A former principal of Chisholm Primary, a man in his 70s, who makes trails for mountain bikes, a grieving dad who wanted to help others, a trailblazing lawyer, doctors, academics, scientists and volunteers are among the Canberrans recognised in the King's Birthday 2026 Honours List.
The list in 2026 recognises 949 Australians, including 702 recipients of awards in the general division of the Order of Australia.
On the national front, comedian Rove McManus (AM), the late ABC broadcaster James Valentine (AM), advocate and former Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja (AC), former Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Edwina McCann (AM) and Melbourne businessman and National Portrait Gallery Foundation chair Sidney Myer (AO) were all recognised in this year's list.
Safe to say, Stephen Carter has done all his girls proud.
The Belconnen tyre salesman was never meant to be a community advocate.
But life changed forever when he and wife Bonnie suffered the devastating stillbirths of their daughters Grace in 2016 and Matilda in 2017.
In recognition of the work he has done for other families who have endured the same unimaginable loss, Stephen has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to community health.
Stephen's OAM matches the one Bonnie received in the Australia Day 2022 Honours List for their shared work.
"It's humbling, honestly. I'm excited. I didn't do all the work for an award but to be recognised is astounding,", Stephen, 45, said.
Together, Stephen and Bonnie have fundraised for the refurbishment of a bereavement suite at the Centenary Hospital for Woman and Children, turning it from a clinical space to a warm embrace for families reeling from the worst news.
They also achieved the introduction of early pregnancy loss certificates in the ACT, acknowledging the loss of a pregnancy before 20 weeks' gestation.
And they successfully campaigned to have Canberra landmarks lit up in pink and blue for Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on October 15.
"It was really part of our healing process to be proactive and help other people because we really copped the brunt of it, not once, but twice," Stephen said.
"Particularly after our first daughter, Grace, we thought, 'Geez, what a crap feeling. No one should have to feel like this'. There is help out there for stillbirth but we wanted to go that one step further and have the lost baby recognised and say their name and sort of break that stigma of stillbirth because not many people talk about it."
The Belconnen couple now also have a happy, healthy daughter, Evie, who is nearly five.
Achieving so much for others in just a few short years, showed their tenacity and fortitude.
"I feel absolutely proud," Stephen said.
"It's done out of love."
Garran grandmother Margaret Freeman, 88, has received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the church for volunteering as the organist at St Peter's Anglican Church in Weston for nearly 50 years.
She played the organ for the church even before the current building in Watling Place was opened in 1983. Before then, church services were held at St Paul's in Manuka, then in a parishioner's home and then the Weston Primary School.
The mother-of-four and grandmother-of-ten couldn't believe it when the email came through informing her of her King's Birthday honour.
"To be quite honest, I thought it was a scam. I was just about to delete it," she said.
"I don't deserve it to be quite honest. There are many people in the church who do much more than I do.
"It's a joy and it's a privilege to play. It's only that God enables me to do it, I can do it. It's not me."
Born in Melbourne and raised in Western Australia, Mrs Freeman was a pianist first, getting into church music almost by accident.
"I never ever set out to be a church musician, it was the last thing on earth I thought about," she said.
"But somebody in a parish about three suburbs away rang to say their organist was getting married and they were really looking for someone and they hadn't been able to find anyone and would I play," she remembered.
"I had never played an organ before, I'd never seen one up close before."
Mrs Freeman and her astronomer husband Kenneth moved to Canberra in 1967.
Professor Freeman, who worked at Mount Stromlo, was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2017 for eminent service to astronomy, making him and Mrs Freeman a distinguished couple in more ways than one.
Retired Supreme Court judge Dr Ken Crispin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and received his honour for significant service to the judiciary, to the law, and to the community of the ACT.
Now aged 80 and living at Tuross Head on the South Coast, Dr Crispin said he was "pleased" by the honour.
"But I'm also aware of people who work very hard all their lives and do not receive any recognition," he said.
A trailblazing barrister, Dr Crispin was the first ACT Director Public Prosecutions and the inaugural presiding judge of the ACT Court of Appeal. He was a justice of the ACT Supreme Court for 10 years.
Dr Crispin is currently the commissioner for standards for the ACT Legislative Assembly, another groundbreaking role.
"I've had a chance to do lots of new and different things which has been interesting," he said.
