For Sean Gordon to make sense of his latest accolade, he must revisit the past.
In 1938, his great-grandparents were living in far northwest NSW and subject to the Aborigines Protection Act, when a policeman's wife complained that Indigenous children were going to school dirty and with bare feet.
"Three cattle trucks pulled up and the local police put 117 Wangkumarra people on the back of those trucks and moved them to the Brewarrina Mission 500km away," Mr Gordon said.
"My great grandparents Albert and Rose Ebsworth were given the numbers native 140 and native 141.
"And three generations later here I am, having been raised in a foster home on the Brewarrina Mission, receiving this honour, I'm feeling quite humbled."
The Wangkumarra/Barkindji man has been appointed a Member (AM) of the order of Australia in the King's Birthday Honours List, recognised for his service to the Indigenous community.
A long-time chief executive of the Darkinjung Land Council on the NSW mid-north coast, Mr Gordon runs his own business, advises a range of corporations and has set up the Yadha Muru (Good Pathway) Foundation.
He sees himself as a relationship broker between the corporate world and Aboriginal communities.
Mr Gordon has been involved in the self-determination project Empowered Communities and is a member of the working group for the upcoming referendum on an Indigenous voice.
"The beauty of the Empowered Communities model is because it looks different from community to community, it's like a range of governance structures plugging in to a powerboard to create interaction with government," he said.
"As will regional and local voices."
Anti-violence campaigner awarded AM
Antoinette Braybrook, the chief executive of Djirra, has also been appointed an AM for her service to First Nations people.
Djirra is an Aboriginal community controlled organisation that provides holistic, culturally safe, legal and other support to Indigenous people who experience family violence, predominantly women.
"I am honoured to be acknowledged together with many other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, and indeed all women, who have been recognised for the work that we do," Ms Braybrook said.
"I am only recognised in this way because of the trust and belief that Aboriginal women place in our fierce organisation, Djirra."
Other First Nations people honoured include Christine Corby for significant service to Indigenous health, and to the community of Walgett; Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative chief executive Karen Heap; Ngunnawal Elder Caroline Hughes and Fay Stewart-Muir for service to the Indigenous community of Victoria.
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