King's Birthday Honours shine light on years of unheralded human decency

Sydney Morning Herald

08-06-2025

There were times in the last six decades when Wendy Rowe had doubts she could go on.
Her daughter, Lynette, was born without limbs in 1962.
The devastating disability was caused by the drug thalidomide, which Wendy was prescribed for morning sickness when she was pregnant.
A doctor advised Wendy and her late husband Ian to admit baby Lynette to an institution because she would probably live for only six months.
Instead, the couple took Lynette home to their house in Nunawading in Melbourne's east, loved and cared for her, and became her staunch advocates.
Wendy is still by her daughter's side and Lynette is a cherished daughter, sister and auntie.
Lynette describes her Mum as 'a wonder woman' and says Wendy well deserves her OAM in the King's Birthday Honours list which has the citation, 'for service to the community through thalidomide awareness'.
'She's awesome,' said Lynette of Wendy, who has advocated for Lynette and other disabled thalidomide survivors for most of her life.
'I'm very lucky to have somebody like that,' Lynette said.
Wendy reflects now: 'I'm amazed that I've been able to be so strong, actually. I thought I was a bit of a mouse. But when I think back, I have been pretty strong.'
She describes fighting battles from the start, from finding clothes, mobility aids and therapy for Lynette, to dealing with a fever at 11 months that left Lynette in a coma, to handling nasty comments from strangers.
In 2012, Lynette was lead plaintiff in a litigation that yielded a multimillion dollar settlement between Diageo, the company that bought the drug's Australian distributor, and more than 100 thalidomide survivors.
For Lynette, her share funded equipment including a state-of-the-art wheelchair, a modern van and computers and extra care if she needs it in future.
Wendy says it's a weight off her mind, 'to feel that Lyn's going to be catered for, that there will be someone there to keep her safe'.
In 2011, developer Watersun Homes built a brick home, pro bono, for Wendy, Lynette and Ian, with a purpose-built bathroom, ceiling hoists, and technology allowing Lynette to remotely open doors.
Lynette can now get out to chat to neighbours, go to local shopping centres, to the pool and to galleries. And Wendy can go out separately to meet friends for coffee.
Wendy, whose husband Ian died in 2019, insists she did what any Mum would have, but Lynette says some people don't have relatives to support them.
'You're a special mum,' she said. The honour was 'fantastic' and well deserved, Lynette said. 'Because she's a wonder woman. She's there if I need her.'
For their unpaid work, the couple each receive an OAM in the King's Birthday honours.
They volunteer one night a week for the charity Carevan, handing out free meals and groceries from Apex Park, 1 kilometre from the Wangaratta CBD, near the Ovens River.
The Houghtons have also fostered children for 19 years, and are active in Lions clubs that fundraise for charity.
Jennefer volunteers with an after-hours school in Wangaratta that teaches children road safety.
Along with a busy roster of volunteering, the Houghtons own Koffie Bean Cafe in Wangaratta. John also owns an insurance company franchise and Jennefer works in a supermarket office.
The couple said while it was nice to be acknowledged with a King's Birthday Honour, they don't seek recognition.
John said: 'We've been very lucky in the town for a long time, and we're in a situation where we want to be able to give back.'
He said some of Carevan's clients sleep in tents, are couch-surfing or live alone and come for the company.
John has seen clients who are sleeping in their car because their landlord has put up the rent by $20, they have lost their job and can't afford their accommodation, and they have nowhere else to live.
Jennefer says: 'We try to offer them as much help as we can. We give them blankets, beanies and scarves, and make sure they get a shopping bag full of food.'
One young woman was camping and couldn't get a job without a fixed address. Jennefer found her a job in a shop, where two years later, she still works.
Jennefer said Carevan is 'not just for the homeless, it's for anyone in need'.
'We don't ask questions, and we don't turn anyone away,' she said.
