The Australian of the Year Award is given annually on Australia Day. The announcement of the award has become a major public event in Australia, and is televised nationwide. The award "offers an insight into Australian identity, reflecting the nation's evolving relationship with world, the role of sport in Australian culture, the impact of multiculturalism, and the special status of Australia's Indigenous people". The award is unique in that it is sponsored by a national government and commands broad public support.
The following is a list of the recipients of the Australian of the Year award.
The post-nominals listed for each individual are as they were on the day they were named the Australian of the Year.
Recipients
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Year of<br>award
! Name
! Post<br/>nominals
! Born
! Died
! Comments
!State/Territory
! Notes
|-
| 1960
| Sir
|
| 1899
| 1985
| Virologist; 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine co-recipient
|Victoria||
|-
| 1961
|
|
| 1926
| 2010
| Opera singer
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1962
|
|
| 1915
| 1997
| Yachtsman
|Victoria||
|-
| 1963
| Sir
|
| 1903
| 1997
| Neurophysiologist; 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine co-recipient
|Victoria||
|-
| 1964
|
|
| 1937
|
| Swimmer; gold medal winner at 1956, 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympic Games
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1965
|
|
| 1909
| 1986
| Actor; ballet dancer; director
|South Australia||
|-
| 1966
|
|
| 1926
| 2014
| Racing driver; Formula One champion in 1959, 1960 and 1966
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1967
|
|
| N/A
|
| Music group
|Victoria||
|-
| 1968
|
|
| 1948
| 2011
| Boxer; first Indigenous Australian to win a world boxing title (1968)
|Victoria||
|-
| 1969
|
|
| 1890
| 1976
| Politician, diplomat, Governor-General of Australia (1965–1969)
|Queensland||
|-
| 1970
| Cardinal Sir
|
| 1896
| 1977
| Clergyman; first Australian-born Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1971
|
|
| 1951
|
| Tennis player
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1972
|
|
| 1956
|
| Swimmer; winner of three gold medals, a silver and bronze in 1972 Summer Olympics
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1973
|
|
| 1912
| 1990
| Author; 1973 Nobel Prize for Literature recipient
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1974
| Sir
|
| 1894
| 1982
| Conductor
|Victoria||
|-
| rowspan=2|1975
|
|
| 1917
| 2013
| Scientist; 1975 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recipient
|New South Wales||
|-
| MAJGEN
|
| 1922
| 2012
| Australian Army officer; managed Cyclone Tracy cleanup
|Victoria||
|-
| 1976
| LTCOL Sir
|
| 1907
| 1993
| Military surgeon; World War II prisoner of war
|Victoria||
|-
|rowspan=2| 1977
|
|
| 1922
| 2014
| President of the Country Women's Association
|Western Australia||
|-
| Sir
|
| 1913
| 1994
| Official secretary to six governors-general
|Victoria||
|-
|rowspan=2| 1978
|
|
| 1938
| 2015
| Businessman
|New South Wales||
|-
|
|
| 1948
| 2023
| Indigenous land rights activist
|Northern Territory||
|-
|rowspan=2| 1979
|
|
| 1922
| 1999
| First Aboriginal person elected to the Parliament of Australia
|Queensland||
|-
|
|
| 1930
| 2015
| Naturalist
|Western Australia||
|-
| 1980
|
|
| 1915
| 1991
| Historian
|Australian Capital Territory||
|-
| 1981
| Sir
|
| 1910
| 1984
| Economist
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1982
| Sir
|
| 1921
| 1999
| Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland; chairman of the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games Foundation
|Queensland||
|-
| 1983
|
|
| 1957
|
| Marathon runner
|Australian Capital Territory||
|-
| 1984
|
|
| 1932
| 2024
| Aboriginal health worker; inaugural chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (1990–1996)
|South Australia||
|-
| 1985
|
|
| 1939
|
| Actor
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1986
|
|
| 1944
|
| Entrepreneur
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1987
|
|
| 1949
|
| Singer, entertainer
|Victoria||
|-
| 1988
|
|
| 1954
|
| First female sailor to perform a single-handed, non-stop circumnavigation of the world (1988)
