The Australia Foundation is the proud host of the UK’s leading event uniting the UK-Australian community through the celebration of their remarkable achievements, creativity, and talents.
The Australia Foundation was founded in 2004 by a number of long-term Australians who wanted to celebrate our national day. Twenty years on, our Annual Gala Dinner reflects the diversity of contemporary Australian culture and society as well as our nature and history.
The Foundation is a non-political, not-for-profit, voluntary organisation whose Directors receive no compensation. The Foundation receives no funding from Government, but works closely with and consults the Australian High Commission in London.
Sponsorship is the sole source of funding for the Annual Gala Dinner. Any surplus funds each year are transferred to the Foundation Trust set up in 2013 to support young Australians wishing to further their education in the UK. To date, eleven scholarships have been awarded.
Each year the Foundation calls for nominations for its Awards, which are granted based on an individual’s contribution made to Anglo-Australian endeavours. The Foundation is proud of its contribution to the celebration of Australia in the UK and its Awardees who represent a cross-section of distinguished Australians and Honourary Australians in the UK.
Chris Hickey is the CEO of the UK, Middle East and African business for Robert Walters plc. Having graduated with a BA, and also an LLB (Hons) from Bond University in Australia, Chris qualified as a solicitor and then relocated to the UK in the late 1990s to join Lehman Brothers as a Capital Markets lawyer. He worked for Lehman Brothers in London and Zurich, latterly in the role of Chief Administrative Officer before moving to Robert Walters plc in 2000. He has been on the board of the Australia-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce since 2010 and is a very active member of the Australian business community in the UK.
Bronwyn Curtis is an economist whose career spans both the financial markets and the media. She is on the Board of the UK Office of Budget Responsibility and her other roles include chair of JPMorgan Asia Growth and Income plc, a non-executive director of Pershing Square Holdings plc, BH Macro plc and the Scottish American Investment Trust plc. Her executive roles included Head of Global Research at HSBC Bank plc, Managing Editor and Head of European Broadcast at Bloomberg LP, Chief Economist of Nomura International, and Global Head of Foreign Exchange and Fixed Income Strategy at Deutsche Bank. She has also worked as a consultant for the World Bank and UNCTAD. Her other current appointments include trustee of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, the Australian-UK Chamber of Commerce and The Times shadow MPC.
Andrew Low is Chairman of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce, Advance Global Australians, Cobden Reid Advisory and Genea BioMedx and a Director of the Australian Ballet Foundation (UK), Bell Shakespeare Company and the Europe Australia Business Council. He previously held several senior roles with the Macquarie Group, including as Head of Macquarie Capital for Asia, Global Head of Telecom, Media, Entertainment & Technology, Global Head of Financial Institutions Group, and global Chief Operating Officer for Macquarie Capital Advisers. Andrew has also been Global Head of Investment Banking for CLSA and Chief Executive of RedBridge Grant Samuel and he is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
Louise is currently the National Director of the Britain-Australia Society in Australia House and on the boards of the Royal Flying Doctor Service (Friends in the UK) and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and is involved with a variety of organisations and charities with British-Australian roots. She holds an LLM from the University of Cambridge as well as an LLB (hons), BA (broadcast journalism) and DipEd (Drama) from the University of Queensland. Louise grew up in Brisbane and moved to the UK in her twenties, working in the City for many years.
Dick Porter has been a Trustee with the Australia Foundation and Director of the Australia Foundation UK Trust since 2013. He is Chair of The Australia-United Kingdom Chamber of Commerce (Director since 2010, Chair since 2013, renamed from “Australian Business” in 2016). He is a Member of the Global Strategy Group at University College London (UCL); President of the British Educational Travel Association; Trustee of the University of Western Australia UK Friends. As a co-founder of STA Travel he spent his career mainly as CEO for 35 years until 2011 when it covered 100 countries as the major global specialist in student and young travel.
Philip Aiken is a Director of Newcrest Mining, New Energy One and Business at OECD. He was formerly Chairman of Aveva plc, Balfour Beatty plc, and Robert Walters plc. He spent his executive career with BHP and BOC based in both UK and Australia. He has been involved with the Australia Day Foundation since its inception in 2003 and was Chairman of Australian Business for a number of years. He was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his services to Australian and UK business relationships in 2013.
Bill Muirhead is a Founder and Executive Director of the new communications company, Act 111. Prior to this he was CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide and Co-Founder and Executive Director of M&C Saatchi. From 2007 to 2021 he was Agent-General for South Australia in Europe. In 2011 he founded the South Australia Club, an international community of people connected to South Australia through business, politics, academia, media and the arts. In 2018 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of South Australia where he is a Council Member. In 2023, he became an Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to the business sector, to the community of South Australia, and to international relations.
Kate Bifield is General Manager of the Australia Foundation and holds an MA in Management from the University of St Andrews. She is an internationally focused marketing and communications professional with experience in the broadcast media and travel industries. Previously she held the role of Head of Campaigns for the London office of the Agent General of South Australia, where she worked to strengthen South Australian-European relations and raise awareness and preference for investment, trade, immigration and education in South Australia. Other roles include UK Market Manager for Tourism Western Australia, and Marketing Manager for NBC Universal Media.