Lindy Chamberlain, Arthur Calwell, Don Bradman, Daisy Bates, Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Jill Ker Conway, Faith Bandler, Ben Chifley. To mark the centenary of Federation and the forthcoming Australia Day, the Herald begins today a five-part series suggesting the 100 most influential Australians of the century. The list cannot be definitive. Lists are subjective, since it is not easy to define or measure importance, greatness or influence. Influence is not the same thing as fame.
Fame is the state of being widely known or recognised, a celebrity.
To have influence is to be capable of changing, moving, affecting or modifying people and events. The test is whether a person has changed the course of history in some way, whether we see things differently because of what he or she has done. Elle Macpherson is a celebrity who has influenced many Western people around the world, particularly young women. She made a similar Herald list published five years ago but does not meet today the history factor. Women are under-represented.