About Us

The Ramsay Centre was established in March 2017 through an extraordinary endowment by the late Mr Paul Ramsay AO.

Mr Ramsay was a leading Australian businessman and philanthropist. He was deeply grateful for the opportunities his country had given him, as one of many nations that had benefited from being part of the long continuum of Western civilisation.

To ensure others – especially young Australians – would appreciate this heritage, Paul resolved to establish a centre dedicated to the study of Western civilisation and asked the Hon John Howard OM AC to become chairman of the Centre.

The Centre is funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, which Paul established in 2006.  

The Centre’s objective, set out in our Constitution, is to advance education by promoting studies and discussion associated with the establishment and development of western civilisation, including through establishing scholarship funds and educational courses in partnership with universities.

To this end we have forged partnerships to offer western civilisation degrees and related scholarship programs with the University of Wollongong (UOW), the University of Queensland (UQ) and Australian Catholic University (ACU). Students commenced studies at UOW and UQ in 2020. ACU welcomed its first cohort of students in 2021.

We have also established one of the most generous postgraduate scholarship programs in Australia. The Ramsay Postgraduate Scholarships are open to Australian graduates from a range of disciplines, for study at prestigious overseas institutions. Our first scholarships were awarded in 2021.

In addition to these tertiary opportunities, the Centre runs a program of Summer Schools, symposia, lectures and other events designed to promote a wider appreciation of western civilisation.