Sun 3 Dec 2006 - Cambridge-Oxford Croquet Day

The annual Cambridge-Oxford social croquet day was held at the lovely croquet grounds in Brighton. Thanks to Jane Farago and Patrick Moore for organising the day and to Jane for her fabulous flyer - see attached.

Fri 17 Nov 2006 - Marriage in the 21st century - a panel discussion with dinner

Divorce rates are rising, more and more couples live together before or instead of marrying, and marriage is no longer a prerequisite for having children. But while many singles and couples are saying 'why bother?', plenty of others continue to take the plunge, and many members of the gay community are arguing for their right to marry. Some people are such fans of marriage they do it repeatedly.

A panel of speakers explored these and more issues. Our speakers were Susan Gribben (former Victorian director of Relationships Australia), Grevis Beard, (a lawyer with the Equal Opportunity Commission and a 'married' gay man), Catherine Padmore (English lecturer at La Trobe University and long-time liver-in-sin) and Ian Hilton (former head of accounting and law at Victoria University). The debate that ensued was healthy and provocative!

Wed 18 Oct 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker Mr Simon Heriot

Mr Simon Heriot - who was an undergraduate at Caius and is now a consultant colorectal surgeon at the Peter McCallum, St Vincent’s and Epworth Hospitals (and has extensive overseas experience) - covered the history and incidence of bowel cancer with a particular focus on developments in its treatment.

Fri 1 Sep 2006 - Annual Black Tie Dinner

The annual Black Tie Dinner - the highlight of the Cambridge Society's social calender - was again held at the Melbourne Club. Our guest speaker was the historian, Professor Geoffrey Blainey.

Wed 16 Aug 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker Richard Dammery

Dr Richard Dammery, one of our earlier Cambridge Australia Trust scholars, is General Counsel at Coles Myer, where he was heavily involved in the recent sale of the iconic department store company Myer to private equity outfit Newbridge, for a stunning $1.4 billion. This was until very recently the largest private equity transaction ever undertaken in Australia (beaten only by the $1.8b paid by KKR for Brambles Industrial Services). Richard gave us a fascinating talk about the sale process from the perspective of the vendor..

Sun 26 Mar 2006 - Social cricket: Cambridge vs the Victorian Bar

A fabulous day of cricket was held at the Cope Williams Winery in Romsey. Our opposition was the Victorian Bar Association. Cambridge won, of course! Thanks to Jeremy Cooper and Braedon Clark for organising such a great day. Photos should follow soon.

Wed 19 Oct 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Emeritus Paul Grundy

Professor Grundy told us about disaster reduction - what can be done to avoid or minimise the effects of disasters such as floods, tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, contrasting the abilities of wealthier and poorer countries to take adequate precautionary measures and to deal with these disasters. Professor Grundy's team have their work cut out and we wish them well in their endeavours.

Fri 2 Sep 2006 - Black Tie Annual Dinner at the Melbourne Club

Our black tie Annual Dinner was again held at the Melbourne Club.

Around 180 members gathered for drinks in the library upstairs before dinner in the stunning main dining room.

We were privileged to have Julian Burnside QC, the renowned Melbourne barrister and civil rights activist, as the guest speaker for the evening.

Fri 5 Aug 2005 - Cambridge-Oxford social drinks @ Decorum, Flinders Lane

The quarterly Cambridge-Oxford end-of-week social drinks were held at Decorum, 310 Flinders Lane, City.

Wed 17 June 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Alistair Sharp-Paul

Alastair Sharp-Paul, (Fitzwilliam 1968/71) offered a thought-provoking discussion on the topic "Will our children freeze or burn?". Alastair is a founding principal of Enesar, a Melbourne-based environmental consulting group, and has been the author of twenty five Environmental Impact Statements for resource and infrastructure projects in Australia and overseas.

Wed 18 May 2005 - Trivia Night

What is a leveret? Which Cambridge graduate starred in ‘The Mummy'? Who came first: Spinoza, Luther, or Michelangelo? By popular request, a Trivia Night was held in May lieu of a lunch speaker. A professorial team prepared a penetrating set of questions, and the intellectual talents of Cambridge graduates and their friends were displayed with great force and humour.

