The Founder
The Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation was inspired by the lifelong passion for theatre of its founder, Dr Rodney Seaborn AO, OBE. From an early age, his interest in the performing arts was shaped by his family, particularly his mother and maternal grandmother, who were devoted theatre-goers and enthusiastic supporters of live performance. Through them, theatre became a constant and deeply valued part of his life, fostering a lasting appreciation of performance both as an art form and as an important cultural record.
In later years, Dr Seaborn was also drawn to small, independent theatres and valued the intimacy they created between performers and audiences. The Stables Theatre, originally known as The Nimrod, later known as the Stables Theatre, held particular significance for him, not only for the quality of the work produced there but for its role in nurturing Australian playwrights and performers. He believed strongly that Australian theatre deserved active support and long-term protection, and that philanthropy had an essential role to play in sustaining the arts.
Dr Seaborn’s vision combined generosity with foresight. He wanted to encourage contemporary creative practice while also ensuring that the history of Australian performance would be preserved for future generations. This balance between support and preservation became the guiding principle of the Foundation.
The Early Years
In 1985, Dr Seaborn saw an appeal in the Sydney Morning Herald to help save the Stables Theatre, which was at risk of being sold and potentially lost as a performance venue. Recognising its importance as a cornerstone of Australian theatre and a cradle of new writing and performance, he resolved to take on the role of the classical ‘theatrical angel’ by buying and rescuing the venue. He sought a meeting with the Board of the Griffin Theatre Company that had been the lessee in residence there since 1980. This involvement in planning to secure the future of the Stables prompted a broader vision: both to protect an important cultural space, and to create a lasting philanthropic body that could support Australian theatre more widely. This latter idea, developed in discussions with Griffin Board members, evolved into the establishment of a charitable foundation/trust dedicated to the encouragement and promotion of the performing arts.
At the time, the Griffin Theatre Company was in permanent residence at the Stables and had established a strong reputation for promoting Australian plays and playwrights. When the building was put up for sale, fears of redevelopment prompted appeals for help. Dr Seaborn, a retired psychiatrist and committed theatre lover, responded by purchasing the Stables from its owner, playwright and journalist Bob Ellis.
The Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation was formally established with the execution of its Deed of Settlement on 9 October 1986. In this founding document, Dr Seaborn deliberately defined the Foundation’s purpose in broad and enduring terms, stating its objects as being “for the purposes generally of encouraging and promoting performing arts within Australia.” The name of the foundation reflects his family heritage: his father was Leslie Seaborn, his mother’s maiden surname was Broughton and his maternal grandmother’s maiden surname was Walford.
The original directors of the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation. Back row (L-R): The Hon Mr. Justice Antony Larkins QC, The Hon Lloyd Waddy AM RFD QC, Mr Leslie Walford AM, Dr Peter Broughton. Foreground: Dr Rodney Seaborn AO OBE (Founding President)
Dr. Seaborn approached only four persons asking if they would be associated with him on the Foundation and Dr. Seaborn was honoured by each of them accepting. Two of them were his cousins and they have a common grandparent named Walford. Dr. Seaborn had known, liked and respected each of the directors of the trustee company. His cousin, Dr. Peter Broughton, was a recently retired medical practitioner. His cousin, Leslie Walford, was a well-known interior designer and decorator. Antony Larkins, Q.C. was a recently retired Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, who had been a close and good friend to Dr. Seaborn for many years. Lloyd Waddy was a barrister-at-Iaw with keen interest in theatre and, as an old boy of The Kings ‘ School, was very active and highly-regarded in furthering its activities and development.
The purchase of the Stables Theatre at 10 Nimrod Street in 1986 by the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation, and its subsequent renaming as the SBW Stables Theatre, was closely linked to the creation and philanthropic vision of the Foundation. The Foundation undertook improvements to the theatre while allowing the Griffin Theatre Company to remain in permanent occupancy rent free (less outgoings), and also provided the Company with low-rental office space in close proximity. These unprecedented acts of generosity extended over a remarkable three and a half decades. The theatre became known as the SBW Stables, and the Foundation further invited like-minded theatre lovers to become Friends and assist in fundraising to support the performing arts more broadly. Over time, this generosity benefited many organisations and individuals, including the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, Ensemble Theatre, Bell Shakespeare Company, Australian National Playwrights Centre, Belvoir Theatre, Theatre of Image and Performing Lines.
