Richard Barry seeks updates to shire’s national honours board

Narrabri resident Richard Barry recently addressed Narrabri Shire Council about updating an Australian honours board in the shire.

Mr Barry spoke in the public forum component of the August meeting, and said that The Order of Australia Association New England and North West Regional Group had raised the matter of an honour board with the council in July 2020.

More recently, the matter has come up again and the need to update the board with new recipients. Mr Barry had also sought to include people who were recognised for service to Narrabri Shire but received their national honour after leaving the shire.

Addressing the meeting, Mr Barry said it had been discovered that the council did not have a formal process for maintaining names on the honour board.

“Since my initial proposal a new policy has been formulated setting out a clear process for updating awardees each February,” he said.

“I have no vested interest in this matter as my name was inscribed on the existing honour board several years ago.”

Mr Barry, a Medal of the Order of Australia recipient, also tabled a list of questions. The council later tabled its responses with the meeting documents.

In Mr Barry’s query, he had supplied a list of names for investigation and possible inclusion, including: Shanna Whan (AM), David Anthony (AM), Les Nott (AFSM), and John Dunnet, Dennis Lowder and Pamela Thomas (all OAM).

In its response, the council said some of the recipients had chosen not to have their locality disclosed through the Australian Honours Search Facility. But those individuals were widely celebrated for their respective honours at the time, with their citation details and locations published in The Courier.

Dennis Lowder, of Wee Waa, received a Medal of the Order of Australia “for service to veterans, and to the community of Wee Waa”.

Shanna Whan, of Maules Creek, was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to community health.

Other recipients had left the shire and had different localities in other parts of NSW or even Queensland.

Three recipients with locations outside Narrabri Shire received their national honours predominantly for services to Narrabri.

David Anthony was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia for “significant service to the agricultural sector, and to the community of Narrabri”.

John Dunnet received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the print media industry, including as co-proprietor and managing director of the North Western Courier from the 1970s to 2007. Pamela Thomas was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia “for service to the communities of Narrabri and Hervey Bay”.

Responding to Mr Barry’s suggestion of including the recipients, the council said it should only be updating official documents or records based off publicly available and reputable information (such as the Australian Honours Search Facility) or if provided the information and approval to make it publicly available by the person themselves.

“Perhaps a compromise would be to add a line to the policy that allowed people who are not identified in the search facility under the parameters prescribed in the policy to be added at the GM’s discretion by way of the person making contact with council and advising they wish to be recognised on the board,” the response states.

Mr Barry queried if the council had approached the recipients and if they provided written confirmation that they do not want their names included.

“I contacted one of these people on 26 August, 2026, and he confirmed that the council had not contacted him regarding his inclusion or omission. In fact, he knew nothing about the proposed honour board, and when asked, was very happy to be included,” he said. “I advocate that irrespective of what is recorded on the Australian Honours Search Facility these people, who lived in the Narrabri district, should be contacted immediately and given the opportunity to have their names listed.

“As you know it can sometimes take years between nomination and the final announcement and people move on for various reasons. To simply ignore them would be unfair and unacceptable.”