News Archive

Prime Ministers, Presidents, the Governor-General and the Duke of Edinburgh headed the list of hundreds of CHOGM visitors to the Crawley campus. It started with the Commonwealth Business Council dinner in Winthrop Hall on Monday night for 250 business, government and community leaders.

The next day the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, announced the new International Mining for Development Centre in the Vice-Chancellery's Prescott Room. The announcement followed a tour of the Edward de Courcy Clarke Science Museum, where she met international students from the School of Earth and Environment.

That night the President of Sri Lanka hosted a dinner in Winthrop Hall. On Wednesday afternoon the Governor-General, Quentin Bryce received the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago in the Prescott Room. On Wednesday evening, she hosted a dinner for the President of Nigeria at St George's College. On the same night, the President of Tanzania visited the University Club.

Prince Philip visited the School of Physics on Thursday morning and, that evening, the President of the Maldives hosted a function at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

While the rest of the campus was quiet on the Friday holiday, the university's protocol officer, Kim Brown, was busy liaising with the CHOGM taskforce, preparing for the Prime Minister's Dinner in Winthrop Hall on Saturday night.

"Although we had more people at Monday night's dinner, the dinner on Saturday night was the big one," said Kim, who worked all of the long weekend.

Winthrop Hall and the walkway from the Visitors Centre were transformed into a luxury resort-style haven, which could be described as Morocco meets Bali in Broome. Luxury pavilions with floating drapery, thick carpets, big cream couches and sparkling chandeliers created a sumptuous but relaxed atmosphere for the final event for 100 heads of state.

Kim had liaised for months with members of the CHOGM taskforce, planning every detail of the historic meeting. "I met with them weekly from about July as they looked at venues, made plans and asked for my advice on local suppliers and services," she said.

The taskforce included experts in security, event management, protocol, logistics, and transport.

"Although there were a lot of last minute changes during the week, it all went off smoothly. It was a fabulous opportunity to showcase UWA to the world," she said.