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Prominent alumni

The University of Sydney takes great pride in all of the 245,000 students who have graduated since 1850. Many of these alumni have become leaders in their fields, both nationally and on the world stage, in government, business, industry, the arts and sporting arena.

University of Sydney alumni include:

National and community leaders

  • Former Australian prime ministers Sir Edmund Barton (MA 1870), Sir William McMahon LLB 1933, BEc 1949), Gough Whitlam AC QC (BA 1938, LLB 1946, D Litt 1981) and John Howard (LLB 1961)
  • Current New South Wales Governor, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO (MBBS 1956, MD 2002)
  • Former Australian ambassador to the United Nations, John Dauth LVO (BA 1969, Hon Fellow 1996)
  • Former governor-general, Sir William Deane AC KBE (BA 1951, LLB 1954, LLD 1990)
  • Australian Ambassador to the United States of America, Dennis Richardson AO (BA 1969)
  • Former president of the World Bank, Dr James Wolfensohn AO KBE (BA 1954, LLB 1957, DScEc 1997)
  • Aboriginal leaders Dr Charles Perkins AO (BA 1966, LLD 2000) and Noel Pearson (BA 1987, LLB 1993)
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In business and law

  • Former Chief Judge, Family Court of Australia, The Hon Elizabeth Evatt AC (LLB '55, LLD '85)
  • Managing Director, Sony Pictures Television, John Ford (BA '79, LLB '81)
  • Australia's Chief Justice, Murray Gleeson (BA '59, LLB '62, LLD '99)
    Chief Executive Officer, Insurance Australia Group, Michael Hawker (B Sc '83)
  • Australian High Court Judge, The Hon Justice Michael Kirby AC CMG (BA '59, LLB '62, B Ec '66, LLM '67, LLD '96)
  • Chief Executive Officer, Macquarie Bank, Allan Moss AO (BA '71, LLB '74)
  • NSW Chief Justice, The Hon Justice James Spigelman AC (BA '67, LLB '71, LLD '04)
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In academia and science

  • Inventor of the Cochlear ear implant, Graeme Clark AM (MB 1958, MS 1969, PhD Med 1970, MD 1989)
  • Vice-Chancellor of the University of New South Wales, Frederick Hilmer AO (LLB 1966)
  • Academic, author and company director, Professor Jill Ker Conway (BA 1958)
  • Australia's Chief Scientist, Dr William Peacock AC (B Sc 1958, PhD Sc 1963, D Agr 2002)
  • Geologist and antarctic explorer, Sir Douglas Mawson (BE 1902, BSc 1905, DSc 1952)
  • Former chief scientific advisor to the UK government, now President of the Royal Society, Professor Lord Robert May OM AC Kt PRS (BSc 1957, PhD Sc 1960, DSc 1995)
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In humanities and the arts

  • Film directors Jane Campion (DipVisArts 1979, BVisArts 1984) and Bruce Beresford (BA 1964)
  • Opera divas Dame Joan Sutherland OM AC DBE (DMus 1984) and Yvonne Kenny AM (BSc 1972, D Mus 1999)
  • Writers Kate Grenville (BA 1973), Dr Les Murray AO (BA 1970, DLitt 2001), Professor Germaine Greer (MA 1963) and Clive James AM (BA 1961, DLitt 1999)
  • 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction, Geraldine Brooks (BA 1979)
    musician, Tim Freedman (BA 1990)
  • Composer and pianist, Roger Woodward AC OM OBE (D Mus 1996)
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