The first Australian to receive a degree from Harvard was a Victorian. Constant Broyer graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1879 and then returned to Melbourne to practice. Over the next hundred years the number of Victorian Harvard alumni grew, including public figures such as Sir Roderick Carnegie, Professor Maureen Brunt and Professor Robert Baxt.
In 1972, the Harvard Club of Victoria was established. Its first incarnation was as the Harvard Business School Club of Melbourne. As the Club welcomed alumni of other schools, it morphed into the Harvard Club of Melbourne, then into the Harvard Club of Australia-Victoria and finally, in 2010, into the Harvard Club of Victoria. Its membership now includes graduates from all of Harvard’s schools.
The throughout its history, the club’s activities have been focussed on supporting and extending the Harvard community in Victoria and on community service. An example is the club’s Non Profit Fellowship, established in 2001 and funded by club members and club events. The fellowship has sent 24 CEO’s from Victoria’s disabilities sector to Harvard Business School to attend the Strategic Perspectives in Non Profit Management course. The graduates of this course have played key roles in the reform of the disability sector in Victoria and in the creation of the National Disability Insurance Scheme.