From firefighters to fire starters, animal carers and school administrators, here are the Far Northerners who have been acknowledged in the King’s Birthday Honours List.
The recipients announced in the list will be invested with their awards most likely around September, either by the Governor-General at Government House in Canberra, or by the State Governors or Administrator of the Northern Territory.
From firefighters to fire starters, animal carers and school administrators, here are the Far Northerners who have been acknowledged in the King’s Birthday Honours List.
ASHLEY CUPITT
Auxiliary firefighter Ashley Cupitt is being recognised for years of tireless service to Queensland Fire and Emergency Services.
Ashley Cupitt will receive an OAM for distinguished service to the Fire Service. Picture: Louise Anderson-Clemence.
“Tireless” might not be totally apt because fighting fires is tough work, but Mr Cupitt has been at it for 47 years.
When the Cairns Post spoke to him he mentioned he had been “dragged out of bed at 6 o’clock” that morning to a road accident on the Gillies Highway.
He has been captain at Yungaburra Station since 1985, and modestly claims “they haven’t given me the sack”.
“When I first joined in ‘76 we used to do a lot of structure fires, but we don’t get so many structure fires now, it’s mainly road accidents and assisting ambulance,” he said.
“We do have a lot of bushfires up here, not so bad in our area, but we deploy to Mareeba and Cooktown fighting fires. We attend a lot of road accidents.”
Mr Cupitt has been a peer support officer for 27 years, a voluntary position, and co-ordinator for the Far Northern region, from Cardwell to the Torres Strait, checking in on the health of those on the front line.
“We have a professional counsellor attached to our group, and we get called in to see the frontline men and women are going OK,” he said.
He received an OAM in 2020, and has now been awarded an Australian Fire Service Medal.
“There’s no better thing to help and support the community when they most need help, be it road accidents, structure fires, or medical emergencies,” he said.
JENNEFER MCLEAN
For her work with endangered bats, Jennefer McLean has been awarded an OAM (Medal of the Order of Australia).
She started rescuing bats in 1990, and her work then grew into the Tolga Bat Hospital, and that in turn has become more than just a hospital as it advocates, rescues and educates – all things bats.
Jennefer McLean is receiving an OAM for service to animal welfare and landcare management. Picture: Juergen Freund
“Our visitor centre opened in 2009,” she said.
“We have world-class facilities here for the rehabilitation of bats, we get involved in a lot of research, mainly with the University of Queensland.
“We get a lot of vet students here on placements. It’s a very busy place.”
She said the busiest season in the hospital is from October to April, but they get help from volunteers from all over the world, many of them returning year after year.
“We have a problem here which is tick paralysis, which only affects the spectacled flying foxes, and it’s treatable if you get them early enough.”
The endangered spectacled flying fox, which she calls “kelpies with wings” because of their friendliness, is the main species treated at the hospital, and the hospital is part of the spectacled flying fox recovery team.
Since 2006 Ms McLean has also worked on wildlife-friendly fencing projects for Landcare, as a lot of bats and other wildlife get snared on stock fences.
“I think I’m lucky to find something I’m passionate about, and bats are incredibly engaging, they get a bit of a bad rap and they need people to champion them and the need up here is really high,” she said.
“Bats are so important in the environment, and the flying foxes are very long range pollinators, which helps mix up the genetics of species.”
DAVID CLIFTON
From a young fellow with enthusiasm for surf lifesaving in chilly Lorne in Victoria, to service in Vietnam, the RSL and an extraordinary output in local government, David Clifton is stepping up for an OAM today.
He said he was delighted, excited, happy and joyful to receive the award, which could have come from any one of his contributions, but the official label is “for service to local government and the community of Cairns”.
David Clifton is being awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his considerable contributions to local government. Picture: Supplied
“I came to Cairns and TI in 1976, worked for the old Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs, and I moved around a bit but came back to live in Cairns in 1988,” he said.
In Cairns he took up surf lifesaving again and, having served as a crewman in an armoured vehicle in a cavalry unit in Vietnam, gravitated to the RSL, where he became president of the sub branch for a term, then director of the Cairns RSL Club for 23 years.
He is a life member of the Ellis Beach Surf Lifesaving Club and of Far North Queensland Surf Lifesaving as well.
Two further strings to his bow are his work on the board of QITE, a Federal Government employment provider, and his position as Division 4 councillor for the Tablelands Regional Council.