Among the memorable cases from his illustrious career spanning more than 50 years was representing Lindy and Michael Chamberlain at the 1987 royal commission into their wrongful convictions for the 1980 death of their infant daughter Azaria.
Armed with a PhD in ethics, Dr Crispin has a calm, methodical manner. Not that he would sing his own praises.
"Everybody who is not entirely narcissistic tends to look back at the things they might have done better rather than the things they did well," he said.
"It's certainly been an interesting journey in the ACT."
A lifetime of service trying to save one of Australia's most unique creatures has seen Bywong scientist Dr Linda Broome awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to animal welfare.
For 40 years, Dr Broome has been monitoring the Mountain Pygmy-possum which lives only above 1200 metres in the alps of NSW and Victoria.
"It's such a unique little animal and it's so special because it's the only Australian mammal that occurs only above the winter snowline and it's terribly threatened by climate change and global warming," she said.
Working at the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Dr Broome has been a senior threatened species officer since 1995.
She has been co-founder and leader of the Endangered Mountain Pygmy-possum Recovery Program since 1986, monitoring the animal in the Kosciuszko National Park for four decades.
The Mountain Pygmy-possum hibernates under the snow, fattening up before winter, and sometimes doubling its size from 40 grams to 80 grams.
"It's such a special, gorgeous little animal. I mean you fall in love with it as soon as you see it, as many of my volunteers will testify to," Dr Broome said.
"I couldn't have done it without all the volunteer help, with the annual monitoring program."
Dr Broome is equally interested in the welfare of another alpine icon, the Bogong moth, a critical food source for the Mountain pygmy-possum as they are waking up from hibernation and starting to breed in the warmer weather.
"When we had the bad drought from 2017 to 2020, a lot of the possums in Victoria, up to 90 per cent of their pouch young died when the Bogong moth didn't turn up, which just illustrates how important they are for the possums," she said.
Dr Broome is now writing up the research on the Mountain pygmy-possum from over four decades, including data from 2026, planning to publish next year.
"I'm very honoured, I am," she said of her OAM. "It's very gratifying that people can recognise that it's important to conserve our native fauna and efforts towards that are important."
Queanbeyan's Paul Coe, 78, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to mountain biking in and around Canberra.
He was the coordinator and trail developer of mountain bike tracks at Sparrow Hill, Kowen Forest and Canberra Off-Road Cyclists 24-hour Endurance Race.
Mr Coe also developed trails for a 24-hour endurance mountain bike race at Mount Stromlo and also within ACT Forests following bushfires in the early 2000s.
"The mountain bike people are really happy, unlike the road riders who can be a bit precious sometimes," he said, tongue-in-cheek.
He still rides recreationally and says his trail work will "keep me out of the nursing home a bit longer".
There are few people who can claim to be as "Canberra" as Bronwyn Fagan.
She was born in the national capital, as were her two daughters. She studied at local public (Fraser Primary and Narrabundah College) and private (Canberra Girls Grammar) schools and both the University of Canberra and Australian National University.
She was an elite athlete who lived at the Australian Institute of Sport - and even worked part-time at the Private Bin nightclub.
Later in life, she would sit on the board of organisations including the Canberra Raiders, Canberra Hospitals Foundation and ACT Cricket Association.
And she sat alongside local icon Tim Gavel for 13 years as the co-host of the local Grandstand sporting program on ABC Radio.
A lawyer working in the federal public service, she lives in Wright, adjacent to Mount Stromlo, where she can ride her horse.
"I love Canberra. I love this town," she said.
Now, Ms Fagan has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to sports administration, broadcast media and the community.
"It's such a surprise," she said. "It feels like a bit of a grown-up kind of thing."
Ms Fagan, 53, said the honour reminded her of how far sport, in particular, had progressed to become a much more inclusive activity, whether playing it, watching it or administering it. And how little actions along the way that didn't seem monumental at the time, made a big difference in the end.
"I think an example of that was that there was no broadcast-quality footage of females playing cricket back then and now look at what we have," she said.
"Now, you go to a rugby league game and it's a much more of a family atmosphere. I've got two daughters, one's in year 12 and one's in year 10, and their options to play in professional sport are huge."
In 2016, she became the second female appointed to the Canberra Raiders board and remains in that position. She was a member of a Females Engagement Reference Group for Cricket Australia from 2008 to 2013. And in 2022 she became the first non-doctor appointed to the Australian Medical Association's federal council.
