He will be recognised among 824 fellow countrymen and women who were selected for the 2015 Australia Day Honours List.

At his Bombira home on Friday, Dr Galloway (AM) said he was surprised to be honoured in this way. 

“I’m absolutely amazed and humbled. Enormously,” he said.

“I’m so grateful my wife Wendy, my son Scottie, and my daughter Phoebe have all been so terrific through many years of this scientific stuff I have been doing. I’m sure they think I’m quite whacky in spots.”

Dr Galloway was nominated for significant service to technological science, particularly to cybernetics and general systems theory, and to the community.

“The word cybernetics more or less means the tracking of moving objects,” Dr Galloway said.

“General systems theory means the linkage between all sorts of things that are dependent on other things or “knock on effects”. You know, somewhere on the other side of the world there can be a storm from lots of little things happening far away.”

That is the theory behind Dr Galloway’s work. It is the application which interests him, and he has principally used those theories in criminology - helping to detect and prevent or pre-empt crime.

“It has been about catching criminals and helping law enforcement and intelligent agencies across the world,” Dr Galloway said.

“Over the years I’ve developed software that is used by a lot of these agencies and now I’m applying on a much more commercial basis.”

He has worked on the backpacker murders in the 1990s and on the Bali bombings among other prominent cases. 

So how does cybernetics and general systems theory catch criminals or, at the other end of a spectrum, recognise what is influencing something such as Toyota Corolla sales?

“I’m about data analytics,” Dr Galloway said.

“Using software we’ve developed to find patterns in the metadata. That’s a big word used today in the counter-terrorism scene.

“Metadata for most people today means - how many of these, how many of those, or trends, what is going up, what is going down.

“That metadata tells you a pattern and what is far more interesting to me, and I guess I have pioneered a lot in this area, is linkage metadata. Names are linked to addresses that are linked to phone numbers, events, bank accounts etc. It’s the connectivity in the data that’s been my speciality.”

Reluctant to speak in detail about criminal cases, Dr Galloway did recall some work on the backpacker murders.

“While the regular policing was going on we were in the back rooms doing the data analytics,” he said.

“They would supply different sourcing of data. A lot of it was publically sourced. A lot of it was noise but we crossed referenced a lot of things.

“Originally we had a shortlist of 230 suspects and it was narrowed down to about 32. Milat was one of those guys.

“I remember gym records were important as was owners of guns and licensing.”

As technology rapidly grows you could form the opinion metadata and criminals are becoming harder to capture.

“By the same token it is a world of more and more data. Think of all the social media data. It gets harder and harder but it also helps,” Dr Galloway said.

Currently in his 70s, Dr Galloway continues to liaise with people and agencies across the world about his work. Recently the focus has been on analysing sales data.

But almost a life dedicated to fighting crime has not stopped other positive ventures.

In the 1980s while living at Mullaley, Dr Galloway and his wife Wendy helped form an agency in NSW known as The Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children in Australia. It primarily provided financial grants and practical assistance to families who had children with cancer. 

At the Bando sheep shed near Mullaley, the couple became integral in forming the Fund’s Autumn Shorn Ball. In 2005 the Fund became known as Redkite. Dr Galloway was the president of the Autumn Shorn Ball from 1988 to 1994.

Dr Galloway and his wife Wendy have lived in Mudgee for the past 12 years.

“I’m just amazed to be honoured like this. I just do what I do and that’s it,” he said.

“I do enjoy what I’m doing and I think that’s critical for younger people to latch on to. It’s critical to be doing just what you want to do. Having said that you have to sensible about it.”

The Order of Australia is the pre-eminent means of recognising Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement. Anyone can nominate any Australian and all nominations are considered by the Council for the Order of Australia, which recommends awards for the Governor-General’s approval.

If you know someone worthy, nominate them at www.gg.gov.au