“The other interesting contribution I made to local government is back in late 80s and early 90s, all Aboriginal communities in Queensland went from being reserves of the State Government to being local government bodies, and for about six years I headed up a special unit providing training services to those local communities, and I think we had a really good effect,” he said.
“I enjoy doing these things, it’s been a part of my way of life, I’ve enjoyed making a contribution, my parents always made a contribution to the community and I’ve always enjoyed doing it.
“I am humbled by people, for me it’s a really special feeling when they told me I was going to get (the OAM).”
Mr Clifton said it was a real joy to be recognised.
“Because it meant that the things I enjoyed doing, other people enjoyed me doing them too,” he said.
“It’s a deep seated feeling of recognition that people enjoyed what I enjoyed.
“The surf lifesaving club, the thousands of nippers that went through, and I see them now and I think, ‘isn’t this nice’.”
THEO BACALAKIS
As one of the instigators of St John’s Community Care, and as a mainstay of the Far North’s Greek community, Theo Bacalakis is earning a well-deserved OAM today.
St John’s, established 30 years ago, provides services to the elderly, for people with disabilities including in-home support, and child safety.
St John’s Community Care Cairns chairman Theo Bacalakis has been recognised in the King’s Birthday awards for his service to the community and Cairns’ elderly. Picture: Brendan Radke
“We started with 12 clients and a part-time employee, and today we have 5000 clients and 300 employees,” he said.
As an indication of how the organisation has grown, construction has now started on a two-bedroom apartment block designed to help older clients stay safe and comfortable in their own homes.
That project is expected to be ready later this year.
“It’s for the general community, we’re very multicultural – which is part of the Greek community – and what we can do for the wider community,” Mr Bacalakis said.
He has worked on the planning and organising side of the Cairns Greek Community Festival, and worked with hundreds of volunteers over the years.
Similar to St John’s, he said the festival was open to everyone.
“It’s a Greek multicultural festival, and gives us an opportunity for some of the communities to showcase their culture as well,” he said.
“We work away quietly, but we definitely are part of the wider community and we welcome everybody. We’re very inclusive.”
PETER COOKE
A resident of the Northern Territory for 50 years, but now calling the Far North home, Peter Cooke is receiving an award today for significant service to the Indigenous community of the Northern Territory.
“My wife and I went to Darwin in 1970 after getting married, and I went to work for NT News as a sub-editor for a couple of years,” he said.
Peter Cooke is being honoured with a Medal of the Order of Australia for his work with First Nations people in the Northern Territory. Picture: Supplied
“Growing up I had a lot to do with Aboriginal people. I grew up all over western Queensland.”
When his wife, who was a preschool teacher, was posted to a remote Aboriginal community in Arnhem Land, he followed, and started working for a local not-for-profit organisation.
From little things, bigger things grew, and his journalism background allowed him to work for the Northern Land Council for a period in the 90s.
From there he began working with Aboriginal people re-establishing themselves on their homelands, and working on the science behind traditional burning patterns.
“What it demonstrated was when you pulled traditional Aboriginal fire management off a sensitive landscape, that traditional fire management was clearly maintaining the health of that country, and there were particular vegetation classes that would go extinct without it,” he said.
“Fire was embedded in helping getting one of the most remote ranger groups going to the east of Kakadu NP, and we started using helicopters to emulate the trips people would have traditionally made on foot across those landscapes.”
He said the scientific work was about measuring what was happening to the country that wasn’t being managed, and to demonstrate over time how that situation could be improved.
The work was seminal in establishing the importance of traditional fire regimens in managing country, and the techniques have been used in Africa, “using fire to manage fire”.
ANGELA TOPPIN
For her significant service to local government and secondary education, Mareeba Shire Mayor Angela Toppin is being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
After 42 years in secondary education, Ms Toppin retired in 2016 as principal of Cairns State High School.
Angela Toppin will receive an AM for significant service to local government, and to secondary education.
“I started off as a business education teacher, and throughout my principalship I always focused on community engagement to improve outcomes of students in a variety of ways,” she said.
She cites one of her highlights as the high school’s enrolments reaching 1700 under her leadership.
She was a business teacher for 14 years at Mareeba State High School and was appointed Head of Department Business and Technology at Smithfield State High School in 1990.
She said she offered a “dynamic” curriculum that attracted enrolments from other schools in the Cairns area, as well as focusing on professional development for business educators and collegial support for teachers.
Ms Toppin sees herself as someone who makes a difference for young people, and post-education, she continues to mentor and coach them in leadership positions, and maintains her enthusiasm for expanding opportunities for students in rural and regional areas.
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