Before Clean Up Australia began ……..
Ian Bruce Kiernan was born near the shores of Sydney Harbour, Australia, in 1940 and grew up learning to swim, fish and sail on his favourite waterway. Educated at The Armidale School in Northern NSW, Ian became a builder by trade in the construction industry specialising in historic restorations.Ian has sailed competitively for most of his life and has represented Australia at the Admiral’s Cup, Southern Cross Cup and Trans Pacific Yacht races. During the 1970’s he took up solo yacht racing and in 1986/87 fulfilled a dream by representing Australia in The BOC Challenge solo around the world yacht race sailing the Ben Lexcen designed 18.2m (60’) yacht, “Spirit of Sydney”. Ian finished sixth out of a fleet of 25 yachts from 11 nations taking 156 days to sail the 27,000 solo miles of the race setting an Australian record for solo circumnavigation.
It was during The BOC Challenge that Ian began to notice the state of the world’s oceans and when he returned to Australia he decided to do something positive about the problem of pollution. Ian thought the best place to start would be his own backyard, Sydney Harbour and with the support of a committee of friends, he organised a Community Clean Up on Sunday 8 January, 1989 which attracted 40,000 volunteers. The rest is history. Ian is now full-time Chairman of Clean Up Australia, a national organisation which co-ordinates Clean Up Australia Day – an event which has been held every year since 1999 and now attracts almost one million volunteers.
Ian Kiernan’s environmental efforts were recognised in 1991 when the Australian Government awarded him the Order of Australia Medal (OAM). In October 1992, he was named “Communicator of the Year” by the Public Relations Institute of Australia and was the recipient of the Advance Australia Award in the same year.
Topics Covered by Ian Kiernan, OA include:
• Achievement
• Environment
• Leadership
• Inspiration
• Motivation
• Sport
• Science and Technology
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