Currently on the Test tour of Sri Lanka, Head accepted the prestigious award at the Australian team's beachside hotel in Galle - some 8,000km away from the Australian Cricket Awards ceremony at Melbourne's Crown Casino.
The 31-year-old had been the favourite to claim a first Allan Border Medal.
Test and One Day International captain Pat Cummins appeared his closest competition, having been named skipper of the ICC's Test team of the year for 2024.
But Head was clearly Australia's form batter of the past 12 months with 1427 runs across the three formats.
Head also took out the one-day international category, again for the first time.
The Belinda Clark Award as the top Australian women's player was also to be announced at the end of the Monday night Cricket Australia function in Melbourne.
Earlier on Monday, Boxing Day Test sensation Sam Konstas was named the Bradman young men's cricketer of the year.
Josh Hazlewood was named best men's Test player for the first time. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)
West Australian Chloe Ainsworth won the Betty Wilson award for the top young women's cricketer, while Beau Webster and Georgia Voll took the domestic awards.
Head is coming off a bumper 12 months across all three formats and had been tipped by stand-in captain Steve Smith to win the men's award.
The 31-year-old scored a staggering 1427 runs across all three formats in the 12-month polling period that began with Australia's home Test series against West Indies last January, and ended with the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia skipper Pat Cummins is another contender for the Allan Border Medal. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)
Smith has the next-most runs with 806, while only Zampa (31) played more games than Head (29) in the voting period.
A blistering 140 runs in his home Test match at the Adelaide Oval against India was an undeniable highlight for Head, and helped reignite Australia's series after their dismal loss in the first match in Perth.
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