Astronaut reaches for stars with major honour

By Zac de Silva

Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg plans to use her new platform to inspire young people to chase their dreams as she prepares for a full day of festivities in her new role.

The trailblazing space scientist received the honour at a ceremony in Canberra on Sunday night, recognised for her work as the first astronaut to train and fly under the Australian flag.

“As a kid, I used to lie on the dry grass in my backyard and gaze up at the stars in awe,” she said in her acceptance speech.

Ms Bennell-Pegg, who is still waiting to be called up for spaceflight, said she wanted to use the next 12 months to encourage people to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering or maths.

“I have not been to space yet, but I accept this recognition very gratefully as a mission of a different kind,” she said.

“To help open doors to space, to STEM, and to help others to see further.

“As humans venture around the moon once more, I hope that we’ll all look up, knowing that there is no aspiration too big for any Australian, or for Australia,” Ms Bennell-Pegg said.

Winners of the Australian of the Year awards have a jam-packed schedule for Australia Day.

They’ll attend the national citizenship and flag-raising ceremony in the morning on the shores of Canberra’s Lake Burley Griffin before travelling to Sydney for the Australia Day Live concert at the Opera House.

In the other categories, runner Nedd Brockmann won Young Australian of the Year for his 46-day feat of endurance running from Perth to Sydney to raise millions of dollars to fight homelessness.

Pioneering dementia researcher Henry Brodaty won Senior Australian of the Year for his work identifying cost-effective, targeted interventions to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Local Hero award recipient Frank Mitchell, a Whadjuk-Yued Noongar man from Western Australia, has created more than 70 upskilling roles for Indigenous people in the construction and electrical industries.

In honour of outgoing Australian of the Year Neale Daniher, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also announced the creation of the Neale Daniher MND Clinical Network, a government-funded program to help tackle motor neurone disease.

Daniher, who suffers from MND himself, did not attend the awards ceremony at Canberra’s National Arboretum because he was too unwell to fly, his wife Jan said.