Our home

By Bridget Cook
Mr McKeon was named Australian of the Year 2011 at a public event on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday evening.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard congratulated the Victorian social entrepreneur at the ceremony and thanked him for his ongoing contributions to social causes.
Mr McKeon has come a long way from Clow Street in Dandenong to his current role as executive chairman of the Macquarie Bank in Melbourne.
Speaking to the local business community at a Greater Dandenong Chamber of Commerce event in 2007, Mr McKeon said much of his social conscience was nurtured on the streets of Dandenong – “throwing yonnies” into Dandenong Creek and “mixing with all sorts of people from all sorts of places” as a student at the state school in the 1960s.
He proudly showed a 2007 Principal’s Award presented to him at a visit back to the school and told of the emotions that welled when he walked past Dandenong Hospital, his place of birth.
His father Charles and mother Heline were heavily involved in the Dandenong community.
Charles, a pharmacist, was in Rotary, on the hospital board and a member of the chamber of commerce.
“I have absolutely no regrets about growing up and living in Dandenong,” he said at the event.
Mr McKeon is now a leading Australian social entrepreneur and prominent businessman who demonstrates how business and philanthropy go hand in hand.
The 55-year-old, who now lives in Brighton, has enjoyed a successful career as an investment banker and he has equally committed himself to engagement with the community sector in an effort to maximise the impact he can have for people in need.
In 1994 Mr McKeon transitioned into a part-time role as executive chairman of Macquarie Group’s Melbourne office, enabling him to support a range of causes and organisations.
Mr McKeon joined the board of World Vision Australia, is currently Chairman of the CSIRO and Business for Millennium Development.
He recently retired as Founding Chairman of MS Research Australia and Founding President of the Federal Government’s Takeover Panel.
His association with World Vision International continues and he is involved with the Global Poverty Project and Red Dust Role Models, which works with remote Indigenous communities.
Mr McKeon’s achievements also include a World Speed Sailing Record with crewman Tim Daddo.
More than 2,400 nominations were received from the public for the 2011 awards, which Mr McKeon topped.