NEWS LETTER
August 2025
Coming events at Graduate House
August
Wednesday 6th: Monthly Luncheon with Dr Judith Buckrich
Wednesday 20th: Women’s Forum
Thursday 21st: Twilight Lecture with Dr. Ross Jones
September
Wednesday 3rd: Monthly Luncheon with Angela Gilham
Wednesday 17th: Women’s Forum
Thursday 18th: Twilight Lecture with Professor Philomena Murray
October
Wednesday 1st: Monthly Luncheon with Professor Mary Galea
Wednesday 15th: Women’s Forum
Thursday 16th: - Twilight Lecture with Doctor Ted Gott - Lunchtime Recital with Konrad Olszewski
Twilight Lecture
21 st August, ursday
About
August Luncheon
Wednesday, 6th August
Dr Judith Buckrich
Yarra Birrarung: Artists Writers and the River
Time: 12:00pm for 12:30pm start
Online login: 1:10pm for 1:15pm start
About
Dr Judith Buckrich was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1950 and emigrated to Melbourne with her parents in 1958. She is the author of books, articles, short stories and works for the theatre and has taught writing, curated exhibitions and worked at several of Melbourne’s cultural institutions. Between 1987 and 1990 she lived in Budapest, writing articles for The Age Monthly Review, Quadrant and other publications. She was copy editor for English language The Daily News and a stringer for ABC Radio’s The Europeans and Books and Writing. President of the Melbourne PEN Centre from 1993 to 2005 and Chair of the International PEN Women Writers’ Committee from 2003 to 2009, she is a past President of the PMI Victorian History Library. Judith won the 2016 Victorian Community History Award for The Village of Ripponlea and the 2018 Fellowship of Australian Writers (Victoria) Award for non-fiction for Acland Street: the Grand Lady of St Kilda. She is at present working on a book about Fitzroy North.
Prices: To Book:
Members $42, non-members $47, Residents $15
Virtual: Members $10, non-members $15
Call: 03 9347 3428
Email: admingh@graduatehouse.com.au
*Luncheon includes welcome drinks and a two course meal with wine, tea and coffee
3MBS and Graduate House Recital Series presenting Catherine Zhu
On Wednesday 25th of June, Graduate House presented pianist Catherine Zhu for a wonderful lunchtime recital. The third-year student from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music delighted the attendees with her talent.
The performance, organised by Graduate House and 3MBS radio, offered our members an extraordinary opportunity to enjoy a top class live show.
Catherine performed pieces by renowned composers such as Haydn’s Sonata in B minor, Hob XVI:32, Paganini’s La Chasse arr. Schumann and Chopin’s Étude de Sonorité No.2 and Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23 and other marvelous pieces.
The Ian Potter room was filled with music enthusiasts who got to enjoy the first of two recitals of the series Graduate House is presenting this year, with the next one coming on the 16th of October.
Get involved: Join a Graduate Union Committee
Graduate Union’s committees are opening positions for new Members to join, and be part of the activities of the organisation in a more active capacity. Committees are an essential element of our functioning, and being a part of them is a task that benefits the Union and all of its members.
The Graduate Union Council is composed of four committees that oversee and report on various aspects of the Association. The committees and their responsibilities are as follows:
Finance Committee - in charge of the oversight of all financial aspects of the Association, including Audit and Risk Management.
Advancement Committee - looks into all aspects of Membership and Fundraising for the Association.
Facilities Committee - key in the oversight of all maintenance and repairs of all three buildings and facilities of Graduate House.
Governance Committee - monitors, implements and oversees all aspects of governance control for the Association.
The Council is inviting members to express their interest in joining any of the mentioned Committees for the 20252026 Governance year.
If you are interested in participating, please send your expression of interest to the General Manager, Daniel Clark, at daniel.clark@graduatehouse.com.au stating the reasons for your interest in joining, your expertise regarding the Committee of your choice and what you think you will bring to said Committee.
We will be looking forward to receiving your expressions of interest and welcoming the new Committee members for the upcoming year.
Melbourne University Sports
Melbourne University sports is inviting all of their students to enjoy their sporting clubs, programs and fitness services, open to all levels of fitness.
You can join the active campus activities like free play sessions of badminton and tennis or other pop-up activities across campus. Join campus sports for fun social lunchtime competitions of basketball, netball, pickleball and many more.
Access free wellbeing group classes like yoga, zumba, primal movement and HIIT or enjoy a swim in the heated 25m pool in the Beaurepaire Centre, whether it is free swimming, joining the aquatic
classes or participating in the water safety program.
