From mums on a mission to melanoma researchers, they're our shining Aussies

"In my heart, everything I do now is for Cassius," Mechelle Turvey has said of her journey of healing and hope to the 2024 Australian of the Year Awards in Canberra this week.

Ms Turvey became an advocate for victims of crime after her 15-year-old son, Cassius, was allegedly violently beaten on his way home from school in Perth in 2022. He died in hospital 10 days later, triggering grief and anger across the nation.

As she led marches, attended vigils and gave powerful speeches about her son, the heartbroken mother called for calm and non-violence and the need for proper care for victims of crime and their families.

In 2023 she began training Western Australian Police Force recruits in how to deal with victims of crime with empathy and support.

"In my ears, I hear him saying what he would always say: 'mumma's on a mission'," Ms Turvey told NITV. "He would always say that, especially when his father was trying to argue with me. He'd say 'Dad, you're not going to win because you know mumma, she's on a mission'."

Named WA's Australian of the Year for 2024 for her advocacy work, Ms Turvey is one of nine contenders for the national Australian of the Year Award to be announced by the Prime Minister on the eve of Australia Day.

She draws strength from the qualities of her son, who was named after boxing great Muhammad Ali: "Our young people are more powerful than what they think they are."

"So many people have said so many things about Cassius but my son is my greatest," Ms Turvey said.

ACM, the publisher of this masthead, is official media partner of the Australian of the Year Awards, which are presented in Canberra on January 25.

The following profiles and pictures of each state/territory's Australian of the Year for 2024 have been supplied by the National Australia Day Council, organisers of the Australian of the Year Awards.

Professor Richard Scolyer AO and Professor Georgina Long AO's enduring partnership has saved thousands of lives from melanoma, known as Australia's national cancer.

Less than a decade ago, advanced melanoma was fatal - but thanks to Richard and Georgina's immunotherapy approach, which activates a patient's own immune system, it has become a curable disease. The co-medical directors of Melanoma Institute Australia are sought-after media commentators and advocates for sun-safe behaviour and melanoma prevention.

In June 2023, when Richard was diagnosed with incurable grade 4 brain cancer, he and Georgina developed a series of world-first treatments based on their melanoma breakthroughs.

Richard became the world's first brain cancer patient to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy. By undertaking an experimental treatment with risk of shortening his life, he has advanced the understanding of brain cancer and is benefiting future patients.

Richard has generated widespread public interest by publicly documenting his own cancer treatment and progress.

She sometimes jokes about being an "accidental CEO" but Janine Mohamed is an exceptional leader. In her nearly five years heading the Lowitja Institute in Melbourne, and before that as CEO of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives, she has created important platforms for Indigenous peoples and championed culturally safe health care.

A Narungga Kaurna woman, 49-year-old Janine initially studied nursing at the University of South Australia, where she's now an Adjunct Professor and a celebrated Alumni of the Year.

For the next 25 years, she worked in nursing, health policy and research in the Indigenous Community Controlled Health sector. In 2020, she was awarded an honorary doctorate in nursing by Edith Cowan University.

Janine is committed to dismantling racism, expanding opportunities for the Indigenous health workforce, and to closing the gap in Indigenous health outcomes through the systemic integration of cultural safety.

It takes a village to raise a child but, with no family, friends or mothers groups nearby, too many rural women raise children without the support they desperately need.

Stephanie Trethewey, 34, experienced that crippling isolation herself when she moved from Melbourne to a beef farm in Tasmania's central north with her husband and first baby. So, in 2019, the former TV journalist set up national charity Motherland to connect mothers raising children on the land, along with her podcast, Motherland Australia.

Then in 2021, she created Australia's first online rural mothers group program - Motherland Village. The six-week online program matches rural mums to their own small support group to relieve isolation and improve wellbeing. In less than two years, Stephanie's online program has 20 virtual villages and is supporting over 200 rural women.

In 2022, Stephanie won the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award for her trailblazing work - and she's just getting started.

