Greta Stonehouse
(Australian Associated Press)

 

AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR WINNERS

2018 – Professor Michelle Yvonne Simmons, quantum physicist

2017 – Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, biomedical scientist treating spinal cord injuries

2016 – David Morrison, equality advocate and former Army chief

2015 – Rosie Batty, family violence campaigner

2014 – Adam Goodes, AFL player and community leader

2013 – Ita Buttrose, media icon

2012 – Geoffrey Rush, Oscar-winning actor

2011 – Simon McKeon, social entrepreneur

2010 – Professor Patrick McGorry, mental health expert

2009 – Professor Michael Dodson, Aboriginal leader and advocate for reconciliation

2008 – Lee Kernaghan, country music legend

2007 – Professor Tim Flannery, scientist, environmentalist and writer

2006 – Professor Ian Frazer, clinical immunologist and inventor of the cervical cancer vaccine

2005 – Dr Fiona Wood, plastic surgeon and ‘Spray-on Skin’ pioneer

2004 – Steve Waugh, test Cricket Captain

2003 – Professor Fiona Stanley, epidemiologist and child health expert

2002 – Patrick Rafter, champion tennis player

2001 – Peter Cosgrove, former commander of the East Timor peacekeeping force and current Governor-General of Australia

2000 – Sir Gustav Nossal, leading Australian scientist and reconciliation campaigner

1999 – Mark Taylor, test cricket captain

1998 – Cathy Freeman, world champion athlete

1997 – Professor Peter Doherty, winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine

1996 – Dr John Yu, paediatrician and hospital administrator

1995 – Arthur Boyd, leading Australian artist and public benefactor

1994 – Ian Kiernan, environmental campaigner and Clean Up Australia founder

1993 – No award made – award dating system changed

1992 – Mandawuy Yunupingu, Aboriginal educator, musician and ambassador

1991 – Archbishop Peter Hollingworth, social justice advocate

1990 – Professor Fred Hollows, ophthalmologist and humanitarian

1989 – Alan Border, test cricket captain

1988 – Kay Cottee, solo yachtswoman

1987 – John Farnham, singer and musician

1986 – Dick Smith, entrepreneur, adventurer and philanthropist

1985 – Paul Hogan, award-winning actor

1984 – Lowitja O’Donoghue, Aboriginal leader

1983 – Robert de Castella, world champion marathon runner

1982 – Sir Edward Williams, Brisbane Commonwealth Games chairman

1981 – Sir John Crawford, architect of Australia’s post-war growth

1980 – Manning Clark, historian

1979 – Senator Neville Bonner, first Aboriginal senator

1979 – Harry Butler, conservationist and naturalist

1978 – Alan Bond, entrepreneur and America’s Cup financier

1978 – Galarrwuy Yunupingu, Aboriginal leader and land rights advocate

1977 – Sir Murray Tyrrell, official secretary to six governors-generals

1977 – Dame Raigh Roe, Country Women’s Association president

1976 – Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop, surgeon and prisoner of war

1975 – Major General Alan Stretton, commander of the Cyclone Tracy relief operation

1975 – Sir John Cornforth, winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry

1974 – Sir Bernard Heinze, orchestra conductor and musician

1973 – Patrick White, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature

1972 – Shane Gould, Olympic swimmer

1971 – Evonne Goolagong Cawley, tennis champion

1970 – Sir Norman Thomas Gilroy, first Australian-born cardinal

1969 – Richard Gardiner Casey, Governor General of Australia

1968 – Lionel Rose, world champion boxer

1967 – Athol Guy, Judith Durham, Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley (The Seekers), chart-topping singing group

1966 – Sir Jack Brabham, world champion motor racing driver

1965 – Sir Robert Helpmann, actor, dancer, producer and choreographer

1964 – Dawn Fraser, triple Olympic gold medallist

1963 – Sir John Eccles, winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine

1962 – Alexander Jock Sturrock, America’s Cup skipper and champion yachtsman

1961 – Dame Joan Sutherland, leading opera singer

1960 – Sir Macfarlane Burnet, winner of the Nobel Prize for medicine