Seven central Victorians are among the 771 Australians recognised in the Queen’s Birthday 2016 Honours List. 

Bendigo’s Dennis Reginald O’Hoy will be appointed a member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the community of Bendigo, particularly through heritage preservation and to tertiary education.

John Andrew Wauchope, of Mount Macedon; Mario Giacomo Sartori, of South Kyneton; Trevor Alexander Aust, of Mildura; Marie Elizabeth Robinson, of Bendigo; and Mary Josephine Fortuna, of Rushworth, will be awarded medals of the Order of Australia.

John William Pearce, of Kyneton, will be awarded an Australian Fire Service Medal. 

Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove approved the awards, announced on Monday.

“To all recipients, I offer my deepest congratulations, admiration and respect for your contribution to our nation,” he said.

“We are fortunate as a community to have so many outstanding people willing to dedicate themselves to the betterment of our nation and it is only fitting that they have today been recognised through the Australian Honours system.

“On behalf of all Australians, I thank them for their contributions. We are a stronger, safer and more caring nation because of them.”

The Order of Australia is the pre-eminent means of recognising Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement.

Anyone can nominate any Australian within the general division, and the Council of the Order of Australia encourages people to nominate fellow citizens who have made outstanding contributions to the wellbeing of others. 

All nominations are considered by the Council for the Order of Australia, which recommends awards for the Governor-General’s approval.

Recipients of meritorious awards, such as the Australian Fire Service Medal, are nominated by their organisation and recommended by the relevant minister for the Governor-General’s approval.

More than 40,000 men and women have made the list since 1975. 

Mr Aust was recognised for his service to the Sunraysia community. 

Mr Sartori was recognised for his service to the community of Trentham.

Mr Wauchope was recognised for his service to the insurance industry and to the community.

Dr Fortuna was recognised for her service to the community of Rushworth and to tertiary education.

Mrs Robinson was awarded for service to the community of Bendigo and to people with a disability.

She was humbled and honoured by the recognition.

“There are so many people out in the community just as deserving,” she said. 

Mrs Robinson’s list of achievements includes fifty years of work with organisations such as Scope Victoria, the UnitingCare Outreach Emergency Relief Service; Vision Australia; and Bendigo Health. 

“It was just the satisfaction and the pleasure of being out there with people,” she said. 

“I'd like to make particular recognition of the huge number of inspirational volunteers who perform a vast variety of tasks in the community, where organisations greatly depend on their support to make the difference to the services they can deliver."