SYDNEY ALUMNI Magazine

Autumn 2007

DIXON THE DEFENDER Reports of the death of our national literature are greatly exaggerated, says the newly appointed chair of Australian literature,

ISSN 1834–3937 ISSN Professor Robert Dixon

SYDNEY ALUMNI Magazine

6 8 20 26 NEWS: BUSINESS SCHOOL ALLIANCE RESEARCH: PREDICTIVE TECHNOLOGY ESSAY: OUR LITERARY CITY SPORT: WOMEN’S CRICKET

Autumn 2007

features

10 DIXON THE DEFENDER Reports of Australian literature’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

16 CAMPUS 2027 Editor Dominic O’Grady What kind of world will our students enter The University of Sydney, Publications Office 20 years from now? Room K6.06, Quadrangle A14, NSW 2006 Telephone +61 2 9036 6372 Fax +61 2 9351 6868 Email [email protected] Sub-editor John Warburton regulars Design tania edwards design Contributors Robert Aldrich, Gregory Baldwin, 2LETTERS Tracey Beck, Vice-Chancellor Professor Gavin Brown, Cautious and suspicious: US Studies Centre reaction. Graham Croker, Carole Cusack, Rebecca Johinke, 5 OPINION Stephanie Lee, Robert O'Neill, Peter Reimann, Maggie Renvoize, Chris Rodley, Ted Sealy, Rick Shine, We’ll tolerate complexity for the sake of flexibility, says Vice-Chancellor. Marian Theobald, Geordie Williamson. Printed by PMP Limited. 28 ALUMNI UPDATES Senate approves new name for alumni body. Cover photo Karl Schwerdtfeger. Advertising Please direct all inquiries to the editor. 32 GRAPEVINE Class notes from the 1940s to the present. Editorial Advisory Committee The Sydney Alumni Magazine is supported by an Editorial 36 DIARY Advisory Committee. Its members are: Kathy Bail, Editor, Rational order: Carl Von Linné at the Australian Financial Review Magazine; Martin Hoffman Macleay Museum. (BEcon ‘86), consultant; Helen Trinca, Editor, Boss (Australian Financial Review); David Marr (LLB ‘71), Sydney Morning Herald; William Fraser, Editor, ACP Magazines; Don Wilson, Vice-Principal, University Relations, University of Sydney; and Andrew Potter, Media Manager, University of Sydney.

autumn 2007 1 The University of Sydney’s successful bid to host a US Studies Centre, letters reported in the summer 2006 edition of the Sydney Alumni Magazine, accounts for the majority of letters received during the past three months. An edited selection of those letters appears below. Professor Robert O'Neill, the Centre’s planning director, responds.

But surely the answer is not for implemented in your name and mine? Australians to change the views which If universities cannot fulfil this important they have formed on their own terms, function in society, who will? but for Washington to respect those Mark Notaras ( BCom ’02) views and reflect upon what it does to Turner, ACT make so many around the world feel this way. Foreign policy problem We do well to be suspicious of the I still cannot believe that the University motives of the only country on Earth of Sydney will host the US Studies Centre which needs to create an institution (Sydney Alumni Magazine,Summer purely to stop people from hating it. 2006). I am astonished to see my alma Andrew Byrne (DipMus ’01) mater supporting it. It is based on the Bowral, NSW assumption that a power which has been a force for good in the past will Wonky thinking automatically continue in this role. I was fascinated and disgusted to read I am a graduate from 1954 and I the article “Heavyweight Support for am old enough to acknowledge our US Initiative” (Sydney Alumni Magazine, enormous debt to the United States Summer 2006). It illustrates only too in regards to the defeat of fascism, the well what is so wrong with our Govern- creation of the UN, and the containment Suspicious motives ment and political system. of Stalinist aggression. I found the article “Heavyweight support Instead of analysing and considering Today, however, what do we have? for US initiative” (Sydney Alumni what might be wrong with (US) policies The Vietnam disaster is being repeated, Magazine,Summer 2006) disturbing. and actions that are causing so much with no lessons learnt, in the Iraqi Rupert Murdoch and co should concern and resentment, it is the tragedy, which we all saw coming rightly be worried about the “anti- thinking of the people which must before a shot was fired. American” feelings which the Lowy be wrong and has to be changed! I am not anti-American, but I poll revealed many Australians have Dmitri Perno (BArch ’61) am unable to defend the present towards the US, and he is right to fear Buderim, Qld administration in its foreign policy. that our relationship to the US may We should in these matters be treating follow that of France. Caution please the US as a pariah among nations. The excitement surrounding the Instead, my university gives its approval. selection of the University of Sydney Are we living in the same world? Write to us to host Australia’s new US Studies Centre Rodney Knock (BA ’54) Letters to the editor should include (Sydney Alumni Magazine,Summer Merewether, NSW contact details, degree and year of 2006) should be tempered with a note A waste of effort graduation if applicable. of caution. It was reported that “Australia’s I am a graduate of both the University Please address letters to: negative feelings about the US” have of Sydney and Monash University, and The Editor, Sydney Alumni Magazine fuelled this idea. It is obvious that the I recently received alumni magazines C/- Publications A14, Centre’s mission, backed by powerful from both institutions. I compared two The University of Sydney NSW 2006. government and business interests, will articles, both referring to fundraising. Letters may also be sent by email to: be to counter these negative feelings. The Sydney magazine published [email protected] The Centre risks being a corporatised “Sydney to host US Studies Centre”, Opinions expressed on these pages learning body, which is antithetical to (Sydney Alumni Magazine,Summer are those of the signed contributors the idea of universities as independent 2006), while the Monash magazine or the editor and do not necessarily learning institutions. published a story headlined “Study represent the official position of the If the University of Sydney is pressured support for refugees” (Spring/Summer University of Sydney. to contribute to the enhancement of 2006) about a bursary program for Space permits only a selection of our relationship with the US, can it asylum seekers. The second story is the edited letters to be published here. question sufficiently US foreign policy one I would support financially. (read Australian foreign policy) that is I fail to see how a national opinion

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everyone else’s ^ continued onpage4 continued autumn 2007 3 Stuck in the kitchen letters I wish to congratulate Mark Tedeschi and your editorial decision making for the wonderful photographic piece in continued from page 3 the latest edition (Sydney Alumni Magazine,Summer 2006). past policies and actions. The US It is good to know that someone is Studies Centre at the University of remembering that whilst men should Sydney offers Australia and Australians be congratulated for their academic the prospect of greater effectiveness in and professional contributions to both relating to the United States and society, women are entitled equally pursuing our own interests. to a career so long as they can also Professor Robert O’Neill, demonstrate it does not interfere Planning Director with their lives in the kitchen. Shame United States Studies Centre, editor, shame. The University of Sydney Bridget Paul (BA ’99, BSW ’00, MALP ’05), Lindfield, NSW Correction Editor’s response: I was surprised, too, by I read the article on my father, Dr Alan the photo of Margaret Cuneen (LLM Hazelton, and two other doctors serving ’89) at the kitchen sink. But keeping in Australia in WWII (Sydney Alumni mind the fact that women generally are Magazine,Autumn 2006), and would paid less than their male counterparts, like to correct a mistake in the caption and carry a disproportionate amount of on page 33. Dad is pictured first from domestic responsibility, it may just be left, with his hand on a walking stick, that Margaret Cunneen and photographer photo: Mark Tedeschi aged 90. He passed away earlier in Mark Tedeschi QC (LLB ’74) ) have a the year. valid point to make. Should we shoot Steve Hazelton, NSW the messenger? Margaret Cuneen (LLM '89)

