Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has been made a Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest order in the current system.
Ms Gillard said she was honoured and believed it was a great thing that a migrant could become Prime Minister and be recognised on Australia Day. She put down much of her success to government schooling and highlights the importance of having a good quality education.
"As a parliamentarian and as Prime Minister, I wanted to ensure every child in every community enjoyed that same opportunity" she said.
"I always saw this work as key to making us a stronger and fairer country."
As chair of the Global Partnership for Education, Ms Gillard will not be spending Australia Day at home. Instead, she will be in Malawi, Africa.
"When I undertake visits to GPE countries, which include some of the poorest places on earth, I always return so thankful for everything we have built together in Australia" she said.
"We still have much to do to be the best we can be and to extend an Aussie fair go to everyone, but we have so much to be proud of as well."
Anna Bligh, the country's first popularly-elected female premier, has also received one of the country's highest honours at this year's Australia Day celebrations.
Ms Bligh was appointed a Companion to the Order of Australia for her eminent service to the Queensland Parliament, her contribution to education reform and her advocacy of women's roles in public life.
She said she was "deeply grateful" to recognised in this year's awards.
"I look forward to seeing more Australian women being recognised in our Honours awards in the future and intend to continue to advocate for women across the country and around the world," she said.
Ms Bligh was born in the southern Queensland town of Warwick on July 14, 1960. Ms Bligh was first elected to the Queensland parliament, as the Member for South Brisbane and quickly moved up the ranks of Peter Beattie's cabinet, taking on the roles of Education Minister and Deputy Premier.
She was promoted to the role of Premier following the retirement of Peter Beattie in 2007 and two years later Queensland voters elected her to the position in her own right. Ms Bligh consoled and cried with Queenslanders in 2011 when floods devastated much of the state.
But it was not enough to erase the discontent voters felt over her government's decision to sell $15 billion in state assets.
Her decision to leave the state she loved was nothing compared to the fight she faced in 2013, when it was announced she had been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma cancer.
In March 2015 Ms Bligh released her autobiography, Through the Wall, just months after she announced she was cancer free.
Top Canberra bureaucrat Martin Parkinson also received the country's top honour and AC, Andrew Holmes AM, Dr David Kemp, Michael Spence and Catherine Warner AM.
Business leaders recognised
Perth billionaire Andrew Forrest has been made an AO for his service to the mining sector and philanthropic contributions, committing most of his wealth to help the most disadvantaged.
Also named 2017 WA Australian of the Year, Mr Forrest founded Anaconda Nickel Ltd in 1994, now known as Minara Resources, before founding iron ore company Fortescue Metals Group in 2003, the world's fourth largest iron ore miner behind BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto.
In 2001, Mr Forrest established the Minderoo Foundation with wife Nicola, which supports over 250 initiatives across Australia and internationally to end modern slavery and Indigenous disadvantage.
Joining the AO ranks was Ahmed Fahour, managing director and group CEO of Australia Post and former CEO of NAB, honoured for his service to business, particularly in the area of postal communications, banking and investment sectors, and as a supporter of improved multicultural relations.
Melanie Cooper, chair of Coopers Brewery Foundation, was made an AM through her philanthropic contributions to various charities.
Ms Cooper said she was absolutely delighted and overwhelmed upon hearing she was a recipient of an AM.
"It was the last thing I was expecting" she said
"I'm just so humbled… I can't get over it."
Ms Cooper said a very big part of Coopers Brewery Foundation was to give back to the community. The foundation makes quarterly grants to charitable organisations with recognised strengths in medical research and health care, youth education and aged care in fostering family and community support.
"Help has to start at home and come from the corporate sector," she said.
"It's important we give back."
Former Cochlear chief executive Chris Roberts was made an AO for his service to science and the development and commercialisation of medical biotechnology, particularly through the cochlear implant program and management of respiratory conditions.
Other notable health and science recipients included Helen Evans, former deputy chief executive officer at Gavi, The Vaccine. Prior to joining Gavi, Ms Evans served as deputy executive director at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria between 2005 and 2009.