Fri 22 Apr 2005 - Boat Race Dinner with Nobel Laureate James Mirrlees as our guest

Our annual Boat Race Dinner took place at University House. With some guests from Oxford, we celebrated winning second place with a pleasant meal followed by a video of the 2005 Cambridge Oxford Boat Race.

We were fortunate to have two special guests - Professor James Mirrlees (Nobel Laureate, Professor of Political Economy, Fellow of Trinity and Visiting Fellow at Melbourne) and Mrs Patricia Mirrlees - join us for the evening, and we hope to see more of them when they return next year.

Wed 16 Mar 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Chris Whittaker

Professor Chris Whitaker, current Vice Chancellor of RMIT and previously CEO of the Melbourne Port Corporation, gave a highly topical talk on the activities of the Port of Melbourne, with particular emphasis on the overdue need to dredge the channel between the docks and up to and including the rip. Professor Whitaker argues that, if Melbourne is to continue to function as Australia’s major port handling containers and cargo, both import and export, the capacity to handle the larger and deeper container ships becomes vital.

Sat 12 Mar 2005 - Die Fledermaus at Henkell's Vineyard

Henkell’s vineyard wine and opera trip was a great success. The weather was benign, the entertainment was excellent (Die Fledermaus), and the food and proprietary wine disappeared with ease. Many thanks are due to Ronald and Gloria Francis for some first class organisation.

Sun 14 Nov 2004, 10am - Cambridge Croquet Challenge

A friendly croquet competition follwed by lunch was held on the morning of Sunday 14 November.

The event was umpired by members of the Croquet Association who also provided on-the-spot coaching.

The winning pairs each received a bottle of our own President's Choice Muscat and the wooden-spoon pair received the same.

Wed 20 Oct 2004 - Dinner with Dr Jane McKellar speaking on Emergent Leadership

Speaker: The Kelvin Club witnessed a hearty debate following a very interesting discussion on Emergent Leadership by Dr Jane McKellar.

Emergent Leadership is a trademarked model of leadership that Dr McKellar teaches to senior executives and MBA students.

It draws on influences from quantum science, applying field theory, chaos theory and the modelsof complex adaptive living systems and self-organising systems.

(To view the invitation (designed by Jane Farago) at full size, right click and save.)

Fri 17 Aug 2004 - Annual Dinner at the Melbourne Club

This year's marvellous Annual Black Tie Dinner was again held at the Melbourne Club. The evening was again booked to capacity with over 160 guests.

Our guest speaker this year was Professor Roger Short, AM ScD (Cantab) FRSEd FAA FRCVS FRCOG FRANZCOG FRCPEd FRS.

Professor Short - internationally renowned as one of Australia's finest scientists - gave a brilliant, provocative and thoughtful talk about the global AIDS pandemic: its origins, its spread and its terrible human toll in Africa and Asia. Most importantly, he also described a research project currently underway that involves lemon juice in limiting the spread of infection.

(To view the invitation (again by Jane Farago) at full size, right click and save.)

Fri 7 May 2004 - Inaugural Cambridge-Oxford Friday night drinks

The inaugural Friday Cambridge-Oxford drinks were held on 7 May at the Kelvin Club in the city, which is a small private club tucked away in an alley in the heart of the city.

Invitations were sent out with the theme "Bring a friend, meet another, end the week on a civilised note" and were designed in particular to attract younger members, who are not always as well represented as we would like at our lunches.

The drinks subsequently continued for another 6 months, and attracted a number of individuals - of varying ages - who had not previously attended a Cambridge Society event.

We are likely to resume this event early in 2005, but possibly at varying venues and possibly quarterly rather than monthly. Refer to the main Cambridge Society page for more info.

(Our ever-so-talented Jane Farago designed the invitation on the right. To view it full size, right-click then save.)

Wed 17 Mar 2004 - Lunch with guest speaker Dr Robin Batterham AO

We were extremely fortunate in obtaining a most distinguished speaker, Dr Robin Batterham AO, the Government’s Chief Scientist, to talk to us on 'Science and Society - The Adoption of New Technologies'.

A large group of alumni and guests gathered to hear an insightful and authoritative discussion on sustainability and what scientific challenges are posed by our currently unsustainable use of carbon-based energy. Dr Batterham's discourse ranged over climate change (more important than terrorism), the poor understanding of even basic science in the general community, the need to make very substantial cuts to carbon emissions and the importance of having a 50-year time horizon in planning for emission reductions (as the required reductions can be achieved only by major changes to our infrastructure investment, including housing and transport system infrastructure).

