​Hugh’s current appointment as Chief Executive of the Yoorrook Justice Commission is a recognition of his leadership ability. The Commission is of great historical importance as it is the first formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Nations people, looking into both historical and ongoing effects.

On accepting the role Hugh commented: “This history and these truths must become everyone’s history and everyone’s truths if we are to create a shared understanding and achieve real change. I look forward to working with Yoorrook commissioners and staff to continue to build this historic truth-telling process.”

​His previous appointments include Commissioner of the Victorian Law Reform Commission 2008 – 2012 and Manager of the Brimbank–Melton Community Legal Centre 2004 -2007. And he is the 4th son of David de Kretser, former Governor of Victoria (2006–2011).

TICKETS: $85 each, Tables of 10 - $850
Bookings essential - Contact the Secretary Peter Gavin 0417 135 373 or email: [email protected]
Payment by cheque/ mail Eureka Australia, 6 Gibbons Street, Sunbury 3429
Payment via EFT to BSB 704191 account 90789 (please put your name as the reference on the transaction)
www.eurekaaustralia.org.au 

The Hon. Steve Bracks AC was the 44th Premier of Victoria and represented the seat of Williamstown in the Victorian Parliament from 1994 to 2007. He led Labor in Victoria from Opposition to a minority government in the 1999 State election. He became one of Victoria’s most successful and longest-serving Premiers, winning three consecutive elections, achieving record majorities in the 2002 and 2006 elections, introducing substantial reforms in infrastructure and services, investing heavily in education and skills, lifting Victoria’s retention rate to Year 12 education to one of the highest in Australia, while maintaining strong budgets and a growing economy. With the support of all other Australian governments, Steve led a National Reform Agenda to increase workplace participation, improve skills, reduce business regulation and boost productivity.

Steve’s second government reformed the state's system for electing the upper house (Legislative Council) in Victoria with the introduction of proportional representation, with eight five-member regions replacing the previous single-member constituencies. This was a substantial political reform, advancing democracy in Victoria, giving minor parties the opportunity to win seats.

Steve Bracks was raised in Ballarat and, together with Rob Knowles, was one of the two initial patrons of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka from its opening in 2013.

After his resignation from the Office of Premier and from Parliament in 2007, Steve has held two major honorary positions, an advising role in East Timor working alongside the newly elected Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão assisting with the establishment of Gusmão's administration up to 2017; and Honorary Chair of the Union Education Foundation from 2011, ongoing.

Steve was appointed as Chancellor of Victoria University from 2021. He is Chair of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers; the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) Trust and the AFL Strategic Community The Dinner Commemorates and Celebrates the 168th Anniversary of the 1854 Eureka Events with the presentation of the Eureka Democracy Award. The 2022 Eureka Democracy Award will be presented during the evening to Steve Bracks, AC. Investment Fund Advisory Board. He is a non-executive Director of the Bank of Sydney, Cbus Property Ltd. and from 2017 – 2019 of Jardine Lloyd Thomson Australia.

Steve has served as Chair of the Cbus superannuation fund from 2007 to 2021; the Independent Chair for the Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association from 2008 to 2013; Chair of AFL Sportsready – the training body of the AFL from 2013 to 2017; Chair of Cycling Australia 2017 to 2018; and Chair of the McKell Institute Victoria 2016-2020.

He is a member of the Australian Republican Movement’s Republican Advisory Panel and the West of Melbourne Alliance Board. He was a Senior Adviser to KPMG from 2007 to 2012 and a member of the National Australia Bank’s Philanthropic Board from 2008 to 2013.

Mr Bracks received a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2010 for services to the Parliament and community of Victoria. In 2011 he was presented with the Timor-Leste Solidarity Medal. He has also received Honorary Doctorates from Ballarat and Deakin Universities. He is Patron of the Australia Lebanon Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Vic) Ltd (ALCC), the Balibo House Trust, The Burnet Institute, the Centre for Dialogue La Trobe University, the Conservation Ecology Centre – Cape Otway, the Eureka Democracy Centre, Ballarat, the Hadassah Australia Foundation, the Williamstown Seaworks Foundation, The Sir Rupert Hamer Records Management Awards, the Western Health Foundation and the Western Melbourne Tourism Board. He is also a leading advocate for both multiculturalism and Aboriginal reconciliation.

