Around 140 Australians are appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia [AO] each year and in 2020, Bathurst's Don Grant is one of them.
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Mr Grant has been appointed an AO for his distinguished service in the field of surveying, particularly through his role in establishing Australia's first combined public sector mapping agency in 1992.
"The founding of Public Sector Mapping Agencies [PSMA] Australia brought each state and territory together to develop a common, nation-wide property database," he said.
"Prior to the establishment of PSMA Australia, there was limited accuracy and compatibility around property data and I'm pleased to be recognised for my contribution to the good of the country."
Mr Grant served as chairman of PSMA Australia until 2000 and during that tenure, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia [AM] in 1994.
"I would like to record my thanks to the members of PSMA Australia's original board and former chief executive officer Major Jonathon Mobbs for being such a cooperative and nationally focused group of people," he said.
"We created this infrastructure to provide a geographical foundation where social, economic, environmental and population trends could be spatially comprehended and tracked."
Mr Grant's surveying work has taken him all around the world to countries such as Greece, Zimbabwe and Mauritius.
But through all his travels, he said he is proud to call Bathurst home.
"Bathurst is a great city and with the effective planning, it will go on being so."