Wed 18 Feb 2004 - Luncheon with the British Consul-General, Tony Sprake, on 'My Time in China'

The British Consul-General, Tony Sprake, spoke to us on 'My time in China'. Tony Sprake was successively Minister, Deputy Head of Mission and Consul-General in Beijing from October 1996 to January 2001.

Wed 19 Nov 2003 - Lunch with Prof. Ronald Francis on 'Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast'

Professor Ronald Francis, Professorial Fellow in the Faculty of Business and Law at Victoria University, gave a marvellous presentation on “Six impossible things before breakfast: a natural history of quirky ideas.”

Thu 23 October 2003 - Dinner with guest speaker, Professor Kenneth Polk

Guest Speaker: Professor Kenneth Polk, the distinguished criminologist from Melbourne University, also visiting Fellow at Corpus in Cambridge, gave a fascinating talk on “Stopping the Illicit Traffic in Antiquities: Preserving our cultural Heritage.”

Wed-Fri 8-10 Oct 2003 - A Mid-week Fine Living Excursion

Following the highly successful and enjoyable mid-week tour in the Pyrenees District in the spring of 2000, we chose Dunkeld (nestled at the foot of Mt.Sturgeon on the southern tip of the Grampians National Park in the Western District) as the focus for another adventure in fine living.

Fri 22 August 2003 - Annual Dinner, Melbourne Club - Black Tie

The highlight of the Melbourne social calendar - the black tie Annual Dinner - took place on 23 August at the Melbourne Club.

We were very privileged to have the Hon. Dr Barry Jones AO as our guest speaker for the evening. Barry - who is a Visiting Fellow of Trinity College Cambridge - is widely acknowledged as one of the foremost contributors to Australian public life and one of our country's finest thinkers.

Copies of the invitations sent out - including the lovely invitation designed by Jane Farago - are shown below. ( Right-click to save and then re-open a full size version of these images.)

Wed 20 Nov 2002 - Dinner with Henry Bosch speaking on white collar crime / corporate fraud

We were very fortunate to persuade Mr Henry Bosch AO to talk to us on "Corporate fraud and corporate collapse: investing is a wealth hazard".

Henry Bosch is one of Australia's most respected commentators on corporate governance. He has been a director or chairman of more than 30 companies in both the private and public sectors in Australia and overseas and is a former Chairman of the National Companies and Securities Commission (the predecessor to the ASC). Currently he is Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Business School at RMIT, Chairman of Transparency International Australia, Chairman of Crimestoppers and a director on a number of boards.

Mr Bosch is also the author of a number of fascinating books and articles. Some of his publications include The Workings of a Watchdog, The Director at Risk – Accountability in the Boardroom, Bosch on Business, Conversations with a New Director, Conversations Between Chairmen and Shareholders Rights. Henry Bosch was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1991.

Dinner with Professor Hugh Mellor, University of Cambridge - Wed Mar 27 2002

Professor Hugh Mellor was in Melbourne on the evening of 27 March. We arranged to meet him at the Kelvin Club for an informal dinner at which he gave a stimulating address on the subject of "Cambridge, Philosophy and Our Universe".

Professor Mellor is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Philosophy, a Fellow of Darwin and a recent Pro-Vice Chancellor. His interests are "metaphysics, epistemology, the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind, chance, time, causation, induction, the laws of nature, universals, subjectivity and consciousness". He was in Australia on a lecture tour as visiting Fellow at the ANU.

Wed 20 Feb 2002 - lunch & speaker (Mr Henry Gordon -Clark)

Event: Luncheon with guest speaker

Guest speaker: Mr Henry Gordon-Clarke again shared with us his insights into important events in English History. This time the title of his talk was " 23/10/1642: A turning point in world history, the battle of Edgehill."

Wed 21 Nov 2001 - lunch & speaker (Dr Geoff Garrett, CEO of CSIRO)

Dr Geoff Garrett, the new CEO of CSIRO and an Alumnus gave a challenging and thought-provoking talk on "Future Directions of CSIRO."

