Australia’s King’s Birthday Honours list has recognised 949 people, putting former NSW premier Morris Iemma, broadcaster Fran Kelly and long-serving Pyrmont Bridge manager David Glasson on the same national roll call.

For Glasson, the award lands after nearly four decades spent keeping one of Sydney’s best-known pieces of infrastructure moving. He started work on Pyrmont Bridge in 1987, after a major revamp left the swing mechanism failed, and has overseen its daily functioning and restoration work ever since. The bridge, which opened in 1902, is the world’s oldest surviving electrically operated swing span bridge.

The recognition matters now because the King’s Birthday Honours list is one of the country’s main formal acknowledgements of public service, and this year it spans politics, broadcasting, heritage and community work. Iemma was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to the people of NSW, community sport and the non-profit sector, while Glasson received the Public Service Medal for his outstanding service to the operation, maintenance and conservation of Pyrmont Bridge.

Glasson’s role has been hands-on rather than ceremonial. Seven operators still use old tram-like controls to open and close the span about 600 times a year, and the bridge has swung open 34,823 times since he began in the late 1980s. He said he was humbled that someone would think he was deserving of such an award, and added that he was proud to have kept it going this long because it remains an asset for the state and its people.

Iemma’s honour carries a different kind of attention. He said the award was a bit of a surprise and that he was deeply honoured, adding that his time in public office equipped him well to help the charities and community groups he has worked with, including Miracle Babies and the Usman Khawaja Foundation. That recognition sits alongside the controversy surrounding his work as a registered lobbyist and senior Labor figure, a mix that has followed him since the ALP won the 2023 state election.

Glasson’s story is the quieter one, but it may be the more durable. Pyrmont Bridge has no manual or spare parts, which makes the maintenance as much craft as routine, and Glasson’s long service has kept a heritage-listed structure operating for the city. The honours list has now placed both men, for very different reasons, in the same national moment.