June 17 2026
10 Indian-origin Australians honoured in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List
(Jun 17, 2026) Ten Indian-origin Australians have been featured in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List in recognition of their outstanding service across medicine, community leadership, business, aged care and public life in Australia.
Presented annually on the occasion of King Charles III’s official birthday, the honours are part of Australia’s national awards system and celebrate exceptional service to the nation and local communities. Australia, a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth, confers the awards in the name of the monarch, who serves as the country’s formal head of state.
The 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List honoured 948 Australians for exceptional service across community service, medicine, science, education, public administration, defence, sport and the arts. Among the Indian-origin recipients are honourees across all three levels of the Order of Australia represented this year — Officer (AO), Member (AM) and Medal (OAM) for contributions spanning psychiatry, critical care medicine, surgery, community leadership, aged welfare, multicultural engagement and entrepreneurship.
From institution-builders who arrived in the late 1960s, when Australia was still shedding the legacy of the White Australia Policy, to medical academics now leading global research agendas, the 2026 Indian-origin honourees represent different generations of the same story — Indian immigrants making Australia home, and Australia, in turn, acknowledging their contributions at its highest civilian level. The Global Indian takes a closer look at the lives and contributions of each recipient.
Prof. Valsamma Eapen
Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) | Psychiatry and neurodevelopmental research, New South Wales
One of the most distinguished Indian-origin Australians on this year’s list, Prof. Valsamma Eapen has been a Scientia Professor of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UNSW since 2008 and has spent over three decades at the intersection of neurodevelopmental research and clinical care. As Head of the Academic Unit of Child Psychiatry at South West Sydney Local Health District, she has shaped national guidelines on autism assessment and ADHD, while also serving on the World Psychiatric Association‘s board.
She leads major national and global research collaborations, including autism genomics and child health initiatives, and has contributed extensively to Australian mental health policy and clinical guidelines. With more than $30 million in research funding and approximately 300 scientific publications, her work has had a profound impact on child mental health outcomes in Australia and globally. Born in Kerala, she trained at Great Ormond Street Hospital and University College London, completing a PhD from the University of London, before establishing her career in Australia. The AO awarded to her for service of a high degree to Australia or to humanity at large is the highest honour on this year’s Indian-origin list.
Prof. Balasubramaniam Venkatesh
Member of the Order of Australia (AM) | Critical care medicine, Queensland
Intensive care specialist Prof. Balasubramaniam Venkatesh was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to critical care medicine, infection control and tertiary education, recognising his leadership in intensive care medicine and international contributions to medical training and capacity-building.
Queensland-based, Venkatesh has contributed to clinical protocols in infection management in intensive care settings — an area that came under sharp global scrutiny during the Covid-19 pandemic, and has invested substantially in training the next generation of critical care specialists through tertiary education and mentorship. He also pioneered a continuous blood gas monitoring system that reached clinical application, and served as president of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of Australia and New Zealand between 2014 and 2016. His AM sits between the OAM and AO in Australia’s honours hierarchy, reserved for those whose service has been significant in degree and has benefited large sections of the community.
Dr Abhishek Kumar Verma
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Medicine and medical administration, Victoria
Melbourne general practitioner Dr Abhishek Kumar Verma was awarded the OAM for service to medicine and medical administration. A former Victorian and Australian GP of the Year, he is recognised for his leadership in clinical governance, medical education and healthcare regulation, alongside extensive service in migrant and refugee health. Based in Surrey Hills, Verma has combined frontline general practice with sustained involvement in shaping healthcare policy and regulation.
A GP serving refugee, migrant and First Nations communities, Verma also chairs the Victorian Medical Board and has held director roles at Alfred Health and multiple rural hospitals. His work in migrant and refugee health is particularly notable in a city where a large proportion of the population arrives without familiarity with the local health system.
Dr Dilipkumar Gahankari
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Plastic and reconstructive surgery, Queensland
Gold Coast-based plastic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Dilipkumar Gahankari received the OAM for a career spanning reconstructive surgery, burns care, humanitarian missions and medical education across Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Gahankari’s record is defined as much by what he has done outside his clinic as within it.
His involvement in humanitarian surgical programmes across the Asia-Pacific has brought specialist reconstructive and burns care to populations with limited access to it, while his medical education work has raised surgical standards across the region.
