At 92 years of age, retired mechanical engineer Dianne Blood AO says she hopes her recognition can “make the younger generations and my close community realise that anyone can achieve in life if they have the passion to do so”.

Dianne’s 60-year career in mechanical design achieved many notable successes in the canning industry and later, research equipment for robotics and geomechanics at UWA in Perth. She was sought for consulting projects by several WA government departments and numerous national and overseas companies. Her achievements have been recognized by Engineers Australia being appointed an Honorary Fellow and with their most prestigious national awards.

For her impact during her incredible career, Dianne was appointed an Officer of the Order for distinguished service to mechanical engineering through innovation and robotic design, and to diversity and inclusion.

“I was thrilled to realise that my lifetime passion for problem solving was actually recognised by so many,” she says.

“I was a self-taught engineer that progressively moved into a wide variety of engineering fields, studying their theory as needed.

“I am driven by the questions, ‘why the design of just about anything evolved the way it did, and what might have been the outcome if they had started from a different direction at the beginning’, and also believing that there is always a solution if we only have the ability to break large problems down into smaller manageable ones.

“I was also driven by the fact that my mother, widowed in 1940, quite literally gave her life to ensure that my twin (now an OAM recipient) and I could amount to something worthwhile after our father died in service to our country.”