A firefighter, an historian and a bell ringer are among Sydney Anglicans honoured in the King's Birthday honours. 

For Chief Superintendent Graham Kingsland, of Glenbrook, the awarding of the Australian Fire Service Medal recognised 30 years work, including his recent participating in Urban search and rescue after the Turkish earthquake.

He also helped guide Fire and Rescue NSW through the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his career, he has been a firefighter at various stations in Sydney and participated in major incident response such as the Glenbrook train crash and Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu.

Mr Kingsland, a member of Springwood parish, said he was humbled by the award

Education awards

Educator and historian Dr Stuart Braga was honoured with an Medal of the Order of Australia for for contributions to education administration and community history.

As an educational administrator, Stuart was at Trinity Grammar School as Senior Master and was President of the Teachers’ Guild of NSW. He was Chair of the Awards Committee of the Australian College of Educators. He is a Fellow and Life Member of both organisations.

In community history, Dr Braga has written several major books on military history and family history. 

"At our age (mid 80s) this award is lovely recognition of the many different ways that Stuart has looked to develop young people in his time as an educator and then in telling people’s stories in his work since his retirement, so the recognition is welcome and will mean much to our families as well," his wife, Patricia, said after the announcement.

"The Honours List contains the names of many people whose service to Australia has been massive, so we are very touched that the Honours Secretariat has seen fit to include Stuart."

Also honoured with an OAM for education administration was Mrs Catherine Crouch.

Mrs Crouch, a lay Canon of St Andrews Cathedral, since 2015 and a Co-leader of Women's Groups, St Thomas' North Sydney, has had extensive involved with Barker College. She is a former Deputy chair and Board member, and assisted in the establishment of Barker's Indigenous Education Program. 

Calling the congregation

Pam Brock has been ringing the bells at St Paul’s Burwood for almost 60 years and in the honours was awarded an OAM. Mrs Brock started ringing when she was 19 and says “I love the teamwork involved, working together combining physical coordination and mental alertness to produce the unique sound of bells."  

Mrs Brock thinks it is important to ring the bells every week. “It calls the congregation and lets them know there will be a service at the church”. 

She said she was amazed and humbled to receive the Medal of the Order of Australia, and thanks the community of St Paul’s, and especially the person who first encouraged her into bell ringing. 

As she said, “It’s been a life-time of enjoyment”.

The Governor-General, his Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley, congratulated all those who were honoured in the list. "Recipients have made substantial contributions and had a significant impact at the local, national or international level. Some are volunteers, others have had a remarkable impact in professional roles – many have done both. They are all inspiring and their service is valued by us all,” the Governor-General said. 

"Each recipient has something in common: someone nominated them. The Order of Australia belongs to each of us because nominations come from the community. In honouring today's recipients, I also encourage all Australians to consider nominating someone they admire who has had a significant impact in the community."

Main photo: from right, Mrs Brock, Chief Superintendent Kingsland and Dr Braga