At the same time, the Seaborn, Broughton & Walford Foundation Performing Arts Archives came into being. The S,B&W Foundation Archives originated in 1986, when the Foundation was established with the execution of its Deed of Settlement. From the outset, Dr Seaborn envisaged the archive and library as an integral part of the Foundation’s mission, forming a permanent record of Australia’s performing arts history alongside its active support of contemporary practice.
Saving the Independent Theatre
The 1990s saw the Foundation undertake one of its most significant and ambitious projects: the rescue and restoration of the Independent Theatre in North Sydney. This work built directly on the same commitment that had led to the purchase of the Stables Theatre and reflected the Foundation’s determination to safeguard important performance spaces.
When the Independent’s previous owners experienced financial distress, the theatre faced an uncertain future and was at risk of being lost, as had already happened to the neighbouring Coliseum Cinema. Dr Rodney Seaborn had a personal connection to the Independent, having attended performances there in the 1950s, and recognised its importance as a historic and cultural landmark.
In response, the S,B&W Foundation purchased the Independent Theatre from the liquidator in 1993, ensuring its survival as a performing arts venue. Although the building was in serious disrepair, its distinctive façade, tower and auditorium were already recognised through heritage listings. The Foundation committed itself to restoring the theatre and securing its future viability.
The decision to restore the Independent presented the S,B&W Foundation with a huge, complex and expensive challenge. After organizing initial work parties, Dr. Seaborn called on Peter and Carolyn Lowry, members of both the Foundation and the North Sydney community, to establish a Friends of the Independent Theatre (FIT) Committee to help co-ordinate the restoration, recruit volunteers, fundraise for the project, promote the cause and seek ongoing assistance from the Friends, the community, members of the performing arts and local the Council. Peter served as Chairman of the Friends’ Committee and the Restoration Project Committee, and his wife, Carolyn, worked alongside as Hon. Secretary. The Friends of the Foundation and the Friends of the Independent joined forces, and the strength and scope of this voluntary support became an important ingredient in the success of the restoration project.
The saving of the Independent Theatre stands as one of the defining achievements of the Foundation’s early history. It demonstrated the Foundation’s capacity not only to support the performing arts through philanthropy, but also to take decisive action in protecting the physical spaces that make theatre possible.
Growth and Development
From its earliest years, the Foundation became an active philanthropic body. Dr Seaborn selected individuals and groups in need of financial assistance, whose performing arts projects interested him, and donated to them in the name of the Foundation. He also worked closely with Foundation director Gary Simpson AM to help and track the progress of the Griffin Theatre Company. The Foundation’s performing arts donations encouraged creative practice, research, education and professional development across the sector. While the Foundation was located at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Dr Seaborn added two new Directors from NIDA to the Foundation Board. After Dr Seaborn’s death, the NIDA Board members offered to manage the grants process and requested additional Board appointees from NIDA. As the grants process had the potential to expand, it became necessary to develop policies and procedures for awarding grants to individuals and groups/companies with worthwhile projects. Concerned that funding decisions should be made through a rigorous and transparent process, President Peter Lowry AM appointed, with Board approval, former Chairman Gaz Simpson to attend and participate in grants meetings. Following the relocation of the Foundation to Neutral Bay in 2016, and the resignation of the NIDA Board members, the President and Administrator appointed an experienced Grants Panel whose members were drawn from the performing arts on a rotational basis.
In 2000, during Dr Seaborn’s lifetime, his establishment of the Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award marked a major milestone in the Foundation’s philanthropic work. The Award, which remains active today, continues to support the development of Australian playwrights and the creation of new work ‘emphasizing positive values’. The RSPA reflected Dr Seaborn’s belief in investing directly in the future of Australian theatre. As there is, currently, a documented global rise in mental health crises, the stipulation by Dr Seaborn, a psychiatrist, that the winning play should leave audiences with a positive perspective, is a uniquely visionary one and refreshingly overdue.
