Gorey native, Dr Anita Bourke has received one of the highest honour bestowed by Australia to recognise her outstanding service, where Anita was awarded for her contributions to volunteering and radiology.

With great shock and feeling overwhelmed when she found out the news, but said it was very special to be recognised, especially being an Irish expat in Australia. “You’re not expecting to be recognised in your adopted country, and I think that feels very special.

“It’s just overwhelming gratitude to all the people who kind of formed me, my parents, and my family because you’re not one person on your own doing it – you’ve got all these other people who’ve either given you values or made you who you are. Australia has given us huge opportunities,” Anita added.

Anita is the daughter of the late Mr and Mrs Roche, who were well-known in Gorey as a respected pharmacist. She followed in her family’s footsteps where she studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin.

It was there that Anita met her Australian husband, John Bourke, who she married in Ireland before moving to Perth, Australia. “The first night he met me, he said, ‘I’m going to Australia’, I thought, that won’t worry me. But here I am 42 years later, still married to the same good man,” she said.

Undertaking a fellowship in both Ireland and Australia, Anita was working alongside a team where she said she was always brought up to “treat others the way you’d like to be treated.”

Anita was the first dual trained nuclear physician and senior breast radiologist in Western Australia working as a consultant radiologist at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and at BreastScreen WA for more than 30 years, introducing multiple new imaging and interventional breast techniques.

“I did some research and it kind of changed how we looked after women with breast cancer here as well, we improved the type of surgery we did. We got everybody on board,” Anita said.

“We reduced the number of women who had to have a second operation to remove a little bit of residual cancer by maybe 30pc.”

She further said this research helped reduce the anxiety felt by women affected by cancer. With a team effort, Anita alongside a team of pathologists and surgeons were able to treat patients with Radioactive Seed Localization (RSL).

“A lot of women used to choose to have a mastectomy, have the breast removed, and they went back for a second operation. But this meant that we got all of the tumour out on the first go and it really made a huge difference,” she added.

Working as a radiologist for many years, Anita said volunteering and community work have given her the greatest joys. “It’s the joy of volunteering that keeps me going and keeps me motivated and I find getting an award like this is really inspirational to do more to make sure that I deserve it,” she said.

“I wouldn’t think my radiology was the bit that really gave me the award because I think I just did what all doctors do, what all doctors should do – put your patients first.”

During the years, she has advocated and volunteered for equitable healthcare delivery and improving access to radiology services in areas of Australia, including helping the construction of a hospital and a school for 450 students to attend each day in Cambodia.

Anita would visit the hospital twice a year before COVID and would love to return to Cambodia in November. “I was involved in a second hospital that got taken over by the Government and it has become a cancer hospital for the whole of Cambodia.

“It’s doing a really good job up there and the College of Radiologists have actually taken on the radiotherapy side of things so that means it’ll be very well managed,” Anita said.

It’s the good people you meet along the way, just sort of making the world a better place. I think I’ve just been part of a very large jigsaw puzzle of good people

With a love for volunteering, Anita said people began to come to her with ideas and requests to provide aid, where she managed to provide medical equipment and sent containers to multiple locations across the world including Ukraine, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Madagascar.

She was able to help support woman in an indigenous population in Kalamburu. “We were able to send up some beds to some old women who were sleeping on the floor in a remote kind of community. The beds we sent were sofa beds so in the daytime they had somewhere to sit and at nighttime, a bed to sleep on – little things that make a difference,” she said.

Anita has also been involved in sending clothing to mothers and their children from a domestic violence refuge who had to flea their homes in Learmonth, Australia. She praised those she has met along the way for helping create safer environments for vulnerable communities.

“It’s the good people you meet along the way, just sort of making the world a better place. I think I’ve just been part of a very large jigsaw puzzle of good people,” Anita said.

Working as a Clinical Associate Professor and lecturer in University of Western Australia’s medical school, Anita spent time mentoring overseas students from Nepal and East Africa.

“It’s very cold in the Winter, especially if you have a house that’s not insulated or a little room, so we get them these sheepskin lined boots and a warm dressing gown and an electric blanket so that at least they were warm when they were at home studying,” she added.

With many students receiving scholarships, Anita said it is a great pleasure to have met many students who have travelled back to their home countries to do amazing work in the Ministry of Health or working in the United Nations (UN).

“Things get put in your path and sometimes you’re very blessed that you’ve taken that opportunity and that it’s all worked for the best.”

Growing up in Gorey, Anita said becoming an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2026 Australia Day Honours List gave her a great feeling of gratitude for her parents and the strongest feeling from this special recognition.

“Gorey was a great place to grow up, we had that sort of lovely, idyllic childhood where you didn’t have to worry about child safety and all of the horrible things that we’ve got to worry about now,” she said.

Anita was awarded the Clinical Association for Excellence in Science by Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in 2022. She also served as a Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists’ Examiner.

Although Anita is now retired, she continues to volunteer her time into the Rotary Club in Dalkeith, helping provide scholarships and training for young people. “I was the first woman to join their Rotary Club, but they have fully embraced me, and they support everything I do.

“It’s filled up my life basically, it’s very busy now I’m just really satisfied that I have the health and the energy to do it,” Anita said.

Original source: ie