Victoria

About Us

Welcome to the Victoria Branch pages of The Order of Australia Association National Website. His profie is beig prepared.The Victoria Branch has in excess of 2,000 members and provides high profile events each year to complement the various programs and events undertaken by the Regional Groups within Victoria.

Victoria Branch

The Branch is administered by a committee chaired by Mr Fred Harrington OAM supported by elected members. The profile of Mr Fred Harrington OAM can be found here
Contact details for the Victoria Branch and Branch committee members can be found here

Regional Groups

Within Victoria there are twelve active Regional Groups. Seven are metropolitan based and the remaining five are located in regional and rural Victoria.

Branch Events and Initiatives

The Victoria Branch undertakes at least three high profile events together with other initiatives each year. These are in addition to events hosted by Regional Groups.

Paul Wheelton AM Inspiring Australians Oration

Paul Wheelton AM Inspiring Australians Oration – formerly Inspiring Australians Oration

One of the key objectives of former Victoria Branch Chair, Paul Wheelton AM was to have a ‘signature event’ created for the Victoria Branch. From this the annual Inspiring Australians Oration was established. The initial Oration in 2017 was delivered by Her Excellency Linda Dessau AC Governor of Victoria. Subsequent Orations have been delivered by Dr Susan Alberti AC (2018), The Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp (2019). Kevin Sheedy AO (2020). Due to COVID lockdown no Oration was delivered in 2021. The Oration resumed with Arron Wood AM (2022), Chris Leptos AO, (2023) Fiona McLeod AO SC (2024) and John Wylie AC (2025)
Information regarding previous orations can be found here.

Scholarship

2017 saw the awarding of the Victoria Branch’s first Scholarship to a promising young Victorian, a Deakin University Waterfront Campus student Jordan Eitler, via the OAA Foundation. Subsequent scholarship recipients, from within Victoria, include, Juanita Kelly-Mundine, Jeremy Doupe and Hannah Gandy. These scholarships have resulted in a tangible benefit for all members of the Association – we can see firsthand the results of our scholarship donation as each scholarship holder is a regular attendee and guest speaker at our events.
May 2023 a scholarship was awarded to Alex Nair at the Order of Australia Association National Conference in Geelong. This scholarship was donated from the Order of Australia Association Victoria Branch from Branch Reserves; some Regional Groups and individual members.

Annual Events

Refer to Events page for Branch and Regional Group Events in 2026.

Communication with members

The Order quarterly national magazine includes National, Branch and Foundation information.

The VIC Branch e-newsletter: The VIC Branch produces four editions of an e-newsletter annually ensuring Victorian members receive Association information and reports on Branch and Regional Group events.