4 sydney alumni magazine opinion A New Year’s salute

We’ll tolerate a degree of complexity for the sake of choice and flexibility, writes Vice-Chancellor Professor Gavin Brown AO.

ast year was an excellent one for group of potential students is deter- the University and our students mining their final preferences. I enjoy Lhave provided the fireworks that meeting them and their parents to make a bold colourful start to 2007. discuss their aspirations. Leading the way is our team of Julia The distinctive feature of what we Vice-Chancellor Professor Gavin Brown Bowes and Anna Garsia who won the offer at the University of Sydney is ...‘our share of first preference applicants World University Debating Champion- “choice”.We are acutely aware that forms a graph which defies gravity.’ ships in Vancouver. So strong is Sydney many, if not most, commencing students debating that three of our men were are still exploring and experimenting in ranked in the top ten individual the world of ideas. We seek to provide speakers and the winning team found guidance within a flexible degree selection as hard as the contest itself. structure with many pathways. Pharmacy student Zhao Zong Yuan We retain the traditional option of is comprehensively leading the a three year degree within a defined Australian Chess Championship while discipline with the possibility of a I write. He is regularly producing fourth honours year of more specialised Grand Master performances and that study with a research component. The title cannot be far off. University also offers a spectrum of The leading wicket-taker in the carefully designed double degrees recent Ashes series and man of the which combine say Social Science and match in the final Sydney test is Stuart Law, Engineering and Commerce, Clark who is studying at the University Science and Engineering, Nursing and and playing for us when international Arts or Music and Medicine. and state commitments permit. All of this may appear less efficient than Melbourne’s move to a US style This year three system of generic undergraduate degrees followed by postgraduate study. University of Sydney But we aim to provide choice and students: Kate Brennan, flexibility and are prepared to tolerate Angela Cummine and a degree of complexity to do so. Eric Knight, will take up It is our belief that participation in additional activities, such as debating, Rhodes scholarships. drama, sport and student societies more generally, helps shape academic This year three University of Sydney choices as well as develop a rounded students: Kate Brennan, Angela citizen. I am happy to report that Cummine and Eric Knight, will take academic and extra-curricular up Rhodes scholarships. It should be achievement appear strongly correlated. noted that this is the maximum Our share of first preference appli- number of such scholarships which cants forms a graph which defies can possibly be awarded to students gravity with its irresistible rise. It is from any one State. propitious that the New Year salutes It is a pleasure to congratulate them existing student achievement and all, especially at a time when a fresh ushers in fresh talent.

autumn 2007 5 news

Alumni are invited to have input into Chancellor departs in May the selection of a new Chancellor by providing suggestions on the qualities Justice Kim Santow (BA ’61, LLB ’64, Santow said that while he has enjoyed and attributes that a Chancellor LLM '71) will stand down as Chancellor every minute of his time as Chancellor: should possess; and by suggesting of the University of Sydney when his “It is my conviction that nine and a potential candidates. Send your ideas term of office comes to an end on half years would be too long for a to the Alumni Council president, 31 May 2007. Chancellor to serve Sydney University Dr Barry Catchlove, who will provide Justice Santow, who was appointed in this contemporary era.” them to the Senate’s advisory comm- Chancellor in 2001, told the University A Senate committee will now handle ittee. Fax +61 2 9351 6868 or email Senate in February that he would not be the process of appointing his successor. [email protected] seeking re-election for a further four years. For further information and the full text by 6 April 2007. In a letter to University staff, Justice of the letter visit www.usyd.edu.au/senate Business school joins European alliance An outstanding achievement for the faculty, says Dean Peter Wolnizer

The alliance includes among its members 57 multinational corporations such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, L’Oréal, Deutsche Bank, Procter & Gamble, Néstle, Nokia and Shell. The Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Professor Peter Wolnizer, said that admission to CEMS was the next step in the devel- opment of the faculty, following dual accreditation of its business and accounting programs by the US-based photo: Bob Finlayson, Newspix Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business, Professor Peter Wolnizer (foreground International), and accreditation by left), with Brenda Younger and John Fernandes of AACSB International. EQUIS, the European group sponsored by the European Foundation for The University’s Faculty of Economics for faculty members to engage in col- Management Development (EFMD). and Business has become the only laborative research and for doctoral “That we have been selected as the Australian business school to be students to visit member institutions Australian member of CEMS is an admitted into one of the world's most through the CEMS exchange network. outstanding achievement for the Faculty prestigious alliances of University CEMS comprises 17 of the best known and confirms our rapidly rising standing business faculties. business schools in Europe, together in the international community of Membership of the Community of with nine non-European academic leading business schools,” he said. European Management Schools group institutions as associate members. “Our membership of CEMS will (CEMS) means the faculty’s current and Current academic members include: greatly strengthen our already good prospective students can be considered the London School of Economics, HEC standing with other member schools, for the CEMS Master of International Paris, ESADE Barcelona, Bocconi providing our students with programs Management, a program conducted in University, Copenhagen Business School, that are regarded by international conjunction with CEMS member the University of St Gallen, Erasmus employers as both academically rigor- schools and corporate partners. University, the University of Cologne and ous and integrated with professional In addition, there will be opportunities the Stockholm School of Economics. experience.”

6 sydney alumni magazine One in five choose Sydney University

The University of Sydney has confirmed its place as the most popular NSW university, with more than one in five recent school leavers nominating courses at the University as their first preference. In 2007 the University has again attracted the biggest share of all first preferences lodged with the University Admissions Centre, receiving 19.3 per cent of all applications and 20.8 per cent of recent school leavers. Of all offers made by the University of Sydney to recent school leavers in the main round this year, 60 per cent were to applicants with a Universities Admissions Index (UAI) of 90 or more, and 35 per cent were to applicants with a UAI of 95 or more. The figures provide further evidence that the University continues to attract photo: Bob Finlayson, Newspix a significant proportion of high-achieving school leavers. Orientation for new students … The University of Sydney remains the most popular choice. Local wordsmiths favour muffin top photo: Newspix Macquarie Dictionary, were cast in the user survey, and the out over the top of tight-fitting pants based at the University of winner was chosen by the Macquarie or skirts. The description appears to be Sydney, has announced Dictionary Word of the Year an Australian creation, popularised by the muffin top is the Word of Committee, comprising University of ABC TV comedy series, Kath and Kim. the Year 2006. Sydney Vice-Chancellor Professor The Macquarie committee thought Muffin top was chosen Gavin Brown; Dean of the Faculty of that the vivid imagery of this word, its from the new words selected Arts, Professor Stephen Garton; and playfulness, and the fact that it is an for inclusion in the annual publisher of the Macquarie Dictionary, Australianism made it the clear winner. update of the Macquarie Susan Butler. The committee gave honourable Dictionary Online. The Macquarie Dictionary defines mention to the word affluenza (noun), A total of 4932 votes muffin top (noun) as the colloquial for defined as the dissatisfaction that Actor Gina Riley as Kim the fold of fat around the midriff accompanies consumerism as a path from Kath and Kim. which, on an overweight woman, spills to happiness. research

Careful, they may hear you!

