Carrie Bickmore, local heroes honoured at Victoria’s Australian of the Year awards

2 hours ago 3

By William Ton

November 7, 2025 — 7.38am

Ten years ago, radio and television presenter Carrie Bickmore donned a blue beanie on national television while accepting her Gold Logie and asked Australians to do the same to start a conversation about brain cancer.

Brain cancer reaches one Australian every five hours, kills more children than any other disease and more people aged under 40 than any other cancer, including her late husband Greg, who died in 2010.

“Throughout his cancer journey, he used to wear a lot of hats, and he used to wear a lot of beanies, and that was because he felt embarrassed about his scars and his head,” Bickmore said in her 2015 speech.

“I want to get the nation talking about brain cancer. It receives next to no funding, which is ludicrous because without funding, more people are going to die.”

Since then, her charity Carrie’s Beanies for Brain Cancer has raised more than $27 million for research into the disease.

For her work in changing the way brain cancer research is funded in Australia, Bickmore was on Thursday recognised as the 2026 Australian of the Year for Victoria.

Bickmore established The Brain Cancer Centre in 2021, which supports more than 70 of the brightest minds to develop new treatments and world-first clinical trials.

Bryan Lipmann, chief executive of Wintringham.

Bryan Lipmann, Victoria’s 2026 Senior Australian of the Year, witnessed first-hand the appalling conditions many elderly homeless people were forced to live when he was a young social worker.

So the 77-year-old homeless advocate founded Wintringham to provide a safe space where older poor and homeless people could live with dignity and respect.

It now supports 3000 people with “a home until stumps”.

Criminology researcher and South Sudanese community leader Abraham Kuol.

Abraham Kuol juggles his days studying for a PhD in criminology with mentoring young people in his community.

The 27-year-old youth worker, who is Victoria’s Young Australian of the Year, recognises the important role sport plays in engaging at-risk youth, co-founding the Black Rhinos soccer and basketball club.

He is also a director at Sandown Lions Football Club, where he creates sporting pathways for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Farming community organiser Linda Widdup has been named Victoria’s 2026 Local Hero for bringing hope to Australian farmers in their time of need.

Establishing Aussie Hay Runners in 2019, Widdup delivers hay to help farmers feed their livestock during times of drought and natural disasters.

The voluntary organisation now has more than 70 trucks it can call on and has delivered over 90,000 bales of fodder.

The 2026 Australian of the Year award recipients will be announced on January 25.

AAP

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