Mailed 14 October 2016
Section 2
Dene Cordes was awarded the Public Service Medal in 1990 Australian Honours, for service to the establishment of volunteers network in National Parks.
This submission builds on the previous award and aims to appropriately recognise the many and varied valuable and ongoing contributions to the community and to the environment, particularly since his retirement from the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2007. His continuing contributions have been at no cost to the government, but can be considered of perpetual benefit, not only to South Australians, but humanity at large.
Of the dozens of people interviewed for the preparation of this submission, all concur that Dene Cordes is a remarkable man who is deserving of further recognition in Australian Honours. They have no doubt that his ongoing voluntary contribution to the community stands out from others who may have also made a valuable contribution. There was no shortage of offers to be a referee in this nomination process.
As the body responsible for this nomination, the Kangaroo Island Pioneers Association (which Dene founded, and is a life member) was not fully aware, and probably is still not fully aware, of the extent of Dene’s voluntary involvement in dozens of other organisations and projects. It could be argued that Dene’s contribution to any of these organisations would alone be sufficient for an Honours nomination, let alone his overall contribution to all the organisations.
Some of those organisations include
· Friends of the Parks Inc (life member and Patron)
· Friends of Old Government House, Belair
· National Parks and Wildlife Social Club (life member)
· National Parks Heritage Committee (President)
· National Trust (SA)
· Nature Foundation (SA) – fellow 2015
· Churchill Fellows Association of SA (CFASA) – life member
· Family Clubs: Cordes, Macklin, Wilkin and Leslie families
· Kangaroo Island Pioneers Association (life member)
The common threads that can be recognised in Dene’s many pursuits include: conservation of the environment, heritage issues, honouring South Australian and family history, community involvement – particularly Kangaroo Island, Blackwood and Belair. He has written several books which reflect these interests and has a B.A. (Hons) from Adelaide University. He was a keynote speaker at an international environmental conference in Denmark in 1993.
Despite recent challenges to his, and his wife’s health, Dene continues to be a “hands on” advocate, leading by example; and still attends many committee meetings and can even be seen participating in working bees planting native trees. He seeks no reward, other than to know that he has enthused others to follow his example in his passion of preservation, historical recognition, conservation, and respect for family and the community.
To assist researchers in the necessary verification process for this nomination, the collaborative website (by invitation only) used to collate information is available at https://sites.google.com/site/denecordes