2024 Australian of the Year Awards finalists for Western Australia announced
A bug-whisperer, the creator of Moodle, a nurse making chemo possible at home, a para-athlete, a scientist planting seagrass, and e-waste and STEM advocates are among the Western Australian finalists for the 2024 Australian of the Year Awards.
There are 16 finalists in the running to be named WA Australian of the Year, WA Senior Australian of the Year, WA Young Australian of the Year and WA Local Hero, for 2024.
The 2024 Western Australian award finalists are (clockwise from top left):
2024 Australian of the Year for Western Australia
Lorna Cook – Co-founder, Chemo@home (Edgewater)
Dr Martin Dougiamas – Creator, open source learning platform Moodle (Perth)
Dr Paola Magni – Forensic scientist, SmartInsects developer and RedShoes ambassador (Gwelup)
Mechelle Turvey – Advocate for victims of crime (Perth)
2024 Senior Australian of the Year for Western Australia
Charles Bass – Founder, Centre for Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation (Applecross)
Maggie Dent – Parenting author, educator and speaker
Ronald Reynolds – Community leader (Esperance)
Caroline Wood AM – Co-founder, Centre for Stories (West Leederville)
2024 Young Australian of the Year for Western Australia
Madison Heady – Para-athlete and disability advocate (Hillarys)
Kate Kirwin – Founder, She Codes and women in STEM advocate (Perth)
Kate Raston – Advocate and co-founder, We Are Womxn (Fremantle)
Samuel Thomas – Co-founder, Sam’s Spares and e-waste advocate (Gosnells)
2024 Local Hero for Western Australia
Geoffrey Bastyan – Marine scientist and seagrass champion (Albany)
Nicholas Hudson – Founder, The Push-Up Challenge and mental health advocate (Wembley)
Catherine MacDougall – Co-founder, Prepare Produce Provide (South Guildford)
Adele Peek – Co-founder, The Cultural Intelligence Project and founder, Make It Happen HQ (Broome)
Find out more about each of the finalists here.
The Western Australian 2024 Australian of the Year Awards’ recipients will be announced on Thursday 2 November 2023 6pm AWST in a ceremony at Government House in Perth, which will also be available to watch online at australianoftheyear.org.au.
They will then join the other state and territory recipients as national finalists for the national awards announcement on Thursday 25 January 2024 in Canberra.
Auspire – Australia Day Council WA CEO, Morgen Lewis, congratulated the finalists.
“The WA finalists across the four categories are all so truly deserving of this recognition. The contribution they make to WA, across a range of important focus areas, can be an inspiration to us all. I very much look forward to meeting them on 2 November.”