Former Royal Agricultural Society of WA president honoured with OAM in King's 2025 Birthday Honours
The former president of the Royal Agricultural Society of WA said he was 'a bit taken aback' when he found out he had been awarded an OAM for his service to the WA community through a variety of organisations on June 9.
'Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would ever be put up for an OAM, or be nominated or receive one for that matter,' he said.
He said since finding out about his award on Sunday night his phone has been flooded with texts and phone calls from well-wishers congratulating him.
Mr Thomas said he did not know who nominated him, but said the nomination was 'humbling'.
'It's very humbling, and I must admit, it's an extreme honour,' he said.
'. . . You think that you would never, ever be considered in that stream.'
Mr Thomas was president of RASWA from July 2020 until 2023, when he handed the reigns to John Snowball.
He has also served as Australian Special Air services Association WA president, Claremont RSL sub-branch president, Boer War Memorial Society of WA, Pilbara Community Legal Service board member, secretary, and vice-chairperson, Floreat and District National Seniors vice president, RSLWA board member, and Hollywood Private Hospital consumer council.
Mr Thomas served 20 years in the Australian Army and about 10 years in the Special Air Service Regiment.
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'My name appeared in the recent King's Birthday 2025 Honours List, but it was not me,' says David Pigott of North Parramatta. 'However, I received a letter from my local club congratulating me on being awarded an OAM. I intend to frame the letter. Fellow C8-ers, mum's the word.' Brian Byrne of Flinders can get a little hung up on redundant terminology at times: 'The Bride and I had a chuckle when I opined that, in this weather, roofers' phones would be 'ringing off the hook'. We had to agree that the only valid word in this statement was 'the'.' Doing Tuesday's Superquiz, I learned that death cap mushrooms (very topical) were introduced to Australia,' notes Joe Barry of Lalor Park. 'The question is why?' Ian Costley of Belrose gets across the animal pedestrian (C8) discussion: 'Some years ago, visiting Tokyo, I noticed a group of police waiting patiently on the side of a six-lane freeway opposite the Imperial Palace with barricades, ready to close the road. My driver explained that it is an annual event when a mother duck and her ducklings decide to cross to the Imperial gardens. Lucky duck.' 'Cars and tool sheds are but two of many cane toad (C8) mitigation strategies,' reckons Tim Ingall of Scottsdale, Arizona, USA. 'Young lads working in the cane fields were known to play 'cane toad golf' at night with a 9-iron after a can or three of XXXX.' George Zivkovic of Northmead now provides his Gilligan's Island right of reply: 'Granny, with respect to those Gilligan's Island (C8) savants, alI I can say is that Casey Jones and Maynard G Krebs must have met on the mainland before deciding to move to Honolulu and team up and run that charter boat. I'm only disappointed that McHale and the crew of the PT73 didn't rescue the castaways.' 'With all this talk of Gilligan's Island, the unanswered question is: 'What happened to Ginger (who was allergic to cats)?'' asks Pasquale Vartuli of Wahroonga. We can report that Ginger (Tina Louise) is the last living castaway, at the ripe old age of 91. The last time Granny saw her strut her stuff was as Brad Pitt's record producer in the indie flick Johnny Suede.
West Australian
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Former Royal Agricultural Society of WA president honoured with OAM in King's 2025 Birthday Honours
Recent Medal of the Order of Australia recipient David Thomas is humble about his recognition, saying he never expected to have been named in the national honours. The former president of the Royal Agricultural Society of WA said he was 'a bit taken aback' when he found out he had been awarded an OAM for his service to the WA community through a variety of organisations on June 9. 'Not in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would ever be put up for an OAM, or be nominated or receive one for that matter,' he said. He said since finding out about his award on Sunday night his phone has been flooded with texts and phone calls from well-wishers congratulating him. Mr Thomas said he did not know who nominated him, but said the nomination was 'humbling'. 'It's very humbling, and I must admit, it's an extreme honour,' he said. '. . . You think that you would never, ever be considered in that stream.' Mr Thomas was president of RASWA from July 2020 until 2023, when he handed the reigns to John Snowball. He has also served as Australian Special Air services Association WA president, Claremont RSL sub-branch president, Boer War Memorial Society of WA, Pilbara Community Legal Service board member, secretary, and vice-chairperson, Floreat and District National Seniors vice president, RSLWA board member, and Hollywood Private Hospital consumer council. Mr Thomas served 20 years in the Australian Army and about 10 years in the Special Air Service Regiment.