If you are more interested in group sports, join one of the recreational, competitive or instructional clubs with over 40 options to choose from, ranging from surfing to cricket.
Each one of these different activities offers a great opportunity to enjoy sports at any level while connecting with other students and getting involved in the University of Melbourne campus. For more information visit sport.unimelb. edu.au.
Professor Robert McGauran was awarded as Member of the Order of Australia
Graduate Union congratulates Professor Robert McGauran, who was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the 2025 King’s Birthday awards. This recognition was made for his significant service to urban architectural design, planning and development, and to tertiary education.
Professor McGauran has been a key part of the design and architecture team for the Stage 1 Master Plan project for the Graduate Union.
Professor Robert McGauran. Image sourced from Australian National University’s website
Melbourne City Council funding allocated to University Square
The City of Melbourne Council recently allocated funds for Stage Two of the University Square renovation project, considering the expected impact of the new underground Parkville Station, opening soon in 2025.
The Second Stage of the University Square refreshment project considers several improvements such as the planting of around 250 new trees for shaded gardens, new park spaces, the creation of social sections with a barbecue area, the construction of a living laboratory and an integrated public art vision.
Funding of $3 million has been set aside for the completion of the square, which expects to include the closure of Barry Street. This street has been closed
and occupied since 2018 and is hence considered as unnecessary.
The refreshment of the square is an exciting project for the Parkville Precinct and will provide new spaces for the surrounding community, including the community at Graduate House.
Some of the main goals of the project are to create a bigger park, implement ecofriendly solutions for the area such as reusing of stormwater, and provide better use of the space for the community.
These new works prove that the precinct is being enlivened, and the Graduate Union Master Plan in conjunction with Melbourne Business School renovation plans, come at a perfect time to give the precinct a renovated face to attract more people into the area.
‘She’ climbs mountains to touch the skies: Celebrating the 77th Anniversary Dinner of Soroptimist International Inc.
Written by our resident, Prerana Chatterjee
The Soroptimist International Inc. (SI) was founded in 1921 in California (USA) from the Soroptimist Movement that supported the advancement of women in professional activities in the society. The term ‘Soroptimist’ was coined from two Latin words viz ‘soror’ (meaning ‘sister’) and ‘optima’ (meaning ‘best’), to convey the spirit of the movement in forming a sisterhood to support women in making their independent presence, expression, and contribution in education, politics, and governance that they had been deprived of by patriarchy in the past. The Soroptimist International of Great Britain and Ireland (SIGBI) established as a federation in 1934 to encourage women to earn their own living and make their professional presence in disciplines like law, medicine, and science. The Soroptimist Clubs across Europe were particularly instrumental during World War II in assisting women refugees to be located to safety and supporting sustenance of widows and orphans through providing food, first aid, and livelihood resources. In 1952, the first Soroptimist Club came into being in Australia through support from the clubs in Great Britain and Ireland. Today, Soroptimist Clubs can be found across many cities and suburbs in Australia including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Albany, Hornsby Hills District, Joondalup, Devonport, Geelong, and Beenleigh.
In keeping with the ethos of the Soroptimist Movement, the Soroptimist International Club of Melbourne aims to unite women through a global network of members and international partnerships to create opportunities that allow the ‘feminine’ to assert its significance in the professional and business spheres. The same mission resonates in the organisation’s official Facebook page, where it commits to envisioning “a world where women and girls together achieve their individual and collective potential, realise aspirations and have an equal voice in creating strong, peaceful communities worldwide.”
The Graduate House was delighted to host the 77th Anniversary Dinner of SI Melbourne on the evening of 25th June 2025. Members and friends of the Graduate Union assembled to celebrate the contribution of women and their sisterhood towards alleviating wellbeing and respect for women across the world. The President of the Club (2024-25), Margaret Mitchell inaugurated the event, welcoming all to celebrate the atmosphere of rejuvenation in the club with new members taking up responsibilities to carry the baton of the soroptimist spirit forward. She congratulated the women who, as members of the club, helped acquire properties in Carlton first and then in South Yarra to expand the presence and activities of SI Melbourne. She hailed the availability of grants of $200,000 for this year and $100,000 for 2026 to
support these Victorian Soroptimist Clubs in their ongoing and future projects for the community. Margaret has devoted herself to the activities of the Soroptimist International for a staggering 53 years which in itself is exemplary and inspirational for young members. Expressing the significance of such long-term dedication and involvement in the growth of the club, she particularly thanked the women who were the longest-serving members of the club including Christine (over 50 years), Shirley (over 40 years), and Yoko (over 22 years).
