Dr Richard Harris SC, OAM, has been presented the Explorers Club Presidential Award – the club’s highest award which is often described as the ‘Oscars of Exploration’.
Dr Harris was presented with the Explorers Award at the Australia New Zealand Chapter of the Explorers Club meeting on Wednesday 13 July in Sydney.
Presenting the award, Emerald Nash from the Explorers Club head office in New York explained that the Presidential Award is presented only in special circumstances and at the discretion of the Club president.
The Award is presented in recognition of “explorers doing extraordinary things in the field”. More specifically, the award recognises efforts in conservation, communication or heroism and altruism.
The award was presented to Dr Harris in recognition of the role he played in what has become known around the world as the Thai Cave Dive, in which 12 Thai children and their soccer coach were rescued from the flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave system.
Dr Harris and his dive partner Craig Challen were requested to provide assistance to the rescue team by the Thai government, on the advice of British cave diving experts.
Throughout the rescue, Dr Harris conducted essential medical assessments of all the trapped boys. He devised the complex strategy to extract the boys from the cave system and administered a sedative to each boy, ensuring they did not panic during the rescue, which enabled its success. Dr Harris and Mr Challen were the last members of the rescue team out of the caves following the rescue.
Dr Harris and Mr Challen have received multiple awards in recognition of their efforts, including the Star of Courage (SC) and Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) by the Governor-General of Australia. Dr Harris was appointed as a Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Admirable Order of the Direkgunabhorn by the King of Thailand and on Australia Day 2019, he was announced as the joint 2019 Australian of the Year with Craig Challen.
