Monday, 21 June 2021 22:18

Joan Warhurst, AM, Queen’s Honours, work for MSC Education

 Joan Warhurst, AM, Queen’s Honours, work for MSC Education

 Joan Warhurst 2021 Copy

Joan Warhurst, AM. Also notes on three religious who receive Honours and may be known to MSC.

 

Attached is the citation from the Honours website.  Joan has been a Board member of Daramalan College and from 2013 – 2021 has been an inaugural company member for the MSC Education Members’ Council - only just stepping down from this role at the recent May AGM.  While initially from outside the MSC fold, Joan embraced our Heart Spirituality and added much gentleness, wisdom and experience to the Council.

The AM Citation

MEMBER (AM) IN THE GENERAL DIVISION OF THE ORDER OF AUSTRALIA

Ms Joan WARHURST, Reid ACT 2612

For significant service to education, and to research and curriculum development.

Professional Appointments

  •  Executive Officer, Australian Association for Research in Education, 2009-2011.
  •  Chief Executive Officer, National Catholic Education Commission, 2004-2008.
  •  Executive Director, Australian Curriculum Studies Association, 1995-2004.
  •  Administrative Officer, (then) Australian College of Education, 1994-1995.
  •  Tutor and Lecturer, School of Education, University of New England, Armidale, 1985 - 1993.
  •  Teacher, 1971-1983.

Honorary Appointments

  •  Secretary, Bishops' Commission on Education, National Catholic Education Commission, 2004-2008.
  •  Board Member, Daramalan College, 2008-2013.
  •  Committee Member, Canberra Steering Committee, Caritas Australia, since 2014.
  •  Member, Education Members' Council, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Joan Warhurst For the past eight years Joan Warhurst has been the Executive Director of the Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA), with responsibility for all aspects of the associations’ operations. Prior to this she has worked as a secondary school teacher and also as a lecturer in teacher education. Her current work includes co - management, with National Curriculum Services (NCS), of the Australian Government funded Indigenous education professional development project based on online resource What Works. The Work Program.

 

Br Steve Morelli CFC, Sr Adele Howard RSM and Sr Deirdre Browne IBVM received Order of Australia Medals in the Honours List published on Monday.

ao steve morelli

Br Steve, from Woolgoolga, has worked at the request of local Aboriginal elders for the past 30 years to help write a dictionary and teach the local language for the Gumbaynggirr people.

In addition to spending years working closely with the elders to compile a dictionary and grammar of Gumbaynggirr, Br Stephen has also co-developed courses up to Certificate IV level, and co-edited the Gumbaynggirr Yuludarla Jandaygam Gumbaynggirr Dreaming Story Collection.

Br Steve currently has two roles in the community in Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, as part of the Lismore Diocese, and teaching Indigenous language specifically through the Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Cultural Cooperative.

The cooperative has been pivotal in the revitalisation and restoration of Aboriginal language and culture on the mid north coast.

“It spread its wings without me but I feel good that I helped, with the help of the Aboriginal people, to kick it off,” Br Morelli told The Coffs Coast Advocate.

“If there is an award it really belongs to them, (those) who worked to restore what had been taken.

“Any award like that says that the government recognises the property of Aboriginal people as being valuable and worthwhile.

“It’s saying that Aboriginal property such as language, story and songs ... they are important and they need to be foregrounded.” 

 

ao adele howard

Sr Adele Howard, who is a member of the Institute of Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea, received her OAM for service to the Catholic Church of Australia and to the community.

Inspired by the document written by Pope Francis on Laudato Si’ - Our Common Home, Adele is committed to developing a clearer understanding of the crisis of climate change and our need to take action to reverse the damage of global warming.

Adele has also worked for many years with Indigenous friends and colleagues to promote ‘voice’ for Indigenous Australians, believing that unless we hear the true history of settlement and disadvantage from First Nations People in this land, we cannot find and walk a pathway of mutual respect, dignity and freedom into the future.

She says she has “tried to walk this pathway through many conversations, in many local places across this land and also through resource development of digital media stories, video documentaries and education presentations”. In recent years she has developed and led reflection processes both face to face and online and also produced web-based resources, on themes of integral ecology and reconciliation, for her Mercy organisation, locally and internationally, and for the wider community.

 

ao SrDeirdreBrowneIBVMOAM

Sr Deirdre Browne IBVM received her OAM for service to the community as a religious sister, through music, education and the liturgical arts.

She is a Loreto Sister with qualifications in music and composition from Sydney Conservatorium, University of Melbourne and University of London, and liturgical studies from CUA Washington DC and has produced a large and significant corpus of liturgical music over many years.

Sr Deirdre has wide experience as a teacher at primary, secondary and tertiary levels and as a consultant to parishes in music and liturgy. Her special interest is the relationship between spirituality, culture and the arts.

Reported by CRA, Pathways