The Australian Ireland Fund Gala Luncheon took place on Sunday 15 August 2010 at picturesque Hillstone St. Lucia, overlooking the scenic St. Lucia Golf Links, a wonderful backdrop for Brisbane’s top corporates, the Brisbane Irish Community and also some of our Brisbane regulars and their friends and family to enjoy the welcome drinks and canapés on the terrace.
Special guests on the day included Chairman Charles Curran AC, Deputy Head of Mission at the Irish Embassy, Orla Tunney, Director Sallyanne Atkinson AO, Andrew Penfold, Chief Executive of the Australian Indigenous Education Fund, Australian Ireland Fund Directors Tom Moore and Peter Ryan and Executive Director Teresa Keating.
The Chairman took this opportunity to thank major sponsors Mark Cooper from Etihad Airways; Stephen Tait from APN Australian Publishing, Seamus Roche from Australian Radio Network; Greg Ward from Connect to Jewellery, Hamilton Island Yacht club and Villas, “Sydney”, Waterford Crystal, Celtic Woman.
The Chairman provided an update of our activities an excerpt of that update follows:
“The Australian Ireland Fund continues to focus on Northern Ireland, where the political progress that has been made recently is momentous, with Unionists and Nationalists are now sharing Government. But, regrettably, there continue to be outbreaks of violence, as evidenced recently on 12 July, when dissident republicans orchestrated violence in north Belfast where around 20 police officers were injured. This is still a very divided society and our work in Ireland continues to be of great importance.
With your help, our key area of involvement is in the field of integrated education, where the magnificent gift of $1 million from Lady Mary Fairfax was supplemented with $250,000 provided from the funds of The Australian Ireland Fund, made possible by the generosity of our many supporters. We have supported a number of integrated schools including:
- Portadown Integrated Primary School of Belfast
- Drumlins Integrated Primary School in Balynahinch
- Fort Hill Integrated Primary School, which joined the integrated movement in 2009 through the transformation process
- Ballycastle Integrated Primary School, Rowallane Integrated College which has since merged with Down Academy as Blackwater Integrated College securing the future of both schools, providing a quality integrated education option for the area.
- Portaferry Integrated Primary School
- Hazelwood Integrated Primary School, situated in one of the most troubled and deprived areas of Belfast, in an ‘interface’ area straddling the two communities.
We also continue to support a number of other activities in Northern Ireland. At a recent Board meeting we received reports from a number of the organisations we support and I share extracts from several messages of thanks.
The Reverend Bill Shaw of 174 Trust included in his letter:
“The CONNECT Youth Group – known here as simply ‘my guys’ – now include 8 young men (8-14) from the lower Shankill Estate – the nearest ‘interface’ – who meet with the original core group from the New Lodge twice a week for football in the ‘Australia Hall’ and then a trip out, usually Monday evenings, where they bowl, swim and generally ‘mess about’ – together!"
Eamon McClean of Speedwell Trust who wrote:
"We continue to have schools booking our programmes for the next academic year. Already we have over 6,000 places filled with children from nursery, primary, secondary and special needs schools. We are hugely appreciative for the continued support which we are receiving from The Australian Ireland Fund this year and indeed for the support we have received since 2002.
Carmel McCavana of NICE who informed us of the result of a survey of over 269 young people who had participated in the NICE Citizenship in a Divided Society Programme. The survey includes 92.5% of the respondents saying that they think people need programmes that bring communities together.
David Beal of Be Your Best Foundation who wrote:
"Thanks again for all your support over the years, I honestly don’t know that the event would still be running in Northern Ireland without The Australian Ireland Fund.”
We remain committed to these initiatives but feel that at the same time as helping Ireland, we should also contribute meaningfully to Australia, which has been hospitable to so many Irish families over many generations.
In progressing that objective the Board has adopted as a first focus projects involving reconciliation, so that the experience learned at such a high cost in Ireland can be applied in our local Australian environment. We are doing so by working with the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, headed by Mr. Andrew Penfold, to provide quality education for disadvantaged indigenous young Australians.
Already we have provided a $10,000 per annum scholarship, at Marist Ashgrove, and St. Peters in Brisbane and we are in the process of establishing scholarships at two leading Sydney schools. Drawing on the Federal Government funding of $20 million, the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation will be matching those scholarships, thus doubling the results gained from our contributions. We will also support those young people and their schools with mentoring programs.
The Australian Ireland Fund has also provided funding for the establishment of a Chair of Modern Irish Studies at the University of New South Wales. This will form part of the John Hume Institute for Global Irish Studies which is being established by the University in conjunction with University College Dublin. The University has now appointed a Director and Chair, Professor Ronan McDonald, and the launch of the Centre will take place in November 2010. Our association with the Centre will enable the Fund to assist Australian students study peace and reconciliation projects in Ireland.”
We were lucky to have Paul “Campo” Campion Australian Radio Host of 97.3 as our Live Auctioneer for the day. Australian Radio Network are major supporters of The Australian Ireland Fund and we very much value and appreciate their support.
The Live Auction had fantastic items on offer such as a luxurious accommodation and golf package at Hyatt Regency Coolum courtesy of Hyatt Regency Coolum, a Classic Hits 4KQ advertising package courtesy of the Australian Radio Network, a 2 nights accommodation package at The Villas of Byron, courtesy of APN Australian Publishing, a magnificent 18ct white gold 13 pts of white diamonds African Amethyst 18.47 ct 18ct white and yellow gold reversible Italian omega chain pendant courtesy of Greg Ward, of CTJ Diamonds and Jewellery, Australia’s largest diamond importer direct to the public. The Sydney Package which included a cruise around the spectacular Sydney Harbour on the stunning 60ft Yacht “Sydney” with 11 close friends or business guests, courtesy of Chairman Charles Curran including an overnight stay for two people in a Deluxe Grand Harbour room, courtesy of the Shangri-La Hotel Sydney, a $300 gift Voucher to dine at the renowned Guillaume at Bennelong Restaurant at the Sydney Opera House courtesy of Guillaume at Bennelong and the major Live Item prize for the day being the ‘Trip of a Lifetime to Dublin’ with Etihad Airways with two Pearl Business Class tickets to Dublin, 3 nights in a deluxe room, including daily breakfast, at the magnificent 5 Star Four Seasons Hotel and a week’s Class C car hire in Ireland courtesy of AVIS. The highest bidder of the ‘Trip of a Lifetime to Dublin’ was Mr. Peter Ryan who is a vital and long time supporter of The Australian Ireland Fund. In the week leading up to the event the promoters of “Celtic Woman” who are touring Australia later this year donated a major prize of 10 gold tickets to see Celtic Woman perform live in Brisbane on 3 November which was auctioned on the day.
Guests were also entertained by comedian Paul Martell, a multi talented performer, who adds impact to any occasion with his fast pace Irish wit and an abundant array of Hollywood impressions. Guests were also treated to Irish music by band, Tulca Mor.
Our silent auction offered 29 items and again we thank all those donors sincerely. A copy of our Programme can be viewed on this website including our thank you and recognition of all our sponsors on the day in our programme.
Andrew Penfold Chief Executive of the Australian Indigenous Education Fund, gave an update on Indigenous Education and the work the AIEF is doing particularly the programme at Marist college Ashgrove and St. Peter’s Lutheran College that the Australian Ireland Fund and the AIEF are supporting together.
Deputy Head of Mission, Orla Tunney updated guests with the latest news from Ireland and Northern Ireland and also thanked guests for their much needed continuing support on behalf of the Irish Government.
We thank all our generous table captains, sponsors and supporters without whom we could not support the many projects of integrated education and reconciliation that we do.
