Queen’s Birthday gift to the community
JEWISH Australians again featured prominently on the list of recipients of Queen’s Birthday Honours on Monday.
JEWISH Australians again featured prominently on the list of recipients of Queen’s Birthday Honours on Monday.
Victoria and Sydney were the only two states represented, with nine awardees from the former and four from the latter. Of the 13 Jewish honourees, three were made Members of the Order Australia (AM), while a further 10 received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Melbourne councillor Rosalind Blades received an AM for a glittering career in local government and services to the community, while Sydney-based Professor Ralph Tobias was recognised for his work in promoting entrepreneurial innovation. Melbourne’s Dr John Graham Rogers was the third recipient of the prestigious award for services to medicine, in particular clinical genetics and paediatrics.
Blades said her award was the culmination of years spent trying to “give back”, while Tobias spoke of a life “trying to develop Australian industries and technologies”.
Rogers said his involvement with children was among the most rewarding of his career.
“I’ve always enjoyed my interactions with children. Children bounce back from illness in a way that adults don’t,” he enthused.
Jewish medal recipients include Maccabi mainstay Harry Procel, health advocate Rimma Sverdlin, former Woollahra mayor Isabelle Shapiro, Jewish Holocaust Centre guide Kitia (Henrietta) Altman, former social worker Miriam Suss, patron of the arts Marie-Claire Szekely, co-founder of Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre Abram Goldberg, volunteer Dalia Ayalon Sinclair and refugee advocate Phillip Shulman.
Altman said she felt “mandated” to educate people about the horrors of the Holocaust.
“The Holocaust revealed the capacity of ordinary people to do evil to others,” she said.
“But people always have choices.”
A former executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and UIA, among many other communal roles, Suss said her work with the Jewish community’s most disadvantaged was a career highlight.
“It was challenging; there were many hard times. We worked with the most disadvantaged in the Jewish community. But in terms of personal rewards, that can’t be bettered.”
For full coverage, see this week’s AJN.
ADAM KAMIEN
Co-founder of Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre Abram Goldberg received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
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