Tasmania’s top judge has again been recognised for his contribution to the state’s judicial system.
A Supreme Court judge for 13 years and the state’s Chief Justice since 2013, the Honourable Alan Michael Blow has been appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia for his distinguished service to the judiciary, to the law, to legal education and professional standards, and to the community.
Outside of the courts, Chief Justice Blow was Medico-Legal Society of Tasmania’s vice-president for a year and committee member for two years from 1998 to 2000.
He was a board member for the Centre for Legal Studies at the University of Tasmania from 2008 until 2013 and has been a member of the Australian Academy of Law since 2015.
Beyond his legal practice, Chief Justice Blow was the president of St John Ambulance Tasmania for 11 years and has been a patron of the organisation since 2016.
He was also a board member of Narryna Heritage Museum Inc from 1998 until 2011.
First there was William Pugh and now another Tasmanian anaesthetist is excelling in his work in surgical theatres.
In fact, Dr Colin Chilvers will be the guest speaker at this June’s Pugh Day lecture, celebrating Australia’s first surgical anaesthetic, administered in Launceston in 1847.
His work in Tasmania and across the world has seen Dr Chilvers appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia.
The soft-spoken anaesthetist said he was “quite embarrassed” when he was notified of the award, believing there were others much more deserving.
“You try to do the job well and do the extra things, which I think a lot of healthcare workers do, teaching, extra research, overseas aid work and other volunteer work, and I am a bit concerned because a lot of other people in Tasmania do a lot of that kind of stuff as well,” he said.
Not only has Dr Chilvers spent more than two decades dedicated to his speciality in Launceston, but he has been a member of humanitarian medical teams at least five times with Medecins Sans Frontieres Australia.