Sharman Stone receives AM, reflects on career

Is it for her two decades of service as Federal Member for Murray from 1996 to 2016?

Is it for her years of work dedicated to education, working and lecturing for Monash University and La Trobe University?

Is it for her impact working on First Nations affairs through her various parliamentary roles and the Aboriginal Reconciliation Council?

Is it for her continued advocacy for the advancement of women as the Australian Ambassador for Women and Girls, including years spent overseas working with women and girls in rural communities?

Is it for her co-founding the Parliamentarians for the Prevention of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders and its achievements?

You get the picture.

The medal is officially awarded for “significant service to the people and Parliament of Australia, and to the community through executive positions”.

Basically, Dr Stone is receiving the award for all of the above.

The Order of Australia medal was established in 1975 by Queen Elizabeth II.

Dr Stone is receiving a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) medal, a tier higher than a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), in the general division.

The general division is a service in a particular locality or field of activity or to a particular group.

“It’s a great honour,” Dr Stone said.

“I understand it’s (the award) not about business as usual, you know, your job was ‘X’, so you just did ‘X’.

“It’s about not just your job but your life, about going above and beyond.

“So it’s a great honour.”

Dr Stone was born in Pyramid Hill, Victoria, into a small community of about 400 people.

This is where her love for community engagement and regional Victoria came from.

It was the sort of town where if you wanted something done, you’d have to get the community together, pitch in, raise funds and complete it yourself.

Dr Stone’s family was deeply entrenched in the local council, committees and clubs.

“Being involved in the community was in my DNA,” she said.

“It’s just what you did.”

Dr Stone ran for and won the federal seat of Murray (now Nicholls) at the 1996 election, after she was told to effectively fill a spot for the Liberal Party as it was the “safest National Party seat in the state”.

With essentially no financial backing from the party, she formed relationships with local businesses and community members before eventually assembling a dedicated team of volunteers that ultimately helped her do the impossible.

The rest, or the following two decades anyway, is history.

Dr Stone said her career and life were defined by those incredible people she’d met along the way, including her family, who had just blessed her with her 12th grandchild this month.

This award is as much for them as it is for Dr Stone.

She’s particularly proud her father, a veteran and former prisoner of war now in his 90s, is alive to see her receive the honour.

It also made her reflect on everything her mother did for her and her siblings, as a woman born in 1924 who was denied an education simply because she was a “girl on a farm”.

“She was an inspiration, she did it tough,” Dr Stone said.

“The day each of her four children were born, she booked each of us into boarding school.

“She was determined we would have the education she didn’t.”

Her mother’s resilience and determination led Dr Stone to pursue a career for the greater good, focusing on ensuring women everywhere would have the opportunities her mum didn’t.