Commonwealth Day Multi-Faith Celebration
Date: Monday 9 March at 11:00 am (Please arrive by 10:45 am)
Where: Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.
Theme: “Unlocking Opportunities Together for a Prosperous Commonwealth”
Royal Commonwealth Society (ACT)
Annual General Meeting
Thursday 5 March at 6pm
Verco Room, Wesley Church, 20-22 National Circuit, Forrest ACT 2603
Photo: The Governor General as RCS (ACT) Patron with the Canberra African Choir
The competition structure has been redesigned to strengthen regional representation. The competition will be open to all Commonwealth nationals or residents under 18, with one winner selected from each of the five regions of the Commonwealth. From these regional winners, one overall winner will be chosen, ensuring excellence in writing is recognised across all regions.
RCS Council meeting (Council Members and invited participants)
Monday 9 February at 530pm
Photo: The Indus River, Leh-Ladakh, India (dplummer 2025)
‘Photos Around the Commonwealth’
There will be a gathering led by the Canberra Multi Faith Forum (Amardeep Singh) on Wednesday 17 December at 10am at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture to remember the victims of the terrorist attack on the Jewish community on Bondi Beach while celebrating Hannukah.
Open to RCS members & their gests
A beautiful day out at the historic Forestry Oval, Yarralumla, ACT
With special thanks to the Sri Lankan High Commission, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Royal Commonwealth Society
Lunch and refreshments available for purchase
All proceeds to charity: LBW Trust
RCS Council Members and Guests
Photo: Cyclone Season, Mission Beach, north Queensland, Australia
Spring Lunch
Sunday 2 November
Royal Canberra Golf Club,
Special Guest Speaker: Hunter Culbong,
2025 winner of the RCS Phyillis Montgomerie Research Award
Government House Open Day on Saturday 1 November from 10am – 2pm
Sunday 24 August 2025
12 noon for 12:30 start
Members and guests.
New members welcome. To apply click here.
Royal Commonwealth Society of the ACT
BSB No 032-778
Account number: 149355
Smart Casual
Mr Kanti Jinna
Tel: 0421 117 430 or kantijinna@gmail.com
Bristol Clubhouse
16 Georgina Cres
Kaleen ACT 2617
Councillors and invited guests
Where: Commonwealth Club, 25 Forster Crescent, Yarralumla, ACT
When: Thursday 19 June 2025, 7pm for 7:30pm
Cost: $130 (2 Courses , pre-dinner drinks, wine)
Dress: Black tie, decorations, miniatures
Members and Guests
New Members and Guests Always Welcome
Further inquiries: CLICK HERE
To download invitation and payment details: CLICK HERE
RCS ACT Council Meeting (Council Members and Guests)
Tuesday 3 June 530pm
For more CLICK HERE or go to https://www.reconciliation.org.au
You’re Invited | UNAA ACT Event
🗓 22 May 2025
🕕 6:30pm – 7:30pm
📍 Quaker Meeting House, 17 Bent Street, Turner ACT
💰 $15 – Members | $20 – Non-Members | $10 – Concession & Students I $10 OnlineJoin us for an evening of conversation and connection as we explore timely global issues and Australia’s role in advancing peace, security, and human rights.
There is significant global change taking place and the United Nations mandate and relevance is under scrutiny. The shifts in power arising from elections in many countries have resulted in complexity and conflict. There are growing major economic and social challenges taking place which are having profound implications for the rule of order, human rights and the UN principles of equity, peace and security. UN Reform has been elevated to a greater level of priority, in part due to the changes in enforced budget reductions and foreign aid and growing debt levels.
Expert panellists joining us on the evening include
Brian Gleeson
President, United Nations Association of Australia, ACT DivisionDr. Donnell Davis
National President, United Nations Association of Australia, National OfficeMatthew Neuhaus
Honorary Professor (International Law), ANU College of Law, former Ambassador to the Netherlands and Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.
The Politics of Police Diplomacy: The Australian Experience
By Dr Martin Hess
BOOK LAUNCH: Memorial Bookshop at the Australian War Memorial on Tuesday 20MAY25 at 1730hrs
To ensure inclusion on the door list for the book launch please RSVP to marhess@bigpond.com by Wednesday 30 April 2025.
