Peter O'Clery AM
9 June 2009
Our warmest congratulations to our own Peter O'Clery, today a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia!
The official citation reproduced in the Canberra Times yesterday reads:
"For service to the Australian tourism industry, particularly through the establishment and development of research and education centres, and to the community".
For more than a decade (1984-95) Peter was Chief Executive of the Australian Tourism Industry Association (ATIA) - the national peak body for the travel and tourism sector, and was deeply engaged in the development of business and member services for this very extensive and diverse sector.
For the previous five years (1979-1984) he had been Executive Director of the Canberra Development Board - the economic development agency for the ACT, with particular focus on IT and tourism projects.
After his lengthy stint at ATIA, in 1995 Peter co-led a successful bid for the creation of a Cooperative Research Centre for Sustainable Tourism, which became the largest such centre in the Commonwealth's CRC PRogram.
Over the following twelve years he was actively engaged with creating business enterprises arising from the strategic research carried out by the CRC, and became Managing Director of a number of spin-off companies.
He also became involved in agribusiness development - a domain not unrelated to the fine olive grove that he and his wife Caroline now run at 'Homeleigh' just outside Hall on the Wallaroo Road. Proving that you cannot keep a good man down, Peter is currently President of the Southern Olive Growers Association, and Chair of the Interim Committee, Olives NSW.
As many will be well aware, Peter's 'service to the community' includes his contributions to the Rotary Club of Hall and to the establishment of the immensely successful Capital Region Farmers Market.
When we rang this morning to demand a photograph to add to this story, Peter and his wife Caroline were just on the way out to pick olives...........
Well done indeed!