Australia Day honour for Phil Pyke

GRANTON resident Phil Pyke has today been named as one of several Tasmanians who will receive the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).

Mr Pyke, previously of Lachlan, has been recognised in the Australia Day Honours List for his service to the community.

A member of the Lachlan Fire Brigade and vice-president of the New Norfolk Sub-Branch of the RSL, Mr Pyke is a former police officer (1993-2007) who has also served overseas as a military peacekeeper.

Since leaving the police force in 2007 he has held a number of high-profile positions including media adviser to the Catholic Church in Tasmania (2008-13), spokesman for Fruit Growers Tasmania (2013-18) and most recently as chief exective officer of TasICT since last year.

Phil Pyke.

Mr Pyke has also been a senior military public affairs officer with the Australian Defence Force since 2001 and a member of the Tasmanian branch of the RSL since 2008. In 2001 he was the RSL Tasmania representative on the Frank MacDonald MM Memorial Prize Tour to Gallipoli.

He has been a fire service volunteer since 1983 and presently serves with the Lachlan Fire Brigade. Since 2005 he has been editor of the RSL Tasmania magazine On Service, and since 2015 he has been a member of the New Norfolk RSL Sub-Branch and its its vice-president.

Congratulations Phil and thank you for your service at home and abroad.

CONGRATULATIONS also to the former Federal Member for Lyons, Dick Adams, who has also been named a recipient of the OAM today.

Mr Adams, of Longford, has many friends in the Derwent Valley following his time as the local federal member from 1993-2013. He is honoured today for his service to the Parliaments of Australia and Tasmania, and to adult literacy.

Prior to his election to Federal Parliament in 1993, Mr Adams had been a member for Franklin in the Tasmanian Parliament from 1979-82, including service as the Minister for National Parks, Lands, Aged Care and Community Welfare. In 2014 he was elected as a councillor on the Northern Midlands Council and he was re-elected in 2018.