NICOLE wore a dusky-pink, three-quarter-length silk dress with tan open-toed shoes. Valerie wore a cardigan, maroon skirt and white sandals.

When Nicole stepped forward to accept her medal for service to the performing arts and advocacy for women's health issues, she smiled demurely at Governor-General Michael Jeffery, mute as he catalogued her achievements.

But Valerie — otherwise Mrs Kennedy — wasn't so shy.

When she went forward to accept her medal for running the opportunity shop and monthly stall at her local church, she interrupted Major-General Jeffery's congratulations for her 50 years of voluntary service. "Actually, it was 59," she said.

Duly chastened, the Governor-General said to the next medal recipient — Mrs Kennedy's husband of 60 years, Gordon — "I daren't guess at your period of service."

Kidman — who became a Companion in the Order of Australia — and Mr and Mrs Kennedy — who became Members — received medals along with men and women who had contributed to international development and HIV prevention; improved consumer awareness; advanced statistical science; and better services for the disabled.

There also were public service and military medals for Australians who had developed price indices used around the world; improved availability of medicines for war veterans; organised evacuations of Australians in danger; and made sure our troops moved about Afghanistan safely and quickly.

Asked later how joining the Order compared with winning an Oscar, Kidman said it would make her parents — who watched on with her husband, Keith Urban — much prouder.

Given the day off filming Baz Luhrmann's Australia to attend the ceremony, Kidman said the awards gave her a sense of the "unity of this country, and the contributions of all of these people that are working so hard to represent Australia and take care of Australia".

It was a sentiment shared by the Governor-General.

"The common thread linking our recipients is their sense of service to our country and to their fellow citizens," Major- General Jeffery told those gathered at Government House.

"At the core of our honours system is its capacity to unify, by embracing and rewarding the efforts of citizens from all walks of life regardless of political, religious, cultural, educational or economic background," he said.

After the ceremony, Kidman and Urban had tea on the lawn of Government House with Mr and Mrs Kennedy, Major-General and Mrs Jeffery, the statistician, the public servants and the disability advocate.