Hugh Evans

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This article is about Hugh Evans the humanitarian. For Hugh Evans, the basketball referee, see Hugh Evans (basketball referee).

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2004 Young Australian of the Year
Hugh Evans

In office 2004 – 2004
Preceded by	Lleyton Hewitt
Succeeded by	Khoa Do

Born	March 4, 1983 Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian

Hugh Evans is an Australian humanitarian and the founder and former director of the Oaktree Foundation.

Hugh completed VCE at Carey Grammar in Melbourne, and he is currently studying Law/Science at Monash University. Upon completing his Australian degree he hopes to undertake further study in economics at an overseas university.

Hugh's passion for helping others began when he was 12 and became involved in World Vision's 40- Hour Famine. He started organising the Famine at his school, Carey Grammar and personally set himself very high targets. Over the next few years, his school became the highest fundraising school for the 40-Hour Famine in Australia. At age 14, a sponsored trip to the Philippines to see World Vision's work first hand impacted Hugh's life immensely. Sleeping in a slum, Hugh witnessed an entire community built around a garbage dump and saw children scavenging and dying around him. It was a turning point in his life.^[1]

Hugh’s advocacy work in the aid and development sector has taken him to over 30 countries around the world, including the Philippines; India, where he spent six months studying at Woodstock School as part of the 1999 William Carey Scholarship; The Hague in the Netherlands, where he represented Australia at the 2001 International Model United Nations Conference; South Africa, where he worked for one year in 2002 as the inaugural World Vision Youth Ambassador and participated in the World Congress on Children’s Rights; Minneapolis in the USA, where he spoke at a HIV/AIDS conference; Japan, where he spoke to the Junior Chamber International in 2004; Ghana, where he led the 2005 Oaktree Study Tour, and Israel, where he studied the NGO and youth sectors as part of the 2006 National Australia Bank Yahad Scholarship.^[2]

Hugh was the Victorian representative for the United Nations Youth Association’s National Youth Convention in 2000, and he was awarded the 2002 Vision Generation Member of the Year for his role as treasurer for World Vision’s youth committee.^[3] Hugh has also been formally recognized for his achievements with the titles Young Victorian of the Year (2003), Young Australian of the Year (2004) and Junior Chamber International Young Person of the World (2005), and invited to co-chair the Australian 2020 Youth Summit in April 2008.

Hugh is a key note speaker for business groups around Australia, including Medibank Private, Shell, Macquarie Bank, the Myer family, NAB Private Bank, Retire Invest and JB Were Goldman Sachs.

Hugh’s first book, Stone of the Mountain: The Hugh Evans Story, was published in November 2004 and recounts the year he spent living and working in the poverty-ridden communities of Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa. He is currently working on his second book, Just STAND, which is aimed at inspiring and motivating young people to make a difference in the world.^[4]

In the future, Hugh Evans plans to meaningfully contribute to Australian society through continued leadership positions. He hopes to see Australia become a nation renowned for its vision and generosity in both the domestic and global arenas.^[5]

[edit] The Oaktree Foundation

In 2002, Hugh had lived and worked in the rural valley communities of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa where he came to understand that bringing opportunity and hope to the community could only be achieved through a spirit of partnership. On his return to Australia, Hugh founded The Oaktree Foundation, Australia's first entirely youth-run and youth-driven aid and development agency.

Oaktree aims to empower developing communities through education in a way that is sustainable, and since its inception in 2003, Oaktree has raised more than $1,000,000 for development projects in six countries to provide more than 40,000 young people with increased educational opportunities. The organisation has mobilized over 10,000 young volunteers and supporters across Australia, South Africa, the USA and the UK, run more than 300 conferences and speaking engagements and reached more than 150,000 people.^[6]

Young volunteers from Oaktree were the leaders behind the 2006 Make Poverty History Concert in Melbourne, and the 2007 Make Poverty History Zero Seven Road Trip.

Oaktree is about the potential for young people to work in partnership to reduce poverty and to empower developing communities through education in a way that is sustainable. Oaktree was born as young people in the living rooms, cafes, school classrooms and church halls of Melbourne bought into this vision.

Hugh believes young people can do anything given the opportunity. The Oaktree Foundation "provides an avenue for many other young Australians to also make a difference in this world". Young people are encouraged to use the gifts they already have and what they are already passionate about to serve the poor.^[7]

To find out more about Oaktree's work, please see the website The Oaktree Foundation