Newsletter March 2020

We are seeking expressions of interest from members who wish to join ANiB’s Board!

Our Annual General Meeting will be held Aloft Hotel (Brussels) on the 1st April, 7pm.

We are actively recruiting for a secretary and treasurer and welcome expressions of interest for general board roles. If you are interested in being part of the board please email us at info@australiannetwork.be to tell us about yourself and how you would like to be involved. Our core team is a fun and dynamic group who are looking forward to reinvigorating the Australian business and social community in Belgium. A separate email with the meeting agenda will follow.

The Australian community in Belgium raised more than €7,500 (AU$12,000) for WIRES & the Australian Red Cross!

Thank you to all for making this day such a huge success.

The traditional ANiB Australia Day BBQ transformed into a fundraising extravaganza this year with the Australian community and friends in Belgium standing together for bushfire relief. The charity auction had a range of wonderful donations from businesses around Belgium, including Crush Wine, the Aboriginal Signature Gallery, Mig’s Wine World, the Australian Embassy in Belgium, Sheraton Airport Hotel, ING, Geretti Diamonds, Dianne Weller, Crocus Photography, Creatif Image, Cuizzine, 4 Audio, Mindfulness Courses, Kavak, Candy Dee, Life Coaching, Kine D’Haene, Osteo Joanny, Dan Dare, Tree of Life Yoga, We Yoga Brussels, Kasteel Sint Michiels, ‘T Brouwershuis, Scotty’s NZ Pies and Viridis Vallis Brewery.

We enjoyed entertainment from performers Andrew Glover, Dianne Weller, Mariano Ferrandez, Farrah Delrue and Chloe Catara with support from artists Fred Delrue (set design) and Michael Janssens (sound and lighting). Our wonderful children’s choir beautifully sang the Australian National Anthem! It was an incredible day full of community spirit that raised $12,000 AUD for a cause that is close to us all. A huge thank you to the ANiB Board and all Volunteers for the hard work that went into making the day a success!

A Few Words from the Embassy

The year got off to a busy start for the Embassy, as Australia experienced its worst bushfire season on record. We are grateful for the many expressions of solidarity and support we received from the local and expatriate community. Our special thanks to ANiB for organising the Australia Day barbecue fundraiser, which raised A$12,000 for bushfire relief – a fantastic effort! Going forward, the best way to support bushfire recovery is by making a donation to one of the organisations providing assistance to affected communities – you can find details on our homepage – and by continuing to visit, invest in and do business with Australia. Spread the word: Australia is open for business!

Speaking of business, the sixth round of Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations was held in Canberra from 10 to 14 February. Negotiators made good progress across all chapters of the FTA, and the EU team even brought some much-needed rain with them. The next round will be held in Brussels in May. We are delighted Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid will lead an economic mission to Australia in October: a timely opportunity for Belgian business to discover what Australia has to offer.

As usual, the Embassy will support a full program of ANZAC Day commemorative events in West Flanders this 25 April. You can find the program here. A public bus will depart Brussels for Tyne Cot cemetery at 7am. Book your seat through this link.

We are also monitoring closely the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak and implications for overseas travel for Australians. For the latest Australian Government advice, please visit https://www.smartraveller.gov.au/.

Other News / Upcoming Events

Do you know of an event that would be of interest to the Australian (or NZ, or Oceania) community in Belgium? Let us know so we can spread the word to our network!

Australian Jazz comes to Leuven

Congratulations to Australian Jazz Trio Milton Man Gogh who have been announced as finalists in the B-Jazz International Contest! They will be playing at this year’s Leuven Jazz Festival so head along & support Aussie music in Belgium!

Openbaar Entrepot voor de Kunsten (OPEK) Leuven | 20 & 21 March 2020

Belgium Ashes Tournament

The Ashes is coming to Belgium this summer! The Australian and British communities are going head-to-head in a friendly cricket tournament. Ambassador Justin Brown will be opening the batting for the Australian team. Save the date, it’s going to be a brilliant family-friendly day with Aussie BBQ and an English style garden fete with tea, cakes and pimms!

