Helen Walker OAM

The 2024 Australia Day Honours List saw a diverse group of recipients recognised, including Helen Walker OAM. 

Having volunteered with Prison Network for more than four decades, Mrs Walker was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to women through a range of roles. 

Mrs Walker credits much of her achievement to the support and guidance of early mentors and loved ones. She recalls the impact that fellow volunteer and OAM recipient, Marjorie Swales, had on her as a teenager.

"I think it's important for us to have a mentor and she taught me so much about being yourself, just accepting people, loving people," she says. 

These lessons have continued to guide Mrs Walker’s work, along with the belief that “those that have been given so much should give out.” 

She first began working with female inmates as a nineteen-year-old Pentridge Prison. Having originally been asked to perform music at the Prison, Walker quickly realised that volunteering with these women was her calling and begun working with Prison Network more often. 

In the ensuing years, Walker would go on to run Bible study groups, facilitate family visits and form friendships with many female inmates. 

Today, she’s focused on improving outcomes for women who’ve recently been released from prison.

"We need people connecting with these women and families in order for them to survive out here," she says.  

It's these women, Walker argues, that are the real inspiration for what she does.

"Seeing these women get on with life and thriving is a real achievement."