Ambassadors 2009

The 2009 NSW Seniors Week Ambassadors lent their names, energy and time to challenge some of society's stereotypes around ageing and raise awareness of the valuable contributions seniors continue to make to our community.

STUART WAGSTAFF AM is one of Australia’s most respected actors and media personalities. He has played many leading man roles including Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Stuart’s television career began with Studio A for Channel 7 in Sydney and in 1965 he took the role of the Beast in the daytime panel show Beauty and the Beast. Stuart has remained active in theatre and television making regular appearances in series such as GP, Rafferty’s Rules and All Saints and he is an international ambassador for the Variety Club, patron of the Actors Benevolent Fund and patron of Stamford House, a half-way house for people with HIV/AIDS.

BRUCE ELDER is a journalist and author. He has been involved in writing more than 60 books including Blood on the Wattle and the internet travel guide Walkabout. He is the Australian editor of Trivial Pursuit and has worked as a print and radio journalist in both London and Sydney. Bruce is an award-winning journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald as well as a weekly guest on ABC Radio’s Tony Delroy’s Nightlife program.

WARREN FAHEY AM is a social historian, folklorist, author and performer. He has built a distinguished career as a record producer and broadcaster and has been honoured with many awards including Member of the Order of Australia in 1996, Australian Music Industry Person of the Year in 2000 and the Bush Laureate Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004. Warren is a keen folklore collector and 2009 sees the ABC release his collection of 10 CDs that tell Australia’s history from convict days to the present.

MUNGO MACCALLUM is a journalist, political commentator and author and lives on the north coast of NSW. He has worked for most of Australia’s major media outlets, including The Australian, The Australian Financial Review, ABC, SBS and written for Penthouse. His books include Mungo’s Canberra and Poll Dancing: The story of the 2007 Election. Mungo’s hobbies include reading, theatre, body surfing, bush-walking, travelling, gardening, watching sport and lunching. He lives with his partner, has two daughters and is a proud grandfather to his granddaughter.

BRIAN MCGUIGAN AM Is one of the wine industry’s most versatile and well-known figures. He is the former managing director and a current director of McGuigan Simeon Wines Limited and has been at the forefront of the Australian wine industry for more than 35 years. Using his skills as a wine maker, viticulturist, marketer and communication specialist, he takes his wines all over Australia and around the world. Brian founded the Wyndham Estate Wine Company in the 1970s.

JON LAM is an actor and a long time carer. He has had a varied career including positions at the ABC and with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He grew up in Nuigini speaking fluent Pidgin English and is an inspired cook. Since discovering acting he has appeared on stage, film and television, most recently in the new Australian play Codgers. He keeps fit and active by walking, Qigong and membership of a Centre for Healthy Ageing gym.

MARILYN JONES OBE is regarded as one of Australia’s finest ballerinas. She studied at the Royal Ballet School in London and joined the Borovansky Ballet in 1959 where her acclaimed partnership with Garth Welch began. Marilyn joined the Australian Ballet as a principal dancer in 1962 and was artistic director of the Australian Ballet between 1979 and 1981 where she founded The Dancers Company. She taught and coached ballet extensively prior to her retirement in 2005 and was lecturer in classical dance at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).

NANCYE HAYES OAM is an actor, dancer, singer, choreographer and director. She began her career in J.C. Williamson’s production of My Fair Lady in 1961 and in 2008 starred in it alongside Richard E. Grant. In 1967 Nancye established her name in the title role in Sweet Charity and since then has sung and danced her way through a cavalcade of musical successes and recently finished a sell-out season of Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks with Todd McKenney for the Ensemble Theatre. Nancye is honoured to have received two Lifetime Achievement Awards — from the Variety Club and from the Green Room Awards Association.

RON BARR AM is the founder of Youth Insearch and since 1985 over 30,000 young people have participated in the national program. He received the Order of Australia Medal in 1995 for services to youth and in 2000 was named the Paul Harris Fellow, the highest honour in Rotary as he has also received a Malvern Jones Fellow from Lions International, their highest award.

ITA BUTTROSE AO, OBE has an impressive career in print, radio and television. She is a businesswoman, journalist and author and at age 33 became the youngest-ever editor of The Australian Women’s Weeklyand was the first woman to edit a major metropolitan daily newspaper in Australia. Ita is a national patron of the Macular Degeneration Foundation and has co-authored “Eating for Eye Health — the Macular Degeneration Cookbook”. Ita also hosts Ita’s Broadwayon Foxtel.

