UniSA Alumni
The 2010 Annual General Meeting was held at the Australia Centre, Strand, London, WC2B 4LG on Wednesday 10 November 2010 at 6.30pm.
President of the UK Alumni, Dennis Muirhead, was pleased to welcome the UK Alumni Patron Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE and Tim Wildman, Master of Wines, to this year's wine tasting event, Uncorked in September 2010.
Guests were treated to canapés that were specifically chosen to match the South Australian wine tasted as Tim explained the differences in flavours and characteristics.
Photos from the event (opens in a new window)
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At the Exhibition Hall, Australia House an evening of beautiful music, followed by a reception with the artists, including fine South Australian wines and exceptional canapés was enjoyed in July 2010.
Held at the Australia Centre Strand, London on 1 June 2010.
On Thursday 24 September 2009 the South Australian Universities Alumni UK and the Office of the Agent General for South Australia co-hosted a wine tasting in the stunning setting of Australia House. The event was attended by over 150 alumni of South Australian Universities living in or visiting the UK, members of other Australian-linked organisations and UK-based friends of our State.
The evening began with South Australian sparkling wine and introductory speeches. The Agent General, Bill Muirhead welcomed guests to Australia House and noted the continuing success of South Australian wines in overseas markets. The Honorary Secretary of the South Australian Universities Alumni UK, Simon Fourmy, spoke about the work of the Alumni group in the UK.
Guests then took their seats for the main event with Matthew Jukes, wine correspondent for the Daily Mail, providing expert commentary on a wonderful selection of twelve South Australian wines. These were accompanied by a delicious six-course selection of carefully matched canapés, which worked to enhance the flavours of the wines.
In a fun twist on the usual tasting format, wines competed against each other in a 'taste off' between familiar favourites and more adventurous selections. The evening concluded with a raffle, the winner receiving a bottle of each of the twelve wines tasted on the night.
Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE, Patron of the South Australian Universities Alumni UK
and Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, gave the
Second Alumni Lecture at the Ri on 28th April 2009 in the Sunley Room.
Her lecture was entitled "The 21st Century Mind. Unchanged or Unprecedented". The Lecture was very well attended and provoked an interesting discussion afterwards.
Baroness Greenfield’s lecture was based on her book published in 2008 "ID. The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century".
Susan shared some thought provoking trends. One such trend around the huge force of technology such as video games and its impact on human development in terms of individuality and identity development, particularly of young people.
She spoke of ‘. . . the dynamism, the ‘plasticity’ of the brain. How our identity is our brain or rather our mind’ and how a range of different experiences and different connections can strengthen the brain’s malleability, thereby differentiating one brain from another. She went on to say that in the young person’s brain which is still developing and ‘. . . most malleable according to what inputs are most hardworking and in whatever brain areas’, the future technologies will certainly impact the way young people might think and learn differently from preceding generations, and which will have implications as to what kind of people they might become.
She told our audience and the House of Lords this year that children’s experiences on social networking sites ". . . are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity".
Whilst future technologies also brings benefits, such as increased level of society’s IQ from the use of the internet, Susan maintains that we all have a responsibility to look at what we want for ourselves, for our children and for our future society, and to consider how we shape that future.
Alumni Committee members Elsa D’Ercoli, Simon Fourmy, Diane Tofts, Sonja Townsend, Amy Lunn, Chantal Hirth and visiting Life Member from Tokyo Kristina Dryza hosted the event with the generous help of the Ri staff. Our thanks go to them for all their support.
From left: Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE, Patron of South
Australian Universities Alumni UK, David Klingberg AM, Chancellor of UniSA, Mrs Margaret de Rohan,
Jonathan de Rohan, Dennis Muirhead, Chair of |
Around 70 Alumni, distinguished guests and friends of the late Maurice de Rohan AO OBE, Patron of the South Australian Universities Alumni UK, gathered at a reception to launch the UniSA Maurice de Rohan International Scholarship on 5 September 2007. The reception was hosted by Dennis Muirhead, the Chair of South Australian Universities Alumni UK, at the renowned Lords Cricket Ground in London.
