Businessman Richard Goyder has been named West Australian of the Year for 2021. The successful businessman who was formerly the CEO of Westfarmers, is currently the Chair of QANTAS, West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Telethon, Woodside, the Australian Football League and diabetes not-for-profit JDRF.
Alongside his success in business, Goyder has also overseen millions of dollars for charities, and last year steered Telethon to achieve its greatest success in its long history when it raised 46.3 million dollars.
In his acceptance speech he encouraged other West Australians to proactively do things that helped fellow citizens, saying it was to easy to be a critic from the sidelines.
Goyder was named the winner of the Community category of the awards, and was also named the over winner at a gala event held at the Ballroom of Crown Towers on Friday night. OUTinPerth co-editor and owner Leigh Andrew Hill was a finalist in the Community category of the awards.
Julia Redwood, film producer and co-founder of Prospero Productions was the winner in the Business category. Redwood formed the Fremantle based production company with then business partner Ed Punchard over 30 years ago. It was recently announced that Redwood had taken over as the sole owner of the business, which now features an all female management team.
The company has created hundreds of hours of documentary programs, and Redwood used her acceptance speech to highlight the massive amount of income generated by the creative industries, saying the creative sectors output was often overlooked in a state dominated by mining and resources.
Alec Coles, the head of the WA Museum, was the winner in the Arts and Culture category. In recent years he’s overseen the refurbishment of the museum’s city facilities which re-opened in 2020 after years of building works.
Karla Hart was named the winner of the Aboriginal Award. Hart created the first program on Noongar Radio that was delivered entirely in Noongar language, and is an acclaimed film maker, actor and dancer.
Kendall Whyte was the winner in the youth category. She founded the Blue Tree Project after the death of her brother Jayden. The suicide prevention project sees people painting trees blue to stand as a reminder to have the difficult conversations that need to be had.
The winner of the Professions Award was Professor Jonathan Carapetis. The Streptococcus A infections and rheumatic heart disease specialist is also the executive director of the Telethon Kids Institute and president of the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes.
Hotelier Murray McHendry was awarded the award in the sports category. He was central to the formation of the West Coast Eagles and until 2019 served as the Chair of the WA Football Commission.
OIP Staff
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