Members of La Trobe’s founding cohort recently came together to mark the 50th anniversary of their graduation with a reunion dinner in the Union Hall, the very venue where their graduation ceremony took place 50 years earlier.
Alumni were transported back in time through a photo exhibition displaying the transformation of La Trobe from a paddock to the Bundoora campus we know today; the menu, which included popular dishes of the day – a prawn cocktail to start and junket for dessert; and the long-tabled seating which echoed the graduation dinner of 1969 in Glenn College. A signature cocktail, aptly named ‘The Gin and Plenty’, was also created for the special occasion.
It was on the request of alumnus David Morgan AO, Executive Chairman, Europe and Asia-Pacific for J.C. Flowers & Co UK Ltd, that the reunion take place and he generously supported the event with a financial contribution.
Acting as a co-host on the night, along with Professor John Dewar, David said, ‘We could have gone to Melbourne or Monash, most of us, but we chose to go to the new place. And no-one I know from that year has ever said they regretted it’.
The reunion coincided with the launch of David’s biography, An Extraordinary Life.
The room was filled with inspiring and distinguished alumni who have gone on to achieve incredible successes following their time at La Trobe. Tan Sri Ghazzali Abdul Khalid, former Malaysian diplomat, flew all the way from Malaysia with his wife, Faridah to be in attendance. It had been 51 years since Ghazzali had stepped back onto campus. It was fantastic to have Bronwyn Curtis OBE, leading global economist who is based in London, in attendance on the night also.
View the photos from the event.
Are you interested in reconnecting with your former classmates and rekindling the friendships you forged at La Trobe? Contact the Alumni and Advancement Office to find out how we can support your alumni reunion event.
