Australian of the Year: West Australian Aboriginal electrical construction jobs creator wins Local Hero award

Trailblazing astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg has been named the 2026 Australian of the Year, saying the door was now open for the nation to join “the forefront of human endeavour”.

The awards ceremony on Sunday was also a big night for WA, with the Local Hero category won by Frank Mitchell, a sparkie and business owner who has created jobs for hundreds of fellow Indigenous people.

The Whadjuk-Yued Noongar man said he was driven to throw others the same employment “lifeline” his uncle threw him - a mature age apprenticeship - after struggling at school, grieving the suicides of two close friends and feeling disconnected from his culture.

He was a single dad from a small rural community — and the opportunity “shifted” his life completely, giving him “pride, hope and stability”.

“It gave me the foundation to provide for my family and to grow into a leader within my community,” the 43-year-old told the awards ceremony in Canberra.

“I wanted to pass that opportunity on to other mob who like me might not yet believe that they had what it takes to complete an apprenticeship, to buy a home, to connect to community and lead.”

He became a business owner in 2015, starting out with just eight staff and $1.5 million in turnover.

Mr Mitchell is now behind four companies in the electrical and construction industry collectively employing more than 200 full-time staff.

Along with partners, he has created more than 70 Aboriginal upskilling positions in the sector including 30 electrical apprenticeships and awarding over $11 million to Aboriginal subcontractors.

“I now understand that work and education are not just about income or career progression,” Mr Mitchell said.

“They are determinants of health and well being.”

Ms Bennell-Pegg, the first Australian to become an astronaut under Australia’s space program, recalled lying on the grass in her backyard as a child and gazing at the night sky, dreaming of working in space.

The South Australian said she was inspired by Australian astronauts Paul Scully Power and Andy Thomas, who represented other nations.

The 41-year-old was chosen from a field of more than 22,500 applicants to undergo training by the European Astronaut Centre in Germany in 2024, and was the first international candidate to do so.

Now a space engineer involved in the Artemis program to take humans back to the moon, she regularly presents to schoolchildren to inspire the next generation.

She also recalled the powerful moment she saw the Australian flag on her first blue flight suit.

“It was quite emotional ... it said that the door has opened for Australia to take her place at the forefront of human endeavour,” Ms Bennell-Pegg said.

“A chance to collaborate with other nations at the cutting edge of the cutting edge, showcase what we’re made of, and access the collective discoveries and benefits that all involved countries will make.

“And it gave me hope - hope that one day, more Aussie flags on spacesuits will follow.”

But too many Australians were stepping away from STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) before they saw what they were capable of, she said.

“So if I may, be allowed another dream beyond being an astronaut, it’s this: that we bring that same give it a go spirit from the sports field to the STEM fields,

“Backing each other and ourselves with the trust that we can do hard, important things, imagine what more we would discover, what great problems we would solve, how our horizons would expand.”

Ultramarathon runner Nedd Brockmann, from Forbes in NSW, won the Young Australian of the Year award for his work to help the homeless.

He took action after seeing too many people sleeping rough on Sydney’s Eddy Avenue, running from Cottesloe Beach to Bondi Beach over 46 days in 2022, raising $2.6 million.

Dementia treatment pioneer Henry Brodaty was named the 2026 Senior Australian of the Year for improving countless lives around the world.

Professor Brodaty co-founded the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing and led internationally significant research that enhanced the world’s understanding of risk and prevention in 2012.

His large Maintain Your Brain trial demonstrated that straightforward, cost-effective, targeted interventions could profoundly delay onset and even prevent dementia.

His work was catalysed by the experience of his father, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at just 52 years old in 1972, when dementia was poorly understood and often ignored.