The event brought together two enlightening presentations about women’s safety in a digital age and care and education of young women respectively that generated a thoughtful discussion post dinner.
Building Safer Digital Spaces: How Clubs can be a Beacon of Safety
In the first presentation, Sarah Barnbrook, a member at Soroptimist International who is also an honorable UN delegate and founder of the ‘Away from Keyboard’ (AFK) organization, voiced concern over technology-based gendered violence against women. As a global advocate promulgating awareness on women safety in a digital age, she put forth the issue of rising numbers of digital predators targeting women through tracking their personal accounts on social media and mobile applications. She introduced this issue to the audience by telling her own story of “being groomed into marriage as a teenager and ending up in jail”. Although this harrowing experience scarred a deep cut into her youthful innocence, it gave her hope and strength to stand up for any such injustice against women in future.
Through the years, she made it a mission to investigate and spread awareness about the various vices digital predators adopted in such crimes. While young girls and teenagers are groomed and lured away from their families, solitary older women and widows are deceived through fraudulent offers of support and companionship. In the case of young teenagers, it is their immaturity and lack of experience in dealing with coming-of-age that aids the predators in setting the traps; for older women, it is their unfamiliarity to digital media, life-transition, and vulnerability due to old age that make them easy prey to such crimes.
“Frogs in the boiling water” — According to Sarah, no matter how alarming the situation is, many people in Victoria are still turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to this reality. The statistics that she presented out to corroborate her claims were indeed hair-raising: Over 800,000 women above 55 years were preyed upon on digital media, while, according to the Scamwatch reports, 62,147 women above 65 years were targeted in 2024. About $121 million were lost through fraudulent activities against women of above 65 years of age, and most shockingly 31% of the victims did not even report. Such cases of targeted ‘sextortion’ have been on the rise—according to reports, the number of victims of such crimes rose from 432 in 2018-19 to 6187 in 2022-23.
Sarah also shed light on the cases of romance-scams that are rapidly climbing after COVID due to excessive dependence of people on social media. This threat is
compounded by the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that has weaponized identity-theft for Technology-facilitated Gender-based Violence (TFGBV). Such crimes often misuse deepfakes for image-based sexual abuse against women for doxxing, public-shaming, threatening, and financial coercion via messaging. Through AI, such cyber-bullying can also be enabled using bots, in which case multiple victims can be targeted automatically at the same time using their registered contact details and passwords on social media, emails, and mobile applications (particularly dating apps). Harnessing digital bots for such activities also makes it difficult to trace the actual person responsible for the crime.
Recognizing the multifarious concerns over such crimes, the Australian Government developed the Online Safety Act 2021 as an instrument of improving online safety through preventing cyber-bullying and extortion on electronic media. This act employs an E-safety Commissioner, who administers, investigates, and disseminates complaints collected as individual cases to various Commonwealth Departments and even the Ministry. The United Nations also holds out a beacon of hope in their latest publication of the report titled ‘Prospects for Children in 2025: Building Resilient Systems for Children’s Futures’. Condemning weaponization of social media for exploitation of children, it urges governments across the world to build legal frameworks so that the perpetrators of such heinous crimes can be brought to justice.
“Artificial Intelligence is indeed a double-edged sword”—Sarah reminded the audience in her closing note. Considering the capacity of such a technology to exceed human abilities, she cautioned the importance of defining the legal boundaries of its use otherwise our freedom of socializing may be strangled. She concluded her presentation by urging members at the Soroptimist International to spread awareness on digital predating and stand resolute for a safer social life promising freedom of expression for our future generations.
The River Nile Learning Centre
In 1970, Yoko Mukai-Campbell was introduced to SI Melbourne, where she shared her experience of volunteering and caring for young girl-students at her school in Nara, Japan. She thanked Christine, who has served for 50 years at SI Melbourne and was present among the audience, and acknowledged her as the ‘key figure’ in inspiring awareness on education for women as part of the SI Club. Yoko is currently a resident of Parkville in Melbourne and an active member of the Soroptimist Club in Nara. She discussed the significant contribution of the River Nile School in North Melbourne in providing asylum and supportive education through trauma-informed teaching for migrants from diverse cultural backgrounds.