The Houghtons and six friends started Carevan in Wangaratta in 2010, after seeing a similar food van running in Albury, 70 kilometres away. Theirs operates four nights a week, year-round, except for Christmas Day.
Jennefer says the van is not connected to a religion or group. It gets no government funding and runs thanks to donations.
It costs about $12,000 annually to run. Local supermarkets contribute food and community groups help to cook.
Rural City of Wangaratta mayor Irene Grant said the Houghtons' OAMs are well-deserved and they had 'made a meaningful difference to the lives of many in Wangaratta'.
'We thank you for your leadership and dedication to the wellbeing of our community,' Grant said.
Richard Knight has featured in thousands of customers' photos, usually anonymously, as a volunteer train driver for more than 40 years with Mooroolbark Miniature Railway, in Melbourne's outer east.
He has been the railway's treasurer since 1981, but he also built many of its trains.
They were all petrol-fuelled until, three years ago, Knight's daughter Katrina asked him to build an electric train.
The result is a pint-sized replica of the full-size trains that Katrina drives across Melbourne as a Metro Trains driver.
Last month Knight proudly showed the new miniature train to a delegation from V/Line and Metro.
Knight has received an OAM in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours list, which also recognises the 162 blood donations he has made in 44 years.
The blood donations were inspired by his late wife Margaret needing transfusions after their twins Anne and Russell were born in 1973.
Knight realised that donations of his B negative type blood, one of the rarest types, could help save other people's lives.
Knight also spent 13 years, until 2020, driving about 2000 patients to and from Box Hill hospital, and currently he is the treasurer of Mooroolbark Men's Shed.
His love of trains started as a child, when Knight and his three brothers played with Hornby 00 model train sets.
In 1980, Knight was working as an accountant when the then-Shire of Lilydale asked for volunteers to run the miniature railway it planned to build at Kiloran Park, Mooroolbark.
Knight's four children grew up riding the miniature trains, and Knight's fellow volunteers became friends.
He says volunteering at the railway makes him happy, as does donating money to over a dozen charities. 'It gives you a good feeling.'
As an instructor in taekwondo for over 60 years, Jack Rozinszky still gets a kick out of practising the martial art.
At 84 years old, the founder of the Melbourne Taekwondo Centre continues to teach at black belt level and enjoys seeing the achievements of his students, some of whom have competed in the Olympic Games.
Rozinszky, who fled southern Hungary as a 16-year-old in 1956, said receiving an OAM for service to taekwondo meant recognition of him as an Australian.
As a child, Rozinszky survived the bombing of his house in Hungary during World War II, and then lived under a decade of communist rule.
He said after a brief revolution in 1956, communist troops returned and he narrowly escaped gunfire when they shot into a meeting of residents outside a town hall.
With his parents' blessing, Rozinszky fled with a friend to Yugoslavia and they spent a year in detention before gaining permission to migrate to Australia.
Being a sporty person, while he worked in factory jobs in Melbourne, Rozinszky took martial arts classes at the Silver Top Taxi self defence club in West Melbourne.
'In 1963, Mr Kim, a judo instructor, visited from Korea and he did a sort of taekwondo [which was then called Tang Soo Do] but from the army style of training, and he showed us all the techniques and the jumping kicks and self defence component.
'I decided, 'That's my style, I want to learn it'. It had a lot of moving actions, and I wanted to move.'
Rozinszky started teaching taekwondo in a hall in Barkly Street, St Kilda. He married his girlfriend, a New Zealander, Valerie, in 1967 and on their honeymoon, they sailed to Japan and then Korea to train, and it was in Seoul that he earned his first black belt.
Now, in 2025, Rozinszky's Melbourne Taekwondo Centre has 15 training centres, and his son, Andrew, is head instructor.
Disaster struck last October when their Glen Waverley head training centre burned down.
Jack assured Andrew they would rebuild, and after operating from a school hall for six months, they opened a new head studio in a Mount Waverley business park six weeks ago.