Meet our Senior Australian of the Year finalists

Find out about the 2017 Senior Australian of the Year finalists.

Undoubtedly Australia’s most dedicated marathon running coach, Dick Telford has coached distance runners to eight Commonwealth Games medals, four being gold, as well as coaching Australia’s only Olympic marathon medallist, Lisa Ondieki.

While his sustained coaching success has propelled him into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, Dick’s pioneering research into the ‘physical literacy’ of Australian children is equally deserving of a gold medal. As the director of the National Lifestyle of Our Kids Study, Dick’s work has shown that quality physical education led not only to better health, but to better NAPLAN results. He’s now working on a plan to implement physical literacy programs into state education systems.

The first sports scientist appointed by the Australian Institute of Sport, Dick is currently a professorial fellow at the University of Canberra’s Research Institute for Sport and Exercise and Adjunct Professor at the Australian National University, while volunteering endless hours to coach an elite distance running squad and Olympic marathon runners.

Australia's first celebrity doctor, Dr John Knight AM has spent decades amassing a residential property portfolio that supports elderly Australians. John, also known as Dr James Wright, answered the nation’s medical queries in print, radio and as a regular guest on Midday with Ray Martin for 30 years.

In 1973, John and his late wife Noreen established Medi-Aid Centre Foundation, a charity that provides accommodation for the elderly, particularly those who are frail, have no family support and no home. Now at 89, John has battled through heartbreak, personal and financial loss and cancer, but he’s kept buying property for Medi-Aid and now has almost 1,000 investments – including hundreds of Surfers Paradise waterfront apartments – that are rented out for a meagre sum.

While John could afford to live in luxury, he chooses to live in the same un-renovated home where he raised his four children and has lived for the past 60 years.

A member of the Sapphires, Lois Peeler is also a political activist, passionate educator and principal at Australia’s only Aboriginal girls’ boarding school. Lois has worked in a range of roles in Indigenous affairs and currently chairs the Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee.

At Worawa Aboriginal College in Victoria’s Healesville, Lois welcomes students from some of Australia’s most remote regions, many of whom have been exposed to trauma and dysfunction in their young lives. Lois oversees a holistic approach to education that brings together Aboriginal knowledge, values and pedagogy and Western academic leadership.

A powerful role model for her students, staff and community, Lois instils pride and confidence in her students, and helps them gain a deep appreciation of their culture, encouraging the celebration of Aboriginal ways of knowing, doing and being. More than a principal, Lois is also an Elder of the Yorta Yorta people, with the abiding responsibility of nurturing Aboriginal culture, history and identity in an education framework.

A climate and sustainable living advocate, Margaret Steadman finds practical solutions to many of our most challenging conundrums. While executive officer of Sustainable Living Tasmania, Margaret helped people understand the small steps that can make a big difference to the environment – from embracing energy efficiency to considering low-carbon footprint end of life options.

A founding member of Climate Action Hobart and the West Hobart Environment Network, and a Council member of the Australian Conservation Foundation, Margaret has worked to influence the development of a climate action plan for the Tasmanian Government. She was the Hobart coordinator for the global People’s Climate March in the lead-up to the 2015 Paris Climate Summit, and has organised local lobbying of banks to divest of climate-damaging investments.

Margaret has led community initiatives from fire-ready forums to sustainable transport working groups. She also volunteers in the Migrant Resource Centre's refugee program and the Source Community Wholefoods Co-op. Quietly determined but never confrontational, Margaret works hard for people and planet.

A proud Narrunga Kaurna woman, Patricia Buckskin grew up in a family of eight children in South Australia’s Riverland. Her lifelong passion for Aboriginal education was sparked in 1972, when she was appointed to Mansfield Park Primary School as its first Aboriginal teacher aide. In 1987, following the formation of the South Australian Aboriginal Education Unit, Pat was appointed as the first Aboriginal state manager of aboriginal education workers – a position she held until her retirement in 2009.

A strong advocate and sounding board for many, Pat drove the development of the first culturally-based education award in Australia, led committees and was instrumental in setting up the Kaurna Plains Aboriginal School – the first public Aboriginal school established in an urban setting in Australia.

After decades spent encouraging Aboriginal parents to have a voice in their children’s schooling, Pat continues to contribute by working tirelessly on committees and councils to ensure all children have access to quality, enriching education.

A community enthusiast and social entrepreneur, Peter Kenyon has worked with more than 1,600 communities in Australia and 59 overseas to stimulate economic renewal. Motivated by the desire to create healthy, inclusive and enterprising local economies, in 1989 Peter started Bank of I.D.E.A.S (Initiatives for the Development of Enterprising Action and Strategies).

Since then, he’s helped communities spark their own ideas and invest in themselves to build a sustainable future. He’s worked with communities to build economic strategies in locations as far flung as Kuwait and Kakadu, Somalia and Subiaco. A keen author, Peter has written 16 books on community and economic development, youth policy and enterprise.

A master communicator, he is a sought-after presenter and speaker, and tirelessly supports other international thought leaders in the pursuit of community activation. Peter’s passion and purpose has seen him traverse the globe over 35 years in his relentless ambition to enable communities to discover their strengths and transform themselves.

A pioneering neuroscientist, Professor Perry Bartlett has made ground-breaking progress in the discovery of how the human brain can be regenerated through stimulating the production of new nerve cells. Perry’s work offers the potential to change the course of treatment and management of dementia and depression. Perry discovered the brain could produce new nerves in 1992, overturning traditional dogma and transforming the way we think of the brain.

Once considered a static organ, the brain is now understood as an ever-evolving body part that can produce new nerve cells capable of altering learning, memory and mood. In 2003, Perry founded the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland, which has grown from 10 to almost 500 scientists.

Perry and his team now have their sights set on slowing down dementia by activating stem cells to produce new nerves. With dementia currently affecting one in three adults over the age of 85, Perry’s work has the potential to change the lives of many older Australians.

As a 22-year-old member of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, Sister Anne Gardiner was asked to move to Bathurst Island to live among the Tiwi people. In the 62 years since, Sr Anne has devoted her life to enriching community, enhancing opportunity and supporting the Tiwi culture.

An advocate of peace, love and the traditional Tiwi way of life, Sr Anne has worked tirelessly to document and preserve the Tiwi language for future generations. The Principal of the local primary school, Sr Anne has educated generations of children while also establishing community clubs, from mothers’ groups to Little Athletics.

She runs regular prayer meetings, founded an op shop and established a café to raise funds to support her much-loved community. Sr Anne’s museum shares valuable stories and traditional customs, while also bringing financial benefit to the people. The cornerstone of the community, Sr Anne has earned an enduring place in the hearts of the Tiwi people.