Former companions of the Order of Australia

Patrick Victor Martindale White (28 May 1912 – 30 September 1990) was an Australian writer who published 12 novels, three short-story collections, and eight plays, from 1935 to 1987.

Richard J. Pratt (born Ryszard Przecicki; 10 December 1934 – 28 April 2009) was an Australian businessman, chairman of the privately owned company Visy Industries, and a leading figure of Melbourne society. In the year before his death Pratt was Australia's fourth-richest person, with a personal fortune valued at A$5.48 billion.

John Dyson Heydon AC QC (born 1 March 1943) is a graduate of the University of Sydney and the University of Oxford, which he attended as a Rhodes Scholar. He served as Dean of the Sydney Law School, as a Justice of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, and, from 2003 to 2013, as a Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. He retired from the bench at the constitutionally-mandated age of 70 and went on to chair the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

Brian Thomas Burke (born 25 February 1947) was Labor premier of Western Australia from 25 February 1983 until his resignation on 25 February 1988. He was imprisoned for seven months in 1994, after being convicted of "false pretence" regarding travel expenses.

Herbert Cole "Nugget" Coombs (24 February 1906 – 29 October 1997) was an Australian economist and public servant. He is best known as the first Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, in office from 1960 to 1968.

Robert Keith Bennett Doyle AC (born 20 May 1953) is an Australian politician who was the 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008 until he resigned on 4 February 2018 amidst allegations of sexual harassment. He was previously Member for Malvern in the Legislative Assembly of Victoria from 1992 to 2006 and Leader of the Victorian Opposition from 2002 to 2006, representing the Liberal Party.