Ten extra invitations to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral have been allocated for a group of “everyday Australians”.
Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott is among 10 Australians to travel to London for the official funeral on Monday, along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Governor-General David Hurley.
The ten ‘normal’ Australians invited to the Queen’s funeral
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Buckingham Palace asked to invite 10 “everyday” citizens who had made significant contributions to their communities.
Celebrity horse trainer Chris Waller, best known for training four-time Australian Horse of the Year winner Winx, is among them.
Trainer Chris Waller with Winx. (AP)
“We would like to think that Her Majesty would be particularly pleased that Chris Waller has been chosen,” Albanese said.
He also trained Her Majesty’s gelding Chalk Stream.
Danny Abdallah has also been invited. The Sydney dad lost his three children, Sienna, 8, Angelina, 12, and Antony, 13, and their cousin Veronique Sakr, 11, in a horror accident while they were getting ice cream on 2020
He and his wife Leila forgave the drug and alcohol-impaired driver, and founded i4give Day to help others who have suffered in the same way.
Retired police officer Kim Smith joined the Rotary Club and has made a name for herself through her volunteer work.
Danny Abdallah’s three children were killed by a drugged and drunk driver in Oatlands. (9 News)
“Kim oversaw the training and management of Reclink, which organizes sports activities for street youth to get clean, as well as the Young Women program, mentoring teenage girls who are survivors of abuse and neglect,” the Office stated of the Prime Minister (PMO). ) said.
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM has also been honored with an invitation.
The renowned artist, activist, writer and speaker was the first fully qualified Indigenous teacher in the Northern Territory.
She later became the principal of the Catholic school in her home community before being appointed to the government’s National Indigenous Council.
Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann, Kim Smith APM and Saba Abraham have been invited to the Queen’s funeral. (Supplied)
Woman Nauiyu Nambiyu was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia in 1998 for her service to the community and was named Senior Australian of the Year in 2021.
Daily invitations also include Saba Abraham, an advocate for multiculturalism and refugees.
He was instrumental in preventing the spread of COVID-19 in Queensland, bringing together leaders from culturally and linguistically diverse communities to ensure public health messages were translated in a timely manner.
Also in attendance will be Shanna Whan, founder of Sober in the Country, who shared her heartbreaking journey to sobriety.
2022 Shanna Whan, Australia’s local hero. (salty dingo)
“It is creating radical social impact and change around how we talk about and use alcohol in rural Australia,” the PMO said.
Young South Australian of the Year Dr Trudy Lin has been invited to the historic event.
“As the youngest of only 20 practicing specialists in Australia’s special needs dentistry sector, Dr Trudy Lin provides oral health care to people with disabilities, psychiatric illnesses and complex medical problems such as cancer,” she said the PMO
“It also treats people experiencing homelessness and domestic violence.”
Senior Australian of the Year Valmai Dempsey, better known as Val, is one of the ACT’s most committed and longest serving volunteers.
“In 2020, Val faced her biggest challenge yet as a St John’s Ambulance volunteer, first with the ‘Black Summer’ bushfires, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the PMO.
“In response, he led 40 fellow volunteers as they supported communities affected by the fire during the emergency that spanned many weeks.”
He met the Queen practically at Alcott’s side earlier this year.
Alcott made the Queen laugh in a video call in June when she joked about her success at Wimbledon.
The Queen talks to Australian of the Year winner Dylan Alcott. (Supplied/Buckingham Palace)
“Unfortunately, I won a couple of Wimbledon titles, I beat some players from Great Britain, which made me happy, but maybe not so much.”
Alcott then told the monarch that the reason she gets up every day “is to change perceptions” so that people with disabilities can “go out and live the lives they deserve to live.”
“Dylan is a world-class athlete who throughout his esteemed career has won multiple Paralympic gold medals in two sports, tennis grand slams and in 2016 became the first athlete with a disability to win the top individual honor of Tennis Australia, the Newcombe Medal.”
In 2009, Dylan received an Order of Australia medal for his service to sport as a gold medalist at the Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games.
The latest “Everyday Australian” to be invited to the Queen’s funeral is Professor Helen Milroy, Western Australia’s 2021 Australian of the Year.
Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin will travel from Balmoral to London ahead of her funeral on September 19. (9News/Tara Blancato)
Milroy was Australia’s first Indigenous doctor and has been a “pioneer” in research and training in the field of Aboriginal and child mental health.
“Helen has played a key role on numerous mental health advisory committees and boards, including the National Mental Health Commission and was appointed as a Commissioner to the Australian Government’s Royal Commission on Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse between 2013 and 2017.”
Returned Service League (RSL) president Greg Melick will attend to represent one of the Queen’s long-standing patrons.
Australia’s Acting High Commissioner to the UK Lynette Wood was the first Australian to meet King Charles III since his ascension.
He will also attend the funeral with partners of Albanese and Hurley.
“I was able to personally convey to Their Majesties the condolences of the government and people of Australia,” he said.
King Charles III, Princess Anne and members of the royal family join the procession of Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, Monday, September 12, 2022 King Charles arrived in Edinburgh on Monday and will accompany his late mother’s coffin in an emotional procession through the historic center of the Scottish capital to the cathedral, where it will remain for 24 hours to allow the public to pay their respects last tribute (Andrew Milligan/Pool Photo (AP)
The coffin will be moved south and eventually lie in Westminster Hall before a procession to Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, which is expected to start at around 10.50am on Monday (19: 50 AEST).
Queen Elizabeth’s coffin has left her Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands and been taken to Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, before a procession to St Giles’ Cathedral, where her hearse was escorted by her four children
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