Sarah Wylie said coordinating the enormous task of cleaning up the ruins of over 3600 homes left by the 2019 Black Summer bushfires was the biggest task of her career.

Thousands of Australians spent months living in caravans and tents waiting for the clean-up to be completed, waiting to start their lives again.

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As Director of the Bushfire Cleanup program she was responsible for coordinating cleanup across the state.

Living in a regional area, with bushfire victims living in her community, every day she felt the weight of that responsibility.

"There was a lot to do, but ultimately you were just driven every day because you knew you were helping in such an important way to enable recovery of communities and people's life," she said.

"You really just wanted to do it as quickly as you could. There was obviously so many. We've cleaned up over 3600 properties now.

"You just wish you could do it all in one day but it's just not like that. For us it's about really having people and communities at the core of everything, and that's what we're really focused on."

Ms Wylie has worked as a senior leader at the Department of Regional New South Wales' Public Works Advisory for over 12 years, all of them in Tamworth.

But leading the team of 30 has been the hardest job yet, she said.

She will today become one of 8 residents of the New England and North West awarded an Order of Australia award in the Australia day honours list. Ms Wylie will take home a Public Service Medal.

"I'm Incredibly proud of it," she said.

"I had an incredibly dedicated and exceptional team that I led. If I could, I'd give them all this same award, because everyone was just so dedicated to the task."

Former Nationals Senator John "Sandy" Macdonald, Tamworth ex-midwife and entrepreneur Edwina Sharrock and Narrabri RSL President Gary Mason were among eight residents of the New England and North West region to win an award in the Australia Day honours list.

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