Key Event Details
The 2025 J C Bannon Oration will be given by the Centenary historians, Associate Professor Paul Sendziuk and Dr Carolyn Collins.
They will speak on "St Mark’s and law, politics, and history".
The J C Bannon Oration is given in memory of the Hon Dr John Bannon AO, Premier of South Australia from 1982 to 1992, and Master of St Mark’s College from 2000 to 2007.
The Oration will be held at St Mark’s College, and may also be viewed online.
We expect to hold the J C Bannon Oration in late November 2025.
All are welcome. There will be no charge for this event.
RSVP details to follow on this page. Please contact the College on 08 8334 5600 with any questions.
Time & Date
Late November 2025
Where
St Mark’s College
and online
RSVP
To be confirmed
Register
Registration details to follow
2024 Oration
Prof Anne Pender
The 2024 J C Bannon Oration was given by Professor Anne Pender. She spoke on ‘The Costs of Comedy and the Future of the Arts in Australia.’ A video of Professor Pender's Oration can be found below or on the St Mark's YouTube channel, and a written copy of her Oration can be found here.
About Professor Anne Pender
Anne Pender holds the Kidman Chair in Australian Studies and is Director of the J M Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice at the University of Adelaide. Anne was National Library of Australia Fellow, 2021, Fulbright Senior Fellow at Harvard University in 2018, and is a former Australian Research Council Future Fellow 2012-2016. A Menzies Scholar to Harvard and graduate of the Australian National University, the University of New South Wales and Harvard University, Anne was Visiting Distinguished Professor in Australian Studies at the University of Copenhagen in 2011-2012 and taught Australian Literature at King’s College London in 2002-2003. Anne’s books include Seven Big Australians: Adventures with Comic Actors (2019), Players: Australian Actors on Stage, Television and Film (2016), From a Distant Shore: Australian Writers in Britain 1820-2012 (2013), One Man Show: The Stages of Barry Humphries (2010), Nick Enright: An Actor’s Playwright (2008) and Christina Stead: Satirist (2002).
The Oration
John Bannon
The Hon Dr John Charles Bannon AO, former Premier of South Australia, was the Master of St Mark’s College from 2000 to 2007.
John Bannon was a resident student at St Mark’s College in 1962-63, and was the second-longest serving Premier of South Australia (1982-92).
The enduring importance of education is a key theme that was carried throughout Dr Bannon’s life: through his university years, political career, teaching roles, and as an academic and historian.
The arts and sports always played an important part in Dr Bannon’s life and this passion is reflected in his other activities over the years, both in and out of politics.
He held numerous board, council and committee positions and was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2007.
With deep admiration for John Bannon and gratitude for his legacy, St Mark’s College is holding an annual J C Bannon Oration, open to the public and presented by distinguished individuals who are leaders in their fields. We are grateful to the Bannon family for seed funding for this oration.
The portrait of Dr John Bannon AO above, painted by Robert Hannaford AM, hangs in the St Mark’s College dining hall.
