Dr Joe Herbertson, an Alumnus of the School, has been made a member of the Order of Australia in the recent Australia Day Honours.

Joe graduated in Metallurgy in the late 1960’s and obtained his PhD from Imperial College, London University. He has been a leading driver for many years in the development of Materials processing technology with a framework sustainable development. Joe was previously General Manager of Research at BHP Steel and also headed the Central Research Laboratories in Newcastle. In recent years however, he has had a leading position in a number of important national and international bodies, directed towards sustainable development in the materials processing industry and is Executive Director of the Natural Step in Australia. He realized very early on that the recognition of sustainability issues was critical to, not only, Australia’s but international development in the metal production industry.

It is fitting that Joe’s award was for “Service To The Environment Through The Development and Promotion of Sustainable Resource Processing Technologies, Particularly in the Mining and Manufacturing Sectors, and as a Researcher and Educator”.