David Elliott and Emma McKeon among Queensland’s 2024 Australian of the Year Award recipients

Among Queensland’s 2024 Australian of the Year Award recipients are co-founder of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History and outback tourism operator, David Elliott OAM (2024 Local Hero for Queensland) and Australia’s most successful Olympian and UNICEF Ambassador Emma McKeon (2024 Young Australian of the Year).

David Elliott’s chance discovery of a dinosaur fossil during routine sheep mustering in 1999 led to the revival of Australia’s palaeontology field – and the creation of a palaeo-tourism industry that put outback Queensland on the map.

Elliott’s initial fossil discovery was followed by others. As palaeontologists began to return to the region to investigate, Elliott and his wife Judy founded the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History in 2002 as a not-for-profit charity.

The Museum first operated on the couple’s property, where they conducted dinosaur digs and built an impressive collection of fossils. Later, it was moved onto donated land.

Today, it houses Australia’s most significant collection of fossils from the country’s largest dinosaurs. A major tourist attraction, it serves as a centre for Australian paleontological research and discovery in Australia.

Elliott was recognised for his contributions to science with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2015.

Australia’s most successful Olympian and UNICEF Ambassador Emma McKeon AM was announced as 2024 Young Australian of the Year for Queensland.

McKeon is the most successful Australian Olympian of all time – a title she claimed before her 28th birthday. Back in 2012, Emma just missed out on being chosen for the London Olympics. She took a break, but rediscovered her passion and went on to make a splash at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she claimed six medals from six races.

At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Emma became the first female swimmer and the second woman in history to win seven medals in a single Olympics. She has also broken Commonwealth Games, Olympic and World records.

Now aged 29, Emma has other titles to her name. In 2022 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, and in 2023 she was named Gold Coast Young Australian of the Year.

The founder of the Men of Business (MOB) Academy Marco Renai is the 2024 Australian of the Year for Queensland. The MOB Academy provides leadership and mentoring programs to support at-risk young men for a brighter future.  MOB is a federal and state-funded accredited academy with two branches, 35 passionate staff, thousands of past graduates and 195 thriving students.

2024 Senior Australian of the Year for Queensland was announced as Havafeed Relief Founders Reverend Robyn and Reverend Dr Lindsay Burch

There were 17 nominees who were celebrated and recognised for their outstanding achievements, with five recipients announced for the four awards.

The Queensland recipients will join those from the other states and territories for the national Australia Day awards, which will be held in Canberra on 25 January, the eve of Australia Day 2024.

Marco Renai is founder of Men of Business (MOB) Academy. The senior secondary school focuses on empowering at-risk-young men with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to be happy, healthy and successful.

After experiencing troubles at school as a teen and later volunteering in youth justice, Marco realised there were no programs for young men who struggled to engage with life and education. Inspired by his Italian heritage, which holds that family, food and doing good can make a difference, he piloted the first MOB program in 2011.

For more information on the Australian of the Year Awards, visit www.australianoftheyear.org.au

The Australian of the Year Awards is a program of the National Australia Day Council, managed in Queensland by the Queensland Government.