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Charles Perkins Centre
The Charles Perkins Centre (CPC) is an Australian medical research institute, clinic and education hub that primarily focuses on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, as well as other related conditions. The centre is affiliated with the University of Sydney and is located within the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital health precinct at the Camperdown campus of the university in Sydney, New South Wales. The centre is named in honour of alumnus Charles Perkins, the first man of Aboriginal descent to graduate from an Australian university. Since November 2025, the centre's academic director is Professor Leanne Redman, who succeeded Professor Stephen Simpson who stepped down in April 2025.
Designed by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp with Building Studio, construction of the 49,500-square-metre (533,000 sq ft), A$385 million centre began in 2012 and was officially opened in June 2014. Completed in the Modernist Australian architectural style, the centre was shortlisted for the World's Best Building award in the Higher Education and Research category at the 2015 World Architecture Festival.
Many professorial chairs at the centre were funded by the A$20.6 million sale of a Picasso painting at Christie's, which was donated to the university in 2010.
Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are the leading causes of death, disability and reduced quality of life in Australia. They are also considered epidemics globally.
Charles Perkins was one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal activists. Born in 1936 to an Arrernte woman and a Kalkadoon man in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Perkins graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1966. Prior to this, he worked for an Adelaide fitter and turner company and had also worked for the City of South Sydney, cleaning public toilets. Perkins was a key member of the Freedom Ride, a bus tour through New South Wales protesting small-town discrimination of Aboriginal people. The action was inspired by the American Civil Rights Freedom Ride campaign in 1961 which travelled from Washington D.C. to New Orleans.[citation needed]
In 1969 Perkins began his career as a public servant as a Senior Research Officer with the Office of Aboriginal Affairs. In 1972, as a public servant, he was suspended for alleged improper conduct after he described the Liberal and the Country Coalition government in Western Australia as being "racist and redneck". He later became the first Aboriginal to become appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in 1981. He was a strident critic of the Australian Government and their policies. Perkins also had a career as a soccer player, serving as president for the National Soccer League team Canberra City FC in the Australian Capital Territory.[citation needed]
He died in 2000 from renal failure and is survived by a large family, with two daughters and a son. During the 1970s Perkins had a kidney transplant and at the time of his death was the longest post-transplant survivor in Australia.
In 2010, the University of Sydney received a rarely seen Pablo Picasso painting from the private collection of an anonymous donor. The painting, Jeune Fille Endormie, which had never been publicly seen since 1939, depicts the artist's lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter and was donated on the strict understanding that it would be sold and the proceeds directed to medical research. In June 2011 the painting was auctioned at Christie's in London and sold for £13.5 million (A$20.6 million). The proceeds funded the establishment of many endowed professorial chairs at the centre, which at the time of the sale, was yet to be established.
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Charles Perkins Centre
The Charles Perkins Centre (CPC) is an Australian medical research institute, clinic and education hub that primarily focuses on diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, as well as other related conditions. The centre is affiliated with the University of Sydney and is located within the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital health precinct at the Camperdown campus of the university in Sydney, New South Wales. The centre is named in honour of alumnus Charles Perkins, the first man of Aboriginal descent to graduate from an Australian university. Since November 2025, the centre's academic director is Professor Leanne Redman, who succeeded Professor Stephen Simpson who stepped down in April 2025.
Designed by Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp with Building Studio, construction of the 49,500-square-metre (533,000 sq ft), A$385 million centre began in 2012 and was officially opened in June 2014. Completed in the Modernist Australian architectural style, the centre was shortlisted for the World's Best Building award in the Higher Education and Research category at the 2015 World Architecture Festival.
Many professorial chairs at the centre were funded by the A$20.6 million sale of a Picasso painting at Christie's, which was donated to the university in 2010.
Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease are the leading causes of death, disability and reduced quality of life in Australia. They are also considered epidemics globally.
Charles Perkins was one of Australia's most prominent Aboriginal activists. Born in 1936 to an Arrernte woman and a Kalkadoon man in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Perkins graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Arts in 1966. Prior to this, he worked for an Adelaide fitter and turner company and had also worked for the City of South Sydney, cleaning public toilets. Perkins was a key member of the Freedom Ride, a bus tour through New South Wales protesting small-town discrimination of Aboriginal people. The action was inspired by the American Civil Rights Freedom Ride campaign in 1961 which travelled from Washington D.C. to New Orleans.[citation needed]
In 1969 Perkins began his career as a public servant as a Senior Research Officer with the Office of Aboriginal Affairs. In 1972, as a public servant, he was suspended for alleged improper conduct after he described the Liberal and the Country Coalition government in Western Australia as being "racist and redneck". He later became the first Aboriginal to become appointed as the Permanent Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs in 1981. He was a strident critic of the Australian Government and their policies. Perkins also had a career as a soccer player, serving as president for the National Soccer League team Canberra City FC in the Australian Capital Territory.[citation needed]
He died in 2000 from renal failure and is survived by a large family, with two daughters and a son. During the 1970s Perkins had a kidney transplant and at the time of his death was the longest post-transplant survivor in Australia.
In 2010, the University of Sydney received a rarely seen Pablo Picasso painting from the private collection of an anonymous donor. The painting, Jeune Fille Endormie, which had never been publicly seen since 1939, depicts the artist's lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter and was donated on the strict understanding that it would be sold and the proceeds directed to medical research. In June 2011 the painting was auctioned at Christie's in London and sold for £13.5 million (A$20.6 million). The proceeds funded the establishment of many endowed professorial chairs at the centre, which at the time of the sale, was yet to be established.