One of Queensland's best known racing administrators, Don Moffatt, has been appointed a Member of the Order of Austrailia (AM) in the Australia Day honours list.

Moffatt was a tireless worker for the Sunshine Coast Turf Club, where he is a life member, before retiring about five years ago.

He served for 16 years on the committee and for several of those years he was the deputy chairman.

During his tenure the club went from being a provincial operator to a metropolitan standard club which is the state's main Sunday racing venue.

Racing is only one of many strings to Moffatt's bow.

Born in Kingaroy in 1945, he attended Brisbane Boys College before serving in the army as a helicopter pilot and later instructor.

After being discharged he moved to the Sunshine Coast where he established the Moffatt Property Development Group in 1975.

Since then Moffatt has been involved in some of the biggest developments on the Sunshine Coast and has also been a driving force behind tourism promotion in the region..

His love of flying has also led to his heavy involvement in the helicopter rescue service in the area.

He is a life member of the Sunshine Coast Helicopter Rescue Service (now RACQ CareFlight), and Tourism Sunshine Coast (now Sunshine Coast Destination Ltd) as well as the Sunshine Coast Turf Club.