SYDNEY.- The Powerhouse Museum is saddened to hear of the passing of Trustee and Powerhouse Parramatta Foundation Donor, Mr Lang Walker AO. Mr Walker was appointed to the Powerhouse Trust in November 2020.

One of Australia's greatest visionaries, Mr Walker was a titan of industry and an incredible business leader and philanthropist who led investment into culture in Western Sydney. In partnership with Western Sydney University, the Walker Family Foundation was the first philanthropy partner to invest into Powerhouse Parramatta. Alongside his wife Sue, Mr Walker made a visionary investment of $20 million into the Powerhouse to support the education of future generations in Western Sydney through the establishment of the region's first state cultural institution. One of his great legacies will be the Lang Walker Family Academy at Powerhouse Parramatta, through providing 60 bed accommodation and access to world-class immersive STEM education experiences for over 10,000 high school students from Western Sydney and regional NSW every year.

As the most significant cultural gift ever made in Western Sydney, this investment is already having an impact across public schools in Blacktown, Campbelltown, Liverpool, Bankstown, Penrith and Parramatta LGAs with the Academy in-schools program providing unprecedented access to industry-leading ideas, experts and technologies from the fields of science, engineering and technology. Mr Walker's incredibly generous support of Powerhouse Parramatta will continue to inspire future generations and create pathways for students in areas such as civil engineering, building, science and space technologies. This pioneering investment sits alongside Mr Walker's $28 million investment into Western Sydney University which includes the Lang Walker AO Medical Research Building.

Powerhouse Trust President Peter Collins AM KC said, "Lang Walker was a giant of Australian industry and there has been no greater supporter of Powerhouse Parramatta than Lang. It was an honour to have him serve on the Powerhouse Trust for the last three years at a critical time for the institution. No one has given more support to the Powerhouse than Lang Walker and his memory will be preserved in the Lang Walker Family Academy, and by future generations who will benefit from it. We are all shocked by his passing and send our deepest condolences to his family."

Powerhouse Chief Executive Lisa Havilah said, "The legacy of Lang Walker will be forever embedded within Powerhouse Parramatta. Lang's vision and ambition for Powerhouse Parramatta and his transformative investment will continue to impact and give opportunity for many generations to come. I feel very fortunate to have worked alongside such an incredible Australian. Mr Walker enabled the Lang Walker Family Academy, creating unprecedented new learning and employment pathways for young people and it will continue in his name."

Chair, Powerhouse Parramatta Campaign Committee Tony Shepherd AO said, "We have lost an outstanding Australian nation builder. Lang was a visionary who led investment in the transformation of Parramatta, a city he loved. He was an extremely generous man and the Foundation Donor of Powerhouse Parramatta. His name and memory will always be remembered in this magnificent new technological museum."

All of us at Powerhouse, the Trust, staff and partners, extend our sincerest condolences to Mr Walker's family, his wife Sue, three children Blake, Chad and Georgia, ten grandchildren and everyone at Walker Corporation at this sad time. Mr Walker has left a transformational legacy that will endure for generations in Powerhouse Parramatta.