Predictive technology has the capacity to change our lives in ways that we’re only starting to comprehend. University of Sydney academic Professor John Gero has developed a computational framework for this technology which he hopes will bring us a step closer to the dream. Chris Rodley reports.

henever we use a mobile phone (MBldgSc ’66, PhD ’74), head of the Wor drive a car, it works in exactly University of Sydney’s Key Centre of the same way every time. Design Computing and Cognition. But what if our technology did not Together with his research team, he is operate in a uniform way each time working to make this vision a reality. and instead learnt from experience? “At the moment, tools are independent What if our computers, air-conditioners of us,”he says. “The aim of this kind of and even our doorways could predict work is to personalise the tools in relation our needs and adapt accordingly? to the tasks we use them for. We develop That’s the paradigm shift being experience in using the tool and the tool proposed by Professor John Gero develops experience in the way we use Predicting our needs ... doing the things it, rather than just staying fixed the way you don’t want to think about. it was programmed by someone else.” For example, our mobile phone could learn to offer us only the menu options we tend to use. Our computers could develop an understanding of what applications we like to begin our day with, what fonts we type letters with, or what size we like to print our digital photos. There would be no need for someone to program the informa- tion in, and as our needs change, the system would notice and change with us. Professor Gero is quick to point out that what he is proposing is very different from the automated features found in software such as Microsoft Word – notorious among users for changing their formatting or capitalisation against their wishes. “That is what we are trying to move away from. It’s an example of a tech- nology where someone else is making a decision about our lives. Instead, the system would respond to our actual behaviour,” he says. Once a visiting professor of cognitive psychology, Professor Gero was inspired photo: Getty Images in his ideas by thinking about the way human minds change when they under- go experiences. Since formulating the concept ten years ago, his focus has been on creating the complex compu- tational framework needed to realise it.

This year, he will seek a second Sealy photo: Ted Australian Research Council grant to help turn that framework into a working demonstration tool. Cars provide a good example of what’s Professor John Gero … ‘now the world changes according to what we’re doing to it.’ possible. At the moment, if we share a car with another driver, we need to adjust the seat every time we use it. Our homes would change noticeably Imagine, then, if a car could recognise if Professor Gero's vision succeeds. users and adjust the seats accordingly Lights could learn to switch on or off (some cars already do this, but only when we leave the room, and our oven after the driver has programmed a could learn to pre-heat itself for the preference). The car might also switch Sunday roast – without us having to to the radio station preferred by the send an SMS, as is the case in some of driver, or display a map if driven into today’s “smart homes”. “The ultimate goal an area it has never been before. Even To make this work, different tech- of this work is not the dashboard could re-configure itself nologies in our homes would need to to suit individual needs. talk to each other. Our fridge may have to take a few minutes Professor Gero thinks of his office door learnt that we like more milk to be less to do something. as another potential beneficiary. It might ordered when the supply runs low, but learn, for example, to allow certain if it has access to our online calendar, it It is to offer humans research students access after hours, or would also know we were going on the possibility of let the cleaner in early in the morning. holiday this week so it would cancel This would represent a significant the milk order until our return. “This leading richer, more advance on the university’s current secu- is not an intrusive model … but a view interesting lives.” rity system, which applies pre-set rules of technology as something that assists to the entire staff by staying locked to your living. The things you don’t want everyone without a swipe card after 6pm. to think about [the technology] does “This shift in thinking moves us away for you,” Professor Gero says. from having to make a-priori decisions “The ultimate goal of this work is not about what the world will look like,” he to take a few minutes less to do some- says. “Now the world changes according thing. It is to offer humans the possibility to what we’re doing to it.” of leading richer, more interesting lives.”

autumn 2007 9 cover story

Dixon The newly appointed chair of Australian literature, alumnus Robert Dixon, says reports of our national literature’s unseemly demise are greatly exaggerated. Geordie Williamson reports.

defenderthe n taking up the chair of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, Professor Robert Dixon’s (BA ’76, PhD I’82) academic career has returned to where it began. Dixon completed his honours degree at Sydney in 1975 which was a paticularly strong year for the University’s English department. Two other brilliant scholars and future denizens of the Woolley building, Bruce Gardiner (BA ’76) and Will Christie (BA ’76), emerged from it, as well as the Melbourne-based Medievalist Marion Campbell (BA ’76). However, unlike some of his academic coevals who went offshore for postgraduate study, to institutions in Britain and Americ, Dixon stayed put at Sydney and went on to become the first research student to complete his PhD under the supervi- sion of Elizabeth Webby (BA ’63, MA ’66, PhD ’73), eventually producing a thesis which won an award from the Australian Academy of the Humanities. There is, then, a pleasing symmetry to Dixon’s acceptance of his former teacher’s role, following her retirement in February after 17 years in the position. It should be said that Professor Webby is not an easy figure to replace. Over the past two decades, she has shaped the field of Australian literary studies like no other. Dixon, who gave the opening paper at a recent conference celebrating her career, has spoken eloquently of her “now unrivalled, encyclopedic knowl- edge of the field.” Says Dixon: “It is no exaggeration to say that her scholarship and commitment created the conditions of possibility for the careers of what now amount to several generations of researchers in Australian literature. She has been exemplary in photo: Robert McFarlane, National Library of Australia professing her subject, building bridges with key cultural insti- tutions, being an advocate for both emerging and established scholars and writers, and so on. Her contribution to the subject Literary canons Christina Stead (above), Patrick White and is without equal.” Henry Handel Richardson ... cosmopolitanism within limits. Dixon, who has spent the past four years as an Australian Research Council professorial fellow in English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland, has made no But despite these achievements, he remains conscious of the mean contribution himself. special responsibility entailed in succeeding Webby. In discus- After tutoring at the University of Sydney from 1976 to 1980, sion he takes pains to highlight the great debt he personally he subsequently worked at Newcastle, Curtin, James Cook and owes her as a teacher, colleague and friend, while also acknowl- the University of Southern Queensland (where he was the inau- edging the delicate balancing-act required in developing his gural chair of English) – ‘circumnavigating the continent’, as own ideas about the future direction of the discipline, in a man- one colleague put it. He sees the return to Sydney as a closing of ner that builds upon the foundations laid by her. the circle: the culmination of a career which has straddled tra- ditional research in Australian literature and the wider field of Establishing the canon cultural studies, in the hope of tracing what he describes as a “poetics of colonialism”. Dixon believes that the project initiated by the University’s first Recognition for his roles as teacher, editor and author – he has holder of the chair of Australian literature, G.A. Wilkes (BA ’49, published three titles and edited as many more – has come in the DipEd ’50, MA ’52) – and extended during the discipline's form of a past-presidency of ASAL (the Association for the formative period by Emeritus Professor Dame Leonie Kramer Study of Australian Literature), and his election as a fellow of (MA ’89) and Elizabeth Webby – has largely been bought to the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2004. His books, fruition. Wilkes’ programme, set out in his inaugural lecture, The Course of Empire (Oxford, 1986), Writing the Colonial was intended to establish the research infrastructure necessary Adventure (Cambridge, 1995) and Prosthetic Gods (2001), form for the academic study of a national literature: an agenda, in a trilogy on Australia’s colonial culture from the late eighteenth short, ‘bibliographical, editorial, biographical’. to the mid-twentieth century. Ranging widely across the fields of As Dixon explains, this meant “establishing and critically jus- Australian and postcolonial literatures, cultural studies and art tifying a national canon; building up basic scholarly resources history, the titles represent a body of work notable for its nim- such as bibliographies and histories of the national literature; ble shuttling between disciplines, and for its willingness to producing reliable editions of canonical texts; and publishing address key issues in the nation’s literary and cultural history. biographical and critical studies of Australian authors.”

