Australian in my difference

Women and migration in Australia since 1945

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Elizabeth Cham

Poland

More information about the Poland-born community in Australia can be found at the DIMIA website.

Elizabeth's contribution to philanthropy and the nonprofit sector cannot be underestimated... She has worked to raise the public profile of philanthropy and its contribution to Australian lives.

Born in a displaced persons camp in Germany on Christmas Day, 1948, Elizabeth Cham was the daughter of Polish prisoners of war. Her parents, Jozef and Aniela, were shipped to Germany following the 1939 invasion of Poland. While working on a German farm, her father was sent to the infamous Buchenwald as punishment for listening to BBC radio. He remained there for five years. Finally, in September 1950, the family were able to migrate to Australia.

Initially dispatched to Bonegilla in Victoria's north-eastern region, the Cham family moved to Ballarat where Jozef was posted at the White Swan Reservoir for two years, as a condition of entry to Australia. Ballarat - particularly the area between Sebastopol and Redan - was already home to a strong Polish community, and families thought little of helping one another to build homes and get by. Like others, the Chams purchased land and lived in a self-made shed until such time as a family home could be completed. There they set up a large garden, growing fresh fruit and vegetables. Jozef later took on work at the Ballarat paper mills.

Elizabeth was educated at Loreto College. At the age of fifteen she moved on to the school's commercial college where she equipped herself with shorthand and typing skills. Before long she had obtained a post as personal assistant to Mitsubishi's Melbourne-based managing director. Her fantasy of working for a high-ranking business personality quickly dissipated as the reality set in - typing letters would be mundane work no matter who they were being typed for. She resigned after six months and took on temping work. The decision was a life-changing one. A temp position at the University of Melbourne's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science encouraged Elizabeth to consider taking on academic studies herself. Her colleagues were supportive, and she enrolled in a political science degree. It would be the first of several.

Elizabeth quickly found work as personal assistant to the Prime Minister's principal private secretary - a remarkable post for a new graduate. She worked for Gough Whitlam until 1977, well after his dismissal. Imbued now with a thorough understanding of the machinations of government, her next post was research assistant to Professor Manning Clark, then producing the fifth volume of his History of Australia. She began studying for a Masters degree in the late 1980s, supporting herself in part with paid work for the Felton Bequest and the Buckland Foundation - prominent benevolent trusts still in operation today. By 1996, she had been offered the position of National Director for Philanthropy Australia (established by the Potter and Myer Foundations in 1975). A poorly resourced secretariat at the time, the organisation has grown at the astonishing rate of 17 per cent per annum and now serves as the national membership body for grant-making foundations and trusts.

Elizabeth's contribution to philanthropy and the nonprofit sector cannot be underestimated. Since her inception as Director, she has worked to raise the public profile of philanthropy and its contribution to Australian lives (in the form of medical research institutes, public galleries, academic scholarships, school facilities, hospitals etc), and to change a persistent cultural attitude which dismisses philanthropy as self-aggrandisement or a tax dodge for the very wealthy. More tangible change she has brought about by way of the tax law, which until the time of her appointment was a disincentive to large-scale giving. By initiating meetings with the Prime Minister, Elizabeth sowed the seeds for the creation of the Prime Minister's Business Community Partnership. Support from this roundtable led to the creation of new laws around the establishment of foundations which should see an estimated extra $1 billion dollars in philanthropy by 2011.

Elizabeth Cham married in 1987. She is the parent of three children and mother of one, and lives in Melbourne. She announced her resignation as National Director of Philanthropy Australia in 2005.

Source of Image: http://www.aracy.org.au/images/Speakers/E%20Cham.jpg

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