ELIZABETH EVATT AC has had a distinguished and respected career in law since graduating from the University of Sydney in 1955. She is a trailblazer for women’s rights becoming the first chief judge of the Family Court of Australia and the first woman to preside in an Australian Federal Court. Elizabeth was chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and in 2003 became a commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, based in Geneva. She is an honorary visiting professor of the University of New South Wales and sits on the board of management of the Human Rights Centre of the Faculty of Law. Elizabeth has a daughter and two grandchildren and maintains activities such as cycling, swimming, walking and playing the piano.

PAT WOODLEY is an internationally accredited communications and corporate image consultant based in Sydney. She is a television and radio presenter, newspaper columnist and sought-after media consultant and works with all personnel from receptionists to key corporate executives and their families in the areas of communication, etiquette, presentation and style. Pat also does complete makeovers for personal clients including colours, cosmetics and wardrobe selection for both men and women.

GRAHAM ROSS is a gardening presenter on television and radio. He presents his popular weekly program The Garden Clinic on 2GB and he is the gardening specialist on Channel 7’s popular lifestyle program Better Homes and Gardens. Graham’s knowledge and passion for plants, gardens and cultural traditions is unsurpassed. Graham has won many awards in radio, television and the horticultural industry and was a trustee of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens for ten years.

MARY SCHNEIDER is an international recording artist and is one of Australia’s best known musicians, most notably for her yodelling talent. Mary has worked on television and radio and is a multi-award winner of the coveted MO Award for Best Vocal/ Instrumental Performer plus many more song writing awards. She has become a cult figure throughout the world thanks to the popularity of Yodelling The Classics — Volumes 1 and 2 and was chosen as one of the great Australian icons alongside Kylie, Lifesavers and redback spiders in a documentary on UK/TV.

LORRAINE BAYLY AM has become a household name for her acting in theatre, television and film. Her career which spans over 50 years, has seen her perform in some of Australia’s best known and much loved television programs and films including The Sullivans and The Man from Snowy River. She is a founding member of the Ensemble Theatre Company and her theatre credits include Death of a Salesman, The Last Yankee and The Shoe-Horn Sonata.

FLORENCE ZACCARIA is a yoga teacher and at the age of 91 continues to teach weekly classes at Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL, which she has done for 37 years. She began learning Hatha Yoga at the age of 28 and embarked on a lifetime of study, teaching and dedication to this art form. Florence participated in Australia’s first ever health and exercise program for Channel Nine television in 1959 called Relaxing with Roma. Throughout her lifetime she has touched thousands of lives with her knowledge and her meditations.

SUSAN RYAN AO served as Minister for Education and Youth Affairs and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on the Status of Women in the Hawke government. She was a founding member of the Women’s Electoral Lobby in Canberra and has continued to be an effective advocate for the status of women, equal opportunity in employment and human rights. Since 2005 she has chaired a community campaign for a human rights act for Australia. She now chairs the Australian Human Rights Group which supports the objective for better protection of human rights for all. Susan is chair of the trustee board of the IAG/NRMA Superannuation Plan and she is also a frequent media commentator on superannuation, politics, education and women’s employment and income.

AUNTY MILLIE INGRAM is a Wiradjuri woman from Cowra in Central NSW. She has worked for Aboriginal rights all of her life, at community level, in childcare, employment and education. Millie worked for the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and then worked as the elected representative for the NSW Aboriginal Land Council for the Wiradjuri region. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer for the Wyanga Aboriginal Aged Care Program based in Redfern, caring for Aboriginal Elders in their own homes. Her ambition is for the Commonwealth Government to provide a culturally appropriate aged care facility in Sydney for Aboriginal Elders to help bridge the 23-year life expectancy gap between Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal Australians. Millie is a strong supporter of the process of reconciliation.

PENELOPE SEIDLER AM is an architect, accountant and patron of the arts. She has been a member of the New York Museum of Modern Arts’ International Council since 1973, and a former member of the National Gallery of Australia. Penelope married Harry Seidler in 1958, was awarded a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney and joined Seidler and Associates in 1964 as architect and financial manager. The Seidler’s fought for progressive aesthetic values for Sydney — backing Utzon for the Opera House, preventing demolition of modern architectural heritage and commissioning works by Le Corbusier, Frank Stella, Alexander Calder and Sol LeWitt. Harry Seidler passed away in March 2006 after a long illness.