Complete list of events, 2001/02 - present

2006

• Wed 20 Dec 2006 - Annual General Meeting following by lunch and screening of the Varsity Match video

• Sun 3 Dec 2006 - Cambridge-Oxford Croquet Day

• Fri 17 Nov 2006 - Dinner with panel discussion on marriage

• Wed 18 Oct 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker Mr Simon Heriot, Consultant Surgeon, Peter McCallum

• Sat 16 Sep 2006 - Girton College choir singing at Trinity College

• Fri 1 Sep 2006 - Annual Black Tie Dinner at the Melbourne Club, with guest speaker Prof Geoffrey Blainey

• Wed 16 Aug 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker Richard Dammery on the Coles Myer private equity transaction

• Wed 19 Jul 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker Robert Cockerell on fraud investigation

• Wed 21 Jun 2006 - Intellectual Trivia Night and dinner

• Fri 2 Jun 2006 - Social drinks at Decorum Bar in the city

• Wed 7 May 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker Henry Gordon-Clark

• Fri 21 Apr 2006 - Annual Cambridge-Oxford Boat Race Dinner

• Sun 26 Mar 2006 - Social cricket: Cambridge vs the Victorian Bar Association

• Wed Mar 15 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker, Prof Richard Snedden

• Wed Feb 15 2006 - Lunch with guest speaker, Prof Andrew Holmes AM, speaking on "Seeing the Light with Polymers: a Journey on the Road from Cambridge to the Bio21 Institute, Melbourne"

• Fri 3 Feb 2006 - Cambridge-Oxford social drinks at the Belgian Beer Garden

2005

• Fri 4 Nov 2005 - Cambridge-Oxford social drinks at Decorum Bar in the city

• Wed 2 - Fri 4 Nov 2005 - Mid week Excursion to the High Country

• Wed 16 Nov 2005 - Lunch (Trafalgar Special with Henry Gordon-Clark)

• Fri 4 Nov 2005 - Cambridge-Oxford social drinks @ Decorum, Flinders Lane

• Wed 19 Oct 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Emeritus Paul Grundy

• Fri 2 Sep 2005 - Black Tie Annual Dinner at the Melbourne Club

• Wed 17 Aug 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Dr Hugh Hunt, Trinity College, Cambridge

• Fri 5 Aug 2005 - Cambridge-Oxford social drinks @ Decorum, Flinders Lane

• Wed 20 July 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Dr Morna Sturrock AM talking on Bishop Moorhouse

• Wed 17 June 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Alistair Sharp-Paul talking on environmental matters

• Wed 18 May 2005 - Trivia Night

• Fri 22 Apr 2005 - Boat Race Dinner with Nobel Laureate James Mirrlees as our guest

• Wed 16 Mar 2005 - Lunch with guest speaker Chris Whittaker

• Sat 12 Mar 2005 - Die Fledermaus at Henkell's Vineyard

• Fri 4 Feb 2005 - First Friday drinks at the Belgian Beer Garden

2004

• Wed 17 Nov 2004 - Lunch with guest speaker Dr Lawrence Ingvarson

• Sun 14 Nov 2004, 10am - The Cambridge Croquet Challenge followed by lunch

• 1st Fri 5 Nov 2004 - 7th Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Wed 20 Oct 2004 - Dinner with Dr Jane McKellar speaking on Emergent Leadership

• Fri 1 October 2004 - 6th Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Wed 15 Sep 2004 - Lunch with guest speakers

• Fri 3 September 2004 - 5th Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Fri 20 August 2004 - Annual Black Tie Dinner at the Melbourne Club

• Fri 6 August 2004 - 4th Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Wed 21 Jul 2004 - Lunch with guest speaker Henry Gordon-Clark, on the battle of Blenheim.

• Fri 2 July 2004 - 3rd Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Wed 16 June 2004 - Lunch with guest speaker Beth Wilson, Victoria’s Health Services Commissioner

• Fri 4 June 2004 - 2nd Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Wed 19 May 2004 - Lunch with guest speaker Bruce Allardice

• Fri 7 May 2004 - Launch of the Cambridge and Oxford Friday night drinks

• Fri 16 Apr 2004 - Boat Race Dinner, Air Forces Club

• Wed 17 Mar 2004 - Luncheon with the Chief Scientist, Dr Robin Batterham AO, speaking on 'Science and Society'

• Wed 18 Feb 2004 - Luncheon with the British Consul-General, Tony Sprake, speaking on 'My Time in China'

2003

• Wed 17 Dec 2003 - Annual General Meeting followed by lunch
  

• Wed 19 Nov 2003 - Lunch with Prof. Ronald Francis on 'Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast'
  

• Sun 16 Nov 2003 - A friendly croquet competition followed by lunch.

