2011 Senior Australian of the Year State and Territory Recipients

2011 winners of the Senior Australian of the Year award

In this section:

Professor Ron McCallum AO (NSW)

The Senior Australian of the Year 2011 is Professor Ron McCallum AO of Artarmon, NSW, who has campaigned for equal rights for people with disabilities throughout his life.

Ron was the first totally blind person to have been appointed to a full professorship at an Australian university and was the foundation Professor in Industrial Law at the University of Sydney where he also served five years as Dean of Law. He has fervently pursued equal rights for working people across the globe and was the inaugural President of the Australian Labour Law Association from 2001 to 2009.

Now 62, he is the Chair of Radio for the Print Handicapped of New South Wales Co-operative. The organisation operates radio 2RPH, which reads out newspapers and magazines over the air for blind and other print handicapped listeners. He is also one of two Deputy Chairs of Vision Australia, and one of 12 members of the first monitoring committee for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. He was appointed inaugural Rapporteur of this committee and is now the Chair. Ron has also recently been appointed to the Federal Government’s National People with Disabilities and Carers Council.
The 2011 State and Territory Finalists are:

WA Senior Australian of the Year 2011 - Robert Vojakovic AM

Perth’s Robert Vojakovic AM was awarded Western Australia’s Senior Australian of the Year 2011 for his work helping the victims of asbestos related diseases over the past 32 years.

In 1961, Robert spent some time working at the infamous CSR blue asbestos mine at Wittenoom. While he himself did not suffer from asbestosis, in the 1970s he became aware of the lack of any support infrastructure (medical, legal and welfare) for former Wittenoom blue asbestos miners and other asbestos diseases victims. Realising the potential enormity of the problem, in the early eighties Robert incorporated the Asbestos Disease Society of Australia (ADSA) in WA.

For the last 28 years Robert has presided over the ADSA and managed the Asbestos Diseases Advisory Services of Australia. Through these organisations he has provided essential services and support to victims of asbestos diseases and their families throughout Australia, including counselling, medical and legal assistance, community awareness, and economic assistance for socially disadvantaged sufferers of asbestos diseases. Now aged 70, he has also successfully lobbied the government to change the Statutory Compensation Laws, Limitation Act, and entitlements to families in the matters of estate and dependency.
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Queensland Senior Australian of the Year 2011 - Shelley Argent OAM

Gay rights advocate Shelley Argent OAM was awarded Queensland Senior Australian of the Year 2011 for her commitment to making Australia a place where gay people have the same rights and respect as others.

In 1998, Shelley’s son told her he was gay and, determined that he not be treated like a second class citizen by society, she has devoted herself to encouraging understanding and acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The 60 year old from The Gap in Brisbane started out donating her time as an education volunteer with the QLD AIDS Council before becoming involved in Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). Shelley is now the President of PFLAG and the organisation’s spokesperson. She has also written a series of educational booklets for families of gay people.

Tasmania Senior Australian of the Year 2011 - Mary Parsissons

After 48 years working as a midwife and child health nurse Mary retired in 2008. However, having nursed and counselled a number of women through postnatal depression and working in a low socio-economic area with one of the highest rates of cot death in Australia, Mary turned her skills to counselling. From training with Lifeline 25 years ago, she began a commitment to helping others which has seen her become a mentor, a role model and a saviour to many. From her start as a volunteer on the phones, through joining the Board of Lifeline Tasmania, she rose to become President for six years and thenserved on the national Board for 14 years.

Mary was the Australian representative for Lifeline International for nine years, providing training and advice to a number of Pacific countries during her tenure to help them establish their own telephone counselling services. Mary is currently working to set up an organisation called Emotional Support Alliance, which is a collaboration between a number of international telephone counselling services, allowing them to support and learn from each other.

Victoria Senior Australian of the Year 2011 – Leslie Erdi OAM

Leslie Erdi OAM was awarded Victoria’s Senior Australian of the Year 2011 in recognition of a lifetime of generosity and community involvement based on his belief that success is not based on wealth but on your treatment of and respect of others.