12 sydney alumni magazine photo: Newspix photo: National Archives of Australia photo: National Archives

“The chair of Australian literature this looks something like the near fulfillment of a half-century long intellectual project. It is the great legacy of Wilkes’ and should continue to have a strong Webby’s generations.” custodial role – to profess the national literature and be an Literature’s paradox advocate for it in the public sphere But what lies beyond this? Dixon is quick to point out that no “final apotheosis” of Australian literary studies has occurred, and across the generations.” and that much remains to be done. A sharp contraction across the spectrum of literary studies over the past decade demands rear-guard action and passionate advocacy, he argues, while While he agrees that, in the present climate, these achieve- Australian studies, in particular, must remain open to the most ments cannot be taken for granted – “in many ways,” he says, invigorating aspects of those critical impulses – theory, feminist “the infrastructure of Australian literature now seems vulnera- studies, the whole panoply of post-colonial investigation – ble again” – Dixon nonetheless considers that a great deal has which have both challenged the subject’s raison d’être and been achieved. offered new tools with which to approach it. “For the time-being, at least, we have ‘definitive’ biographies Dixon sees the future of the discipline as lying in the embrace of most of the major writers; we have seen several generations of paradox. The old model of literary isolationism, for instance of critical assessments; since the 1960s there have been regular – of ring-fencing Australian writing so as to preserve it from new literary histories; and while the availability of editions and foreign taint – has always seemed narrow to him; often playing, reprints remains a concern, in the electronic resources of at its extremes, into the hands of an uncritical cultural nationalism. Austlit we have a wealth of data sets that critics and historians We cannot, he avers, view the poetic output of a figure like of Australian literature are only now learning to use. Henry Kendall as separate from the main currents of English “Apart from addressing some obvious gaps and omissions, poetry at that time, any more than we can claim some pure

autumn 2007 13 photo: Newspix photo: University of Sydney archives

Past chairs of Australian Literature ... (from left) Professor Elizabeth Webby, G.A. Wilkes, and Emeritus Professor Dame Leonie Kramer.

Professor Dixon proposes that and yet ultimately returns us to what is unique and valuable in our native literature. the best Australian authors Furthermore, ‘literature’ itself is not a discrete category, (White, Stead, Henry Handel unadulterated by other cultural influences. Dixon’s many publi- cations – of which the latest, an examination of the early Richardson) have evinced a Australian photographer Frank Hurley, is due to be published cosmopolitanism that ultimately by Melbourne University Press next year – speak of a fascination with the ways in which cultural constellations coalesce, interre- returns us to what is unique in late and disperse. But there are limits. His career-long interest in our native literature. what he calls “interdisciplinarity” is tempered by the sense that “to be good at interdisciplinary research you must first be an expert in a discipline.” And, while he recognizes the virtues of studying Australian writing within the horizon of the nation’s local vision from Patrick White: an author whose education wider culture, he remains adamant that his “foundational was English, and whose formative academic studies were commitment” is to Australia’s literature. directed toward European literature. Dixon knows that such interdisciplinary activities are in part borne of necessity: funding cuts, departmental mergers, the Circling of the wagons need for academics from differing backgrounds to work togeth- er on courses – all of these developments are, in part, a circling Instead, Dixon proposes that the best Australian authors of the wagons within the Humanities. Yet he would rather point (White, Stead, Henry Handel Richardson) – much like their to the virtues in keeping strange bedfellows. He is particularly academic proselytes (Wilkes, for instance, was also an Oxford- concerned to quash the idea of terminal decline in his field, educated specialist in literature of the English Renaissance) – an idea most recently aired by Rosemary Neil in an article have evinced a cosmopolitanism within limits: an understanding commissioned by The Australian. of the world republic of letters that both checks and qualifies, Referring to that piece, Dixon decries what he calls a Henny

14 sydney alumni magazine A valediction of sorts

To offer a farewell to Elizabeth Webby is also to offer a valediction of sorts.

Elizabeth Webby’s contribution to the field of Australian literary studies has been of such long standing, intellectual rigour and scholarly range that it almost impossible to extricate her story from that of the discipline: throughout a career spent as teacher, researcher, editor and author, individual and subject have all but fused together. To offer a farewell, then, as she steps down this year from 17 years as Professor of Australian Literature at the University of Sydney, is also to offer a valediction of sorts for the field. It will go on, of course, and hopefully thrive following her retirement; but the sense of guiding presence is impossible to duplicate. Webby has been engaged in research into Australia’s liter- ary and cultural history for over forty years. Her numerous publications include Early Australian Poetry (1982), Colonial Voices (1989), Modern Australian Plays (1990), The Cambridge Companion to Australian Literature (2000) and, as joint editor, Happy Endings (1987), The Penguin New Literary History of Australia (1988), Goodbye to Romance (1989), The Penguin Book of Australian Ballads (1993), Australian Feminism: A Companion (1998) and Walter & Mary: The Letters of Walter & Mary Richardson (2000). photo: Newspix She has also published numerous individual chapters for scholarly titles, articles and reviews. From 1988 to 1999 she edited Southerly,Australia’s oldest literary quarterly. She remains a member of the editorial boards of two major current projects: the Academy Editions of Australian Literature and A History of the Book in Australia, as well as Penny attitude towards Australian literary studies. Yes,it is true, those of several local and international journals. Since 1999 the number of staff and courses associated with Australian she has been a judge of the Miles Franklin Award, the literature has contracted – but so has that of literature across country’s most respected literary prize. the board. And while the emergence of theory has indeed been The sheer breadth of her scholarly interests was revealed a shock to the discipline, it has also resulted in all manner of by a conference held last month at the University of Sydney fruitful cross-pollination. in celebration of her contribution to the field, with topics Dixon believes that the canon of Australian literature has not running the gamut from colonial literature to publishing been destroyed by the new currents, but, rather, ventilated. Yet history to feminist studies. But while her research has been he does feel that efforts to redress the balance must be made if widely lauded, her fellow academics and students point to the field is to thrive. other, equally valuable traits. Dr Noel Rowe speaks for many “We do need … to adopt a more curatorial role,”he concludes, when he calls her ‘a great nourisher’ of writers and scholars, “to see ourselves not always as critics, but also as advocates for while Dr Brigid Rooney describes her as ‘a gift as a colleague, literature and ways of teaching and writing positively about it in giving according to need, never intruding, always supportive.’ the same way that an art gallery is responsible for exhibiting and It is this combination – individual excellence, allied with promoting informed, intelligent discussion about its paintings. an unstinting generosity towards others – that renders her “Elizabeth Webby has been a great example in this, and I contribution inimitable. Dr Nicholas Birns, editor of Antipodes, certainly think that the chair of Australian literature at Sydney the North American Journal of Australian Literature, recalls University should continue to have a strong custodial role – to a paper given by Professor Webby at a conference in Florida profess the national literature and be an advocate for it in the in 2001, entitled ‘The Traveling Heroine in Australian public sphere and across the generations.” Literature’. He writes, ‘I would like to nominate Elizabeth as Australian literary studies’ own traveling heroine – game, Geordie Williamson (BA ’01) is a postgraduate student in the savvy, delighting in life and learning, and contributing to Department of English at the University of Sydney. He regularly every academic context she touches.' reviews for The Australian and is a contributing editor of the Australian Book Review. — Geordie Williamson feature photo: Getty Images CAMPUS 2027 We can only guess at the life that awaits the cohort of University of Sydney students born this year. But we can be certain that the physical and intellectual environments inhabited by these students as they enter the University in 2027 will be markedly different from our own. Academics Rick Shine, Carole Cusack, Robert Aldrich, and Peter Reimann imagine how … Ecological perspectives pervade the academy Professor Rick Shine