Emeritus Professor Judith Brett, of La Trobe University, historian and author and former Professor of Politics, will be our guest speaker on the Evening. Judith joined La Trobe in 1989 to teach and research Australian Politics, Political Biography and Political History. While Judith retired at the end of 2012, she remains committed to political research, bringing the fruits of her enquiry to the general public through books written for a broad readership and through the media. Judith is a former editor of Meanjin and a contributing columnist for The Age.

Judith has published extensively and to substantial critical acclaim about Australian political leaders (including Robert Menzies and John Howard) and various political issues. We look forward to hearing from Judith about her biography of Alfred Deakin (2017) which received the 2018 National Biography Award and also about her book Secret Ballot to Democracy Sausage, (2019) which was shortlisted for the 2019 Queensland Literary Awards, both popular and well received contributions to our understanding of Australian political history.

Come along and enjoy an evening of conversation, celebration and commemoration of the remarkable social change that was influenced by the events that took place at Eureka 168 years ago and whose impacts continue to positively influence our society today.
www.eurekaaustralia.org.au

TICKETS: $84 each, Tables of 10 - $840:
Bookings essential - Contact the Secretary Peter Gavin 0417 135 373
or email [email protected]

Payment by cheque/ mail Eureka Australia, 6 Gibbons Street, Sunbury 3429

Payment via EFT to BSB 704191 account 90789
(please put your name as the reference in the eft transaction

Download the full flyer here:

The launch of the new Eureka Pathway of Rememberance took place on Friday May 27th 2022.  The Pathway is a memorial to Australia’s Democracy Martyrs at Ballarat’s Eureka Stockade Memorial Park - the very site where they fell.

Peter Lalor Philip, MC, Introductory Remarks

Eureka Australia's Eric Howard

​Special Guest: Dr Geraldine Moore presents "George Higinbotham and Eureka"

Michael van Leeuwen, VP, Vote of Thanks to Geraldine

Adele Howard - Remarks

Venue: Amora Hotel 649 Bridge Road, Richmond
Saturday 16 November
6.30 pm for 7.00 pm

AWARDEE:

• From 2004 to 2016, Tim Costello was CEO of World Vision Australia and from 2011 has been the Chairman of the Community Council for Australia.
• Tim received the Victorian of the Year award in July 2004 in recognition of his public and community service.
• He was made an officer of the Order of Australia in June 2005 and was the Victorian nominee for the Australian of the Year Award in 2006.
• Tim was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Australian Catholic University in 2008 in recognition of his contribution to religious life and to social justice and is the 2008 winner of the Australian Peace Prize awarded by the Peace Organisation of Australia. He is also listed by the National Trust as a "National Living Treasure”.
• In his various roles, he has spearheaded public debate on problem gambling, urban poverty, homelessness, reconciliation and drug abuse over many years and has served as a local government elected representative and Mayor at the then City of St Kilda.
• From 1995 to 2003, Tim was a minister of the Collins Street Baptist Church and the executive director of Urban Seed, a Christian not-for-profit organisation created in response to concern about homelessness, drug abuse and the marginalisation of the city's street people.
• Tim is the Spokesperson for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, a Director of Ethical Voice and the Executive Director of Micah Australia.

GUEST SPEAKER

• Dr. Geraldine Moore, a member of Eureka Australia, will provide a brief presentation about her recently published book George Higinbotham and Eureka.
• Geraldine has researched the editorials that Higinbotham wrote anonymously for the Melbourne Morning Herald, before, during and after the conflict at Eureka. Historians know of Higinbotham as Attorney-General of Victoria during the turbulent constitutional deadlocks of 1865 and 1867, and later as a controversial Chief Justice of Victoria’s Supreme Court. Geraldine’s book reveals that, as a young journalist in the 1850s, Higinbotham reported on the goldfields agitation, and afterwards participated in the continuing struggle for political rights. Geraldine will explain how his contributions helped to shape the struggle for democratic government in Victoria.
• Come along and enjoy an evening of conversation, celebration, and commemoration of the remarkable social change that was influenced by the events that took place at Eureka 165 years ago and whose impacts continue to positively influence our society today.

