Richard Harris and Craig Challen honoured for their work in global team who freed Wild Boars football team

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Two cave divers who helped in the dramatic rescue of 12 boys and their coach from a flooded Thai cave have been jointly named 2019 Australian of the year.

Richard Harris and Craig Challen, who have been friends and cave diving partners for years, were awarded the honour together on Friday night in Canberra. Theirs is the first joint award since 1967, when the band the Seekers was named.

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Harris, an anaesthetist and diver from Adelaide, and Challen, a champion diver from Wangara, Western Australia, were part of the global team that freed the trapped Wild Boars football team in July 2018.

The men stayed in the underwater Tham Luang cave system for three days, swimming multiple kilometres in hazardous conditions.

Harris swam the length of the cave system, performed medical checks on the children and administered anaesthetic to each of them. Challen then transported the children to safety, and the two men worked together to ensure all 12 escaped unharmed.

'We don't know how it worked': the inside story of the Thai cave rescue Read more

The three-day operation involved 18 rescue divers in the final stages. One diver, retired Thai navy seal Saman Kunan, died in the process.

Harris paid tribute to Kunan last year, and when he won South Australian of the year, he told the ABC he would have preferred if Challen won the national award.

But on Friday, the awards committee praised both men equally for their “selflessness, courage and willingness to help others”.

Both men have previously been awarded the Star of Courage – Australia’s second-highest civilian award for bravery – and the medal of the order of Australia. In 2012, Challen also set an Australasian record by diving to 221m in a river cave in New Zealand on an expedition with Harris.

Also on Friday, the Indigenous rapper Danzal Baker – better known as Baker Boy – was announced as the young Australian of the year.

The 22-year-old musician from Arnhem Land was honoured for his talent, his work with remote communities and his breakthrough success in rapping in the Yolngu Matha language.

His song Marryuna came 17th in the Triple J Hottest 100 in 2017, and his song Cloud 9 won the station’s Unearthed competition the same year.

The chair of the Australia Day council, Danielle Roche, said Baker was a “dedicated advocate who inspires young Indigenous Australians to embrace their heritage”.

The senior Australian of the year was paediatrician Dr Suzanne Packer, for her work championing children’s rights.

Australia Day honours list: Kylie Minogue and Peter Reith among 2019 recipients Read more

The local hero award went to Kate and Tick Everett, who founded the anti-bullying organisation Dolly’s Dream after the tragic death of their daughter.

Dolly’s Dream – named after Amy “Dolly” Everett – works to prevent childhood bullying with a focus on regional and rural communities in the Northern Territory.

“Kate and Tick Everett endured heartbreak and put their own grief aside to drive cultural change, prevent bullying and ensure that other children and parents never have to suffer as their family has,” Roche said.

Other nominees in the running for Australian of the year this year included Paralympian and champion wheelchair racer Kurt Fearnley, former AFL player and anti-racism advocate Michael Long, journalist and women’s rights advocate Virginia Haussegger and Jon Rouse, a Queensland police detective who broke up one of the world’s largest child sex abuse rings.