Our Patrons

Janet Holmes à Court AC 

Janet Holmes à Court AC, (born Janet Lee Ranford on 29 November 1943 in Perth, Western Australia is Chairman of the John Holland Group, one of Australia's leading construction and engineering companies; the West Australian Symphony Orchestra; the Australian Children’s Television Foundation and the Urban Design Centre of WA. She is a Board Director of Vision 2020 Australia, Board Member of the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund, the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM), the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO), the Australian Major Performing Arts Group (AMPAG) and Chamber of Arts and Culture WA. She is a science graduate from the University of Western Australia  and taught science for a number of years before working more closely with family business matters. She has won numerous awards recognising her contribution to the community and to business, including a Companion of the Order of Australia.

Peter FitzSimons AM

Former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons is a well respected columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and Sun-Herald, television presenter on Fox Sports, co-hosted radio shows with Mike Carlton and Doug Mulray, interviewed famous people around the globe from George Bush to Diego Maradona and written eighteen best-selling books.

He is the biographer not only of World Cup winning Wallaby captains, Nick Farr-Jones and John Eales, but also former Opposition Leader Kim Beazley, war heroine Nancy Wake and magazine Queen, Nene King. In 2001 he was Australia’s biggest selling non-fiction author, and duplicated that feat in 2004, with his book on Kokoda. He is married to Today Show co-host Lisa Wilkinson and they have three children.
 
Peter FitzSimons has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia ''for service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation, disability care, social welfare and sporting organisations".