Events

MercyCare Events

MercyCare runs an exciting calendar of community events throughout the year. The best place to find the latest is by following us on social media.

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MercyCare Oration

MercyCare Oration brings exciting speakers from around the world for the Perth community to hear. They are people that are making a difference to make the world a better place. They advocate for their communities and spotlight important issues through sharing their remarkable experiences in life.

To acknowledge the work our founders began here in Perth in 1846, MercyCare hosts the event on or around Mercy Day on September 24. People from all walks of life have joined us to share their lived experiences and encouraged the audience to reflect on their own values and place in the world.

Our Past Orators

Dylan Alcott

2019

A dual sport athlete, Dylan has represented Australia on the international stage in both wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis since the age of 13 and recently won both the quad wheelchair singles final at Wimbledon and the French Open. He created the Dylan Alcott Foundation to help young people who are struggling to come to terms with their disabilities. In recognition of his achievements he was inducted as a member of the Order of Australia.

Loung Ung

2018

Loung Ung is a Cambodian American activist, lecturer and author. She was born in 1970 in Cambodia, where she witnessed the horrors of the Khmer Rouge genocide that killed her parents and two sisters. She fled to the US in 1980 with her brother and his wife, and became a voice for the victims of landmines and human rights abuses. She has written three books about her experiences and co-produced a film with Angelina Jolie based on her first book, First They Killed My Father.

Saroo Brierley

2017

In 1986, aged only 5, Saroo was separated from his family in India when he was lost at a train station waiting for his brother who never returned. Saroo’s tale includes his overseas adoption to an Australian couple, the decades long search that eventually led him home, world fame and his new focus, helping other lost children. He is the author of ‘A long way home’ and real life figure from the movie ‘Lion’.

Dr Munjed Al Muderis

2016

As a young medical registrar Munjed fled Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime and ended up as a refugee in WA’s Curtin detention centre. After his release he built a new life and career as a pioneering surgeon, giving amputees the ability to regain function with bionic limbs, as well as becoming a Red Cross ambassador for refugees. In 2014 he published his memoir ‘Walking Free’.

Gill Hicks

2015

Gill Hicks not only survived the 2005 London bombings but went on to forge a remarkable life that included establishing a foundation working for peace, writing her memoir and raising money and awareness for charities.

Jung Chang

2014

Jung Chang’s story Wild Swans was one of courage, respect and love amidst the hardship of a repressive regime in China’s history.

Li Cunxin

2013

Li Cunxin, recounted his journey of persistence, courage and sacrifice in travelling from abject poverty to becoming a ballet star on the world stage, an asylum seeker and forging a new life and family in Australia.