Chethicad Oommen Thomas
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Community service, Victoria
Veteran Melbourne community leader Chethicad Oommen Thomas received the OAM for service to the Indian community of Victoria, recognising more than five decades of leadership and institution-building. Arriving in Australia in 1969, shortly after the dismantling of the White Australia Policy, Thomas dedicated his life to supporting new migrants and strengthening community connections.
He founded the Malayalee Association of Victoria in 1976, served as a leader of the Australia India Society of Victoria, established the Victorian Indian Community Charitable Trust, and played a central role in developing the Indian Orthodox Church network in Victoria. His OAM recognises the social and cultural infrastructure he helped build at a time when Indian Australians had few institutional moorings to rely on.
Noshir Irani
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Community service, New South Wales
Noshir Irani, a key figure in Sydney’s Zoroastrian and broader Indian-Australian community, arrived in Australia in 1979, after being transferred by a multinational pharmaceutical company. After a long corporate career and a period running a small water purification business, he retired around 2006 and committed fully to community service. For nearly nineteen years, he has volunteered with Meals on Wheels, delivering food to elderly and homebound residents across Sydney. Twelve years ago, he became a Justice of the Peace, offering his services free of charge at multiple Sydney locations each week.
He has served on the board of the Ku-ring-gai Neighbourhood Centre, was president of the Indo-Australian Cultural Society, and served multiple terms as president of the Australian Zoroastrian Association, helping grow the community from around 40 families in 1979 to over 500 today. He also led a legal battle that secured the Zoroastrian community’s right to use their own prayer hall in the Baulkham Hills area.
Dr Atul Kumar Garg
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Community safety and multicultural engagement, Western Australia
Western Australia community leader Dr Atul Kumar Garg was awarded the OAM for service to the community through neighbourhood safety initiatives, multicultural engagement and charitable work spanning more than three decades, including leadership roles in Neighbourhood Watch and Indian community organisations.
He has worked across both public and private health systems in Queensland and New South Wales, including specialist roles at the Gold Coast University Hospital and Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, and has held academic appointments with Australian and international universities. He established his private practice on the Gold Coast in 2004 and continues to do public work for New South Wales, and has been active in multicultural community-building.
Usha Kiran Chandra
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Multicultural engagement, Queensland
Queensland community leader Usha Kiran Chandra was recognised for service to the Indian community, particularly through cultural festivals, GOPIO Queensland and initiatives promoting multicultural participation and civic engagement.
Through her work with the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) in Queensland and her involvement in cultural programming in Brisbane, Chandra has worked steadily to help the Indian diaspora maintain cultural ties while integrating into Australian civic life in a balance that is easier described than sustained over many years.
Saurabh Mishra
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Entrepreneurship and community service, Victoria
Melbourne entrepreneur and community leader Saurabh Mishra was awarded the OAM for service to the community through a range of organisations. He has combined entrepreneurship with long-term volunteer work in palliative care, cultural preservation and mentoring through organisations such as TiE Melbourne, and has also supported Hindustani classical music and healthcare innovation initiatives in Victoria.
He has co-founded six business ventures since 2000, of which four — eClinic, SamplesPlus, PalCare and Healthnotes were acquired by some of the largest healthcare businesses in Australia. Mishra’s profile is notable for its range as few recipients on this list have worked simultaneously across palliative care, classical arts and startup mentoring, making him one of the more eclectic contributors among this year’s Indian-origin honourees.
Bijinder Dugal
Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) | Aged welfare, New South Wales
Bijinder Dugal is co-founding director of the AASHA Australia Foundation, which she has led since 2017 in support of the health and wellbeing of older members of the Indian community. Her programmes focus on active ageing, dementia awareness, elder rights education and social inclusion. Through music, dance and art, she has worked to reduce social isolation, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.
As co-founding director of AASHA Australia Foundation, her volunteer-run organisation promotes physical and mental wellbeing while helping older Indian Australians maintain cultural connection. She has also worked with the NSW Department of Education for more than four decades, rising from teacher to senior roles.
Together, the ten Indian-origin recipients in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List represent a remarkable cross-section of Australian life. Spanning major states and diverse fields including medicine, surgery, aged care, multicultural advocacy and community service, their recognition reflects the enduring and evolving contribution of the Indian diaspora to Australia over the past five decades.
