Lutherans honoured in Queen’s Birthday list

LCA member Andrea Mason has received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) award in the Queen’s Birthday 2018 Honours List, for service to the Indigenous community of the Northern Territory.

A member of Alice Springs Lutheran Church, Andrea has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council since 2009. She is co-chair for both the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council and for the Empowered Communities NPY Region.

A Ngaanyatjarra woman on her father’s side and Kronie on her mother’s side, the former Reconciliation Australia Relationship Manager was been awarded the titles of Centralian Citizen of the Year, Northern Territory Australian of the Year and Telstra Business Woman of the Year over the past two years.

A member of Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church at Lock on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula, James Siviour also received a general division OAM in the latest honours, for service to the community of Lock.

His church service has included being a delegate to the Cleve Lutheran Parish Management Committee and a former chairperson of the Lock congregation. His other community work cited in his award details includes serving as chair of the Lock Community Health and Welfare Centre Advisory Committee and being a member of the Port Lincoln Health Advisory Council, both since 2000.

James has also been a Justice of the Peace for South Australia since 2006 and a volunteer firefighter with the South Australian Country Fire Service since 1993. He has served in leadership roles with the Lock Community Events Committee, the Murdinga Agricultural Bureau, Cleve and Districts Rural Youth, the Middle Areas Table Tennis Association and the Middle Areas Tennis Association.

A third LCA recipient is Mervyn ‘Tony’ Fairbank, a member at St Paul’s Glenelg, in suburban Adelaide. Tony also has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the general division for service to the community through a range of roles.

Tony has served for 46 years as a Justice of the Peace, 35 years as a Lion Club member, and 30 years as a coroner. He has been awarded three life memberships, including one from the international President of Lions Club International, one from the Mount Compass Football Club and one from Great Southern Football League.

The congratulations of the church are offered to these three recipients and any other members who were honoured.