LANCEFIELD local Pam Ahern, founder of the Edgar’s Mission Farm Sanctuary, has received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for the King’s Birthday honours in 2026, for services to animal welfare.
Ms Ahern has served as the founder and director of Edgar’s Mission since 2003, a farm animal advocate and the creator of the Kind Critter Care Conference in 2016, while also serving as an Australian Ambassador of World Animal Day, an ambassador for the Be Kind to Animals Week and a volunteer of the Save Babe Campaign.
She has also had an accomplished career in equestrian, winning the Garryowen Trophy at the Royal Melbourne Show in 1997 and 2006, as well as being a former Australian Champion Rider of the Year.
Ms Ahern said she was stunned by her award.
“I’m still in a bit of a shock, to be honest. When the first email came in, I actually nearly hit delete as I thought it was spam, but I looked at the insignias and the link, and it was real,” she said.
“I’m humbled. I am incredibly honoured to think the work that caring for farm animals is being recognised at this level. It’s a landmark, not just for me, but for anyone who cares about animals and a kinder world. My name might sit next to the award, but this belongs to the animals whose stories I’ve been able to tell, whose lives I’ve been able to help, but also the people who have worked this journey with me. I haven’t done this alone, there’s been so many people who have helped me.”
Ms Ahern, after living in suburban Melbourne, started off with the Central Highlands Animal Shelter in Willowmavin before establishing Edgar’s Mission, with the goal of the sanctuary to create a place where all animals are cared for.
“I lived in suburban Melbourne, I loved cats and dogs, I rescued a kitten from the pub that I was a waitress in, and that awakened me to the plight of cats and what happens to them and became a foster carer. And with my mum, we started the Central Highlands Animal Shelter when we lived over in Willowmavin, doing that for many years. That springboarded to farm animals, who are the largest number of animals in human care,” she said.
“It’s not just about animals, it’s about us as human beings, and I like to think through the work of Edgar’s Mission, we can inspire the best within everybody to realise the choices we make shape the world we live in.
“I created Edgar’s Mission as a place I would have loved to have come when I was a child, to have my feelings about animals and the natural world validated and not vanquished. One of the things I’m very adamant about is I never tell people what to do or what not to do. I truly believe in the goodness of the human heart, that’s what gets me up every single day.
“I often think that if there hadn’t been a grumpy pig who never liked me, there’d never be a conversation, but I think sometimes, things happen in your life for a reason.”
Ms Ahern said anything was always possible if you put your heart into it.
“I always thought I would ride horses – I loved horses as a little girl in a suburban backyard who always wanted a pony,” she said.
“I was living my dream, but in the latter part of my equestrian career, I was starting to question what I was doing, and when Edgar came along, that changed my trajectory.
“I always liked to see what was possible, and I encourage people to see what’s possible. Nothing is impossible unless you say it is, the words we use shape our reality and you just have to give it a go. Good people gravitate to you if you do good things, and I’ve found I’ve had so many wonderful people come along.
“There’s a wonderful quote around the sanctuary, it says ‘Anyone who thinks they’re too small to make a difference has never been bitten by a mosquito’, and I think of a mosquito buzzing around your room and it makes you get out of bed to shoo them out, and if a mosquito can have that impact on us, what impact can we have on the world?”
Ms Ahern was one of 949 recipients in the King’s Birthday honours list, which included 703 people in the General Division of the Order of Australia.