She headed the Australian Government Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and managed the National Communicable Diseases Program in the Australian Department of Health during the early 1990s during the AIDs epidemic.
"I think Australia took a real leadership role there and I'm very proud of the way we responded and I was proud to be part of that" she said.
She said much of what she's been able to achieve has "very much been a team effort" and she highlighted the importance of making "a contribution both in australia and outside australia for people who are most vulnerable and marginalised".
"It's pretty extraordinary to be able to work in organisations which are really exciting, innovative in terms of putting all the players around the table; governments, UN organisations, recipient countries, private sector, research areas, civil society, to try and find a way forward" she said.
Ms Evans has been involved in the work of a range of international health and development organisations including serving on the inaugural board of UNAIDS. She is also a board member of The Fred Hollows Foundation and the Burnet Institute.
Judges dominate lists
Honours for service to the law were dominated by judges and former solicitors-general; the most senior among them High Court judge and Muswellbrook High School graduate Stephen Gageler, who received an AC.
Known for his outstanding legal mind and unfailingly friendly manner - traits which make him among the most well-liked judges in the profession - Justice Gageler is building a reputation as one of the more common dissenters on a bench that is strong on joint judgments.
He was the sole dissenter in the landmark case brought by the Independent Commission Against Corruption against Crown prosecutor Margaret Cunneen, parting with his peers to find the controversial inquiry into the high profile prosecutor was within the body's powers.
Other AC recipients include ex Federal Court judge Bob Ellicott, QC, whose CV has the rare combination of Commonwealth solicitor general and attorney general; and Governor of Tasmania Kate Warner, a criminal law expert and former dean of the University of Tasmania's law faculty.
Former Family Court judge Linda Dessau, retired Tasmanian Supreme Court judge and former state solicitor-general Christopher Wright QC, Supreme Court judge and fierce native title advocate Kevin Bell, ex Supreme Court of Victoria judge and current Melbourne Law School judge in residence Elizabeth Curtain, and NSW Local Court chief magistrate Graeme Henson also took honours.
AO honours went to retired Tasmanian Supreme Court judge and former state solicitor-general Christopher Wright QC, who briefly chaired the state government's assessment panel for the controversial Gunns pulp mill. He stepped down in a public rift with the Premier at the time Paul Lennon over encroachments into his independence.
Other recipients included: Justice Elizabeth Curtain who helped found the Essendon Football Club Women's Network; Bob Ellicott, QC, who is in the Australian Sport Hall of Fame and has an AOC Olympic Order of Merit, credited with the vision to establish and Australian Institute of Sport; and Dr Helen Durham who is the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross director for International Law and Policy.
Sporting stars honoured
Kimberly Brennan, Olympic gold medallist and 2016 AIS Female Athlete of the Year, was made an AM for her service to rowing, the welfare of elite athletes and to the community.
She won Australia's first gold in the women's single sculls at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has been recognised for her work as as deputy chairwoman of the Australia Olympic Committee's Athletes' Commission, her work with EY as part of the Women Athletes Business Network which focuses on athletes using their skills from sport in business and her ambassador work for a water treatment plant in Kafue, Zambia, which doubles as a rowing centre for kids.
Brennan said she was incredibly proud that she's been recognised for her performance on the water but also for her contribution to sport off the water. She says the award is extremely special.
"Elite sport can be quite a selfish pursuit, I've always thought it really important to give back to the people who supported me" she said.
"Passionate about encouraging not only young australians but all australians to live a healthy lifestyle and try and make a difference in the lives of my teammates and aspiring kids."
Mick Fanning, three-time world surfing champion and status as a national hero, has been formally recognised with his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia.
He and former Formula One driver Mark Webber have both been appointed AO. Fanning provided one of the feel-good stories of 2016 by winning the competition at South Africa's Jeffreys Bay, the scene of his shark attack the previous year.
But the 35-year-old was largely absent from the world tour, stepping back from the grind after a tumultuous 2015 capped by the sudden death of his older brother Peter. Instead, Fanning travelled to Alaska with conservation group Wild Ark, surfed under the northern lights in Norway and devoted time to charities including the Starlight Foundation.
