November 2024 Newsletter

Dear Members and Friends,

Our final event of 2025 will be our fabulous Christmas Carols (and Christmas drinks!) at St Mary-le-Bow at 4.30pm on 5 December. This year we also welcome our friends from the Australian Women's Club. Places to this very popular event went in a matter of hours but we always try and accommodate as many people as possible so please do get in touch if you would like to join our waitlist.

It was great to see so many of you at our "First Eight" lecture on 9 October in the Downer Room. The room was packed and everyone enjoyed both Dr Headon's very entertaining lecture on the life of Australia’s 6th Prime Minister, Joseph Cook, and the discussion afterwards. A huge thank you to our moderator, Dr Agnieska Sobocinska, Director of the Menzies Australia Institute, and of course the team from the Australian Studies Institute of ANU for sponsoring this fabulous series. We are already looking forward to next year's lecture! For now, please click here to see some wonderful photos from the night.

At the end of October, we bade farewell to WA Agent General John Langoulant AO. John has returned to Perth after a successful three-year term in London. John was a very engaged member of the Australian community during his posting and also an ex-officio B-AS Board Member. We are sad to say goodbye to John and his wife Jan but offer a big welcome to Angela Kelly PSM who is the new WA Agent General. Angela was most recently the Deputy Director General at the WA Department of Health. Louise and I will be meeting with Angela this week.

The constitution of the Britain-Australia Society requires that we have two of the State Agents General as ex-officio members of our Board. With John Langoulant stepping down from his role, I am delighted to announce that the Hon. David Ridgway, Agent General for South Australia, has agreed to succeed John as a member of our Board. A farmer by background, David is a former Minister for Trade & Investment and Minister for Tourism in the South Australian parliament. David and his wife Meredith have been great supporters of the B-AS since their arrival in 2021. On the back of our success this year, we have very big plans for 2025 and I know that David will make a very valuable contribution.

As I mentioned a few months ago, Trade and Investment Queensland appointed Ross Buchanan as its new Agent General and Ross is now in post. If you haven’t already done so, you will have the opportunity to meet Ross and his wife Niki at our upcoming events. And, in other news, we were delighted to learn that Tim Dillon (Victorian Agent General and B-AS ex-officio Board Member) and the Hon. David Ridgway have had their postings extended.

October was a big month for British/Australian relations with the King and Queen visiting Australia. It was the King’s first State Visit to Australia as Monarch and Head of State. The trip, although brief, was widely regarded as a great success, attracting large crowds at every public appearance. Longtime B-AS Member (and previous B-AS Award winner), Samantha Cohen CVO OBE, was interviewed ahead of the visit culminating in an excellent piece in The Times.

The B-AS has a counterpart organisation in Australia, the Australia-Britain Society, and we are pleased to extend our congratulations and a very warm welcome to the new President, Group Captain David Glasson MVO. David takes on the role from Richard Nott who has worked tirelessly over many years for the A-BS, together with A-BS Secretary, Sue Labordus, who is also retiring from that role. We wish both Richard and Sue well and look forward to meeting David in due course.

As you know, we will kick off 2025 with the Australia Day Gala held in collaboration with the Australia Foundation at the fabulous new Peninsula Hotel on 25 January 2025. This event sold out quickly but we always try and accommodate as many people as possible and plans do change. We have already been able to offer some tickets to our waitlist so please do not hesitate to let us know if you would like to join that list - please click here.

We have an array of fabulous sponsors supporting the Gala all of whom are significant contributors to the Australian-British relationship. Our wine sponsor for the event is the iconic Yalumba who are also celebrating their 175th anniversary. Congratulations to Yalumba on reaching this significant milestone! I thought I would share this excellent piece written by the inimitable Matthew Juke MW.

Looking to November, we of course remember the British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicepeople involved in the two world wars and later conflicts. The National Service of Remembrance will be held at the Cenotaph on Whitehall, London on Sunday 10 November. For those interested in attending, the space will open from 8am with the service starting at 11am. There is no charge nor any ticketing, though space will be limited. The event will also be televised on large screens around the site and also on multiple channels. Our CEO, Louise Mulley, and I will also be attending the Australian Defence reception at the High Commission on 7 November on behalf of the B-AS.

Also on 7 November, Louise and I will be attending the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Daisy Green group. Led by dynamic Australian, Prue Freeman, I am sure you are all familiar with these fabulous "Aussie" flavoured restaurants and cafes around London. Prue is also our executive chef at next year's Australia Day Gala. Congratulations to Prue and the team!

Our Charity Member, the Tait Memorial Trust, sends a lovely invitation to all B-AS supporters to attend a special evening of music celebrating the talents of the remarkable Tait Awardees at the Tait Celestial Winter Prom on 20 November. Please click here for details and how to book. I will be there so please join me.

Like the Tait Memorial Trust, the Australian Music Foundation also supports very talented young Australians in pursuing their music studies in the UK and Europe and I had the pleasure of attending their Autumn Showcase on 16 October in the beautiful Downer Room at Australia House. The Tait Memorial Trust, chaired by Isla Baring OAM, and the Australian Music Foundation, chaired by Yvonne Kenny AM, do brilliant work and I encourage you to follow their work and get along to their events to support them.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the Christmas Carols which will round off yet another vibrant and successful year for the B-AS. Thank you, as always, to our Members and Corporate and Charity Members for their support. To become a Member of the B-AS and to support the work we do please click here.

Best wishes

Damian Walsh

Chair