Sir Ian Potter was one of Australia's most visionary and internationally minded business leaders in the decades after the Second World War. He played a leading part in financing the growth of the manufacturing industry in the 1940s and 1950s, and then the mining industry in the 1960s. He was a confidant and advisor to state and federal governments of all political persuasions. He was also a philanthropist with a keen interest in supporting the development of Australian cultural life.

The Potter family originally came from Dumfriesshire in south-west Scotland. Ian Potter's parents met in Sydney, where Ian was born in 1902. The family moved back to Britain but later returned to Australia in 1910. Sir Ian worked after leaving school and put himself through university, graduating top of his year in economics. In 1929 he moved to Melbourne to work with the stockbroking firm of Edward Dyason & Co.

He spent two years as a private secretary and economics adviser to Richard Casey, Assistant Treasurer in the Lyons government. In this role, he acquired an inside knowledge of the workings of government and a network of friends at the highest levels of politics and the bureaucracy.

In 1935 Sir Ian Potter set up his own stockbroking firm, Ian Potter & Co, which soon became one of the two leading firms on the Melbourne Stock Exchange. The firm underwrote capital raisings for hundreds of firms ranging from established companies to small family businesses. Sir Ian devised many new sources of finance for Australian businesses and was the first Australian financier to marshal the funds of the large life insurance offices for investment in equities. Through Ian Potter & Co and his pioneering merchant bank, the Australian United Corporation, Ian Potter raised about 40% of all new corporate capital in Australia in the 1950s and 1960s.

His greatest interest was in major development projects of national importance, especially the oil refining and petrochemical industries and the major mining projects (with Western Mining, BHP, Nabalco and Comalco) that transformed Australia's economy in the 1960s.

Sir Ian Potter was an experienced Director of many major companies and was an Australian representative at meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He was made a Knight Commander of the Swedish Order of the Polar Star in 1983. Ian Potter was active in business until well into his eighties. His extraordinary business career enabled him to establish the Ian Potter Foundation and the Ian Potter Cultural Trust to use some of his wealth to benefit the Australian community.

The Ian Potter Cultural Trust built on Sir Ian's lifelong deep interest in the arts. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Australian Elizabethan Trust, which then created the Australian Ballet and the Australian Opera and gave support to many other artistic companies. Sir Ian was a Board Member of the Australian Opera, the Australian Gallery Foundation and a member of the National Gallery of Victoria Building Committee. He also supported the creation of the Melbourne Theatre Company as Australia's first independent and professional theatre company.

His desire to advance knowledge in many spheres extended to science and medical research and he worked with Ken and Baillieu Myer to found the Howard Florey Institute. He was an outstanding supporter of the Academy of Science and was recognised in 

1978 with a fellowship of the Academy, a rare honour for a non-scientist. He was a member of the Council of the University of Melbourne.

Sir Ian Potter was knighted in 1962 for public services in the field of finance and was presented with an honorary degree of Doctor
of Laws from the University of Melbourne.

He died on 24 October 1994, aged 92. He was survived by his wife, Lady Potter AC, two daughters and two grandchildren.

Sir Ian Potter was a man of energy and vision who contributed hugely to the advancement of Australia in business, the arts, science and medicine. The Ian Potter Foundation and The Ian Potter Cultural Trust are ongoing expressions of this energy and vision.

The Ian Potter Foundation was the first public charitable fund created under an amendment to the Income Tax Assessment Act in 1964. This amendment meant that the Foundation was eligible to receive tax deductible donations.

The original Governors of the Foundation were Sir Ian Potter (Chairman), Sir Roger Darvall, Mr Roy J. McArthur, Professor Sydney Sunderland, and Sir Ian Wark. While Governors have changed over time, the range of interests represented by the original Board (finance, law, the arts, medicine and science) has been retained.

When first established, the Foundation was run from Sir Ian Potter's personal office at Ian Potter & Co., located at Embank House at 325 Collins Street, Melbourne. When Sir Ian retired from the firm in 1967, his personal office was relocated to 460 Bourke Street.

Miss Patricia Feilman, who was the Executive Secretary of the Foundation from its establishment until her retirement in December 2000, was the sole staff member of the Foundation until 1991, assisted by Sir Ian's personal secretaries.

From Bourke Street, the Foundation's office moved to 1 Collins Street, then to the office of the Chairman, Mr Charles Goode, at 101 Collins Street, and finally to its current address at 111 Collins Street in May 1996.

Sir Ian's influence on the Foundation's finances was considerable. The continuing high level of investment in equities is a direct consequence of his philosophy. In this, the Foundation differed from other Trusts and Foundations, which had historically invested in fixed interest securities.

His original gift to the Foundation was in fact one million pounds of shares in Australian United Corporation (AUC) and Australian United Investment (AUI). The latter is still held by the Foundation today.

When Sir Ian died in October 1994, he bequeathed to the Foundation shares to the value of approximately $50 million, representing well over half of his personal estate. This doubled the Foundation's corpus and made it one of the largest private philanthropic Foundations in Australia.

Sir Ian's personal interests were reflected in the Foundation's early grants. His links with the Wallenberg Family (he was Chairman of several Wallenberg companies in Australia) led to support of the teaching of Swedish at The University of Melbourne. His interest in medical research led to his partnership with the Myer Family in the establishment of the Howard Florey Institute at The University of Melbourne, which has the longest-running relationship with the Foundation of any organisation. Sir Ian's long association with The University of Melbourne resulted in the award of an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 1973.

The Foundation's support of major performing arts organisations - opera, ballet, orchestras and theatre - was stimulated by Sir Ian's directorship of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, the Australian Opera, and the Australian Ballet. The Ian Potter Cultural Trust was established in 1993 to allow the Foundation to continue its support of individuals in the arts, which was begun through the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust.

Adapted from: Ian Potter Financier and Philanthropist, Peter Yule, 2006