ANU's sun king heads Canberra's Australia Day Honours List

For Andrew Blakers, the only nuclear reactor Australia needs is the one sitting in the sky every day.

The ANU Emeritus Professor and solar energy pioneer is among Canberra region recipients of an Australia Day Honour today.

Professor Blakers tops the local list, being made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO).

He said it was a “rather pleasant surprise” to be notified of the honour and caps 46 years of solar research and innovation, co-inventing two types of high-efficiency solar cells. Professor Blakers has also produced a Global Atlas of Pumped Hydro Energy Storage.

He said the solar industry had grown from almost nothing to dominate new energy production.

“In terms of new power stations being constructed each year, there’s twice as much solar being deployed each year as everything else put together,” he said.

“It is a no-brainer that within a decade or two, most generation will come from solar and wind.”

Professor Blakers said solar basically solved climate change and it was very gratifying to be part of that path.

While Professor Blakers believes the march of renewables can’t be stopped, it can be delayed, and “every year of delay is more damage to our climate”.

Another local renewables pioneer, materials scientist Sylvia Tulloch, also was honoured, being made a member of the Order of Australia (AM)

It’s a big day for science with the Honours List also recognising Academy of Science CEO Annamarie Arabia for her leadership roles and two veterans of the Honeysuckle Creek team that brought the first television pictures of the 1969 moon landing to the world, Mike Dinn and John Saxon, who also had long careers at the Tidbinbilla Deep Space Tracking Complex.

All three received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

Ms Arabia said it was an unexpected honour for her efforts to advance the cause of science, something that could have its highs and lows.

One high point was during the uncertain times of the pandemic when the scientific community came together in ways she had never seen before to contribute knowledge that was used to inform decisions at the highest levels of government.

“There was a deeper understanding of the incredible work that scientists do every single day,” she said.

Ms Arabia helped lead the establishment of a new scientific advisory mechanism, the Rapid Research Information Forum, to ensure government had rapid access to the scientific information it needed.

“I admit that was an enormous source of pride in doing that,” she said. “I worked with others to lead that effort and it remains to this day a highlight for me.”

Ms Arabia said it was critically important that government decisions be evidence-based.

“If we are not relying on evidence and the results of research to guide our decisions, I’m not sure that the pathways that we take benefit us all,” she said.

The Academy’s focus at present was on the underfunded and fragmented state of research and development in Australia, an area in which Australia was lagging behind the rest of the world.

Mike Dinn, who was also Director of the Magellan, Voyager Neptune, and Galileo missions at Tidbinbilla, said his time working with the Honeysuckle Creek team was absolutely exciting and riveting, free from the burden of bureaucracy and any micro-management from NASA.

“One of the beauties of that job was we were there; we had a responsible job, but we were allowed to do it and encouraged to do it and expected to do it,” he said.

Mr Dinn said it was important from a sovereign point of view that NASA say what they wanted done, but not to tell the team how to do it.

“That’s still the same way today, but I think it’s just not quite as free as it was in my era,” he said.

It was also more people-driven then, with advances in computing and automation taking over in the decades that followed.

More than 50 years later, the achievement of Elon Musk’s Space X to recapture boosters astound him, but while he expects humankind to return to the moon soon, a manned mission to Mars was a long way off, with robotic voyages more likely.

While some question the need and cost of space missions, Mr Dinn said a great many practical applications had come from the space program, including GPS and modern electronics. Humankind was always driven to explore, and this would continue, he said.

Social historian David Headon – national capital expert, student of our early PMs and Raiders club historian, among many other endeavours – was made a Member (AM) for his significant service to history preservation as a historian, cultural advisor and author.

Dr Headon said he was genuinely honoured by the recognition of a career that could have stayed in academia but instead broadened into many other areas.

“It’s been a terrific ride,” he said.

He said it was vital for people to understand the past to make decisions now about the future, a challenge in today’s present-obsessed, social media-dominated world.

An unabashed fan of the national capital, Dr Headon said contemporary, progressive Canberra arguably led the country “and I do hope the ACT continues to do that”.

St John’s Ambulance volunteer and 20 Senior Australian of the Year Val Dempsey was gobsmacked when she got the news.

Ms Dempsey, who received an OAM and made the COVID-19 Honour Roll, said the Australian of the Year award was a recognition of all volunteers across the country, but this one was very personal.

“I’m completely and utterly humbled by it,” she said.

“I’m grateful for the people who have acknowledged the work that goes into being part of community health and community service, and all the other people who’ve been given such an honour, and I walk among hugely great people.”

At present, she is working with the CWA, helping women and children who have experienced domestic violence.

“It’s the mental health and the ongoing crisis that seems to follow families who are going through domestic violence, so there’s a lot of work to be done there,” she said.

Ms Dempsey said the role of community organisations and volunteers was crucial in supporting government on such issues.

“Take control, do some help, be available, lend people a helping hand,” she said.

“It all can’t come just from the government. There has to be community involvement. You know what Australianism is? It is looking after your mates.”

The Canberra region recipients are:

Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the General Division

Emeritus Professor Andrew Blakers, ANU

For distinguished service to science in the field of solar cell development and as an advocate for energy storage and renewable technologies.

Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the General Division

Margaret Burn, National Library of Australia

For significant service to library and information science, and to the community.

Professor David Headon

For significant service to history preservation as a historian, cultural advisor, and author.

Professor Paul Pickering, ANU

For significant service to tertiary education, social studies, and to history preservation.

The Honourable Richard Refshauge

For significant service to the community of the ACT, and to the arts.

Dr Peter Sawczak, DFAT

For significant service to international relations through defence and strategic policy development.

Sylvia Tulloch, Queanbeyan

For significant service to the renewable energy, innovation and technology commercialisation sectors.

Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the General Division

Annamaria Arabia, CEO of Australian Academy of Science

For service to science, particularly through organisational leadership roles.

Jesse Aungles

For service to sport as a swimming gold medallist at the Paris Paralympic Games 2024.

Gregory Blood

For service to sports history.

Stacey Campton

For service to netball, and to the Indigenous community.

Valmai Dempsey

For service to community health.

Mike Dinn

For service to engineering, particularly deep space tracking and exploration.

Benjamin Johnson, Michelago, Co-Founder and CEO of Chief Executive Officer of Integra Service Dogs Australia

For service to social welfare.

David Luck

For service to people with a disability.

John Saxon

For service to science, particularly deep space tracking and exploration.

Lisa Stephan

For service to the German Community of Canberra.