025) stratified by home state/territory. ACT, Australian Capital Territory; NSW, New South Wales; NT, Northern Territory; QLD, Queensland; SA, South Australia; TAS, Tasmania; VIC, Victoria; WA, Western Australia. The data bars are presented in rank order of state/ territory population size (as of September 2024), with the population stated to the nearest 0.1 million below the abbreviation of each state/territory.

Figure 6. Number of ophthalmologists and optometrists recognised within the Order of Australia (1975–2025) stratified by decade of award.

Number and Level of Awards

In total, in the first half century of the Order of Australia, 108 ophthalmologists (Table 1), 57 optometrists (Table 2), three orthoptists, and three optical dispensers have been recognised; all in the General Division. There is overlap between Tables 1 and 2, because three individuals – Dr William Glasson AO, Dr Alan Isaacs AM, and Dr Rodney Kirkwood OAM – initially qualified as optometrists but later retrained to become ophthalmologists. Also, ophthalmologist Dr Sanduk Ruit AO, who has primarily worked in Africa and Asia but has also spent some time in Australia, has been made an honorary Officer of the Order of Australia. The distribution of awards for both ophthalmologists and optometrists, according to level of award, is presented in Figure 4.

Only four eye care professionals have been recognised at the highest level – Companion of the Order of Australia; specifically, three ophthalmologists – Father Frank Flynn AC, Professor Fred Hollows AC, and Professor Hugh Taylor AC, and one optometrist – Professor Nathan Efron AC. Brief accounts of their contributions are presented below.

The three orthoptists honoured within the Order of Australia are Joseph Dalzell AM (New South Wales, awarded 1992), Marion Rivers AM (Victoria, awarded 2021) and Sandra Staffieri AO (Victoria, awarded 2023). The three optical dispensers honoured within the Order of Australia are Henry Alexander OAM (New South Wales, awarded 1985), Richard Grills AM (New South Wales, awarded 2023), and John Jackson OAM (New South Wales, awarded 2008).

Prof Efron, who collated and analysed the data reported in this article, reflected on the reason for the highest number of awards going to ophthalmologists: “In the perception of the public, and perhaps also members of the Council for the Order of Australia who make recommendations for awards to the Governor-General, ophthalmologists are literally the closest of all eye care professionals to the cutting edge of preserving and saving sight through surgical intervention, thus receiving a higher number of nominations, that are generally more likely to be successful.”

Geographical Distribution of Awardees

Figure 5 is a graphical representation of the number of Order of Australia awards to ophthalmologists and optometrists, stratified by state/territory.

The three most populous states in Australia, in descending order of population size, are New South Wales, Victoria, and Queensland. The rank order of the combined number of awards to ophthalmologists and optometrists is commensurate with population size for these three states. However, there is a discordance in ranking order between the number of awards and population size in respect of the other five states/territories.3

Time Course of Awards

A decade-by decade analysis of the number of Order of Australia awards to ophthalmologists and optometrists is shown in Figure 6. There has been a general increase in the number of awards to members of both of these professions over the past half century, with this increase being more pronounced in respect of ophthalmologists. The growing number of awards perhaps reflects the increasing number of eye care professionals, the growing influence of the professions, and a commensurate enhanced self-confidence of ophthalmologists and optometrists to nominate deserving colleagues for awards. As well, quotas for the number of awards made each year have been increased periodically to accommodate the rising Australian population, a growing emphasis on acknowledging women (see over page), and increasing public awareness of, and interest in, the award system.

Awards to Women

A total of 23 female eye care professionals have been recognised within the Order of Australia (Table 3). However, females represent only 12 of the 108 ophthalmologists (11%) and nine of the 57 optometrists (16%). As well, two female orthoptists have been honoured. This male bias is likely due to (a) the gender balance of the eye care professions in favour of males throughout most of the 20th century, and (b) the predominance of males being nominated for awards, the latter being an historical problem that has plagued the Order of Australia generally.1 However, in the past few years both the number and success rate of annual nominations in general has been greater for females,4 which in future is likely to positively impact the number of female awardees in the eye care professions.

CONCLUSIONS

All eye care professionals mentioned in this article, regardless of level of award, should be recognised and celebrated for their outstanding service to their respective professions. They have brought distinction to their professions as well as themselves. Those in the eye care professions should consider nominating colleagues, especially women, who have made contributions worthy of special recognition. Increasing the number of successful nominations over time will also serve to enhance the reputation of eye care as a whole.

Professor Nathan Efron AC conducted the searches of the names of Order of Australia recipients and analysed data associated with the awards.

Table 3. Number of female eye care professionals who have received awards during the first 50 years of the Order of Australia, stratified by level of award.

References

1. Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, Annual Report 2023–2024. Available at: transparency. gov.au/publications/prime-minister-and-cabinet/offic-e-of-the-official-secretary-to-the-governor-general/office of-the-official-secretary-to-the-governor-general-annualreport-2023-24 [accessed Jun 2025].
2. Australian Government Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Australian honours search facility. c1975-2025. Available at: honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/search [accessed Jun 2025].
3. Australian Bureau of Statistics. National state and territory population. September 2024. Available at: abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territorypopulation/latest-release [accessed March 2025].
4. Office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General, Ongoing commitment to honour women (webpage, c2023). Available at: gg.gov.au/ongoing-commitmenthonour-women [accessed June 2025].