Ms Fagan paid tribute to mentors along the way including the late Raiders chairman Dr Allan Hawke, former Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland and the ABC's Tim Gavel.
"You don't go into a board thinking you know more than anyone else, because you don't," she said. "You're there to help, join it all together and learn."
Ms Fagan was an AIS athlete in track and field when she was handpicked to transition to the high-risk sports of skeleton and bobsleigh, making Australia's shadow team for the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics.
The sports were dangerous but she loved the competition. Like everything else, she gave it her best. And this latest recognition, again, makes the effort worthwhile.
"I think it reminds people you can make a difference, no matter how unlikely that seems," she said.
"It also reminds people that the options you have now were not always like that and it makes people a bit more grateful."
Noline Cornhill, a former principal of Chisholm Primary and Calwell Primary, has lived at Foster on the mid-north coast of NSW for 17 years but has never forgotten her 38 years in Canberra.
Mrs Cornhill, 80, was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the communities of Canberra and Forster-Tuncurry.
"I was very surprised," she said.
"You know, I loved teaching so much."
One of her career highlights was 14 years as a tutor of teaching students at the University of Canberra.
"That was wonderful," she said. "Those students I had at uni were fantastic."
Mrs Cornhill said she had some simple advice for aspiring teachers.
"You need to find one thing to connect with every child, so you've got something to chat to them about, you will win them over," she said.
She was now enjoying life in Forster.
"I joined the University of the Third Age puppeteers and performed at preschools, childcare centres and aged care facilities. It was one of the best experiences I've had," she said.
Former Australian Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouer was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to public administration, policy and reform, to diversity, to environmental conservation, and to education.
Australian National University Emeritus Professor Prema-Chandra Athukorala was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to tertiary education, and to international trade and development economics.
Compost trailblazer Gerry Gillespie of Queanbeyan was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to conservation, to organic waste management, and to the community.
Former University of Canberra academic Mark Lintermans was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to freshwater conservation and the environment, and to fisheries ecology.
Helen Mackie was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to rehabilitation medicine, and to research and treatment of lymphoedema.
Canberra diplomat Ewen McDonald, most recently high commissioner to Papua New Guinea, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to international relations, to public administration, and to the community.
Former chief executive of the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Barry Sandison was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to public administration, particularly in health and welfare.
Former Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade deputy secretary and former deputy director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Anthony Sheehan was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to Australia's national security, and to public administration.
Helping ACT founder Mohammed Ali was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of the ACT.
The late Carol Cartwright was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to the museums and galleries sector. The former head of education and visitor services at the Australian War Memorial had a stellar career that also included stints at Parliament House and the National Museum and was a former ACT chair of the Australian Museums and Galleries Association.
Canberra GP and sonologist Dr Wesley Cormick was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services for service to ultrasound and general practice medicine.
Holt advocate Sharon Ding was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to people with a disability.
Former Hawker Senior Secondary College principal Dr Bill Donovan was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to seconday education and the community.
Former Liberal MLA for Ginninderra and Speaker Vicki Dunne was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the people and parliament of the ACT.
Australian Defence Force Academy Rowing Club coach Lieutenant Commander Kym Fisher awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to rowing as a coach.
Lorna Gamble, leader in the music ministry at the Holy Family Church, Gowrie, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to music through the church.
Former Rotary Club Ginninderra president and ACT branch chair of the Rotary Oceanic Medical Aid to Children, Sandra Goldstraw, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through a range of roles.
Former Liberal Member for Canberra and Batemans Bay real estate agent John Haslem was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through a range of roles.
Dr Peter Henderson was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to obstetrics and gynaecology.
Dr Paul Jenkins was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to medicine as a paediatrician.
Former executive director of Catholic Education, Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn, Geoff Joy, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to education.
Wesley Music Centre director Elizabeth McKenzie was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through music.
Royal Australian Air Force Staff College Association president Air Commodore Ian Pearson (Retd), of Barton, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to veterans' welfare.
Navy historian Duncan Perryman CSM RAN, of Deakin, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to history preservation.
Canberra and District Historical Society president Dr Richard Reid was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to community through history preservation organisations.
Former president of the Hellenic Club of Canberra, Andrew Satsia, was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community of Canberra.