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1989
|
|
| 1955
|
| Australian cricket team captain
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1990
|
|
| 1921
| 1993
| Ophthalmologist; founder of The Fred Hollows Foundation
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1991
|
|
| 1935
| 2026
|Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane; head, Brotherhood of St. Lawrence; governor-general
|Victoria||
|-
| 1992
|
|
| 1956
| 2013
| Singer, Yothu Yindi
|Northern Territory||
|-
| 1993
| colspan="7" |No award made: period of award changed from the previous year to the year ahead in 1994; i.e. Mandawuy Yunupingu was named Australian of the Year for 1992 in 1993 and Ian Kiernan was named Australian of the Year for 1994 in 1994
|-
| 1994
|
|
| 1940
|2018
| Environmentalist; founder of Clean Up Australia and Clean Up the World
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1995
|
|
| 1920
| 1999
| Artist
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1996
|
|
| 1934
|
| Paediatrician, CEO of the Royal Alexandra Hospital for Children
|New South Wales||
|-
| 1997
|
|
| 1940
|
| Veterinarian; immunologist; 1996 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine recipient
|Queensland||
|-
| 1998
|
|
| 1973
|
| Athlete; also Young Australian of the Year in 1990
|Queensland||
|-
| 1999
|
|
| 1964
|
| Australian cricket team captain
|New South Wales||
|-
| 2000
| Sir
|
| 1931
|
| Biologist
|Victoria||
|-
| 2001
| LTGEN
|
| 1947
|
|
|New South Wales||
|-
| 2002
|
|
| 1972
|
| Tennis player
|Queensland||
|-
| 2003
|
|
| 1946
|
| Epidemiologist
|Western Australia||
|-
| 2004
|
|
| 1965
|
| Australian cricket team captain and humanitarian
|New South Wales||
|-
| 2005
|
|
| 1958
|
| Plastic surgeon; worked with victims of the 2002 Bali bombings
|Western Australia||
|-
| 2006
|
|
| 1953
|
| Immunologist
|Queensland||
|-
| 2007
|
|
| 1956
|
| Scientist; global warming activist
|New South Wales||
|-
| 2008
|
|
| 1964
|
| Singer
|Queensland||
|-
| 2009
|
|
| 1950
|
| Indigenous leader
|Australian Capital Territory||
|-
| 2010
|
|
| 1953
|
| Psychiatrist
|Victoria||
|-
| 2011
|
|
| 1955
|
| Philanthropist businessman
|Victoria||
|-
| 2012
|
|
| 1951
|
| Actor and film producer
|Victoria||
|-
| 2013
|
|
| 1942
|
| Journalist and businesswoman, founding editor of Cleo
|New South Wales||
|-
| 2014
|
|
| 1980
|
| Australian rules footballer and Indigenous community leader
|New South Wales||
|-
| 2015
|
|
| 1962
|
| Domestic violence campaigner
|Victoria||
|-
| 2016
| LTGEN
|
| 1956
|
| Commitment to gender equality, diversity and inclusion
|Australian Capital Territory||
|-
| 2017
|
|
| 1951
| 2023
| Biomedical scientist treating spinal cord injuries
|Queensland||
|-
| 2018
|
|
| 1967
|
| Scientia professor of quantum physics in the faculty of science at the University of New South Wales
|New South Wales||
|-
|rowspan=2| 2019
|
|
|
|
| rowspan=2|Cave divers who participated in the Tham Luang cave rescue
| rowspan="2" |South Australia|| rowspan="2" |
|-
| Richard Harris
|
|
|
|-
| 2020 || Dr James Muecke |||| 1963 || || Eye surgeon and founder of Sight for All
|South Australia||
|-
| 2021 || Grace Tame || ||1994 || || Advocate for survivors of sexual assault
|Tasmania||
|-
| 2022 || Dylan Alcott || ||1990 || || Paralympic athlete, advocate for disability
|Victoria||
|-
|2023
|Taryn Brumfitt
|
|1978
|
|Positive body image advocate and founder of the Body Image Movement
|South Australia
|
|-
|rowspan=2| 2024
|
|
| 1970
|
| rowspan=2|Melanoma researchers
| rowspan="2" |New South Wales|| rowspan="2" |
|-
| Richard Scolyer
|
| 1966
|
|-
|2025
|Neale Daniher
|
|1961
|2026
|Former Australian rules footballer and coach; charity co-founder, advocate for motor neurone disease research
|Victoria
|
|-
|2026
|Katherine Bennell-Pegg
|
|1984 or 1985
|
|Australian space engineer and qualified astronaut
|South Australia
|
|}
thumb|Plaque for the 1971 recipient [[Evonne Goolagong on the Australians of the Year Walk]]
See also
- List of Senior Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Young Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Australian Local Hero Award recipients
- List of South Australian of the Year Award recipients
- List of Queensland Australian of the Year award recipients