Maurice was committed to the development of a strong, mature relationship between South Australia and the United Kingdom. The scholarship, reflecting Maurice's passion and achievements, provides the opportunity for higher degree research students to gain an international perspective and improve their theses by undertaking a part of their research in the UK or USA.
UniSA Chancellor, David Klingberg AM announced the successful recipient of the scholarship, Ananthakrishnan Kollengold Subramanian, who will attend the University of Sheffield in England to continue his research into the development of hearing aid technology.
Dennis Muirhead also introduced the new Patron of South Australian
Universities Alumni UK,
Baroness Susan Greenfield CBE, Executive Director of the Royal Institution
of Great Britain (Ri). Dennis highlighted the many connections between
Baroness Greenfield and South Australia, including the recent establishment
of
Ri Australia in Adelaide.
The reception was followed by a fundraising dinner hosted by the Chair of the Maurice de Rohan Fundraising Committee, Creagh OConnor and thanks to Sir Tim Rice, dinner guests were entertained by pop cappella band, The Magnets.
Our Power guests |
South Australian Universities Alumni UK in London entertained the The Port Adelaide Football Club team members and officials at a Reception at The Australia Centre on 23rd October 2006. Everyone enjoyed an evening of relaxed conversation with the help of South Australian wines, Coopers Ale and Villi's pies.
The South Australian Department for Trade and Economic Development (DTED) hosted over 100 committed AFL supporters from the Alumni and the Power visitors as part of the Government's 'Make the Move' migration strategy. "Make the Move" packs were given to all the guests and there was keen interest amongst them to return home.
Dennis Muirhead, Acting Chairman of the Alumni, welcomed everyone especially the Power notwithstanding being a longstanding North Adelaide supporter. Dennis also introduced a surprise visitor, Bohdan Jaworskyj, President of North Adelaide Football Club whose graduate daughter Victoria is an events organiser for Chelsea Football Club.A special mention was made of Brian Clarke, General Manager of Aussie Rules UK. Brian has coached over 2000 UK children to play Aussie Rules who come to him to learn the game and hear about Australia. Some schools have even dropped soccer in favour of Rules.
Greg Boulton, President of the Power, responded and highlighting the strong and sustained employment growth in South Australia spearheaded more recently by billion dollar defence contracts, electronics, a booming mining sector, health, a strong food and wine industry, tourism, the arts and Adelaide as Education City. He encouraged South Australians to return home.
Greg and Dennis paid special tribute to the late Maurice de Rohan AO OBE, Agent General for South Australia in London who died on 5th October 2006. Maurice was a devoted Power supporter and in his honour, Greg presented a special gift to the Alumni of a Shaun Burgoyne (8) Power guernsey signed by the squad and dedicated to Maurice and all that he did for the club he loved.
Other special guests present included the John James, CEO of Power, and Laurie Hoskins Managing Director of Gliderol Doors UK.
The AFL provides a special weekend in London each year for its London fans to watch two Aussie Rules teams go head to head. This year's game was held on the Saturday prior to the Alumni event when a young Power squad challenged Geelong at The Brit Oval.Despite the Power's narrow loss, watching the boys on the field was an Australian experience not to be missed of tough play, the odd fight and at least two male streakers who were quickly brought to ground.
Our guests had the opportunity to discuss the highs and lows of the game and the past AFL season one-on-one with Power Captain Warren Tredrea, Chad Cornes and former captain and now coach Matt Primus. New comers to Power, Jacob Surjan, Tim Looby , Ryan Willits and Brett Ebert joined in the fun. It was a wonderful evening and we look forward to next year's game.
 Dennis Muirhead Chairman 2006 - 2007, Prof. Geoff Turner Chairman 2004 - 2006, and Alumni Patron the late Maurice de Rohan AO OBE at Australia House on 21 September 2006. |
South Australian Universities Alumni UK in London held its third annual Wine Tasting in the Exhibition Hall at Australia House in September 2006. The event was the last one to be hosted by our Patron, the late Maurice de Rohan AO OBE, Agent General for South Australia who passed away two weeks later. Maurice welcomed 150 guests and stayed for a short while talking to guests and our chairman Prof. Geoff Turner.