• Thu 23 October 2003 - Dinner with guest speaker, Professor Kenneth Polk, talking on fraud in the art antiquities market
  

• Wed-Fri 8-10 October 2003 - A Mid-week Fine Living Excursion
  

• Sun 28 September 2003 - Golf day at Beacon Hills, Beaconsfield
  

• Wed 17 September 2003 - Lunch with guest speaker, Janet Thomspon, talking on the Royal Botanical Gardens
  

• Fri 22 August 2003 - Annual Dinner at the Melbourne Club (the highlight of the Melbourne social calendar!)
  

• Wed 16 July 2003 - Lunch with guest speaker, The Rev Prof Nigel Watson, on the poet, James K Baxter
  

• Wed 25 Jun 2003 - By invitation of the Harvard Club of Melbourne, the Harvard Krokodiloes in concert at Parliament House
  

• Wed 18 Jun 2003 - Lunch with guest speaker, James Eadle, talking to us on "The Education Industry: Nelson's Good Eye"
  

• Wed 21 May 2003 - Lunch with guest speaker, the Very Rev David Richardson
  

• Sun 11 May - Golf day at Barwon Heads
  

• Wed 23 Apr 2003 - Annual Boat Race Dinner
  

• Wed 19 Mar 2003 - Lunch with guest speaker (the Rev Dr John Scott, on statistics)
  

• Sat 15 Mar 2003 - Winery tour
  

• Sat 8 Mar 2003 - Cricket game
  

• Wed 19 Feb 2003 - Lunch with guest speaker (Henry Gordon-Clark, on the American Civil War)
  

2002

• Wed 18 Dec 2002 - Lunch, AGM and Varsity Match video
  

• Sun 24 Nov 2002 - Croquet match
  

• Wed 20 Nov 2002 - Dinner with guest speaker (Mr Henry Bosch AO, on corporate fraud and corporate collapses)
  

• Sun 20 Oct 2002 - Golf with Oxford
  

• Wed 16 Oct 2002 - Lunch with guest speaker (Sandra McComb, Director of the Cambridge University Press in Australia)
  

• Fri 13 Sep 2002 - Annual Dinner, with guest speaker
  

• Wed 21 Aug 2002 - Lunch with guest speaker (Dianne James on Victoria's Coastal Strategy)
  

• Wed 31 Jul 2002 - Last Wednesday Club - drinks & informal dinner
  

• Wed 19 Jul 2002 - Luncheon & guest speaker (Dr Robert Dean, MLA, Shadow Attorney General)
  

• Fri 12 Jul 2002 - The Harvard Club's glittering Black Tie Ball
  

• Wed 19 Jun 2002 - Luncheon & guest speaker (Barry Smith talking on his recent experiences working to improve government in Vanuatu)
  

• Wed 15 May 2002 - Luncheon & guest speaker (Professor Fenton)
  

• Sun 21 April 2002 - Oxford and Cambridge golf day
  

• Fri April 19 2002 - Boat Race Dinner -
  

• Wed 27 March 2002: Dinner with Professor Hugh Mellor, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge
  

• Sun 24 March 2002: Cricket game, Oxford & Cambridge vs Australian Club
  

• Sat 2 March 2002: Wine Trip, Bellarine Peninsula (see newsletter for details)
  

• Wed 27 Feb 2002, Last Wednesday Club - drinks & informal dinner
  

• Wed 20 Feb 2002, luncheon & guest speaker (Mr Henry Gordon-Clark)
  

2001

• Wed 19 Dec 2001, Annual General Meeting followed by lunch & Varsity Match video
  

• Wed 28 Nov 2001, Last Wednesday Club dinner & drinks
  

• Sun 25 Nov 2001, croquet
  

• Wed 21 Nov 2001, luncheon & guest speaker (Dr Geoff Garrett, new CEO of CSIRO)
  

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For comments or questions about the website, please email Anita Eglitis at anita@cambridgesociety.org.au.