niversities have always been about training people for jobs that do not yet exist but will emerge during the Uworking lives of the people being trained. We don’t know what those challenges will look like in 2027, but we can make some educated guesses. The biggest change I foresee will be forced on us by changes in our environment. Global warming will no longer be a matter of idle speculation or academic interest, but will affect people’s photo: lives. It will alter property values and food availability. Fossil Professor Rick Shine ... increasingly sophisticated understanding fuels will be prohibitively expensive, and there seems little hope of evolutionary processes. that alternative energy sources will be developed soon enough to prevent massive dislocation of our lifestyles. The extinction Not only will travelling be frightfully expensive and city centres crisis will have become so obvious that ignoring it will no almost impossible to reach, but the notion that one has to devote longer be an option. (and pay for) weeks and months of one’s time to learning about Accordingly, I see a future in which the role of ecological one or very few subjects will be incomprehensible. factors in shaping human history, conflict, legal systems, Students in 2027 will all be part-timers, because to allow the politics, agriculture, health and social structures will become intellectual elite to squander their time purely in study will be more and more apparent, and we will see an ecological unaffordable. Young bright citizens will be desperately needed perspective pervading a wide range of currently disparate to tackle a huge number of urgent challenges, such as those disciplines in the university system. resulting from environmental changes, lack of water, lack of The increasingly sophisticated understanding of evolutionary fossil resources, and a huge, mostly elderly population. They processes and molecular genetics will provide a basis for will have to learn much faster than current students do, and in evolutionary approaches to medicine and human welfare. As a much more integrated way than our current students. ecological constraints on human wellbeing come into stark Study will be chiefly concerned with putting knowledge to focus, we will increasingly understand that humans are just one use, because it will be urgently needed. I can’t see them having of many species struggling to make a living on this planet and enough time for studying “courses”, or for deserting their paid that many of the issues we obsess about are manifestations of work.Ofthe researchers who still work for universities (most our inability to grasp that simple fact. researchers won’t work in universities any more), none will At the same time, our improved grasp of evolutionary have the time to teach; all will be under huge pressure to produce principles and genetic mechanisms will provide immense research to help deal with the challenges. power to understand what it is to be human. Thus I see a future Other forces will drive universities to make their contribution in which the grand organising principles of ecology and evolution to society in ways vastly different from today. In particular, the will play a pre-eminent role in forming the framework within drive to be economically viable will increase. Education will which we will teach our students of 2027. consist of various smartly configured networks of organisations, – Professor Rick Shine is a Federation Fellow and Professor in including but not limited to universities and other research Evolutionary Biology, School of Biological Sciences. organisations, that can deliver society’s needs, analogously, perhaps, to the worldwide supply chains that drive large parts Putting the intellectual elite to work of today’s economy. Professor Peter Reimann – Professor Peter Reimann heads the Research Centre for Computer-supported Learning and Cognition (CoCo), Faculty of ather than focusing on the possible content of student Education and Social Work. education in 20 years’ time, I want to speculate on the Rway it might be accessed. Of course, the two are closely related: our conceptions of knowledge are grounded in a culture centred on the printed word, and the fact that today’s students can access information at any location, at any time The extinction crisis will have and from any source already challenges our notions of knowl- become so obvious that ignoring edge and skill. it will no longer be an option. I find it hard to believe that in 2027 students will come to campus and enrol in courses. The first notion implies that one – Professor Rick Shine must be at a specific place to learn, the other a certain admin- istrative procedure. Both are already unnecessary.

autumn 2007 17 Greek and Latin was necessary to matriculate, and at the old Students in 2027 will all English universities neither women nor non-Anglicans could earn degrees. Universities can, and should, change. be part-timers, because to What will be taught and how it will be taught in 20 years allow the intellectual elite to is a matter of conjecture, and historians do not make good clairvoyants. Students will certainly need to learn more about squander their time purely in certain areas of the world. I hope that they will still study study will be unaffordable. Europe, my own speciality, but they will have to engage increas- ingly with the cultures of two countries, China and India, that – Professor Peter Reimann are rapidly becoming economic and political powerhouses. Their demographic size and commercial development, as well as the intrinsic interest of their history and culture, will demand Pay attention to religion and identity greater attention. Dr Carole Cusack Even if we do not believe in “clashes of civilisations”,different cultures will command intense interest. Globalisation has not t is clear that religion is one of the most substantial issues done away with the multiplicity of languages, philosophies, that separates the West from the rest of the world. religions and lifestyles. Migration, multiculturalism and I hybridisation have created new cultures, and students will be In Africa, Asia and the Middle East people care passionately tracing their origins, tracking their evolution and analysing about religion, and religious discourses define the public culture. their structures. In contrast, even America (which is notably religious by Students will also be devoting more time, I think, to issues of Western standards) is widely regarded by those regions as godless the environment in the face of such areas as global warming, and secular. This is not strictly true, but the West has accepted epidemics and new forms of danger to health and wellbeing. that religion is private, a matter of individual conscience; the There will probably be more concern with questions of ethics rest of the world does not think this is so. and governance, of human rights and international law. Old By 2027 it is possible that contemporary phenomena such as verities about personal and collective behaviour have been terrorism, war and ecological catastrophe may have become challenged, often rightly so, while changes in science and tech- entrenched and an ever more desperate contest for resources nology open up enormous possibilities that pose philosophical, will characterise the relationship of Western nations with the moral and legal questions. rest of the world. Religion comes into its own in tumultuous times; it has the capacity for prophetic denunciation and for apocalyptic visions of the future. For students and academics in 2027 there would be several clear approaches to the study of Religion comes into its such an important phenomenon. own in tumultuous times; I believe the study of the relationship between religion and politics will grow in popularity as students seek to make sense it has the capacity for of their world and its probable future. prophetic denunciation and The study of ethical problems within religious frameworks of for apocalyptic visions. interpretation will receive fresh impetus from climate change, political instability and the scarcity of resources. Attention to – Dr Carole Cusack issues of religion and identity, and religion and the protection of human rights, will be crucial. – Dr Carole M. Cusack (BA '86, PhD '96, MEd '01) is a senior Our students in 20 years’ time will learn more about how lecturer, Studies in Religion, School of Letters, Art, and Media. knowledge is produced, transmitted and received, and it is any- one’s guess what sort of new media will exist in two decades. China and India on the radar The digitisation of documents, computer-based teaching and Professor Robert Aldrich almost limitless access to resources mean students will have an extraordinary “library”, but they will need to know how to use wenty-five years ago, when I began teaching here, there it, how to critique it and how to contribute to it. was no department of gender studies, no program in Students will still – I hope – need to learn how to ask questions Tmedia and communications, and no centre for peace and and formulate answers, how to read, write and argue cogently. conflict studies. That these areas are now thriving shows the The metamorphosis of labour and work means these generic emergence of new fields of research and teaching. Moreover, the skills will perhaps be the key to a graduate’s success. development of new resources – the internet, of course, was These are some of the areas with which our students will need barely known a quarter of a century ago – has created a revolu- to engage more fully in 20 years’ time. But why wait until then? tion in teaching and learning. For a historian, change is not surprising even in ivory towers. – Professor Robert Aldrich is Professor of European History and After all, in the 19th century (and even later), knowledge of

chair of the Department of History. illustration: Gregory Baldwin

18 sydney alumni magazine essay Essay by Rebecca Johinke

photo: Newspix SYDNEY our literary city

Great cities are as much defined by their writers as by their built environments. What then, do we make of Sydney’s architecture of the imagination, provided by the likes of Dorothy Porter, John Tranter, Kate Grenville and David Malouf?

