JOINT MEDIA STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL AUSTRALIA DAY COUNCIL AND AUSTRALIA DAY COUNCIL OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA
20 NOVEMBER 2025
Double recognition for 2026 Senior Australian of the Year for South Australia
The Australia Day Council of South Australia (ADCSA) is delighted to announce that preeminent sound engineer and pioneer of South Australian film, Mr James Currie, joins Mr Malcolm Benoy as a 2026 Senior Australian of the Year for South Australia.
The National Australia Day Council (NADC) sincerely apologises for a regrettable administrative error that led to confusion during last Friday’s South Australia Australian of the Year Awards presentation evening.
Following voting by a South Australian selection panel, Mr Currie and Mr Benoy were tied in first place. The panel resolved an outcome and an administrative error by the NADC meant the results of the meeting were inaccurately recorded. Unfortunately, this error was not identified prior to the presentation evening. On the evening, at different times, both Mr Benoy and Mr Currie were announced as the recipient. The South Australian selection panel reconvened following the announcement and unanimously agreed that both Mr Currie and Mr Benoy be selected as a Senior Australian of the Year for South Australia.
The NADC has commenced a review into its processes to ensure such an error cannot recur.
We are grateful to Mr Benoy and Mr Currie for their patience and understanding and to everyone involved in the South Australia Australian of the Year Awards. Neither Mr Benoy nor Mr Currie were responsible for the error and both have acted with the grace befitting of the Senior Australian of the Year for South Australia.
National Australia Day Council CEO, Mark Fraser AO CVO says:
“Mr Benoy and Mr Currie are standouts in a field of exceptional South Australian Australians of the Year for 2026, and the NADC wishes to apologise to both of them for the confusion. We trust our mistake does not detract from their outstanding achievements and contributions to South Australia and the nation.
“The Australia Day Council of South Australia selection panel determined that both Mr Benoy and Mr Currie would be named as 2026 Senior Australians of the Year for South Australia. As a result, following consultation with Mr Benoy and Mr Currie, South Australia will have two exceptional finalists for the national 2026 Australian of the Year Awards in January 2026.”
Australia Day Council of South Australia CEO, Jan Chorley says:
“We are thrilled to be working with both Mr Currie and Mr Benoy as the double recipients of the 2026 SA Senior Australians of the Year and wish them both the very best as we amplify their areas of specialty in 2026.”
Mr Currie and Mr Benoy join the three other 2026 South Australian recipients, SA Australian of the Year Katherine Bennell-Pegg, SA Young Australian of the Year Chloe Wyatt-Jasper; and South Australia’s Local Hero Ayesha Fariha Safdar.
For more information on the Australian of the Year Awards, visit australianoftheyear.org.au.
ENDS
2026 SENIOR AUSTRALIANS OF THE YEAR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA
Malcolm Benoy
Meteorological researcher
Malcolm ‘Mac’ Benoy has made a significant contribution to climate change research in his role as a volunteer citizen scientist, helping to preserve valuable records and data relating to South Australia’s meteorological history.
Over the past two decades, 78-year-old Mac has volunteered with the Bureau of Meteorology in South Australia, where he set up a citizen science group to record and preserve valuable hand-written meteorological records from the 19th century. Under Mac’s astute guidance, the group has digitised over 90,000 synoptic charts and related documents, providing an invaluable research tool for modern-day climatologists.
International climate change and meteorological researchers have used the group’s records to reconstruct historical weather patterns in the southern hemisphere, helping to better understand how the global climate is changing.
Mac’s professionalism, enthusiasm and insight continue to guide the team of citizen scientists in its work to document and preserve critical weather data.
James Currie
Sound designer
James Currie’s filmography reads like a list of South Australia’s most successful films over the past 50 years.
His work as a sound designer, recordist and mixer includes titles such as Breaker Morant, The Lighthorsemen, Bad Boy Bubby, The Tracker, Wolf Creek, Ten Canoes, Red Dog and, most recently, the AACTA award-winning documentary My Name is Gulpilil.
James has worked with many of South Australia’s leading directors over his career and has won multiple awards for his lifetime of work. He has been instrumental in establishing and growing the state’s film industry, particularly as an authority on sound design. His use of location sound, most notably in remote Indigenous communities, has helped create a uniquely Australian soundscape in film.
James, 79, is generous in sharing his expertise and knowledge with other practitioners, especially students, creating an enduring legacy of excellence in sound design now and into the future.
MEDIA CONTACT: Rebekka Wake on 0407 235 104 and info@australiaday.org.au.