Successful businesswoman and outstanding champion of Australian arts and culture, Mrs Janet Holmes à Court AO will be honoured by Charles Sturt University (CSU) at the graduation ceremony in Orange, Friday 28 March. [see pictures here]

 

An Honorary Doctorate of Business will be presented to Mrs Holmes à Court by the CSU Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Ian Goulter. Mrs Holmes a Court will also deliver the Occasional Speech at the ceremony.

 

More than 6 000 students from across CSU campuses will receive their undergraduate and postgraduate awards during the 2008 graduation season which starts in the central west of NSW this week. Almost 30 CSU students will be honoured from the Orange Campus.

 

Mrs Holmes à Court initially studied organic chemistry in Western Australia before working as a science teacher and marrying Mr Robert Holmes à Court. Mrs Holmes à Court developed interests in the arts, medical research and a number of other charitable organisations.

 

After the death of her husband in 1990, Mrs Holmes à Court took over the running of the family company and expanded it substantially. The Heytesbury Group has extensive business interests in Australia and overseas, with its main enterprises being: Heystesbury Beef, a large cattle breeding and export company; Vasse Felix, a major winery in Western Australia’s  Margaret River; Heytesbury Thoroughbreds, a thoroughbred breeding operation; and the Holmes à Court collection, one of Australia’s leading Indigenous and twentieth century Australian art collections.