The Founder's Legacy

The Founder of the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation (VFFF), Sir Vincent Charles Fairfax, was a fourth generation Australian who served his country in war and peace.

A man of Christian principle and integrity, Vincent Fairfax had a sense of purpose and responsibility in the way he lived his life. This was reflected in his work in a number of major Australian companies, his rural interests and his many charitable and voluntary commitments, as well as his family life.

In 1962, Vincent Fairfax became the first Fairfax in Australia to establish a family charitable trust, which would later become the VFFF. In a note to his family on Christmas Eve 1973, explaining his motivation for establishing the trust, Vincent Fairfax wrote:

"This action was taken on the basis that my children are well provided for and hopefully, in their turn, will contribute further assets to this Family pot of gratitude for all the benefits we have received since landing in Australia in 1838".

Now one of the larger family foundations in Australia, the VFFF, like its Founder, has always been low-key and non-publicity seeking.

The imprint of Vincent Fairfax on the VFFF continues to be felt today. He believed that wealth and position brought responsibility and an obligation to serve the community, as epitomised by the oft-quoted verse in Luke 12:48:

"When a man has been given much, much will be expected of him; and the more a man has had entrusted to him, the more he will be required to repay."

A young relative of Vincent Fairfax once described his character and values as follows:

"He was kind, gentle and patient with me. Yet he was determined and unyielding in the high standards he set himself.

He had strong convictions rooted in Christian teaching. Yet he was not judgemental of frailty in others. His approach to life was essentially simple. In his certainties and his transparent integrity, he was incapable of pretension or pomposity.

He enjoyed the material benefits of exceptional wealth without vulgarity, ostentation or materialism. He gave back to society in many ways.

He was that rare human being, an essentially good man who lived every facit of his life according to his beliefs".

Building on the legacy of her late husband, Vincent Fairfax, Lady Nancy Fairfax, a founding Trustee of the Foundation on which she served with dedication for nearly 40 years, bequeathed a large amont of her estate to the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation. Lady Nancy was mindful of the development of the Foundation and its potential for the future.