Kersi Meher-Homji Honoured With Order of Australia Medal
Indian-born, Sydney-based cricket writer and historian, Kersi Meher-Homji was honoured with the prestigious ‘Medal of the Order of Australia’ in the (June) 2022 Queen’s Birthday Honours for his “service to the multicultural community, and to cricket”. The announcement which was made on 13th June, 2022, was part of the Queen’s birthday honours; the actual presentation of the medal will be held in September, when the Governor General of Australia will honour the recipients.
Speaking with Parsi Times about this excellent honour bestowed on him, Kersi Meher-Homji says, “The terrific news, receiving the prestigious Order of Australia Medal (OAM), came out of the blue and I was astounded. My first reaction? Singing the old Mary Poppins song, ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ and rushing to my wife, Villie, to share the great news.
I believe I received this award in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for a few reasons: I’m one of few who initiated the formation of the Australian Zoroastrian Association (AZA), NSW in Sydney in 1971. The Association is flourishing now. I’ve edited nearly 100 issues of the AZA newsletter, ‘Manashni’, in the past. As a Virologist I did research on polioviruses in Bombay, on pox viruses at Sydney University and on HIV and Hepatitis viruses at NSW Blood Bank, Sydney. I was a Quality Control Officer assessing the performances of Blood Banks in Australia and New Zealand.
Also, writing on cricket is my speciality, I’ve been publishing articles in Indian and Australian publications for almost 60 years. My strength is statistics and providing less-known facts. In the past, I contributed feature articles in Times of India, Illustrated Weekly of India, Sportsweek, Australian Cricket, Cricketer, World of Cricket, The Roar website… and currently in The Sydney Morning Herald, Indian Down Under and Parsiana.
I’ve written 16 books on cricket; serious ones: ‘Cricket’s Great Families’, ‘Cricket’s Great All-rounders’, ‘The Waugh Twins’, ‘Parsi Cricket Centenary’… and quirky ones: ‘Out for a Duck’, ‘Nervous Nineties’, ‘Six Appeal’, ‘Cricket Quirky Cricket’. My latest one was ‘From Bradman to Kohli – the Best of India-Australia Test Cricket’.”
The nephew of former cricketer Khurshed Meherhomji, the impressive 82-year-old Kersi has authored 16 books on cricket. Famous test cricketers, including Sunil Gavaskar, Allan Border, Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Doug Walters, Greg Chappell and Steve Waugh, have honoured him by writing forewords to his books.
“Humourist PG Wodehouse inspired me to write short stories – ‘Me Villain’, being a prize winner, in 1992. As the Medals will be presented to the recipients by the Governor General of Australia this September, I’ve started humming the old song, ‘Come September’,” he concludes on a delightful note.
