Pilbara cattle producer Lang Coppin, Gunnedah stock agent Dick Cameron and agricultural show ring announcer Angus Lane are among several cattle industry identities to have been recognised in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honour’s List.

After 30 years as a cattle producer, Angus Lane followed a passion to become a ring announcer in the early 1990s and has since become the well-known voice of many rural events across Australia, from small rural shows to major events including the Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, Darwin and Toowoomba Royal Shows and the triennial Beef Expositions in Rockhampton.

Mr Lane, who received an order of Australia medal for his service to agricultural shows, has been previously recognised for his contribution to Queensland Shows with the Queensland Chamber of Agricultural Societies’ Friendship and Fellowship Award last year, and in 2002 was named Father of the Year by the Queensland Fathers Day Council.

Pilbara cattle producer and Cattle Council of Australia board member Lang Coppin, Yarrie Station,  has received an order of Australia media for his service to the community of East Pilbara.

The Coppin’s connection with the Pilbara dates back to 1886, when Lang’s great grandfather took up the original Yarrie Station holding. Today Lang runs the 400,000 hectare cattle breeding operation with his wife Ann and daughter Annabel.

In addition to representing local, state and national cattle producers on both WA Farmers and the Cattle Council of Australia, Mr Coppin serves as deputy president of the East Pilbara Shire Council and as a member of several conservation committees.  He is a founding member of the Pilbara branch of the Isolated Children’s Parent’s Association and has been an active supporter and fund raiser for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the Port Hedland School of the Air for many years.

Well-known northern NSW stock agent Dick Cameron has been honoured with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his service to the livestock and property industries through the administration of state and national professional bodies.

Mr Cameron, who began his agency career with AML&F, established Davidson Cameron and Company with Don Davidson at Qurindi 1982. The company grew to include nine branches across northern NSW in the next 15 years, before becoming a subsidiary of Ruralco Holdings, which acquired a 50pc share, in 2007.

Mr Cameron is currently Ruralco Holdings’ northern regional operations manager.

He was the inaugural president and a founding member of the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association (ALPA) and is a former vice-president of the Australian Council of Livestock Agents.

The award also recognises the time Mr Cameron has devoted to volunteering his services as an auctioneer to a variety of fundraising events for charities and community organisations.

Robert McCarthy, a long-serving Queensland public servant who’s work helped to grow beef and dairy export access to the Japanese and US markets, and who oversaw the privatisation of Queensland Government-owned meat processing assets in the late 1990s, was recognised for significant service to public administration in Queensland, particularly in the areas of economic development, agriculture and natural resource management.

Mr McCarthy has been director general of various Queensland Government departments including Tourism, Regional Development and Industry, State Development and Natural Resources, Mines and Water. He was the administrator of the Queensland Livestock and Meat Authority in 1998-99 and became the inaugural chief executive officer of Safefood Queensland from 2000-2001.

Numerous other positions held in a diverse career include chair of the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation from 1995 to 1998; chair of the Australian Livestock and Meat Industry Policy Council, 1990-1995; director of the Australian Coal Marketing and Technology Council, 1988-1991; deputy general manager of the Australian Wheat Board, 1980-1986; director, Commodity Policy Division, Department of Trade and Resources, 1974-1980 and senior research officer, Department of Treasury, 1973-1974.

NSW Department of Primary Industries director general, Dr Richard Sheldrake was yesterday named a Member (AM) in the General Division of The Order of Australia.

NSW Trade & Investment director general, Mark Paterson said Dr Sheldrake’s inclusion on the Queen’s Birthday honours list recognised his outstanding contribution agriculture in NSW.

Dr Sheldrake has held several senior roles including his current position leading the Department of Primary Industries, NSW Commissioner for Soil Conservation, Commissioner of the Murray Darling Basin Commission, Chair of the Primary Industries Health Committee and Director of the Pig Research and Development Corporation.

Before joining senior management ranks, Dr Sheldrake gained international recognition as a DPI researcher investigating the control of mycoplasmal pneumonia in pigs.

Former Victorian court of appeal judge David Ashley, who retired last year, was recognised for significant service to the judiciary and the law, and to the beef cattle industry.

In his book “Blue Murder”, which documents the asbestos and mesothelioma cases in Western Australia in which David Ashley played a key role as a Senior Counsel, journalist Ben Hill wrote: “You could hardly cast an odder couple than David Ashley and Peter Gordon – the broad-ribbed, ruddie-faced “Westie” from the wrong side of the Maribyrnong River and Ashley, the lean elegantly-dressed barrister . . . son of a doctor, honours degree . . . pictures of stud livestock from his country property decorating the walls of his Chambers”.

In addition to a distinguished legal career as a Queen’s Counsel since 1983 and Victorian Court of Appeal judge from 2005 until his retirement in 2012, David Ashley also served as the federal president of the Beef Shorthorn Society of Australia from 2000-2003, having been a member of the organisation since 1976.

Dr Kevin Doyle, the national veterinary director of the Australian Veterinary Association, has been made a member (AM) in the general division of the order of Australia for significant service to veterinary science, and to animal health programs.

Prior to his current position, Dr Doyle was the Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer for Australia for eight years.  He has previously served as Veterinary Attache at the Australian Embassy in Washington and the Australian High Commission in Ottawa, and has been Australia’s representative to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) General Session in Paris.

He is also currently a member of the Australian Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, is president of the ACT Veterinary Surgeons Board and teaches Masters degree students in Veterinary Public Health at the University of Sydney.

Former Angus Society of Australia president Lewis Smit of Kojonup WA has received a medal of the order of Australia for service to the livestock industry, and to the community of Kojonup.

Mr Smit held several senior positions on the Angus Society of Australia including president from 1991-1994, and was made a life member in 2008.

He also served as president of the Murray Grey Beef Cattle Society from 1980-1984, having previously served as vice president and treasurer, and was made a life member of the society in 1987.

Mr Smit, the owner/principal of Koojan Hills Angus Stud and York Pastoral Co, Kojonup, has also served as breed inspector for the Shorthorn Society of Australia, a member of the Meat Research Committee consultation group that oversaw the development of Breedplan, an over-judge/course instructor of the WA Cattle Assessment School held at Harvey Agricultural College, 2005-2009, and has judged a variety of cattle breeds at most Royal Show venues in Australia, as well as in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

He is former president and an active member of the Kojonup Rotary Club and in 2009 Mr Smit and his family donated the proceeds of a bull at their annual bull sale in 2009, raising $9250 for the Rotary Victoria Bushfires Appeal.