He explained that Australia Day was a fitting occasion on which to give proper recognition to a leading citizen, whose contribution to the nation's culture, economy, sciences or arts was particularly outstanding.

Several sporting heroes were honoured, from America's Cup skipper Jock Sturrock and swimmer Dawn Fraser, to world champion motor racer Sir Jack Brabham and boxer Lionel Rose.

Achievers in the artistic realm were also well represented, including opera singer Joan Sutherland, renowned dancer and choreographer Robert Helpmann and the four members of the chart-topping singing group The Seekers – Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley.

'[3] During its first two decades, the Australian of the Year award grew steadily in national prominence, but it increasingly suffered from its close association with the Victorian Australia Day Council.

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam lent his support to the Canberra award when he presented the inaugural honour to Major General Alan Stretton, the commander of the emergency response to Cyclone Tracy.

The Victorian council was singularly unimpressed that a rival Australia Day organisation had copied its idea – in 1977 it described its own winner, Dame Raigh Roe, as 'the real Australian of the Year'.

Typically the Australian of the Year was chosen at a special two-day board meeting, which Adams likened to the election of a Pope: 'We would go into conclave, there would be lots of hot air, then a puff of smoke.

Subsequent winners included marathon runner Robert de Castella, comedian and actor Paul Hogan, singer John Farnham and cricketer Allan Border, who were far more likely to attract public attention.

Australians of the Year in this period included Yothu Yindi lead singer and prominent Aboriginal identity Mandawuy Yunupingu; environmentalist and republican Ian Kiernan; and Chinese-Australian paediatrician John Yu.

Despite the perception of an over-emphasis on sport, the list of past winners reveals a strong endorsement for scientific achievement; as of 2009 thirteen Australian scientists have received the honour, including ten from the medical sciences.

A long-term view also reveals that Australia's talented artists have not been neglected; ten winners have excelled in creative pursuits, including six musicians, a dancer, a painter, a comedian and a Nobel Prize-winning novelist.

In 1961 several news outlets incorrectly referred to Sir Macfarlane Burnet as 'Man of the Year'; the mistake was not allowed to continue, as Joan Sutherland took out the second award, but it is certainly true that women are under-represented.

Devine also said, "the award, which ought to reflect and unite this great nation, has evolved into a mere plaything of social engineers", noting also that three of the eight finalists were jointly involved in the same events.

This period several young sports stars won the main award, including Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould, Lionel Rose and Evonne Goolagong.

Shortly after the formation of the NADC in October 1979, the Northern Territory representative Ella Stack convinced her fellow board members to introduce a new award that focussed specifically on the achievements of younger Australians.

During that period, the awards recognised, Rebecca Chambers, Nova Peris-Kneebone, Tan Le, Bryan Gaensler, Ian Thorpe, James Fitzpatrick, Scott Hocknull And Lleyton Hewitt.

The Department of Health and Ageing took over responsibility for the program and Prime Minister John Howard presented the award to veteran country music star Slim Dusty in October 1999.

Bishop arranged for the NADC to administer the program on behalf of the Department of Health and Ageing, but the award continued to be presented in October, with no discernible link to Australia Day.

[citation needed] The process of choosing the Australian of the Year has evolved considerably over half a century, including both the make-up of the selection committee and the system of nominations.

Typically the matter was considered at a special two-day board meeting, which Adams likened to the election of a new Pope: 'We would go into conclave, there would be lots of hot air, then a puff of smoke.

[18] A public relations report commissioned in 1989 recommended greater community involvement in the nominations process: 'Allow the "ordinary" citizens of Australia a chance to vote for, or in some way have a say in, who should be Australian of the Year.

In 2004 NADC Chair Lisa Curry-Kenny proudly reported that nominations had doubled from the previous year: 'This is a key indication that increasing numbers of Australians of all walks of life are actively engaging with the awards program.

This approach meant a more prominent role for the state-based Australia Day councils and committees, which now oversee the selection of the finalists and host official functions to announce the contenders in November each year.

The official criteria have usually been suitably broad in their scope, so changes in approach are largely attributable to the membership of the NADC board and the political climate of the time.

In the 1990s an Australia Day breakfast at Admiralty House in Sydney was the usual venue for the announcement, but more recently the concert has been revived and is held in the national capital.

The Australian of the Year, environmentalist Ian Kiernan, sat on the stage after receiving his award, when a gunshot was heard and an assailant rushed toward Prince Charles.

[27] Sir Norman hoped to attract entries from the world's finest artists, but the eventual winner was Victor Greenhalgh, the head of the Arts School at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Greenhalgh designed a bronze medallion, which reflected the prevailing mood as to the importance of Australia Day: its most prominent feature was a likeness of Governor Arthur Phillip, who was described on the medal as 'The Outstanding Australian [of] 1788.

The Age reported that Sir Macfarlane Burnet was anxious when a photographer asked him to display the medallion at the awards ceremony: 'The nervous scientist, whose hand with a pipette would be as steady as a rock, fumbled the medal and dropped it under the table.

One reviewer suggested that Lilley's creation was both a humorous mockumentary and a serious critique of the awards program: 'if you want a show that skewers the nation's pretensions and aspirations, while providing laugh-out-loud comedy, this is the real deal.