Marco Renai, 48, is the founder of Men of Business Academy, a senior secondary school giving at-risk-young men the skills, knowledge and confidence to be happy, healthy and successful. After experiencing troubles at school as a teen and later volunteering in youth justice, Marco realised there were no programs for young men who struggled to engage with life and education.

Inspired by his Italian heritage, which holds that family, food and doing good can make a difference, he piloted the first Men of Business program in 2011.

Marco and his community raised $1 million to open the academy in 2020. Young men participate in education, work pathways and social and emotional wellbeing programs. Meals are provided and they can also engage with community in real-world experiences. Today the Men of Business Academy is a federal and state-funded accredited academy with two branches, 35 passionate staff, thousands of past graduates and 195 thriving students.

READ MORE: Meet the inspiring young Australians making a difference now for the future

Blair McFarland has spent decades striving to improve the health and lives of some of the most disadvantaged youth in Australia.

Blair moved to Central Australia in 1986, and over the next two decades he gained a deep understanding of the lives of Indigenous people in the region. The petrol-sniffing epidemic of the 1990s led him to set up Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service in 2002.

The service was instrumental in developing youth programs, orchestrating the roll-out of low aromatic fuel and implementing the Federal Low Aromatic Fuel Act. These activities led to a 95 per cent reduction in volatile substance misuse.

Now 66, Blair's passion and commitment to Central Australia is reflected in his participation in politics, advocacy, local radio and community services. In 2008, he received the Prime Minister's Award for Outstanding Contribution in Drug & Alcohol Endeavours by the Australian National Council on Drugs.

In 2022, Mechelle Turvey's 15-year-old son, Noongar Yamatji schoolboy Cassius, died after an alleged assault. His death sparked a national day of action across Australia, with rallies and vigils to express grief, anger, hurt and solidarity with his loved ones.

Mechelle, still grieving the recent death of her husband Sam, led the march in Perth. She gave a powerful speech about her son, calling for calm and non-violence - and the need for proper care for victims of crime and their families.

In 2023, she took her lived experiences to WA Police Force recruits to train them how to deal with victims of crime with empathy and support.

Through her life, Mechelle, 57, has volunteered in her community, including helping people in prison. She has donated much of the money raised for Cassius to youth organisations. Her courage, care and compassion for others are exemplary.

READ MORE: One of these amazing over-65s will be our Senior Aussie of the Year

Tim Jarvis AM seeks pragmatic solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. The work of the 57-year-old environmental scientist, author, filmmaker and philanthropist includes South Australia's Forktree Project, the restoration of degraded farmland with rare native plants facing extinction.

Tim is also vice-president at Fauna & Flora, a global ambassador and governor of WWF, ambassador to Koala Life and a board director of the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.

As an adventurer, Tim re-enacted Douglas Mawson and Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic explorations and advocates for the protection of Antarctica. This year, he helped secure 475,000 square kilometres of marine sanctuary off World Heritage-listed Macquarie Island.

In 2017, Tim was made a Bragg Fellow by the Royal Institution of Australia and was the Australian Geographic Society's 2016 Conservationist of the Year for his 25Zero project on melting equatorial glaciers.

Jo Farrell is a champion for women in the construction industry. In 2020, she set up Build Like A Girl, a not-for-profit program supporting girls and women to work in trades. Build Like A Girl matches women with pre-apprenticeship and entry-level training, then mentors them to secure work in the construction industry.

As the general manager of Kane Constructions ACT, part of the multimillion-dollar Kane group, 45-year-old Jo has pushed for a better gender balance. Kane Constructions ACT went from having 6 per cent female staff in February 2020 to a 48 per cent female team in December 2022.

Jo works closely with government, peak industry bodies, unions, training groups and building contractors to help them recruit, train and employ women in trade roles. She also led construction of Strathnairn Charity House, a project designed and mostly built by women, which was auctioned in March 2023. Proceeds from the sale were distributed to local charities.

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