20 sydney alumni magazine re you sitting comfortably with this magazine in one hand and a cup of tea or a glass of wine in the other? The image of Lilian AFeet up and shoes off? Fan on? Allow me to take you on a tour around Sydney and the University. traversing the streets of Perhaps start in the Rocks and make your way towards Glebe, Sydney by night has stayed stroll down Glebe Point Road, head across Broadway, past the Victoria Park pool on your left, across the footbridge and over with me a decade after the pond, up the steps to the Clock Tower and the Great Hall. first reading Lilian’s Story. Ignore the black monolithic horror that is the Fisher Library on your left, and press on into the Quadrangle. Now slow There are very few literary down and catch your breath. Is the jacaranda flowering? Are figures of women there tourists taking snaps? Is the University carillonist prac- tising her scales? Can you smell the freshly cut lawn, the damp who claim the streets fragrance of wet sandstone or better still a hint of coffee from as their own. a nearby office? Drink it in and then take the short cut out the back of the Quad and head west wending your way along the side of the versity and that’s what makes teaching English such a reward- Brennan MacCallum, and over to the John Woolley building. ing experience. You may have studied Engineering there many years ago or As an English lecturer who teaches primarily writing and English in recent decades. Just inside the entrance, the lecture rhetoric, I have a long-term interest in the way humans com- hall with its dark wooden benches remains the same but the municate – words, phrases, shrugs and gestures, sometimes texts studied these days range from Romeo and Juliet and even a scrawled message on a wall. One of my research interests Washington Square through to Candy or Southpark. Like me, is how authors, artists, and filmmakers portray the relationship you’re probably bored with the hysterical rhetoric about what between gender and technology. As with any research project, should or shouldn’t be taught in English departments, so let’s one book leads to another and an initial study of car culture has leave N395 behind and go down the corridor. morphed into an interest in pedestrians and a different kind of On your right, you notice that the halls feature an honour street culture. The study of walking, and the walkers who tread roll of former Chairs of English – Leonie Kramer (MA ’89), our streets, is a fascinating one as it involves the construction of Michael Wilding (DLitt ’96), Gerald Wilkes (BA ’49, DipEd ’50, meaning and identity via streetscapes – what I call the rhetoric MA ’52), and the infamous Samuel Goldberg. Keep walking – of the streets. So the way I look at roads, footpaths and take your time. Look at the names on the office doors: Judith cityscapes is shaped by my research. I’m fascinated by the way Beveridge, Sue Woolfe, Kate Grenville (BA ’73), Kate Lilley (BA both drivers and pedestrians navigate our streets and what that ’83), John Tranter (BA ’71), David Brooks, Barry Spurr (BA ’74, says about them and our society. PhD ’89, MA ’92), Penny Gay, Margaret Harris (BA ’63, MA ’66), and Elizabeth Webby (BA ’63, MA ’66, PhD ’73). They Broadway flâneur write the poems and books that shape our culture. They help define us as a nation, a city, and an institution. ccasionally, I venture out into the ‘real world’ and peep Germaine Greer (MA ’63, DLitt ’05), Andrew Riemer (BA out from behind my keyboard and books. If nothing ’60), Dorothy Porter (BA ’76), David Malouf (Dlitt ’98), David Oelse, I measure the length of Broadway everyday as I Marr (LLB ’71) and Nick Enright also once had their names on walk to and from work. As a kind of flâneur, I try to read the doors in these corridors. But let’s leave those familiar names environment around me and put my reflections into words. On behind, retrace your steps and exit the building and cut good days that means I pace out the stanzas of a new poem. I through the rear of the Badham building, and turn left into the also try to relate my ambulatory practices to my teaching. Too Graffiti Tunnel. Now stop. often as I scurry off to the library, a class, or a meeting, I ignore In composing this article for the Sydney Alumni Magazine, the rich messages that are under my feet or on the walls I brush I’m writing myself into this picture. I’m a new (middle-aged) past. All of us, writers and teachers especially, need to take more kid on the block but on Monday nights this semester, I’ll be time to stop and contemplate the myriad of signs around us. part of a team of three academics teaching a Masters subject We need to question how meaning is constructed. What does it called Literary Cities. We will be discussing three cities: mean to be a Sydneysider, a member of the University commu- Edinburgh, New Orleans, and Sydney. My textual turf will be nity, part of a literary city? What conferences and public lec- Sydney. As a relative newcomer to Sydney and the University of tures are being held on campus? How does our annual Writers’ Sydney, I chose Sydney as my city as a way to read and write my Festival shape our reading practices? Does a literary city mean way into the landscape. The campus itself is also a literary city that there is an abundance of libraries and bookshops? Do we of types and I’ll be both a tour guide and a tourist – my stu- include the suburbs when we conceptualise what a city is? What dents and I will learn from each other. Together, over a 13-week magazines and newspapers do we read? How do we include period, we will create our own unique Sydney. It will be well-read citizens of our city who do not read or write in ephemeral but no less substantial for its transitory status. Next English? I mull this over as I stride along lugging my bag of time I teach the course, we’ll create a new city and a new uni- books and marking.

autumn 2007 21 the City, Cityscapes, Edge of Empire, Countries of the Mind, Country and the City, and The City in Literature.

Campus connections

t the same time,I’m dipping into books and articles about Sydney and its history. John Birmingham’s ALeviathan provides a roller-coaster start and a counter- point to more whimsical accounts by Gerard Windsor (MA ’75) and Ihab Hassan. In 30 Days in Sydney,Peter Carey divides Sydney and its characters into four categories: earth, wind, fire, and water. Interestingly, he spends much of his time sketching the landscapes and seascapes immediately around Sydney and shies away from the CBD. Few writers, Carey included, can resist devoting pages to one of Sydney's most beloved charac- ters – Arthur Stace. Sydney is infatuated with Stace's body of work but more about him later. Where will my reading list start? I'm always searching for an excuse to re-read Kate Grenville’s Lilian's Story and so I think I’ll start my Sydney odyssey hand-in-hand with Lilian and explore the campus with her. Despite her father’s scorn, she was drawn to the lecture halls and the sandstone walls of this insti- tution and so she shares our history. The image of Lilian tra- versing the streets of Sydney by night has stayed with me a decade after first reading the book. There are very few literary figures of women who have the agency to claim the streets as their own – to walk unchaperoned at night — and I’d like my class to consider this and the figure of the flâneur (or flâneuse). Writers such as Walter Benjamin, Michel de Certeau, and Edmund White have mused about the process of walking a city into existence and so it will be interesting to use Sydney as a backdrop with a female protagonist centre stage and see what my students think about that. The Last Magician by Janette Turner Hospital is another favourite and so that is on my list too. Hospital contrasts met- ropolitan Sydney with the rainforests of her home state Queensland. The rainforests have their dark secrets too – they smell of ‘seduction and fermentation and death’ but Sydney is particularly corrupt and decaying. One character, Charlie, doc- uments the inferno-like ‘quarry’ in his photographs and films which provide a different kind of text – another way of con- structing a narrative about Sydney. In mapping a city, either in words or pictures, do we seek to control it – make it static and somehow more manageable? In writing a city does it become a text we can understand or, better still, conquer? photo: Newspix No survey of urban fiction would be complete without a crime novel and The Monkey’s Mask by Dorothy Porter is a Writer Dorothy Porter … The Monkey's Mask offers a beautiful beautiful but bleak tour of the genre and this city. I’ll be asking but bleak tour of Sydney. my students to consider where a verse novel written by an Australian woman, with a lesbian private eye as its protagonist, As a researcher who spends most of her time in the library sits in relation to the rise of the detective novel in the nine- rather than conducting ethnographic fieldwork, all of my intel- teenth and twentieth centuries. The streets that are described in lectual journeys start with books and so when first considering her poems are familiar ones – Glebe Point Road and a nameless Sydney as a literary city I wanted to know what other writers university (it even features a sinister English lecturer). We’ll have written about literary cities. I admire the way Edmund consider what Porter’s Jill Fitzpatrick has in common with White writes Paris from the ground up and so I revisited the other Sydney detective characters such as Peter Corris’ Cliff Rue des Beaux Arts with him. The streets of London, Berlin Hardy, or perhaps the characters in Chris Nyst’s Crook as and New York are unfolding as I slowly make my way through Rookwood.How does Sydney’s history of crime and corruption The Image of the City in Modern Literature, Women Writers and and its reputation as a shallow corrupt society influence the

