2026 ANZAC of the Year Awards recognises RSL Queensland members

2026 ANZAC Peace Prize 

The ANZAC Peace Prize is awarded by RSL Australia to ‘recognise any outstanding effort by an Australian citizen who has promoted the concept of international understanding and who, in so doing, has made a contribution to world peace’. 

For 2026, the recipient is Lieutenant Colonel George Hulse OAM of Toowong RSL Sub Branch in recognition of his post-service decades devoted to ensuring that the bonds forged between nations in wartime are preserved and honoured, most visibly through his leadership of the effort to gift a Bailey Bridge to France as a permanent memorial to the Australia-France partnership of the First World War, dedicated at Amiens on 24 April 2024.  

His advocacy secured the Victoria Cross for Private Richard Norden in 2025, and his forthcoming publication The First ANZACs (Allen & Unwin, March 2026) affirms a legacy of peace through remembrance that is both enduring and deeply deserved. 

2026 ANZAC of the Year Awards 

The ANZAC of the Year Awards are presented ‘to recognise the efforts and achievements of up to seven Australians who have given service to their fellow Australians and to the community in a positive, selfless and compassionate manner.’ 

The 2026 recipients from Queensland are: 

• Douglas Henderson OAM of Runaway Bay RSL Sub Branch in recognition of his extraordinary contribution as a wounded Vietnam veteran who transformed personal experience into a national movement, founding the Kokoda Youth Foundation in 2005 and growing it into a programme that has taken more than 1,300 young Australians to walk the Kokoda Track.  

His advocacy further secured the posthumous Victoria Cross for Private Richard Norden in 2025, affirming a lifetime of service that has shaped both the lives of Australia’s youth and the nation’s memory of those who gave everything for it.

• Tony Stevenson OAM of Sailsbury RSL Sub Branch in recognition of his lifetime devoted to ensuring that the veterans of his community are honoured, supported, and never forgotten – serving with Salisbury RSL Sub Branch for more than 25 years, including as President since 2014, and concurrently as Queensland State President and Australian Vice President of the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia. 

Now approaching his 90th year, he almost single-handedly organises ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day services, personally maintains the memorial park, and conducts graveside poppy services for deceased veterans – a record of quiet, selfless service that exemplifies the ANZAC spirit.

Congratulations to these RSL Queensland members who have been named in the 2026 RSL ANZAC of the Year Awards.

Thank you for your continued dedication to the ANZAC spirit and the community.