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A brief history of the Cambridge Society in Victoria

For this history we acknowledge our particular debt to Varsity and to the University News Release Service. Recently the Cambridge Society Magazine asked for a short history of our Victorian Branch and this now follows (with some minor edits).

The Cambridge Society of Australia (Victoria) Incorporated is based entirely in Victoria and has its HQ in Melbourne. We are the first antipodean branch of the Cambridge Society and other Australian states have later followed our lead when setting up their own branches.

Our inaugural meeting to set the Society up took the form of a wine tasting on 24 July 1984 and a draft constitution was put in place, although we did not finally incorporate until 5 January 1995.

However, the story starts earlier with Lorenz Pereira, Fitzwilliam, 1964, cricket blue and land economist. Lorenz returned to Ceylon on graduation where there was an active informal Cambridge group. He took part in an Oxford vs Cambridge cricket match in which the Cambridge captain was the Prime Minister of Ceylon and the Oxford captain, the British High Commissioner. Lorenz migrated to Melbourne in 1974. Finding that there was no Cambridge Society here (even though the local Who's Who was littered with Cambridge alumni) he, with many others, set about the lengthy task of forming the Cambridge Society of Australia (Victoria). Lorenz was the initial Secretary until 1993 when the present incumbent took over. Dr Francis McCarthy (Pembroke 1963) was the first President and there are many still familiar names recorded as associated with our birth.

Since the inaugural wine tasting in 1984, the activities of the Society, all of which are social, have varied in emphasis. During the lifetime of our Society, Cambridge Australia Trust (CAT) has been formed and operates separately to raise funds and select scholars at postgraduate level through the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust (CCT) in Cambridge. Many of our members are involved with the CAT.

We have also benefited from the formation of, and our membership of, the Friends of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.

In early 1994, we were told that Sir David Williams, as Vice Chancellor, was to visit us and it was decided that a dinner in his honour would be arranged for the whole Victorian Cambridge population. At this time we had about 80 members. Cambridge University then advised us that we had some 500 Victorian alumni living in Victoria. When we got the list, we found that less than half of the alumni were members. However, with considerable help from Cambridge and Windows we managed to send out close to 600 invitations. More than 160 of us sat down to the dinner (and a very enjoyable event it was, with Sir David at his oral best) and almost overnight our membership increased to 180.

Since that dinner membership has crept up to about 200 out of the 700 living in the state of Victoria. Initially all identified alumni were members but as mailing costs increased, membership was restricted to those who paid a modest subscription. Although this remains our custom, the complete Cambridge population is canvassed from time to time and all receive invitations to the annual dinner. Although we now have an excellent and accurate rapport with the Cambridge Development Office and its database, we still occasionally unearth alumni who have been hidden from view ever since they came, or returned, to Victoria.

Our membership now even includes some who were undergraduates before the Second World War, although after WWII the pattern changed and we now have many more recent members who either came to teach as the Australian university sector expanded or who went to Cambridge to get postgraduate qualifications. Later, as the CAT Scholarship scheme came into being, most of these scholars became members when they returned.

In the past, activities of the Society have included formal and informal dinners, cricket and tennis matches, dinner dances and debates, to select just a few. Nowadays the key social event of the year is the Annual Dinner in August/September. We also have a regular monthly lunch with a speaker (often of a Cambridge background) and a very diverse range of subjects has been covered. Sometimes we convert this to an informal dinner if we have a subject or speaker meriting more time than the 20 odd minutes of speaking time available at lunch.

Each year we congregate to watch the Varsity Match at our Christmas Lunch (and AGM), and we dine and watch the Boat Race video. There are specific activities for retirees and the younger members. We also play cricket, croquet and trivial pursuit, but sadly tennis matches are a thing of the past. We still visit vineyards from time to time, and the Committee spends much time thinking about other activities suitable for Cantabrigians. We have been experimenting with occasional Friday night drinks in the city after work, but we have not quite yet hit the right combination to get as many of the younger people along as we would like.

The Society also puts out a monthly newsletter, and for several years we have maintained a website, which is currently found at www.cambridgesociety.org.au.

Throughout our existence we have tried to get individuals from Oxford to join with us in some of our activities but with not a great deal of success. Unfortunately, the Oxford Society, which has a similar population in Victoria to ours, does not have a similarly active organisation (with the possible exception of the Rhodes Scholars).

How do we manage to maintain such an active Society? We have an active committee with a good spread of age among the committee members. In regard to financial matters, we charge a modest subscription of $20 per year which covers mail and administration costs, and we try to ensure that each function we run is breakeven; so far we have not gone bankrupt. Finally, our diverse range of activities keeps a wide variety of members interested and active.

Why do we keep our membership and what do members gain? One reason given for membership is that when you meet a fellow Cambridge graduate you can rely on having an interesting conversation on a wide range of topics. The other reason appears to be the monthly newsletter, which borrows extensively, unashamedly and legally from University press releases and from amusing articles in Varsity.

Finally, anybody from Cambridge visiting temporarily or permanently is most welcome to join in any of these events and should consult our current website.

We would like to pay tribute to the Cambridge Society in Cambridge for the generous help they have always given us and, in particular, to Ms Katie Knapton.

This history is reproduced (with minor edits) from the Cambridge Society of Victoria Newsletter of January 2006.

Website developed & maintained by Anita Eglitis.
For comments or questions about the website, please email Anita Eglitis at anita@cambridgesociety.org.au.