2004 Queensland Greats recipients

The Queensland Greats honoured in 2004 were:

• Professor Julie H Campbell AO
• Hugh Cornish AM
• Dr Richard Lewandowski
• William Robinson AO
• Nicholas (Nick) Xynias AO BEM.

Professor Julie H Campbell AO
Research scientist and mentor

Professor Julie H Campbell AO is a cell biologist recognised as a world leader in the field of smooth muscle biology. Julie’s experience has taken her to various medical institutes with her scientific research recognised with a Wellcome Australia Medal in 2005, election to the Australian Academy of Science in 2000, Centenary Medal in 2003 and an Order of Australia in 2006. Her research achievements include the discovery of smooth muscle plasticity and its relevance to vascular disease, as well as development of ‘grow-your-own’ vascular grafts from cells of bone marrow origin using the abdominal cavity as a bioreactor.

Hugh Cornish AM
Media pioneer

Hugh Cornish AM is a television veteran who pioneered television in Queensland and was the first face to appear on Queensland screens in 1959. His contributions to the television industry, the arts and the community have been many and varied throughout his career. Among his achievements, Hugh has been a recording artist, radio announcer, television presenter and executive producer. He is also a committed fundraiser and charity worker, who has raised millions of dollars through telethons and supported many other charities that service Queensland’s disadvantaged.

Dr Richard Lewandowski
Plastic and reconstructive surgeon

Dr Richard Lewandowski is one of Australia’s most respected cranio-facial surgeons who specialises in rebuilding faces. In 1999, Richard and his wife founded the Australian chapter of Operation Smile, a worldwide not-for-profit organisation dedicated to providing reconstructive cranio-facial surgery to children and young adults in developing countries. Operation Smile has brought children from the Philippines, Vietnam, New Guinea and Timor to Brisbane for life-changing operations.

William Robinson AO
Artist

William Robinson AO is a talented landscape painter working in the European tradition, and for decades trained, taught and exhibited almost annually. He won the Archibald Prize for Portraiture in 1987 and 1995, and the Wynne Prize for Landscape in 1990 and 1996. His work was the subject of a major retrospective that travelled from Queensland Art Gallery to the National Gallery of Australia in 2001 and is one of the few Australian artists to have been collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. During his long teaching career, William guided generations of artists at a range of Brisbane art colleges.

Nicholas (Nick) Xynias AO BEM
Champion of multiculturalism

The late Nick Xynias AO BEM was co-founder of the Ethnic Communities Council of Australia and one of Queensland’s most prolific voices for ethnic diversity. Across several decades Nick was involved in numerous boards and advisory councils, and established and maintained avenues for individuals from diverse backgrounds to access services in Queensland. Nick became increasingly involved with aged care issues at an advocacy and policy level, and determined that nursing homes and hostels should be sensitive to the needs of different cultural groups. This led him to establish the first multicultural nursing home in Australia.