“Education is one of the greatest forms of care and empowerment”, exclaimed Yoko while reflecting on the vision of The River Nile Learning Centre (RNLC) when it was established in 2006 to assist an African refugee community. She drew the audience ‘s attention to the vulnerability of women refugees seeking asylum for survival in Victoria and the crucial responsibility taken up by RNLC to help them battle against different environmental challenges. Culture-shock, language-barrier, financial constraints,
sexual predating, abusive relationships, single motherhood, homelessness, alien environment— the adversities are many for young women who had been left stranded in unknown territories by their ill fortunes— RNLC took cognizance of these issues and devised ‘education’ as an armour to shield the girl-refugees from their tribulations and promise them prosperous futures.
In 2017, the RNLC took their mission forward and registered as the River Nile School (RNS), a senior-secondary institution educating young women refugees and asylum seekers. These young women are often too old to be admitted to any school. That together with the fact that they’re on bridging visas, prevents them being enrolled in any commonplace courses. To compound matters, being native to a different country and culture with a different language, many of them struggle communicating in English. This makes them feel even more isolated and hinders them from accessing basic needs in Victoria. Rahel Davies, who is currently the Executive Officer at the RNLC, endured the same challenges when she arrived from Ethiopia to Australia as a 2-year-old child. She has been a part of the RNLC ever since and has dedicated herself to assist the young girl-students in English language literacy and also in developing acumen in digital technologies. She also assists the students in making social connections to build a sense of community. The school fosters the wellbeing of the student community through promoting extracurricular activities like swimming, dance, and art which also provides them with fitness and a healthy lifestyle. RNS also equips students with driving lessons so that they can travel freely. The school cares for the diet of the students by providing for their nourishment through FoodBank to curb hunger and support their daily sustenance.
Despite much effort, some students still struggle in their lifestyle—this is particularly true for single mothers who cannot continue education as usual since they have to take care of their young children. RNS has developed creches with childcare facilities which are staffed by social workers. This has provided great support, allowing young widows and single mothers to leave their children under care while they are at school. The social workers at RNS also provide support to young women students living away from their abusive partners. The school assists them in accessing government links so that they can enroll their children in schools and pay bills and rents. Today, young women from across Melbourne pour into RNS, making it one of the most successful initiatives to assist women in distress to receive an education. Starting from a small organization on meagre funds with a determination to protect the migrant women community, at present, RNS stands as an Independent Specialist Senior VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) School supporting education for women aged 15-21 years, empowering them to become independent, responsible, and confident citizens in the Australian society.
Conclusion of the event
The event came to a closure with a rather fun raffle draw. Raffle tickets helped raise an amount worth over $200 which was dedicated to the fundraising of the River Nile School to support the people there to keep up their good work. w
National University of Singapore Society
The National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) has offered its members a space with the highest standards of exclusivity and convenience since 1954.
As Singapore’s premier graduates’ club, NUSS fosters a rich environment for graduates of recognised universities from all over the world. The three guild houses that are part of NUSS are the perfect setting to expand its members’ business network while also offering first-level food and beverage services and leisure activities.
With dining options that range from cafe to fine dining with menus crafted by awardwinning chefs , NUSS has a dish to delight every palate.
The Society also offers a variety of cultural, recreational, and sports related activities,
whether it is in their regular meeting clubs or once in a lifetime travel experiences. Members can entertain themselves by participating in a game of badminton, golf, soccer, billiards, mahjong and many others, join choir practice; or take a dancesport class or business connect group.
Dining
The Society’s three different guild houses: Kent Ridge, Suntec City and Mandalay, offer a range of menu options to fit any occasion.
The Kent Ridge guild house is home to The Scholar Chinese Restaurant, two bars and a popular karaoke space exclusive for members. Suntec City is the premier club in the Singaporean city centre, and the bar and bistro there offer a selection of perfectly crafted Western and Asian cuisines. Lastly, Mandalay guild’s offer comes from Dim Sum restaurant and its ample Asian cuisine variety.
Events
The events calendar at NUSS offers a vast array of activities. From group travel to China, Romania, South America and other parts of the globe, to social and line dance classes, and games of tennis and badminton. Members can also enjoy lifelong learning courses such as qipao sewing, guitar or ukulele and reading, analysing and understanding financial statements.
Visit
If you’re planning on visiting Singapore and want to enjoy the many advantages NUSS has to offer, please talk to our front desk so we can send you a letter of introduction.
THE GRADUATE UNION
of The University of Melbourne Inc.
220 Leicester Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
Telephone: +61 (0)3 9347 3428
Australian Business Number: 55 610 664 963
Incorporated Association Registration Number: A0023234B