Fanning, who was honoured for his surfing accomplishments and charity work, is committed to participating in the first Australian leg of this year's tour but hasn't decided whether to make a full-time return.
"I had so much fun last year ... I could easily keep going down that path," he told AAP.
"I'd love to keep doing the conservation work, it's something that really excites me. I don't think I'll be on tour for 10 years, that's for sure. There's more fun things to do out there."
Webber's recognition came for distinguished service to motorsport and his work with medical and youth support groups.
Cyclist Robbie McEwen, former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns and retired sprinter Melinda Gainsford-Taylor were all appointed Members of the Order of Australia.
Leg spinner Bob Holland, who made his Test debut at age 38 and is now 70, was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia.
Music stars awarded
Other AO recipients include Nick Cave for his service to music and contributions to Australian music and culture, Paul Kelly for his service to music and support of a number of charitable organisations and Jimmy Barnes AO for his work in the performing arts and not-for-profit organisations including the Luke Batty Foundation.
Andrew O'Keefe, co-host of weekend Sunrise and ambassador for the White Ribbon Foundation, was also honoured for his dedication to the prevention of violence against women.
Mr O'Keefe says the award is an acknowledgment of the decades of hard work done by many women and men working in the areas of violence prevention and multiculturalism.
"I genuinely love engaging with people in the areas I feel passionate about, and I'm most passionate about social justice - fairness, equality, compassion and understanding for our fellow humans" he said.
"I was raised to believe that service is both a duty and a reward. My mum and dad gave of themselves tirelessly in the service of others."
He believes even though the current response to domestic violence is a case of "one step forward, two steps back" he's pleased that that there's a better understanding of its forms and that the issue of domestic violence is on a national frontline.
"Governments now have the issue of violence firmly on the agenda" he said.
"And the challenge for every one of us, as individuals, is to discover how we can play a part in preventing violence through our everyday actions and attitudes. That's what White Ribbon is all about."
Actor Tony Bonner just missed out on becoming James Bond, but he hasn't been forgotten in the Australia Day honours.
Bonner, who shot to fame as Jerry King in the hit 1960s TV show Skippy, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, alongside musical theatre star Anthony Warlow. Ray Meagher who plays the much-loved Alf Stewart in Home and Away was also awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia.
"I was honoured and humbled that Canberra thought the body of work that I'd done deemed recognition," Bonner told AAP.
The actor has had a varied film and TV career in the 50 years since Skippy, acting alongside Kirk Douglas in the 1982 box office smash The Man From Snowy River, with Paul Hogan in the 1985 TV series Anzacs, and in WWI film The Lighthorsemen, among many others.
Many wouldn't realise he also almost became James Bond in the 1970s, but lost the role to Roger Moore who was his co-star at the time in the TV show, The Persuaders.
Bonner is still in demand as an actor also spends his time training young actors and working with several charities and community organisations including Bravehearts, The Variety Club and Manly Life Saving Club.
"What pleases me more than anything, aside from all the theatre, television, film and teaching work, is the other aspects of the award for my service to charity and my service to the community," he said.
"I've always loved what I do so whenever I've had the opportunity to be of assistance or help to any person singularly or a charity, I was more than happy to become involved."
Education honours
Three university vice chancellors were honoured, with the University of Sydney's chief executive Michael Spence being awarded an AC for his leadership in tertiary education, and other others, Jane den Hollander from Deakin University, and Greg Craven, from the Australian Catholic University each receiving an AO.
In his award Dr Spence was particularly singled out for the University of Sydney's investment in multi-disciplinary research, which the institution has developed in its new Charles Perkins Centre in which all faculties of the university contribute to finding solutions to health problems.
In addition to being recognised for his university leadership, Professor Craven was also honoured for his contribution to constitutional law.
He said he was "very humbled and honoured" to receive the award.
"I don't see this as a personal award but as one really recognising what all my colleagues at ACU have achieved over the last decade," Professor Craven said.
With Tim Dodd and AAP