22 sydney alumni magazine streets of Sydney’.Stace heeded the call and spent year and year writing Eternity in chalk copperplate on pavements all around What does it mean to be a inner Sydney. His legacy continues with poems, plaques, an opera, t-shirts, bags, and all manner of memorials. Who can Sydneysider, a member of the forget the sight of Eternity lit up on the side of the Sydney University community, part Harbour Bridge in 2000? of a literary city? Eternal rest

hat I didn’t know until I started writing this essay is that Stace bequeathed his body to the University characters, the author, and the genre? How do these Sydney- Wof Sydney and so our collective journey around the based texts differ from say Peter Temple’s crime stories set in streets of the inner-city returns to this campus again. I like to Melbourne? I can’t wait for tutorials to begin so that I can hear think of him resting here for eternity but apparently his stay what the students have to say about their town. Does Porter, here was relatively short and his remains were eventually buried Cole, Corris or Nyst sketch a city that reminds them of home? in Botany Cemetery. I can’t help but think that he’d be fasci- How would they write Sydney? nated by modern-day taggers and so let’s wind our way back to This is where we end up back at the beginning – to thinking the place we stopped before – the Graffiti Tunnel. Are the stu- about what it means for a city to be a literary city. Who is doing dents who practice their art there Stace’s descendants? Recent the reading and the writing and just what constitutes a text? messages have included: ‘God: Wrath or Mercy?’, and ‘Jesus, I Although I’ll be concentrating on books such as Lilian’s Story, trust in you’.Stace’s disciples prevail and do battle over the tex- The Monkey’s Mask, and The Last Magician, I’ll also ask stu- tual turf with student politicians and their pleas for votes: dents to consider sites such as the Graffiti Tunnel as texts that ‘Student Power’,‘Dan 4 Prez’ and ‘Think about it’.My favourite are written and can be literally written on (rather than just however is the plaintive ‘Where else have we to go?’ Feeling lost? written about). I’m going to suggest that Arthur Stace is a sem- All roads seem to be leading us back to campus or the imagined inal figure in Sydney’s history because he used it as his canvas university memorialised in words. (or blank page). His impermanent Eternity written in chalk on Often when we need to get away, we seek solace in the pages Sydney streets has proven to be indelible. I like to imagine of a book. I’m getting to know Sydney but I’ve never been to Arthur and a young Lilian treading the same streets by the grey Edinburgh or New Orleans, nor read The Prime of Miss Jean light of dawn – both figures avoiding the limelight but relent- Brodie, The Fanatic, The Grandissimes or The Awakening.My lessly writing Sydney into being step-by-step, week after week. colleagues Dr Will Christie and Dr Bruce Gardiner will be my Why is it that Stace has come to symbolise Sydney? A child of tour guides. Books have always had the power to transport us the slums of Balmain, Stace grew up surrounded by poverty to unfamiliar places – I’m impatient for the journey to begin. If and alcoholism. Desperation and hunger led him to St you’re free on Monday nights this semester, why not come Barnaby’s church on Broadway and his spiritual journey began. along – you know the way. (I pass the blackened corpse of the church everyday – it burnt down last year). It’s believed that Stace was inspired by a Dr Rebecca Johinke is a lecturer in the Department of English at preacher who cried ‘I wish I could shout eternity through the the University of Sydney.

autumn 2007 23 history

The astonishing discovery of Raymond Dart

Although he died relatively unknown in Australia, Raymond Dart’s discovery of the Taung skull marked a fundamental breakthrough in paleoanthropology. Ted Docker reports.

he recent discovery on the Indonesian island of Flores of Ta possible new species of mankind was a reminder of just how much investigation into human origins owes to Australian research. Aided by an Australian Research Council grant, a team of archaeologists under the direction of the University of New England’s (UNE) Mike Morwood discovered the skull and mandible of an adult ape-like creature standing only a metre tall and possessed of a brain no bigger than that of a chimpanzee. It was no ordinary ape, however. Seeing it for the first time, Professor Peter Brown, Morwood’s palaeoanthropological colleague at the UNE, recognised it immediately as belonging to some very early relative of modern humans. However, Morwood and Brown were not the first Australians to astonish the world of palaeoanthropology, that is, the study of our ancestors. In 1924 the Queenslander Raymond Dart (MB ’17, MS ’17, MD ’27) then Professor of Anatomy at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, made the even more remarkable discovery of what came to be known as the Taung baby. It was altogether a most extraordinary story. The son of a dairy farming family photo: Photo Library in the Lockyer valley district of southern Queensland, Dart had gone from Professor Raymond Dart … hailed as one of the great scientists of the 20th century. Ipswich Grammar School to Queensland University and on to the University of

