Tuesday, 20 February 2024

Australia Day awards

Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Employment) (13:29): Congratulations to our wonderful locals who received an Australia Day honour: Dr Jennifer Gowan AM, for her service to medicine as a pharmacist, to professional societies and to community health – Dr Gowan is a distinguished health academic who is highly regarded in Eltham for her skills as a community pharmacist; Michael Aitken OAM, for his services to optometry, including as an honorary archivist for the Kett optometry museum at the Australian College of Optometry, with the Aitken gallery featuring spectacles, optometry instruments and equipment, books, artworks and ephemera; Glenys Gayfer OAM, for services to the community through charitable initiatives including in the Philippines, where she is a founder and president of Kadasig Aid and Development; Helen Walker OAM, for her services to women through a range of roles, including as a volunteer supporter of women prisoners for 42 years; and the wonderful Allan Robinson OAM, for his services to secondary education. Allan has devoted over 50 years of his life to education. He has mentored and supported thousands of teenagers to find their path in life. Locally, he led as principal the transformation of Montmorency Secondary College into the amazing school it is today.