EVENTS CALENDAR



27-Aug-08 AWNY - Tour of The Museum of the City of New York
Top 5 Top 5
4-Sep-08 September Reception
Top 5 Top 5
10-Sep-08 AWNY - Coffee Morning
Top 5 Top 5
10-Sep-08 Annual Wine Tasting Dinner 2008
Top 5 Top 5
24-Sep-08 AWNY - Conducted Tour of Central Park
Top 5 Top 5
2-Oct-08 6th Anniversary Corporate Golf Challenge
Top 5 Top 5
2-Oct-08 October Reception
Top 5 Top 5

History of the Association

Following the end of World War II, Sir Keith Murdoch was concerned that the ties developed between Australia and the United States remain strong.  He believed that the establishment of a strong American Australian Association to foster American governmental and business interest in Australia should be established. Together with senior influential American businessmen, particularly Sir Randal Heymanson of Australian Newspapers Services, the Association was formed and incorporated in 1948 as a non profit group.  The inaugural meeting of the Association was held at the University Club, New York on October 7th, 1948.  Guest speakers were the Rt. Hon. Robert Gordon Menzies, leader of the Liberal Party in Australia and Sir Keith Murdoch.
 

From left: Wendell Willkie and Sir Keith Murdoch; Dinner for The Rt. Hon. Dr. H.V. Evatt hosted by the American Australian Association at The Waldorf-Astoria, New York, in 1949

The first major function of the Association was a dinner in honor of Dr. H.V. Evatt, the Australian Foreign Minister of the Australian Labour Party and President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on April 12th, 1949. The Association has grown in prestige and influence since its inception and has hosted every Australian Prime Minister in New York.

In 1996, the Association merged with the Australia Society which had been founded in 1989 by Consul General Chris Hurford, now a Patron of the Association, and Jim Black and others.  Today the Association comprises company members and individual family members that participate in the wide array of corporate, social and cultural, educational and philanthropic programs that the Association offers in New York and in Boston and Los Angeles.
 
The Association is now the largest privately funded organization in the United States serving the United States, Australia and New Zealand.