[2] The college advocates for its members in seeking improvements in the status of the education profession.

[5][6] The inaugural Buntine Oration was presented by Professor Peter Karmel, and was entitled Some Aspects of the Economics of Education.

His son, M. Arnold Buntine (1898–1975), earned a PhD in education from the University of Edinburgh[10] and was headmaster of Camberwell Grammar School in Victoria and later the Hale School in Western Australia prior to World War II[11] after the war as headmaster of Geelong College.

[10] Arnold was married to Gladys (Jim) Buntine (1901–1992), who was an educator in her role as Chief Commissioner of the Australian Girl Guides[12] and their son, Robert Buntine (1929–2014) had leadership roles at The King's School and Newington College in Sydney.

[9] The oration has been given by a series of high-profile people, including Sir Paul Hasluck[9][15] (Minister for External Affairs at the time, later the Governor-General of Australia), Sir Zelman Cowan[9][16] (while he was Governor-General of Australia),[17] Sir Michael Somare[9][18] (then-Chief Minister of Papua New Guinea and becoming the inaugural Prime Minister on independence),[19] Peter Doherty[20] (Nobel Laureate in Medicine 1996 and Australian of the Year in 1997),[21][22] Michael Kirby[6][9] (then President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal and later a Justice of the High Court of Australia) and Robert French[9][23] (then the Chancellor of Edith Cowan University and later the Chief Justice of the High Court).