WHEN you look at Emeritus Professor Ian Riley's long list of achievements it's easy to see why he is a Queen's Birthday award winner.

The Bawley Point resident received the Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for "significant service to tertiary medical education, notably to tropical health".

He was both surprised and moved by the award.

Prof Riley was particularly pleased the award was for medical education.

It's his long connection with Papua New Guinea [PNG] that stands out in a long list of achievements.

The now 82-year-old, in 1964, first went to PNG, in a medical role, with his wife Dr Rae Howard, who worked as an anaesthetist.

The couple had met in the Wollongong Hospital and Prof Riley had made a commitment to go to PNG - a decision he never regretted.

They worked in a number of areas, which included running a bush hospital.

"We saw all sorts of things," he said.

His other roles included Professor, Community Medicine, 1982-1985. Lecturer in Medicine, 1972-1976 and Medical Officer in Charge, Tuberculosis Control Unit, Highland Region, 1964-1966.

Education was always one of his passions which saw him take on the Lecturer in Medicine role.

"I wanted to make a difference by educating the younger people," he said.

Prof Riley's love of the New Guinea area dates back to 1955 when he visited it as a younger man.

He was determined to go back as a doctor - he wanted to help the people.

He loves the island's culture, history and of course its inhabitants.

"They [PNG] people are marvellously good at making war but they are even better at making peace," he said.

In 1975 he was awarded a Papua New Guinea Independence Medal.

Prof Riley said he would share the AM with his wife Rae.

"I could not have functioned up there without Rae. She made all the sacrifices - not me," he said.

Their connection with Bawley Point goes back to the 1960s when he and Dr Howard bought a block of land.

"We spent all our money on it. We wanted to own a piece of Australia," he said.

The now-retired couple built a house on the block in 1973.

Prof Riley, in retirement, keeps busy and his current research work includes improving the quality of cause-of-death statistics in developing countries through verbal autopsies and the medical certification of cause-of-death.

He has been watching with interest from the sidelines as Australia confronts COVID-19.

He thinks the lockdowns are working and says there have been some issues understanding airborne transmission and there have been problems with the vaccine roll-out.

However, he feels in general Australia is handling COVID well.

The Bawley Point resident has been an Emeritus Professor University of Queensland since 2005 and a Medical Officer for World Health Organisation.