This year we decided to do something different. We enlisted the help of South Australian Business Ambassador James Rackham, Chairman of Emporia Brands of Guildford, England, to mastermind the event. James introduced the wines of Duncan MacGillivray from Longview Vineyard Wines and Adelaide visitor Colin Best, the owner and winemaker at Leabrook Estate in the Adelaide Hills who presented his wines. Awana, the Malaysian Restaurant in Knightsbridge chose the food to match the wine and the guests sat down to enjoy both. James and Colin spoke about the wines and the Awana chef described the food. It was a unique experience and we will do something similar next year.
We were very privileged to have a number of unexpected guests from Adelaide on the night which added to the excitement of the event. They included Jill Bottrall, Deputy Chief of Staff to the Premier of South Australia; Helen Leake CEO of the South Australian Film Corporation; Dr Anna Ciccarelli, Executive Director: International & Development, University of South Australia; Paula Nagel, Chair of Board, Education Adelaide and Yvonne Clark, Manager, Alumni & Development Office, University of South Australia. We enjoyed their company and were delighted that they could be with us.
This was the last Alumni event to be chaired by our outgoing Chairman Prof.Geoff Turner who has now moved to Cyprus as Associate Professor at The Ioannis Gregoriou School of Business.Geoff was our chairman for two years and we thanked him for his tireless work on our behalf in London and Adelaide. Geoff will remain on the Committee in charge of our European members. Tributes were also made to our founding Chairman Dr James Storer and our energetic Company Secretary Kristina Dryza who have also left the UK for the time being. Maurice de Rohan and James Storer established the combined Alumni in 2001 and it is due to their commitment that it continues to thrive.
View photos from the wine tasting event.
Fifty alumni cricket enthusiasts, including former Premier John Bannon,
left Australia House on a sunny June afternoon, on an antique London bus,
for the glorious setting of Arundel Castle to witness the traditional
opening fixture of the 2005 Ashes Tour: an evening Twenty/20 match against a
Professional Cricketers Association XI.
Well fortified with cold Coopers ale, sparkling fizz and delicious hot Villys pies the three hour bus journey just seemed to slip away as the increasingly rowdy passengers enjoyed the journey deep into the Sussex countryside.
The beautiful setting and the warm, sunny evening made the slap, bang, wallop of this new form of cricket fun to watch. It was a more subdued bunch that boarded the bus for the return journey to London.
A great day out. We must do it again!
In the joint alumnis' short history it is interesting that we have already begun to develop our own traditions. The first of these is our annual gourmet food and wine tasting. Elsa DErcoli led the committee team that organised this year's tasting in the superb setting of Australia House, generously hosted by SA Agent General, Maurice de Rohan OBE.
Under the expert tutelage of Australia's star sommelier, Matthew Wilkin, we were again taken on a journey of discovery: of new and interesting wines from different parts of South Australia and of how these wines are complemented by exquisite tasting food.
Matthew's extraordinary knowledge of wines, matched with his charming, witty presentation ensured another most successful alumni event.
Our evening ended with a presentation to alumni committee deputy chairman, Maggie Farrell, who returns to Adelaide in October. Since the inauguration of the joint SA Universities Alumni in the UK, Maggie has been a driving force behind all our activities. She will be missed!
Gourmet Food and Wine Tasting photos
On Thursday 9th December 2004, the South Australian Universities Alumni UK held a Christmas function in the magnificent setting of Australia House and were joined by Felsted Preparatory School's Chapel Choir. Attendees enjoyed an evening of carols followed by mulled wine and mince pies and a visit from Father Christmas.
The South Australian Universities Alumni UK held an exclusive evening with Matthew Wilkin (Wine Magazine's UK Sommelier of the Year 2002, Harpers & Queen Mot & Chandon's Sommelier of the Year 2002). This wine tasting reception took place on the evening of Wednesday 28 April 2004 at Australia House.
Wine tasting reception photographs
