Queen’s Birthday honours ’09
Jewish achievers from all walks of life were recognised in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours. The AJN spoke with some of the NSW recipients.
Fighting crime with honour
 
LEXI LANDSMAN
WHEN Peter Sean Price left the crime-ridden country of South Africa in 1991, he didn’t realise he’d be fighting crime in Australia a few years later.
“Growing up in South Africa in my teenage years and being a victim of crime countless times … must have affected me quite deeply and I believe that’s why I [chose] to make a contribution to what I call the lighter side of the law.”¬†
Price was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday honours for service to community safety through executive roles with Crime Stoppers.¬†These roles include his current positions as chairman of Crime Stoppers Australia and director of public affairs of Crime Stoppers International.
At only 44, Price told The AJN it was extremely gratifying to receive such an honour and that it had “reinvigorated [his] passion and interest” in his work.¬†”Crime Stoppers is something that I’m deeply passionate about and so it’s nice to be recognised outside the police fraternity,” he said.
During Price’s 10-year affiliation with Crime Stoppers, he has accomplished a number of achievements, including securing federal government funding for the national project, Identity Theft and Copyright Crime.¬†He initiated the annual Crime Stoppers Day and was involved with the launch of the Crime Stoppers Global operational initiative, in support of the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games.
He also provided ongoing support and resources to assist in the establishment of Crime Stoppers programs in India and New Zealand, and introduced a similar program in Samoa. Price says recent highlights of his career included representing Crime Stoppers International at the United Nations in New York in February, as well as launching a worldwide fugitive hunt in six countries simultaneously last week. Born in London, Price completed his schooling at King David Linksfield in South Africa. 
He spent two years in the South African Defence Force, before studying advertising. He moved to Sydney in 1991 and set up the advertising company, First Light, in 1994, which is still operating.
Volunteer still giving back at 94
 
CHANTAL ABITBOL
AT 94, Dora Eisenberg isn’t close to slowing down. The retired Polish-born kindergarten teacher, who has always been a community volunteer, is still keeping herself busy by giving back — and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
This week, she received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for her continued service to the community.¬†”I’m shocked,” Mrs Eisenberg, from Leichhardt, told The AJN. “Not only do I do what I love, I get something for it.
Since 2004, Mrs Eisenberg has volunteered one day a week at the Sydney Cancer Centre information desk at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She also appears regularly as a guest speaker for The University of NSW Social Work Program.
 
Prior to that, Mrs Eisenberg volunteered at The Smith Family, helping disadvantaged kids for 10 years, and the Joseph Varga Kindee.¬†”My mother, who died in the Holocaust, said you can’t be a taker in life, you need to be a giver,” said Mrs Eisenberg, who escaped Poland in 1937 and spent the war years in then-Palestine.
She immigrated to Australia in the 1950s.¬†”I need to give back to this country, and I love volunteering,” she said. “If I can volunteer up until I’m 100, that would be terrific.”
 
Posthumous recognition for community figure
 
LEXI LANDSMAN
LEADING communal fundraiser Roz Feitelson’s lasting legacy to the community was remembered with a posthumous Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday honours.
Feitelson was awarded for service to the community as a fundraiser for Jewish organisations.¬†”We, her family, are extremely proud of her receiving this award, but are saddened that she is not here to see how much her work was appreciated,” Pam Goldman, Feitelson’s sister, told The AJN on behalf of their family.
“We want Roz to be remembered for her dynamic personality, generosity of spirit, love of life and her total commitment to any project she undertook.”
 
Feitelson spent countless hours working for the Jewish community, including collaborating with Jewish Communal Appeal (JCA), Courage to Care, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies interfaith seders, the Jewish House crisis centre, and she produced the first Australian Jewish Music Festival. She also volunteered at the Police & Community Youth Groups in Redfern and helped with fundraising for cancer research. 
JCA CEO Ian Sandler told The AJN Feitelson had been instrumental to JCA’s campaign events since her involvement in 2003, and that the award served as a testament to her “dedication towards her community in ensuring it went from strength-to-strength”.
“The JCA have dedicated our 2009 campaign DVDs to Roz. The wording: ‘A woman who loved her community’, goes to the heart and core of who Roz was and how she worked tirelessly for the benefit of others.”¬†Feitelson passed away in March this year at the age of 49, after a battle with cancer.
Working for the community and tourism
 
NORTON Whitmont has tirelessly served Sydney’s Jewish community and the tourism industry in executive positions for decades.¬†
Now the former president of The Great Synagogue is receiving some deserved recognition for his work.¬†In the Queen’s Birthday honours, he received an Order of Australia medal (OAM) for his service to the tourism industry and the Jewish community.
“Obviously it’s very exciting,” said Whitmont, 72, from Darling Point. “You sort of wonder why you get these things, but someone has decided it should happen and I’m appreciative of their support.”¬†
Whitmont has served on The Great’s executive board for the past 20 years — including a stint as president from 1985-1988.¬†”The survival of Judaism is based on our religion. We each have to take a turn at the wheel,” he told The AJN. “If you don’t, who will?”
Whitmont was also president of the Caravan, Camping and Touring Industry and Manufactured Housing Industry Association from 1986-2006.¬†One of his key achievements in the caravan industry was helping introduce legislative amendments that provide a licensing scheme and standards for caravan parks.¬†”[It provided] an even-level playing field for consumers and operators and allowed the industry to grow stronger. It’s the only growing sector in the tourism industry at the moment,” he said.¬†Whitmont also received the Eric Hayman Award for service from the Caravan, RV and Accommodation Industry of Australia.
 
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