Welcome to

The Pearcey Foundation

The Pearcey Foundation is a non-profit organisation founded in 1998 in memory of a great Australian ICT pioneer Dr Trevor Pearcey. The Foundation operates broadly across the Australian Information Computing and Telecommunication (ICT) technologies sector, from celebrating achievements through national and state awards, to being involved in debate and public policy on critical national issues such as productivity, the digital economy and national infrastructure.

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Book Now for Pearcey Oration Sept. 3^rd

Pearcey Oration

Most significant technology oration in the nation.

September 3^rd the Honourable Victor Dominello, a globally acknowledged innovator in digital government services will address the technology enabled future for our country.

Don't miss out! Book Now!! Book Now!!

AUSTRALIA 4.0
Summit

The Consumers' Grid

Australia 4.0 is a constructive space for all stakeholders to discuss the challenges, opportunities and solutions for the transition of Australia to a Net Zero energy system.

Session Recordings and Reports:

2023
2024
2025

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October 9^th Full Day
Leighton Hall

Download the Australia 4.0 Communiqué .................. and White Paper

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This is our 27^th year of awards, focussed exclusively on outstanding individuals drawn from across our vast geography.

We present 12 awards each year, and have done so for a long time - recognising over 245 Australian ICT luminaries and entrepreneurs, as highlighted on this website.

Nominate now for Pearcey Awards

State	Award Presentation	In Conjunction with
WA	18 July 2025	WAITTA Incite Awards
VIC	3 Sep 2025	Pearcey Oration
SA	Sep 2025
TAS	Oct 2025
QLD	6 Oct 2025
NSW	12 Oct 2025
ACT	Nov 2025

Heritage Projects - many activities including publication of 1^st authoritative history of Australian computing, national oral history of Australian ICT, and an IEEE milestone for CSIRAC.

Latest News

Jul 18, 2025

2025 WA Award

The 2025 WA Pearcey Entrepreneur Award was presented to Chris Morrissey, founder and CEO of Ever Nimble, at the 34^th WAITTA Incite Awards in Perth on Friday 18^th July 2025.

Grandmother of the Web

Mary Lee Woods enjoyed a short career in Australia at Mount Stromlo. Her son, Tim Berners-Lee, is known as the “Father of the Web”. Mary accepted the name “Grandmother of the Web’. She should be celebrated for her own career in programming.

Author:
Barbara Ainsworth
Curator, Monash Museum of Computing History
Faculty of Information Technology
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

UNSW Quantum Professor presented Hall of Fame

Prof Andrew Dzurak was elevated to the Pearcey Hall of Fame in November 2024. Unfortunately, Andrew was overseas at the time of the presentation and so the Chair of the Pearcey Foundation presented the certificate in person on Friday 14 February at the Diraq lab at UNSW Campus in Kensington, NSW.

Awards

The Pearcey Foundation's annual awards recognise and celebrate outstanding individuals in Australian ICT.

National Awards • State Awards • Nominations

The Heritage Project

The Pearcey Foundation intends to extend the Heritage Project well beyond Phase One (the book) – with the aim to become ‘the’ central repository – hosting a ‘virtual museum’ of Australia’s computing artefacts, documents and oral histories from key players.

The Project

Kind Words

Australians have all too often seen themselves as observers rather than participants in the digital revolution, but that does not do justice to our history. The Pearcey Foundation plays a very important role in highlighting the real contributions Australians have made in the past, and in so doing will help inspire the next generation of Australian digital innovators.

Charlie Day
Former CEO, Innovation and Science Australia

The Pearcey Foundation’s project to document Australia’s achievements in the computer age is a critically important endeavour. A central repository, that documents the central role of our universities and CSIRO and the individual contributions of academics and entrepreneurs, will be an essential resource for future policy makers and for students, research workers and entrepreneurs.

Alex Zelinsky AO
Vice-Chancellor and President, University of Newcastle

Australians are a nation of storytellers. Stories make us laugh and they make us cry, they remind us who we are and they inspire us, and let us celebrate our successes and failures. Australia has much to celebrate when it comes to the digital age, from pioneering work in computer science through to innovative cloud services. The Pearcey Foundation Heritage Project will be an inspiration to future generations of Australians.

Founder
Australian Ocean Lab and Former Engineering Director, Google Australia

Initiatives

The Pearcey Foundation is actively involved in many initiatives to help promote and accelerate the Australian ICT industry.

Thought Leadership • Australia 3.0 • Australia 4.0 • ICT Heritage • Pearcey Institute