TONI LAMOND  AM
National PatronToni Lamond is part of one of Australia’s great showbusiness families.  Her parents were Stella and Joe Lamond, her sister is Helen Reddy and her son is Tony Sheldon.

Her career began at the age of 10 singing on radio and touring with her parent’s  variety shows.  In Australia she went on to star in The Pajama Game,  Oliver!, Gypsy and Anything Goes. In the early 60s she was a regular on Graham Kennedy’s television show In Melbourne tonight (IMT) and ultimately became the first woman to host her own show.  She appeared in night clubs and revues throughout the United Kingdom and on BBC TV and BBC Radio.  In the United States, where she lived from the mid-70s to mid-90s, her theatre credits include Mame, Oliver!, Cabaret, Annie, Hello Dolly! and Nunsense.

Returning permenantly to live in Australia she has appeared in 42nd Street, My Fair Lady, Beauty and the Beast and Simon Gallaher’s The Pirates of Penzance.

Toni has won 2 Logies, a Variety Club Award, a Mo Award and has been presented with the key to the City of Melbourne.
MARY PORTER  AM 
Local Patron“I have long had an interest in all forms of art and in particular community based performing arts. Local theatre groups contribute so much more to our community than just their performances. They provide an opportunity for people from all types of backgrounds and all ages to work together to produce something really special. Our young people get the opportunity to learn from those who have so much to give and develop not only their talents, but their self esteem and sense of worth. In addition to producing great entertainment for those of us lucky enough to attend, we are also building community capacity and the CAT Awards are a very special part of that whole wonderful process”

Mary Porter
JOHN WOOD

A Gold Logie Award winning Australian actor, best known for his role as Senior Sergeant Tom Croydon in the long running TV police drama Blue Heelers, John became a patron of the CAT Awards at the 2011 Gala Evening.

Well known for his TV appearances in Rafferty’s Rules, Blue Heelers, Murder in the Outback, Underbelly, Rogue Nation to name a few, as well as his stage appearances in The Club, ART, Born Yesterday, The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin and many more, he recently appeared in the pro-Am production of Strange Bedfellows – a musical mounted by Albury Wodonga Theatre Company which is a member of the CAT Awards.

John has been involved as a presenter with the CAT Awards for the past few years and has now graciously accepted to be a Patron, joining Toni Lamond AM, Mary Porter AM MLA, and now Jon English.

MICHAEL EDGLEY MBE, CIT WA

Life as an Edgley has always been a three-ring circus.

Michael, whose late father Eric first brought The Moscow Circus from Russia to Australia in 1965, is best-known for pioneering big-ticket tours by artists, including the Bolshoi Ballet and Cirque du Soleil, Marcel Marceau, Olivia Newton-John, Kiss, John Denver, Tina Turner, Rudolf Nureyev and Torvill and Dean.

Michael has been Australia’s premier promoter bringing entertainment to Australian audiences for many years.

He has presented over 200 shows, including extravaganzas from ballets to circuses to contemporary concerts, sport, drama. films and exhibitions.

Everyone is familiar with Michael Edgley’s famous Moscow Circus tours, which have toured Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, England, USA and still touring nationally in Australia

 
SIMON GALLAHER

An Australian singer, actor, director and pianist.

During the early 1980s, Gallaher had his own television program, The Simon Gallaher Show.

With his own musical theatre company Essgee Entertainment, Gallaher has produced and acted in stage productions of The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Mikado, The Merry Widow and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, among others.

In 2014 Gallagher returned to the stage to be reunited with the late Jon English for the first time in many years as they performed in Spamalotfor Harvest Rain Theatre Company. In 2015 he took over the role of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the Australian production of Wicked

He is currently on the Board of Trustees of QPAC, the Chair of Harvest Rain Theatre Company and is also on the board of the Queensland Theatre Company(QTC). and sits on the Helpmann Awards nominating panel for Musical Theatre.