Val D'Angri OAM

Congratulations to alumna Valda D'Angri who was recognised in the Queen's Birthday 2022 Honours list.

Val was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to community history preservation, particularly for her work in rescuing and restoring the famed Eureka flag in the early 1970s.

The Eureka flag originally flew above the 1854 miner's revolt in Ballarat and has become a symbol of democracy and protest in Australian culture.

The flag was loaned to the Art Gallery of Ballarat and in 1973 was washed and repaired by Val. Her conservation work saw the flag move from being hidden away in a municipal office building drawer, to being hung proudly in the Ballarat Art Gallery. Today is displayed at the Eureka Centre, on permanent loan from the Gallery. Without Val's efforts this forgotten piece of Ballarat history may not have otherwise survived and been returned to the local community.

Val was a graduate of the Ballarat Technical Art School, part of the Ballarat School of Mines (SMB), a predecessor institution of Federation University. She also later taught at the school, one of the most respected art colleges in the country.