This book offers a comprehensive overview of the various types of international engagement involving the Australian Federal Police and the operational theatres where they have been deployed over a 60-year period. Notable examples include the 2002 Bali bombings, the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014, and Australia's police peacekeeping and capacity-development roles in Timor Leste, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and the South West Pacific. Such operations and missions require high levels of international cooperation and depend heavily on extensive on-the-ground diplomacy. The book provides a thorough examination of these contributions, highlighting a form of Australian international engagement that has received significantly less attention than it warrants.
William Maley AM, Emeritus Professor of Diplomacy, The Australian National University
Canberra Africa Festival
10 MARCH 2025
11:00 AM, THE CHAPEL, 15 BLACKALL ST, BARTON
www.acc-c.org.au
The Commonwealth Day Celebration Committee is an informal group of representatives of the Royal Commonwealth Society (ACT), the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture and leaders of various religious denominations.
Commonwealth Day is celebrated annually on the second Monday of March throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.
The main activity of the Committee is the conduct of an annual multi-faith celebration. Each year there is theme selected by the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. The celebration is based upon a parallel event held in Westminter Catherdral (London) which is attended by the King who delivers a message focused on the theme.
In Canberra the Celebration is held at the chapel of the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture in Barton, ACT and involves leaders from all of the major religions as well as cultural performances representing various Commonwealth countries.
Faiths represented include Bahai, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh. Cultural performances involve participants from various countries representing the broad diversity of the Commonwealth. Commonwealth High Commissioners, Federal and local ACT politicians and other dignitaries as well as the public are invited to attend. The King’s Commonwealth Day message is read.
The RCS Annual General Meeting will be held on
Wednesday 12 February at 6pm 2025 at the
Verco Room, Wesley Uniting Church, 20 National Circuit, Forrest, ACT
Please also note that annual membership fees are due
$30 per individual or $40 for couples.
Youth membership is still $5.
Payment can be made by bank transfer into the RCS ACT Westpac account 032 778149355 or by cheque to The Treasurer, RCS ACT, PO Box 3626, Manuka ACT 2603.
Full membership entitles you to vote at the AGM.
RCS Council Meeting - RCS Council Members.
Annual membership dues are now payable
$30 per individual or $40 for couples.
Youth membership is still $5.
Payment can be made by bank transfer into the RCS ACT Westpac account 032 778149355 or by cheque to The Treasurer, RCS ACT, PO Box 3626, Manuka ACT 2603.
Full membership entitles you to vote at the AGM
Contact us at contact@rcsact.org for more information.
The Samoan CHOGM: Have Small States Revitalised the Commonwealth?
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) held in Samoa from 21-26 October 2024, was a remarkable achievement for a small island Pacific state. Samoa hosted around 4000 delegates, heads of government, officials and civil society representatives, from 56 member nations, as well as King Charles III as Head of the Commonwealth. Outcomes included an Oceans Declaration, the adoption of Principles on Freedom of Expression, the election of a new Secretary General (Hon Shirley Botchwey Foreign Minister of Ghana) and endorsement by Commonwealth countries for Australia and the Pacific to host the UN climate summit, COP 31, in 2026. The leading role of small developing island states and civil society have given impetus to a more prominent role for the Commonwealth in international affairs in a divided world. The next CHOGM, to be held in Antigua and Barbuda - another small island developing state - in 2026, will build on the themes from Samoa.
Join us as we hear from an expert panel consisting of
The Samoan High Commissioner, Excellency Hinauri Petauna;
Kate Wallace, Australia's Senior Official at CHOGM & DFAT Assistant Secretary;
Hon Professor Matthew Neuhaus, former senior Commonwealth Secretariat official and a civil society representative in Samoa.
This is a joint meeting with the ACT Branch of the Royal Commonwealth Society.
Drinks and nibbles will be served from 5:30pm!
If you have any accessibility requirements or need to contact the ACT Branch, please email act.branch@internationalaffairs.org.au or call us on 0403 932 571.
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Samoa
Guest Speaker: Cameron Jones
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