Australian of the Year Awards 60th anniversary

Published: Monday, 20 July 2020

My last, large, in-person networking event I went to in Australia since before the pandemic was the 60th anniversary celebrations for the Australian of the Year awards in Canberra on 25 January. We had a luncheon at the National Gallery of Australia, where three previous Australian of the Year Award winners were interviewed.

 

Then we had the Awards Ceremony at the National Arboretum Canberra.  To celebrate the 60th-year occasion, they invited all the previous Australian of the Year winners to the stage to celebrate. It was totally epic to see 10+ previous Australian of the Year Award winners take to the stage!

National Arboretum Canberra

It was great to meet Aussie maths teacher Eddie Woo and all-time swimming legend Dawn Fraser.


The legend Dawn Fraser

Ash Barty was named Young Australian of the Year remotely in Melbourne. Former Young Australian of the Year Pat Rafter presented her trophy in person. She then went and played tennis the next night in the Australian Open - and won! Amazing! She later on went and became the semi-finalist for the Australian Open that week!

Socializing and seeing other people seems like a long, long, long, long, long, long time ago now.

Here’s some cute dog photos from the dog park from before Covid, to make you smile. :)  (Note: not my dogs!)

About Me

Marita ChengForbes named me a world's top 50 woman in tech & 30 Under 30. I founded Robogals and Aipoly and was Young Australian of the Year 2012. Currently working on robotics company Aubot. I'm the youngest Member of the Order of Australia (AM) and I give speeches around the world.

I tweet @maritacheng and I'm on Facebook.

Subscribe

Enter your email address to receive my latest blog posts: 

 

Random Articles

  • What's in it for them?

    What's in it for the other person? If you look at everything from this perspective, you can get anything you want in life.

  • The way things go

    You set up a meeting time, ten people email back and say they’re keen, passionate and that they’ll be there.  One person shows up.   So what’s there to...

  • The Bubble

    I used to think the bubble was a bad thing.  The huge number of people who called themselves an entrepreneur.  The over-inflation of entrepreneurs in...

  • Anything is Possible: 100 Australian engineering leaders

    Engineers Australia and Engineering Heritage Australia decided to feature me as one of 100 Australian engineering leaders in their book, “Anything...

  • Regaining focus

    During my time at Robogals, towards the end of every year, I would lose focus. Why?  All my major projects for the year would have been wound up.  My...

  • Highlight reel and backstage

    When I became the Young Australian of the Year, I was so excited.  I had a glamorous ideal that my life would change completely!  It changed a lot – I...

  • Eating through mosquito nets

    The recurring problem with malaria is that mosquitoes have evolved to be immune to every vaccination ever invented against them.   Humans too are...

  • The Project Woman to Watch

    The Project called me a “Woman to Watch” and shot this short video.  It contains footage of a child going to school remotely using Teleport,...

  • Happiness

    What I say is important in my life = how I actually live my life

  • Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

    To my great surprise, I was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) this year, announced on the Queen’s Birthday Weekend. This means I now...