Jewish indigenous woman honored in Australia

Lisa Pulver, Australian professor of and advocate for indigenous health, is appointed member of the Order of Australia.

By JTA
Indigenous australians 311 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Indigenous australians 311
(photo credit: REUTERS)
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- A Jewish Indigenous woman was awarded a top honor in Australia.
Lisa Pulver, the co-founder and director of the Muru Marri Indigenous Health Unit at the University of New South Wales, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the annual Queen’s birthday honors list announced Monday. Pulver also is a professor of indigenous health at the university.
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Pulver is president of the Newtown Synagogue, in Sydney’s inner west, and a board member of the Lowitja Institute, Australia’s premier Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led health research body.
In 2004, she addressed the British House of Commons on the state of Australian indigenous health, an experience she described as a “defining moment” of her career.
“This award acknowledges the work which I have done which is beyond the call of duty and is not part of my job description,” Pulver said.
Among the other Jews amid the 250-plus recipients this year was Perth-based Spanish dancer Deeana Blacher, the first castanets soloist to be invited by Zubin Mehta to perform with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra; Rabbi Philip Heilbrunn, a South Africa-born minister at St. Kilda Hebrew Congregation in Melbourne; and Professor Jeffrey Rosenfeld, the head of neurosurgery at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, which has a collaborative agreement with Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.