Royal Brussels Cricket Club, Lasne |
Sunday 21 June 2020

CIRCA! Australian Contemporary Circus

CIRCA are back in Belgium performing ‘Humans‘; the journey of what it means to be human and how our bodies, connections and aspirations form part of who we are. This performance is not to be missed.

Warande Turnhout | 25 March 2020

Wolulibis Brussels | 31 March – 2 April 2020

Estrangin Aboriginal Signature Gallery

The exposition “Nganampa ngura-nguru nyurampa ngurakutu (From our place to your place)” brings art from the Ernabella community in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands all the way to Brussels. The exhibition is on at the Estrangin Signature Gallery in Koekelberg until the 28th March 2020. Open from Wednesday to Saturday, 2:30 pm to 7 pm.

101 rue Jules Besme, 1081 Bruxelles |
now until 28 March 2020

Belgium Raises Money for Australia

Thank you to the Belgian businesses and individuals who raised money for Australian Bushfire relief!

There were so many great events and initiatives around Belgium to raise money for Australia. We wanted to share some to acknowledge the amazing work they have done to help out!

Thea McKenna & Amelia Newel

We are so inspired by Thea and Amelia who used their own initiative to raise money for Australian bushfire relief at the International School Brussels (IBS). Through their hard work and determination they raised €250 to support Australian wildlife. Thank you!!

Sausage sizzle
Brussels restaurants Saint Kilda & 203 held an epic fundraiser at the Nanobrasserie de l’ermitage. The chefs did their training in Melbourne. If you’re looking for some Aussie-inspired cuisine book a table and check them out!

Yoga fundraisers

A huge thanks to We Yoga Brussels, Radiant Light Yoga, Tree of Life Yoga, The Yoga Room, Hot Yoga Gent and Sound On Yoga for their contributions to bushfire fundraising and awareness raising! Wonderful to see the yogis of Belgium making a difference. Namaste!

Wine evenings
Our favourite Aussie Wine shops in Brussels Mig’s World Wines and Crush Wine held charity wine tasting evenings to raise money for bushfire relief.

ANiB Business Showcase

Crush Wine : Australian & NZ Wines in Brussels

We cannot rate Crush Wine highly enough! Max, the owner, has been a long-term supporter of the ANiB. He has always been there at our events to provide drinks and share his passion for Australian & NZ wines. For the Australia Day event alone contributions included:

A sponsored 3 course food & wine evening for ANiB’s charity auction.
Max worked all day at the bar to make sure everyone was well watered during the fundraising event
Crush provided all wines for the day at cost price and supplied free mulled wine for the event.
A 10% discount on all wines at Crush for attendees (if you’ve forgotten the discount code please ask us!).
Fundraiser wine evenings at Crush contributed approximately €1000 to the ANiB online fundraiser! Money also went to the Adelaide Hills wine region recovery efforts.

We encourage you all to head down to the shop and say G’day. Why not pick up a few delicious bottles of Aussie & NZ wine while you’re there!

Do you have other suggestions for our newsletter? Please let us know. We are always looking for ways to improve our network and strengthen the Australian community here in Belgium.

Bush Fire Relief Fund-raiser

Feb 10, 2020

We are extremely delighted to communicate our current fundraising efforts. To date we, as a community, have raised a massive €7258.49 (over 10,000 AUD!!) across all our fundraising platforms including;the Australia Day BBQ, Facebook fundraiser, the Go Fund Me campaign...

Australia Day BBQ 2020

Jan 19, 2020

Our yearly Australia Day BBQ held this year on Sunday 26th January was organised as a fundraising event for the bush fires victims. Check out the great prizes below for the auction ! The Board and members of the Australian Network in Belgium had been deeply moved by...

Xmas 2019 Dinner

Oct 27, 2019

The Board of the Australian Network in Belgium takes great pleasure to invite you, your partner and friends to our Christmas dinner in the presence of the Australian Ambassador Mr. Justin Brown PSM. When: Thursday 28th November 2019. From 19:00 sharp RSVP latest date:...