Trailblazing Test cricketer, health heroes and wildlife warrior among Qld Greats
By Tony Moore
The graceful strokeplay of Usman Khawaja has seen the Pakistan-born Test cricketer chosen among eight Queensland Greats announced on Monday night.
Khawaja, 35, has been the Queensland Bulls captain since 2015 and the gifted left-hand batsman is one of the most stylish to represent Queensland and Australia.
The foundation set up by Test cricketer Usman Khawaja runs programs helping youths from refugee, immigrant, Indigenous, rural, remote and low socio-economic backgrounds.
He became the first Muslim to represent Australia in cricket when he made his Test debut in Sydney in 2011 and forced his way back into the Test starting line-up in 2022 - cementing his place with four Test centuries already this year.
Usman Khawaja founded The Usman Khawaja Foundation, which runs programs helping youths from refugee, immigrant, Indigenous, rural, remote and low socio-economic backgrounds.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk acknowledged the inspirational work of the new Queensland Greats, announced at City Hall on Monday night.
“They have improved Indigenous education and justice, used sporting prominence to assist young migrants, pioneered burns management, and had extraordinarily productive technical careers,” she said.
“They’ve advocated for better health for our First Nations Queenslanders, made landmark scientific contributions to wildlife protection, impressed the world with local Indigenous art and curated our state’s scientific and cultural history.”
Uncle Albert Holt is recognised helping the Queensland government set up its own network of Indigenous Murri Courts in 2006.
Uncle Albert was born on Barambah Mission, now known as Cherbourg, in 1936 and worked for two decades in an Indigenous school, before starting the Inala Indigenous Health Service.
Koala researcher Professor Peter Timms becomes a Queensland Great for research in producing a vaccine for chlamydia and retrovirus in koalas, helping save them from extinction.
Professor Timms is recognised as the research authority on chlamydia in koalas and is a passionate community advocate for koala research.
Koala research specialist Professor Peter Timms has been chosen as one of the Queensland Greats in 2022.
Burns specialist Professor Stuart Pegg AM is chosen for a 40-year career in improving care and research for burns victims. He is now director of surgery at the Adult Burns Unit of the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
Earlier in his career, a time when women were actively discouraged from surgery, he fostered and fought for equal opportunity allocations for female resident doctors into surgical specialities.
Indigenous health expert Professor Gracelyn Smallwood has been recognised for her work in HIV research and in women’s health issues.
Pioneering engineer Else Shepherd was recognised for her career that inspired thousands of women to consider engineering careers.
She chaired Powerlink Queensland for 17 years and is an Honorary Fellow of Engineers Australia as well as an accomplished musical conductor.
Townsville’s Professor Gracelyn Smallwood, a Bindal nurse and midwife, becomes a Queensland Great for her work across regional Queensland communities and for being the first Indigenous woman to receive a masters in public health from James Cook University in HIV research.
Queensland artist Sally Gabori, known as Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda, died in 2015 at the age of 91 but has been recognised for the influence of her “Kaiadilt” artwork, which is represented in national and international galleries. She was born on Bentinck Island in the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The scientists and researchers who have built up the Queensland Museum Network since 1862 were recognised for their “groundbreaking research” and more recently, for promoting the World Science Festival in Brisbane.
The museums’ scientists and curators collect and share the cultural history of Queensland.