At 89, Leslie has led an extraordinary life, having escaped a firing squad line-up in Nazi occupied Hungary and immigrating to Australia where he and his wife started a new life running a boarding hostel. From there he ventured into the fashion industry and became one of Australia’s most sought after manufacturers and retailers for the major department stores. In 1967, he built the world’s first purpose-built apartment hotel, marking the start of a hotel and apartment empire which allowed him to pursue his philanthropic activities. He has been involved in the creation of a $1 million centre for youth arts which allows young people to work with professional artists to develop their career, is responsible for revitalising Melbourne’s Sandridge Bridge which pays homage to the contribution of immigrants in Australia and has made major contributions to the Diabetic Institute, Leukaemia Foundation, Melbourne University Research and the Jewish National Fund.
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NT Senior Australian of the Year 2011 - Barry Abbott

Barry Abbott, from Alice Springs, was awarded Northern Territory's Senior Australian of the Year 2011 for his lifetime commitment to turning around the lives of young men at risk.

Barry is an Arrente stockman who has had remarkable success rehabilitating young male trouble makers and substance abusers of the outback through the Ilpurla Aboriginal Association he established as a treatment outstation in a remote south-west corner of Central Australia in the 1970s. It’s estimated he has looked after about 300 boys over the years, some for as long as 12 months at a time. Drug abuse and petrol sniffing in particular are the main reasons young men end up at Barry’s station. A stockman by trade, Barry gives the boys the opportunity to become part of a working cattle station. They start work at day break and learn new skills like saddlery, vehicles and stock maintenance and break in horses to instil in them a strong work ethic, discipline and a sense of pride and self-worth. Unlike other treatment centres, Barry accepts boys from anywhere, usually at the request of the Alice Springs courts, some arriving at his station still handcuffed - he takes on the hard cases, the ones considered to be hopeless; boys who the doctors say could die at any time, and proves them wrong.

SA Senior Australian of the Year 2011 - Professor Don Bursill AM

Tea Tree Gully’s Professor Don Bursill AM was awarded South Australia’s Senior Australian of the Year 2011 in recognition of his work in water management. Professor Bursill, 61, is an international leader and recognised expert in the field of water management and water quality. He has been at the forefront of the most important developments and decisions regarding potable water in Australia for the past 40 years. A key member of the Australian Water Association and the International Water Association, Don led the team that established the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Water Quality and research. Under his leadership, CRC became an internationally-respected water research establishment and the first stop for anyone requiring information about the drinking water industry in Australia.

Don transformed the Australian water industry into an international leader in the field and worked with the American Water Works Association Research Foundation to establish an international commitment to water quality. His work with German colleagues led to the transformation of an informal coalition of leading water agencies into the Global Water Research Consortium. Despite his international standing, Don has always given to the local community. His support and generous advice to volunteer members of the Onkaparinga Estuary Water Quality Group resulted in a million dollar wetland clean up of storm water entering the Onkaparinga River.

ACT Senior Australian of the Year 2011 - Marie Coleman PSM

Marie Coleman PSM was awarded ACT Senior Australian of the Year 2011 in recognition of her significant contributions to the women’s movement in Australia. As a public servant in the Whitlam and the Fraser governments, Marie was active in providing a positive outlook for women during a period of massive social change in Australia. Marie was the first woman to head a Commonwealth Government statutory agency, and the first woman to hold the powers of permanent head under the Public Service Act. She was founding Secretary of the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW), and was on the board of directors who worked to establish the Australian Women’s Archives Project to build knowledge and recognition of the contribution made by women to Australia.

At 77, Marie currently chairs the Social Policy Committee of the NFAW, which has played a leadership role for national women’s organisations in research and analysis of the impacts of the former WorkChoices and Welfare to Work policies on woman. She spearheaded the campaign which resulted in the establishment of the Productivity Commission Inquiry into a national paid maternity, paternity and parental leave scheme. Top of page