Speaker draws large audience

An evening spent with an Australian humanitarian in Dunedin Town Hall last night attracted the biggest audience in the history of fundraising events for the Otago Medical Research Foundation.

Foundation director of development Steve Davie said nearly 750 people attended the ''Courage under Fire'' presentation by Rabia Siddique.

The Perth speaker talked about her experiences of growing up in Australia, her time as a criminal and human rights lawyer, a British Army officer, a terrorism and war crimes prosecutor and her experiences of ''resilience, leadership, values, healing, forgiving and love''.

All of the money raised last night would be invested into the foundation's upcoming summer research scholarship programme.

shawn.mcavinue@odt.co.nz