June 2025 Newsletter

Dear Members and Friends,

I hope you have all enjoyed what has been one of the sunniest Mays on record. The brilliant sunshine certainly prompted a flurry of bookings for our Summer Party which sold out on the day it launched! I am delighted to report that our Deputy High Commissioner, Ms Elisabeth Bowes PSM, and other senior members of the High Commission team will be in attendance as our special guests.

As you know, we always give plenty of notice of the launch of all our events and priority is always given to our B-AS Members. We always try and accommodate as many people as possible so do get in touch as places often become available off our waitlists. For those lucky enough to get a ticket, I look forward to seeing you on 11 June at Royal Over-Seas League. PLEASE CONTACT US TO JOIN OUR WAITLIST.

In 2023, we launched a major project to restore our wonderful “Australia Club” archives and I am pleased to say that is now largely complete. While we still have some work to do on the digitisation, the physical books are now fully restored, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Sir Lynton Crosby AO and his firm, CT Group. On 27 May, Louise and I were delighted to host an “Australia Club Dinner” to showcase the restored archive materials and to hear Sir Lynton speak on “Politics – Then and Now” while enjoying a fabulous meal at Ziggy Green, part of Prue Freeman’s Daisy Green restaurant group. Many of you will have heard me speak about our history and will know that the Britain-Australia Society was founded in 1937 as the Australia Club. The inaugural dinner, black tie, was held at The Savoy Hotel on 10 June 1937 with 400 guests including the then Australian Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, past Prime Minister Stanley Bruce (then Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK), Mr Clement Atlee and Mr Winston Churchill (as they then were), both future UK Prime Ministers.

The Australia Club was quiet during the war years, of course, although there was a dinner for Australian PM John Curtin when he visited London in 1944, but in the post war years the Australia Club became ever more powerful, as evidenced in our archives. By 1971, in the face of the UK’s imminent entry into the EEC, the Australia/UK relationship was very strained and, at the urging of past PMs Sir Robert Menzies and Sir Alec Douglas-Home, the Australia Club turned its attention to supporting the bi-lateral relationship and reconstituted itself as the Australia Society to signify the change. Some years later, it changed its name to the Britain-Australia Society, as we are today.

In our archives, we have the invitations, guest lists – which included Prime Ministers, Ministers, High Commissioners, Ambassadors (US, China, India and many others) - menus, fabulous photos, transcripts of the speeches given and newspaper reports of these events. The evolution of the modern relationship between Australia and the UK is clearly reflected in these valuable records which we will showcase again at our AGM in September and at the President’s Reception with Lord Hague on 1 October (see below). Keep a close eye out for when those tickets go on sale.

After the summer, we have a full and varied programme. September will see a new event in the B-AS calendar and one that we hope to make permanent. “The Great Debate” will see a distinguished panel discussing the topic "Is Australia the Lucky Country?". The topic is derived from the title of the recently published “We Should Be So Lucky: Why the Australian Way Works” by Andrew Low. Andrew’s book is a modern re-examination of Donald Horne’s classic, “The Lucky Country”. Details for this exciting event will be released shortly so please keep an eye on your inboxes.

And of course, as previously announced, 1 October is the date for our annual President’s Reception with Lord Hague of Richmond. For those who have been before, you will know that Lord Hague always makes an insightful and very entertaining speech and then mingles with guests at the post reception giving everyone the opportunity to meet one of the greatest statespeople of our age.

It's been such a fulfilling and engaging first half to our year and we have loved catching up with so many of our Members and friends. As well as preferential rates for our events, we also run our fabulous monthly prize draws and this month's draw is no exception - we have TWO PAIRS of tickets to give away to TWO lucky B-AS Members to attend the Household Division's Military Musical Spectacular in July with amazing music, pomp, ceremony and fireworks! Please scroll down for more details, including how to enter the draw.

To become a Member of the B-AS and to support the work we do, please click here.

Damian Walsh

Chair