The achievements and contributions of four NSW nurses have been recognised and inducted into this year’s 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List.

Professor Kate Curtis, Catherine Johnson, Mary O’Brien, and Daryl Wilson were all recognised for their outstanding service to healthcare, research, the nursing profession, and their communities.

Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

Professor Kate Curtis

Professor Kate Curtis received an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service in trauma and emergency nursing, critical care research, tertiary education, and professional organisations. Professor Curtis works at the Sydney Nursing School at the University of Sydney as a professor of Trauma and Emergency Nursing. She is widely recognised as a leading expert in the field of emergency and trauma nursing as one of the “world’s most published authors in her field”, with 57 published research papers, largely focused on improvement in clinical processes for better patient care and promoting the role and scope of nurses.

A decorated recipient, Professor Curtis, has received several awards for her contributions to emergency nursing including the 2019 Nurse of the Year (HESTA), NSW Premiers Award 2019, the 2011 Frank McDermott Award for research, leading to the greatest improvements in care for severely injured patients in Australia and New Zealand. In 2024 she was awarded the Emergency Nurses Association (USA) Nurse Researcher Award.

Professor Curtis is renowned for her work as the co-founder and lead investigator at project HIRAID (History, Infection Risk, Red flags, Assessment, Interventions, Diagnostics), a framework that supports emergency nurses in assessing and managing emergency department patients after triage.

The HIRAD framework was awarded the Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety Award for safer, better emergency nursing care by Australia Council on Healthcare Standards.

Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Catherine Louise Johnson

Newcastle nurse Catherine Louise Johnson has been recognised as a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to oncology nursing and research. Catherine has worked in the field of oncology nursing for the better part of three decades as a Clinical Research Nurse at Calvary Mater Newcastle, specialising in Medical Oncology.  Renowned for her exceptional leadership skills, Catherine has served in several leadership positions within nursing organisations, including as the Secretary/Treasurer of the International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care and as a founding member of the Cancer Nurses Society of Australia. Since 2010, she has served as Gastrointestinal Cancer Care Nurse Coordinator for Hunter New England Local Health District.

Mary Catherine O’Brien

Former Ballina nurse and midwife, Mrs Mary Catherine O’Brien, was recognised for her services to the community of the Ballina region.

Known within her Ballina community, Ms O’Brien is a prominent advocate for human rights, raising funds for a number of local charities, including St Vincent de Paul and the Ballina Lighthouse Day Club, which she helped establish. Ms O’Brien’s advocacy in fighting for refugee rights as a key member of Ballina Region for Refugees.

Daryl Raymond Wilson

Mr Daryl Raymond Wilson, who worked as a registered nurse at Lithgow District Hospital, has been recognised in this year’s awards for his service to emergency organisations and to the community of Lithgow. Mr Wilson and his wife, Carol, both received Order of Australia medals simultaneously, namely for their work as foster parents.

The Wilsons have been fostering children since 1994, when Daryl first met a small boy in need of a foster family while working as a nurse at Lithgow Hospital, and the rest is history. Since then, he and his wife Carol have gone on to foster over 100 children, 11 of whom remain living with them.

Mr Wilson was also recognised for roles and achievements as Superintendent, Volunteer Instructor, and First Aid Assessor in the Lithgow division of St John Ambulance and as a Registered Nurse at Lithgow Hospital.