History

In the late 1980s, Gerry Higgins saw a need for a more business focused group among the Diaspora in Melbourne. It was something that stayed in his mind and so he invited a number of other Irish Australian business people to lunch nearly 30 years ago to gauge the level of interest in forming a Chamber of Commerce. Astutely, Gerry knew that if he was buying lunch, he would get a better turnout and that’s what he did! Gerry Higgins became the Founding President and the Chamber was born, initially not much more than a green telephone in the Higgins Coatings office, but it was a starting point and we the Chamber had something to build from. Many years later, the torch has been passed to other generations. We are active locally, nationally and now internationally, but remain as focused now as the founding fathers were then on providing opportunity through a high quality business group where those with an affinity to Ireland could gather and do business together.