Chancellor, Belinda Hutchinson AC, director George Miller and Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Mark Scott AO.
Mr Miller is one of the most influential directors, producers and screenwriters, responsible for movies that have captured cult followings and shaped the film industry in Australia and Hollywood.
After completing high school in the rural Queensland town of Chinchilla, he studied medicine at the University of New South Wales. He made a one-minute short film for a student competition during his final year and took home first prize. After his successful win, he attended a Film Workshop at the University of Melbourne.
In 1972, after completing his residency at Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital, Mr Miller began working as a doctor while spending his free time making experimental shorts, which eventually led to the release of his first feature-length film, Mad Max, in 1979.
Mad Max became a global smash hit and one of Australia’s top-grossing films. Its cult following inspired another three films, with its fourth instalment Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) being heralded as one of the greatest action films of all time by both cinemagoers and critics. Fury Road received 10 nominations at the 88th Academy Awards and took home six. The fourth film in the franchise, Furiosa, is currently in production.