Outgoing Australian of the Year Geoffrey Rush has expressed frustration that high achievers in the performing arts do not get the same recognition in Australia as those in sport.

The Oscar-winning actor has delivered his valedictory speech in Canberra ahead of this year's winners being announced at a concert outside Parliament House.

In his speech, Rush said a newspaper article at the end of last year described him as being pushed off the stage by Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke.

"He is the undisputed captain of 2012, end quote," Rush said.

"I'm sure he is and I'm genuinely in awe of his historic achievement, but I do hope that one day a graduate from the Newtown High School of Performing Arts or the Empire Theatre youth program will challenge this automatic presumption in our psyche."

Rush said he was often asked what it meant to be an Australian.

He told of how he gained a sense of Australia's multi-dimensional character while travelling on a train to Melbourne before dropping into the mix of people in Flinders Street.

He said he did not talk with the other commuters, but they had much in common.

"We are all texting someone else who is not on that train," he said.

"Now I stand here with incomprehensible disbelief that I was at this luncheon exactly 12 months ago."

During his time as Australian of the Year, Rush visited schools and institutions throughout Australia, as well as Brisbane's Ekka show, where he sheared sheep, dodged prize bulls and drank beer with legendary barflies.

"It seems we talked with, at and to everybody everywhere on the vast shopfloor of Australia. It was amazing," he said.

Rush said perhaps the greatest moment was a visit to the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in a resurrected schoolhouse in Redfern, Sydney.

"In the bus on the way there we had passed a giant billboard featuring the towering beautiful faces of my colleagues Jessica Mauboy and Deborah Mailman advertising The Sapphires, just about to open," he said.

"Our host Jason Glanville said simply 'this place endeavours and strives to stimulate a positive image for my people'.

"He said, 'you can change perceptions in a flash, you know'. I now knew what he meant."

ABC/AAP