Alongside its Grants program, the Foundation’s performing Arts Collection and Archives has grown steadily. Building on Dr Seaborn’s personal collection of theatre programs dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, the collection has expanded in scope and significance. A major turning point came in 1991 with the donation of the John West Collection, which transformed the Archives into a nationally important research resource.
As the collection continued to grow, Dr Seaborn explored opportunities to strengthen its long-term preservation and increase its value to the wider performing arts community. This led to a collaborative partnership with NIDA around 2001, designed to bring together the Foundation’s well-established archives and NIDA’s developing interest in formal archival practice. Under this arrangement, NIDA provided space to house the S,B&W Archives and Library, while the Foundation appointed its own archivist, Dr Peter Orlovich, and contributed financial support to enhance archival work on site. When NIDA later acquired a larger facility in Alexandria, the Foundation moved there – away from the main NIDA building and from the Library that now bore Dr Seaborn’s name. Although both organisations’ collections were brought together in improved storage conditions and the intention was that both would operate collaboratively to support teaching, research and sector engagement, difficulties and misunderstandings arose in regard to Dr Seaborn’s wish that his collection remain separate and independent from NIDA’s own collection.
After Dr Seaborn’s death in 2008, the Foundation entered a period of intended consolidation. In 2009, under the leadership of Chairman Leslie Walford AM, together with archivist Peter Orlovich and Board member Dr Judy White, the Foundation purchased a building in Rosebery. With this purchase, the S,B&W Foundation Archives were relocated independently to their own dedicated premises, with the intention of allowing the Foundation independent control over the care and management of its performing arts collection. Unfortunately, Leslie Walford passed away in 2012, and was replaced briefly as Chairman by Gaz Simpson AM until he resigned the following year.
Peter Lowry AM, who had been appointed to the Foundation Board by Dr Seaborn during the Independent Theatre restoration years, was appointed Chairman of the Board and President of the Foundation in 2013. During this interim time, the NIDA Board members who had been following a different course and placing Grants at the centre of the Foundation’s endeavours, investigated ways of dispersing the Archives. The Foundation’s then Treasurer, aware of the rising cost of maintaining best practice conditions for Archives, made cost-cutting decisions that also rendered the Archivist’s position untenable and Peter Orlovich resigned. Soon afterwards, Peter made the decision to sell the Rosebery building and find more suitable premises where Dr Seaborn’s intention to preserve the Archives could be honoured.
President Peter Lowry sought and discovered new premises, appointed a new Archivist, Neil Pollock, and with Neil’s invaluable assistance, moved the Foundation and its Archives to a more centrally-located site better suited to honouring and enhancing Dr Seaborn’s legacy. In 2016, the Archives and Foundation office were relocated to their current premises in Neutral Bay. This move marked a major milestone for the Archives. Peter oversaw improvements to provide a purpose-designed space owned by the Foundation. The new facilities offer improved environmental conditions, expanded storage, better access for researchers, and greater capacity for collection growth as well as use of spaces for education and small performances and public engagement generally with the performing arts.
Today, under Peter Lowry’s leadership, the Foundation remains focused on honouring and enhancing Dr Seaborn’s multi-faceted mission to support the performing arts in Australia. This includes promoting the performing arts by awarding grants to worthy projects, administering the annual Rodney Seaborn Playwrights Award for the benefit of local playwrights and actors, the stewardship and development of the S,B&W Foundation Archives, the creation of spaces for teaching, rehearsing, intimate performances, talks and film screenings, as well as continually engaging with the community through performing arts events and programs for the Friends of the Foundation. Together, these activities represent the mature expression of Dr Rodney Seaborn’s vision: a Foundation that actively supports living artists, preserves Australia’s theatrical heritage, and fosters a community committed to the future of the performing arts.