Olympian and ex-premier headline 2026 Australia Day honours
A Queensland identity and a national sporting treasure top the list for the 2026 Australia Day honours.
Former Olympic sprinter and legend of Australian sport Cathy Freeman has been recognised with the highest honour awarded in the 2026 Australia Day honours.
The athletics star is one of 10 recipients of the Companion (AC) of the Order of Australia, alongside ex-Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, former federal finance minister Mathias Cormann and two leading medical researchers.
Freeman, who received a standing ovation when she attended the Australian Open last week, was appointed to the order for “eminent service to athletics as an international competitor and ambassador, to positive social impact across the community, to the reconciliation movement in the spirit of unity and inclusion, and as a role model to youth”.
The former Australian and Young Australian of the Year stopped the nation with her gold-medal-winning 400-metre run at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2005 before being made a Legend of Australian Sport six years later.
Since retiring from athletics in 2003, she has worked with sporting and community groups – including founding the Cathy Freeman Foundation (now called Murrup), which supports First Nations children and their families in remote communities.
Palaszczuk was Queensland premier for nine years and steered the state through the Covid pandemic, while former Western Australian senator Cormann was Australia’s longest-serving federal finance minister and is now secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Announced by Governor-General Sam Mostyn, the 2026 Australia Day honours list includes 680 recipients of awards in the General Division of the Order of Australia who have been recognised for their contributions across areas including community service, sport, science, medicine, politics, the arts and business.
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This is significantly more than the 457 honoured in the 2025 list. However, while some progress had been made towards gender parity in recent years, just 184 of the 680 recipients in 2026 are women.
When military and meritorious awards are also included, a total of 949 of Australians have been recognised in this year’s Australia Day honours – around 200 more than last year.
“The qualities and accomplishments of this year’s honourees reflect Australia’s values for service, community, kindness, curiosity, tenacity, and care,” Mostyn said, congratulating all those recognised.
“As the list so vividly showcases, so many Australians continue to give the best of themselves across many endeavours, in the interest of others.
“It is rewarding to see an increase in the number of awards, which reflects more nominations and recognition of the many Australians who inspire the best in all of us.”
Other Australians appointed as Companions were biomedical researcher and immunologist Anne Kelso, who is credited with making a significant contribution to Australia’s influenza preparedness, and fellow medical researcher Bruce Armstrong, who has dedicated his life to cancer research and improving cancer screening.
The list also includes South Australia chief justice Christopher Kourakis, NSW chief justice Andrew Bell, geologist and groundwater scientist Peter John Cook, quantum physicist Michelle Simmons and philanthropist Paula Fox.
Politics, art, architecture and whisky
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A total of 38 Australians were recognised with the second-highest honour, Officer of the Order (AO), including two former state premiers: Kristina Keneally, who was Labor premier of NSW from 2009-11 and later a NSW senator before losing her seat in the 2022 federal election, and former SA Liberal premier Steven Marshall (2018-22).
Architect and arts patron Penelope Seidler – director of the Sydney-based Harry Seidler & Associates architecture firm founded by her late husband – is one of the high-profile AO recipients. Also director of the National Gallery of Australia’s NGA Foundation, she was recognised for her service to the visual arts and to heritage preservation, conservation and architecture.
Penelope Seidler (left) with Fiona Lowry and her 2014 Archibald Prize-winning portrait. Photo: AAP
Anne Hollonds, who passionately advocated for the safety, wellbeing and rights of young people during five years as National Children’s Commissioner, has been appointed an AO, as has former Tasmanian cricketer turned businessman and philanthropist Bruce Neill – dubbed a “whisky activist” by the AFR for his involvement in an Australian Whisky Holdings shareholder dispute several years ago.
Another Tasmanian and the man known as the “godfather of Australian whisky”, Bill Lark, has been appointed a Member of the Australian Order (AM) for his services to the whisky distilling industry. Lark, co-founder and brand ambassador of Lark Distilling Co, established his award-winning distillery with wife Lyn in 1992.
“Lyn’s father and I loved Scotch whisky and I decided to see if we could make a Tasmanian single malt whisky…” he told the Sydney Morning Herald several years ago. “We started Lark Distillery with a little second-hand copper pot and six years later released our first whisky for sale… it really took off.”
From the cricket pitch to picture books
The full list of 160 AM appointees is diverse. They represent all areas of endeavour and service, ranging from author and artist Graeme Base (best known for his acclaimed picture book Animalia) and former captain of the Australian women’s Test cricket team (1976) Anne Gordon, to Victorian Indigenous leader and advocate Phil Cooper and inaugural Veteran Family Advocate Commissioner Gwen Cherne.
Renowned filmmaker Jack McCoy, who died last year at the age of 76, was recognised for services to surf cinematography, having made more than 30 feature films over his distinguished career.
“There really is no way to summarise what Jack meant to surfing or how he changed the sport and culture for the better,” the editor of Surfer website wrote on McCoy’s passing. “From groundbreaking films like Storm Riders, to the storytelling of the Occumentary, and the revolutionary return to roots that was the Billabong Challenge series, through his lens and inherent thoughtfulness, Jack’s vision became surfing’s vision.”
This year there were 472 Medal of the Order (OAM) awards issued, many recognising unsung community heroes, as well as 22 awards in the military division of the Order of Australia.
A further 187 Meritorious awards were given to public servants and members of police force, fire, ambulance, corrections, intelligence and emergency services, and 60 Distinguished and Conspicuous service awards to members of the military.
The youngest recipient is 32-year-old Nick Pearce, one of the founders of HoMie, a Melbourne-based streetwear label that uses its profits to support young people suffering homelessness or hardship. Pearce, who has said previously that the concept evolved from an anti-trafficking fundraising bike ride he did from Vietnam to Cambodia in 2013, was awarded an OAM for service to the community through the non-profit sector.
The two oldest living recipients are both aged 99 and also received OAMs: Janina Archabuz for her services to the Polish community in Brimbank in Victoria, and Derrick Hammon for his service to the community of Canberra.
