SIX NEW ORDER OF AUSTRALIA ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION SCHOLARS ANNOUNCED

Chelsea Allen

Chelsea is undertaking a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Health Science at Swinburne University of Technology.

Chelsea is committed to building a business in nutritional health and exercise to enhance the wellbeing and overall quality of life for all.  Deeply influenced by her own personal journey, particularly from the uncertainties of the COVID-19 lock-down, Chelsea gives back to the rural South Gippsland community from which she comes.  She has done that through volunteering programs with the elderly, at a local opportunity shop, leading initiatives in mental health, and working with young children to encourage participation and improve their confidence levels.  She has a demonstrated leadership track record at her high school, including being House Captain, Environmental Captain and Wellbeing Captain, as well as having completed the Bronze and Gold program for the Duke of Edinburgh Award. 

With her outstanding academic performance, her natural leadership abilities and her sights clearly set on a defined career path, the Panel considered that Chelsea had the potential to make a true difference to her regional community.  The award of the Scholarship will benefit her now and allow her to potentially pursue a Masters Degree in the near future.

Chelsea’s Scholarship was donated by Mr Paul Wheelton AM KSJ, who is also a member of the Board of the Order of Australia Association Foundation.

Lotte George

Lotte is undertaking a Bachelor of Biomedical Science at the University of Western Australia.

Lotte has an outstanding record of academic achievement and an extensive history of giving back to the community. 

She has backed up her high achieving ATAR result with a distinguished university record in her first year and a half of university study.  With a passion for science, personal experience as a patient, and a belief in the life-changing impact of medical research, she wants to practice medicine, specializing in neurology or cardiology. 

The primary focus of her community activity has been in athletics.  She has competed both nationally and internationally, with her commitment to her local athletics club being acknowledged after eleven years of service, with her being granted life membership.  She has also received her local Council’s Youth Sports Scholarships; and an Australian Olympic Changemaker Award.  When chronic injury forced her retirement from athletics, she turned to coaching and mentoring athletes, including for relays.  She coaches sprints and middle distance twice a week at her old high School.  

She has displayed significant leadership over time, including being Captain of Athletics and Cross-Country while at school.

With her focus, commitment to excellence, community spirit, leadership skills, and vision for her future, the Selection Panel considers that Lotte will make an outstanding contribution to Australia in her future career. 

This Scholarship was donated by the Goodeve Foundation.

Brianna Harris

Brianna is undertaking a Bachelor of Exercise and Sport Science at Charles Darwin University.  Originally from the rural community of Naracoorte in South Australia, she moved to Darwin to undertake her degree, where she is training to be a physiotherapist.  After completing her undergraduate qualification, she wishes to pursue a Master of Physiotherapy. 

Her career direction has been strongly influenced by her community activities in basketball in Naracoorte, as well as by her family’s involvement in health care and allied health.  In Naracoorte, she has given back to the community as a junior netball coach, umpire and sports trainer. Committed to fitness as well as to understanding the debilitating impact of sporting injuries, Brianna wants to ensure rural communities, particularly those in remote areas, have greater access to exercise and rehabilitation services. 

With her strong academic performance, her clear-eyed view of her future career, her commitment to community, and her engaging personality, the panel considered Brianna would become a strong and respected leader in a rural community, which would benefit from her engagement.  She would also benefit financially from the Scholarship, more so given the placements required by the course, the inability to work during such placements, and the high travel costs involved in living and working far from home. 

Brianna’s Scholarship was donated by Mr Nicholas Paspaley AC, who is also a member of the Board of the Order of Australia Association Foundation.

Hukam Kohli

Hukam is undertaking a Law/Commerce Degree at the University of Western Australia.

The son of Punjabi migrants, Hukam is a high achieving student who has both given back to and benefitted from his association with the Sikh community in Perth.  But over and above that, notwithstanding the financial challenges faced by him and his family, he has helped others, including fund raising for children in Malawi and baking sweets for the Red Dust Foundation.

Hukam’s defining attribute is his deep commitment to making a difference by working in the Law to protect individual rights and to promote fairness within the legal system.  In 2021, he won ‘The Ian Goodenough MP Excellence in the Field of Law Award’ and ‘The Law and Society WA Award for Most Outstanding Student in Politics and Law’, complemented by contributing as a content contributor to “The ATAR Survival Guide, Perth’ for the Politics and Law subject.  He has received direct admission to UWA Juris Doctor Law program, and envisions that being supplemented by obtaining a Bachelor of Civil Laws from Oxford University. 

With his maturity; comprehensive and thoughtful view of the world; authenticity; and demonstrable leadership capabilities, the panel were convinced that Hukam would make a significant contribution to Australia in the law and to the communities in which he lives and operates.

Hukam’s Scholarship was donated by the McCusker Charitable Foundation.

Roisin Wallace-Nash

Roisin is undertaking a Bachelor of Performing Arts at WAAPA at Edith Cowan University, with the desire to pursue an Honours year.

Roisin is ambitious for Australia and the performing arts.  She aspires to be a prominent performer and deviser of innovative contemporary Australian theatre.  In so doing, she is inspired both by her Irish ancestry and the communities who have supported her along her journey.  She wants to take her works globally, including to London so that Australian voices and stories are heard around the world.

Roisin has given back to the community in her area of art practice, teaching primary school students and running free open classes for high school students. She has also supported her peers and colleagues, who like her, have moved away from home, by placing high importance on support for both physical and mental health in a high stress environment.

With her very strong academic performance, the panel were impressed by Roisin’s leadership skills, her self awareness, her vision for the future, her adaptability, her passion and her connectedness to community.  She is a leader who is determined to make a difference in the world of the performing arts, which is underpinned by maturity and a strong sense of her own identity.  She would also benefit greatly from a mentorship and financially from the award of the Scholarship.

Roisin’s Scholarship was donated by the Western Australia Branch of the Order of Australia Association.

Luke Barron

Deakin University, undertaking a Bachelor of Marine Science. The Scholarship was donated by the Order of Australia Association.