Themed around Australia’s Tasmanian Wilderness and unique natural environment, Penfolds Macquarie Wild Tasmania Gala promises to be a fantastic opportunity to fully immerse yourself in Australia’s natural environment and its world class cuisine.

Guests will enjoy Penfolds premium wines with their meal to be prepared by internationally-acclaimed Australian Aboriginal chef Mark Olive. Mark Olive, also known as the “black olive”, will use the vibrant colours and earthy tastes of traditional Australian cuisine and guests will see how Mark has sourced flavours like lemon myrtle, pepper leaf, bush tomatoes and bunya nuts in the Australian outback and then blended those bush ingredients using traditional cooking techniques to create a to create a truly unique dining experience.

Tim Flannery

A keynote address will be delivered by eminent Australian environmentalist, Tim Flannery.

Tim Flannery is on a mission. He believes that human activity is drastically altering the earth's climate, and that before too long these changes will have a devastating effect on life on this planet. He wants to mobilize the social and political will to address this problem before it's too late.

That's why Tim Flannery wrote The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth. In this important and provocative book, which debuted on The New York Times bestseller list, Flannery tells the fascinating story of climate change over millions of years to help us understand the predicament we face today. In authoritative yet accessible language, Flannery carefully lays out the science, demonstrating the substantial, human-induced climate change and the likely ecological effects to the planet if this process continues. He then proposes a game plan to halt, and ultimately reverse, this damaging trend. The Weather Makers has sold over a million copies worldwide, and is proving to be one of the most pivotal and influential texts in our understanding of global warming.

Tim Flannery is the former director of the South Australian Museum, and is currently a professor at Sydney's Macquarie University. He spent a year as professor of Australian studies at Harvard, where he taught in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology. In 2002, he became the first environmentalist to deliver The Australia Day address to the nation. In 2005 he was honored as Australian Humanist of the Year and, in 2007, he was named Australian of the Year.

A regular contributor to The New York Review of Books and The Times Literary Supplement, Flannery also contributes to ABC Radio, NPR and the BBC. He has also written and hosted several Documentary Channel specials, including The Future, and Islands in the Sky.