PM Transcripts

PRIME MINISTER
FOR MEDIA 19 June 1985
The Minister assisting the Prime Minister for the
Bicentenary, Mr Barry Cohen, and the Minister for Aboriginal
Affairs, Mr Clyde Holding, today announced the appointment of
Mr Eric Willmot, AM, to the Board of the Australian
Bicentennial Authority.
Mr Willmot brings to the position wide ranging knowledge and
experience, particularly in issues facing Aboriginal people.
" The appointment of a prominent member of the Aboriginal
community", Mr Cohen and Mr Holding said, " is a tangible
expression of the Commonwealth Government's hope that all
Australians will share in the planning for 1988. This is in
line with the Bicentennial theme ' Living Together'."
Mr Willmot has had a distinguished career, both as an
academic and a public servant. He was Principal of the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies from 1981 to
1984; he is currently Deputy Secretary of the Department of
Aboriginal Affairs. He will take up the Chair of Education
at James Cook University, North Queensland, in January 1986.
He has received both international and Australian awards in the
engineering field, and was Australian Inventor of the Year
in 1981.
Last-year Mr Willmot was made a Member of the Order of Australia
for services to education and Aboriginal studies.