February 2026 Newsletter

Dear Members and Friends,

Our new Australian High Commissioner, the Hon. Jay Weatherill AO, is now officially in post. His Excellency spoke warmly to receptive audiences at the Australia Day Gala on 24 January at the Peninsular Hotel and again at the Australia Day reception at Australia House on 26 January. He spoke of the deep pride Australians have in their identity and their collective commitment to unity and respect. He also reaffirmed the strengthening bilateral cooperation between Australia and the United Kingdom in many areas including trade, security, education, technology and the arts. Louise Mulley and I were delighted to attend both of these magnificent events, celebrating Australia and all Australians and recognising Australian talent and industry. It was a great opportunity to catch up with so many B-AS friends and we look forward to working with the High Commissioner and his team in furthering the Australia/UK relationship.

We are in discussions to organise an event with His Excellency shortly to introduce him to our B-AS community. More details on this will be released in due course. Watch this space.

Our first big event for the year is on 9 February with the Hon. Alexander Downer AC “in conversation” reflecting on his long career in politics and diplomacy, the lessons learned and their relevance to the complex global issues we face today. This event will take place in the appropriately named Downer Room in Australia House and we only have a small number of spaces left. Alexander is a wonderful, entertaining speaker and, if you don’t already have tickets, I strongly encourage you to try to book now - scroll down for details or click here.

One of the biggest events of the year, our annual International Women’s Day event, will be held in Australia House on 4 March. Invitations and registration information have now been released. This event is always very popular so please book now to avoid disappointment - click here. Thank you once again to the Australian High Commission for partnering with us on this significant event and to NAB for its support. We are thrilled to report that Papa Salt Coastal Gin has generously agreed to provide delicious cocktails during our reception, where our illustrious panel will chat with and meet our audience, with amazing “Australian inspired” food from the Daisy Green team. A big thank you also to the Office of the Agent General for WA for the wonderful wines we will be serving.

The Hon Dr Brendan Nelson AO will again speak at our annual ANZAC event on 29 April. Details will be released shortly but hold the evening for now. Those of you that were lucky enough to be in the packed room when Brendan spoke last year will remember the raw emotion and the standing ovation. It’s not to be missed this year!

And don’t forget to save the date for our Summer Party on 27 May in the glorious gardens of the Royal Over-Seas League - an event which is always over-subscribed. We have other fabulous events in planning for later this year, including our President’s Reception with Lord Hague, The Great Debate, and our Christmas Carols which will again be held at the beautiful St Clement Danes church adjacent to Australia House. Further details will be released for all of these events during the year.

While our events are open to all, we always give priority to our Members - if you are not already a Member of the B-AS, please join us and support the work we do. We need your membership! Please click here to join. We also need the companies you represent to become Corporate Members to support our activities and our contribution to the critically important UK/Australia relationship that is a platform for business success. Please email Louise at ceo@britain-australia.org.uk for more information on Corporate Membership.

We work closely with several other organisations with British-Australian interests including many charitable organisations. At the end of last year we welcomed Greg Mulley as the incoming Chair of the Britain-Australia Society Education Trust (BASET). I will be writing to you soon specifically about our plan to support BASET this year but in the meantime, please see a short overview of BASET’s life changing work here and below. More to come on this.

Meredith Hooper would be last person in the world to want me to write something sad to end this newsletter so let me say that the news last week that she died peacefully on 27 December at her home in London is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the amazing life and contribution of this great (South) Australian woman. Meredith was an award winning historian, adventurer, writer and great friend to many in our Britain-Australia community. In 2000 she was awarded the National Science Foundation/Congress of the US Antarctica Service Medal amongst many other prestigious awards including being named Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2014 Australia Day Gala in London. We are lucky and honoured to have known her.

Damian Walsh

Chair