Australia Day this year was also something of an Australian Studies day. On the 26^th of January, the Governor-General of Australia, Her Excellency the Honourable Samantha Mostyn AC, announced the Australia Day 2025 Honours List.

The ANU Australian Studies Institute (AuSI) is thrilled to share that two of our AuSI faculty were appointed Members of the Order of Australia (AM). Congratulations to AuSI advisory board chair, Professor Paul Pickering, who was appointed for “significant services to tertiary education, social studies and history preservation”, and to our Foundation Fellow, Professor David Headon for “significant service to history preservation as a historian, cultural advisor and author”. 

AuSI Director, Professor Mark Kenny said it was “a wonderful thing, indeed”.

“This recognises the outstanding career-long academic contributions of our friends Paul and David. Their nation has formally noted their dedication and expertise through the long, sometimes lonely hours of research, teaching, management, and intellectual guidance.

“As Director, I couldn’t be more pleased. Along with Professor Shirley Leitch, it was Paul’s drive and energy which brought the Institute into being. This award speaks to its impact, not least through the scholarly endeavours of David in the landmark biographical series exploring the federation’s earliest leaders, The First Eight Prime Ministers.”   

AuSI would like to further recognise the honours awarded to two more Australian Studies scholars; Scientia Professor Megan Davis, who was awarded an AC (Companion of the Order of Australia) for her “eminent service to the law and to social justice, to the national and international advocacy of the rights of Indigenous peoples, and to the community”, and the late Professor Lyndall Ryan AM, “for distinguished service to tertiary education, particularly Indigenous history and colonial settlement through research and publications”.

View the 2025 Recipients (ANU community) of Australia Day Honours here »

View the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia full 2025 Australia Day Honours List here »