Tickets $70 each, Tables of 10 for $700
Bookings essential - Contact the Secretary Peter Gavin 0417 135 373 or email [email protected]

Payment by cheque: Post to 1st floor 420-424 William Street West Melbourne 3003
Payment via EFT: to BSB 704191 account 90789 (please put your name as the reference in the EFT transaction)

www.eurekaschildren.org.au

The Eureka Centre has announced the launch of Talking History @ Eureka, an initiative to explore significant new research into the history of the Ballarat region, with a special focus on the colonial period.

Presented on the first Tuesday of each month, these free talks will present new perspectives on Ballarat and Goldfields history with a special focus on the events and legacy of the Eureka Stockade.

Speakers include academics, writers, independent researchers and people from diverse fields who are engaged in exploring and reimagining Ballarat’s past.
“There is a real hunger in the community for discussion and debate about our rich history,” Anthony Camm, Manager Eureka Centre said.

The ‘Talking History’ series will focus on uncovering fresh new research and ideas about the past.

“The monthly lectures will present the latest research on Ballarat’s colonial history, including some unexpected and recently revealed aspects,” Mr. Camm said.
Join us at the Eureka Centre on the first Tuesday of each month at 5.30pm to hear guest speakers bringing our history to life. Entry is free and no booking is required.

The first session is scheduled for Tuesday, 3 September.
Popular Theatrical Entertainment, Eureka, 1854
In 1854, the Eureka area was a site of lively, and cosmopolitan, cultural entanglements. Diggers, prospectors, traders, storekeepers and entrepreneurs were joined by roving touring acts, catering for the human throng. The result was a dramatic overload of masculine, youthful and hedonistic energy concentrated within key venues. In this talk, Ailsa Brackley du Bois will introduce Ballarat’s theatrical scene, as it was, prior to the Eureka Stockade. Ailsa is currently completing a Masters of Arts in Writing & Literature (Deakin). Her thesis is titled ‘Lost Spaces of Popular Theatrical Entertainment, Ballarat Goldfields, 1850s-1870s’.

Second Session – Tuesday 1 October 2019
Minefields of Memory: a history of interpreting Eureka
With a past of contested memory, political jousting and history wars, interpreting and commemorating the Eureka Rebellion has often been contentious, passionate and a story in itself. At times the memory of Eureka had almost been forgotten, only to be resurrected by the diggers, Eureka ancestors, interested community members, politicians and media. In her talk, Felicity Martin will take you through the journey of our attempts to interpret the Eureka story through graves, dawn walks, monuments, gardens, cycloramas, diorama dramas, re-enactments and stockades, festivals, light shows, artefacts and our institutions, all contributing to the collective memory of Eureka.Felicity Martin is an independent curator, living in Talbot. She recently completed her Masters of Curating dissertation on the history of interpreting Eureka. She was Manager and Curator of Gallery Lane Cove for 11 years and worked briefly for the former Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.?

Third Session – Tuesday 5 November 2019
George Higinbotham and Eureka – The Struggle for Democracy in Colonial Victoria
George Higinbotham was a highly influential politician in colonial Victoria. One of his contemporaries described him as a man of ‘dash and daring who won from the privilege and class ground that they have never seen since been able to recover.’ Even today the debate rages about his character and his legacy. Some see him as a visionary who fought for responsible government free of Colonial Office Interface and obstruction, but an undemocratically elected legislative Council. Others see him as a flawed character whose legacy was turmoil. In this talk, author Geraldine Moore will explore the life of ‘the most loved and the most hated man of his day,’ and what this has to do with Eureka. Geraldine completed a Ph.D. at Monash University in 2016. Her thesis explored the early life of the controversial colonial politician, George Higinbotham. Her book, George Higinbotham and Eureka, was published in 2018.

Our last year's Democracy Award winner Adele Ferguson has this week published her book 'Banking Bad: How Corporate Greed and Broken Governance Failed Australia'.

Few people were more instrumental in bringing about the Royal Commission into the banking and financial services industries than journalist Adele Ferguson. Through her exposes in print and on television, she pursued the truth about funds mismanagement, fraud, lack of probity, and the hard-sell culture that took over the finance industry after the deregulation in the 1980s. But it wasn't just light-touch regulators and crooked bankers growing fat on bonuses she put under the spotlight. It was also their victims - men and women who had lost everything and had no recourse when they discovered empty accounts, egregious fees, forged documents and broken promises.

She says 'This is a book for every person with a bank account'.