Australian Jewish News
Every organisation Amanda Gordon has worked for, every committee she has sat on, each bit of difference she has made, she has done so as a proud Jew.
Gordon has been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to psychology and to the multicultural community.
Asked to list some career highlights, the former Australian Psychological Society (APS) president said she was proud to have founded National Psychology Week “so that psychologists have a special voice in this week and they’re heard by the media”.
Gordon also founded the Bendi Lango Foundation, which provides scholarships to Indigenous postgraduate psychology students.
“What I love about that one is it’s modelled on Shalom Gamarada … [it] came from a Jewish idea which is rather nice,” she said.
“And of course I’ve ben very involved representing the Jewish community on a whole range of issues, that started off in the Reconciliation Council representing the [Jewish] Board of Deputies, and then I became treasurer and part of it in my own right.
“And the multicultural advisory committee to the Olympics … I represented the Jewish community and modelled the way the Jewish community welcomed Jewish athletes and Israeli athletes.”
Within the Jewish community she also founded the bereavement counselling service Chesed, which is now run by JewishCare NSW.
“So I’ve been able to use my psychological skills and knowledge base to further social justice and support people who need it most,” she said.
“That’s quite gratifying, to be able to do that. Without the AM it’s gratifying, but to get the AM is just extraordinary.”
She said it’s “not always easy”.
“But overall my life is so rich, both with the connections and the people. But the thought that I might have made a difference to the cohesion of society is very important to me,” she said.
Gordon comes from a “family heritage of social justice and looking to try and make the world a better place”.
Her sister Peta Jones-Pellach is involved in interfaith work in Israel. Her other sister Melinda Jones is president of the National Council of Jewish Women of Australia. Her late brother Jeremy Jones was a Jewish communal and interfaith stalwart, while her younger brother Quentin Jones is an academic in the US.
“My parents were such proponents of social justice,” she said.
“It’s a family story – a fifth generation Australian family story of fighting for the underdog while remaining staunchly Jewish.”