By Margaret Maccoll
David Thomas
David John Thomas of Noosa Heads was recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queen’s Birthday honours list for his philanthropic support to the community for medical research, environmental conservation and cultural institutions. David, who was already an OAM recipient and his wife Barbara, who passed away in 2015, set up the philanthropic organisation the Thomas Foundation in 1998 after selling their business Cellarmaster Wines to Fosters for $160 million.
The Thomas Foundation initially supported projects in education, the arts and conservation. In 2013 David’s love of the sea directed the foundation’s focus toward marine issues, but it continues to support projects in the health, arts and education sectors. The foundation has provided financial support and fund-raising initiatives to a range of organisations including Nature Conservancy Australia, The Fight for the Reef Campaign, World Wildlife Fund Australia and The Australian Marine Conservation Society.
Leslie Hall
A lifelong contribution to the conservation of Australasian bats through research, student mentoring and public engagement has earned Dr Leslie Selwyn Hall of Maleny recognition as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Fifty years as a bat scientist and researcher, the publication of more than 200 articles and four books and numerous national and international forum presentations began in 1962 with a CSIRO scholarship.
“I had an interest in caving and bushwalking and the chief scientist suggested I study bats.
“They’re an unusual group of animals,” he said. “They’re very essential to our life. They have an extremely important role in forests.”
Dr Hall said bats were critical to the pollination of many plants such as eucalypts which had flowers that only opened at night.
Of the 26 species in Australia, flying foxes were the ones always in trouble with human populations and were difficult to manage. Apart from breeding season, the intelligent animals were continually on the move searching for food.
He said the fear that they spread hendra virus directly to horses was incorrect and after 23 years since the virus was first detected the link between the bats and horses had yet to be determined.
Dr Hall was a senior lecturer at the Department of Veterinary Anatomy at University of Queensland from 1988-2001 and a visiting fellow at the University of Malaysia between 1992-2005.
Among his many roles he has been a scientific advisor for Bat Conservation International and a member, Chiropteran Specialist Group, International Union for Conservation of Nature, since 1987.
He is currently a flying fox adviser to Sunshine Coast Regional Council and a member of Mary Cairncross Scenic Reserve Management Committee.
The bat species Cape York Free-Tailed Bat (mormopterus halli) was named in his honour.
Neil Rees
Emeritus Professor Neil Robert Rees of Peregian Springs has been honoured with a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his significant service to the law and education, legal reform and mental health.
An advocate of human rights and anti-discrimination Professor Rees co-authored the book Australian Anti-Discrimination Law in 2008 and was a member of the Attorney-General’s Taskforce on Human Rights in 1985.
He was the Chairperson of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and was previously Professor of Law and Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Newcastle.
Professor Rees has been a member of a number of statutory tribunals including the NSW Administrative Decisions Tribunal, the NSW Mental Health Review Tribunal and the Victorian Mental Health Review Board.
Professor Rees was Foundation Professor and Co-Head of University of the Sunshine Coast Law School, Faculty of Arts, Business and Law, University of the Sunshine Coast from 2013-’15. It was a position he shared with his wife Professor Anne Rees who was Head of Deakin University’s School of Law for five years until 2013 and full-time Commissioner of the Australian Law Reform Commission from 2001 to 2004. The couple both have decades of diverse and eminent experience in their professions and academia.