24 sydney alumni magazine Sydney, carrying off most of the medical once envisaged by Charles Darwin as honours of his day before joining the the birth-place of mankind. Australian Army Medical Corps to In Johannesburg, Dart soon had his serve briefly in England and France students on the hunt for whatever the during the latter stages of WWI. In limestone caves, and shores of lakes London, he came to the notice of and streams might reveal in the way of Grafton Elliot Smith (MB 1893, MS fossils and primitive artefacts. One day, 1893, MD 1895), Professor of Anatomy after less than two years in the country, at London’s University College. he found himself staring at the A fellow Australian and fellow gradu- endocranial cast of the interior of a ate of the University of Sydney one skull blasted out of a limestone deposit generation before Dart, Elliot Smith near a place called Taung. Although it was the unusually gifted neurologist was partially encased in a chunk of and comparative anatomist who had bone-bearing breccia, Dart could see at gained an international reputation for a glance that this was a brain belonging himself through his work on the brain. to neither ape nor modern man. Elliot Smith had long been the young He was aware of what Darwin had Dart’s idol, and the chance now offered written in The Descent of Man (1871). him of working as a demonstrator in “We must not fall into the error of Smith’s department, he seized as a supposing that the early progenitor of photo: Newspix, from a painting by Peter Schouten. heaven-sent opportunity. the whole simian stock including man Dart was thoroughly enjoying him- was identical with, or even closely Artist’s impression of the Flores “hobbit” self in London at the time, meeting all resembled, any existing ape or monkey.” … Raymond Dart’s discovery of a similarly the right people thanks to Elliot Smith, small hominid, Australopithecus And this brain, as he himself was to africanus, equally astonished the world. and revelling in the experience of work- write, “was not big enough for primitive man, while for an ape it was just too opinion of Phillip Tobias, who succeeded 'Those who have big and bulging, the forebrain having the Queenslander in Johannesburg. come after Dart grown so far backward as to completely “For that revolution in thought cover the hindbrain.” about human evolution, Dart’s discovery have simply filled Dart had no doubt that early members and what he made of it will forever be out details of Man’s of the human race would one day be remembered as the most fundamental found. But it was to take the scientific breakthrough in palaeoanthropology. tortuous path of community a good 20 years or more to Next to it, all those who have come development.' accept that the fossil he had named after him have simply filled out details Australopithecus africanus (Southern of Man’s tortuous path of development – Phillip Tobias, Ape) represented the first small-brained over the last 3 or 4 million years,” University of the hominid to be discovered and identified Tobias said. anywhere in the world. Loaded with awards, honorary Witwatersrand Just as the Dutchman Eugene degrees and honors of all kinds, hailed Dubois’ discovery of Java Man had as one of the 20 great scientists of the ing in the best-equipped university taken our knowledge of evolution a 20th century, Dart was to reach the age medical laboratories in the country. step further back beyond the of 95 before his death in South Africa The next thing he knew, Smith wanted Neanderthal phase, in 1988. Perhaps because he lived the him to take up a post in Johannesburg. so Dart’s discovery of the Taung baby greater part of his life abroad, this son Dart decided he might as well go to initiated a series of African studies that of an Australian diary farmer remains Africa and while there, thoroughly promised to “plumb the very depths not particularly well-known in his acquaint himself with the continent of human emergence.” That was the own country. sport

Cricket’s clean sweep

Given the chance to lead her country, Lisa Sthalekar grabbed it with both hands, writes Graham Croker.

fter leading Australia to victory over New Zealand in the Rose Bowl cricket series, Universities photo: NewsPix A Cricket Club captain Lisa Sthalekar (BA ’04) has topped off a wonderful season by being named Women’s International Cricketer of the Year. Sthalekar's life took a new twist last October when the Australian women’s cricket captain, Karen Rolton, left the field with a knee injury in the second one-day international against New Zealand. The 27-year-old Sthalekar was suddenly thrust into the role of captaining Australia. She handled the situation with aplomb, guiding the Southern Stars to victory and then leading the side to a five-nil clean sweep of the Rose Bowl series. “It had always been a dream to captain my country,” says Sthalekar, a former Sydney University Sport Scholarship holder who has a BA Australian captain Lisa Sthalekar … the first University of Sydney player to captain the Australian women's cricket team since Mollie Dive in 1948. (Psychology) from the University and works for Cricket NSW as a high- performance coach. “I had captained NSW, but when Karen was injured during the second match of the series I took over the reins. I was the vice-captain but I suddenly found myself paying more attention when Karen went off injured.” Sthalekar is the first University of Sydney player to captain the Australian women’s cricket team since the legendary Mollie Dive (BSc ’36), who led Australia to their first Ashes win over England in 1948-49. Dive, who won Blues in cricket and hockey and also represented the University at netball and tennis,

26 sydney alumni magazine maintained a lifelong association in the history of Australian rugby, it’s a tour. He also earned caps against with sport. huge honour.” He has since been Ireland and Scotland. The talented all-rounder Sthalekar named captain of the NSW Waratahs And Trent Franklin was a very proud seems destined to follow suit. for 2007. man when he captained the Australian Born in Pune, she lived for just three Having led Australia A earlier in the men’s water polo team in a series weeks in India before her family moved season, Campbell captained Australia in against Serbia as a warm-up to the to Australia. Like most Australian two midweek matches on the European 2007 World Cup. cricketers, Sthalekar’s career with the bat and ball began in the backyard with her father, who also took her to games at the Sydney Cricket Ground. “Coming from India, Dad loves his cricket and I naturally followed, partic- ularly after visiting the SCG,” she says. “I liked tennis and softball, but cricket took over.” Sthalekar played Saturday-morning cricket in boys’ teams with the local Pennant Hills-Cherrybrook Junior Club in Sydney from the under-10s to under-16s. Her talents were soon recognised, and by 13 she was also playing grade cricket with Gordon on Saturday afternoons. She captained the NSW Combined High School XI and later the Australian Youth team and was selected for NSW while an undergraduate. Sthalekar, who bats in the middle order and bowls right-arm off spin, was selected in the Australian one-day side in 2001, made her Test debut against England in the 2002-03 series, played in the winning World Cup side in 2005 and was named vice-captain of the Test and one-day team last year. She also steered NSW to victory in the 2005-06 Women’s National Cricket League in her first season as captain.

Australian captains

While Sthalekar was captaining the Southern Stars, three other University of Sydney sportsmen were about to have the mantle of Australian captaincy bestowed on them. Sydney University Football Club flanker Phil Waugh and second-rower Al Campbell were members of the Australian Rugby Union spring tour of Europe. With Wallaby captain Stirling Mortlock out injured, Waugh was called on to lead Australia in the Test against Wales, which ended 29-all.

“It’s very exciting,” Waugh says. photo: Paul Seiser “When you look at the calibre of players that have captained Australia Al Campbell … led Australia A earlier in the Rugby season.

autumn 2007 27 alumni updates

Key new role for alumni committee Standing Committee becomes Alumni Council

hensible to alumni, students and staff. “The new common usage title is simple and conveys what we are about,” says Alumni Council president Dr Barry Catchlove (MBBS ’66). The term ‘convocation’ is of biblical origin, meaning an assembly of the graduates and friends of a university. The Standing Committee was estab- lished in the 1930s, and has been meeting regularly since then. In a nod to this tradition, the University Act will not be changed and the Standing Committee of Convocation name will remain. The Standing Committee, however, will be known as the Alumni Council. The Alumni Council provides a central point of reference for commu- nications between the University’s

photo: Ted Sealy photo: Ted alumni associations (there are over 40 of them world-wide), the Senate Dr Barry Catchlove … the new name conveys what the Alumni Council is about. and Vice-Chancellor, and acts as an advisory body to the Alumni he University of Sydney Senate After almost 70 years operating as Relations Office. has approved a new name for the Standing Committee of This change reflects a significant Tthe Standing Committee of Convocation, committee members increase in the importance that the Convocation. The committee will agreed that the name did not reflect University places on its ties to alumni now be known as the University of the committee’s role as the peak alumni networks, and the role of the Alumni Sydney Alumni Council. body, and that it was often incompre- Council in supporting their growth. Women’s College inaugural awards Recognising the achievements and service of alumnae

uentin Bryce, former principal of the Women’s College at the QUniversity of Sydney, will deliver the Louisa Macdonald Oration at the Women’s College on 25 May 2007. The oration commemorates the Women’s College founding principal, Louisa Macdonald, who arrived in Australia from Britain in 1892. Ms Bryce will also announce the first recipients of two new Women’s College awards: the Women’s College Alumna Award and Young Alumna Award (for a woman under 35 years). These awards recognise the achievements and service of Women’s College alumnae in their professions, community, arts, sport or family life. A human rights lawyer and the first woman to lecture law at the University of Queensland, Bryce was former Federal Sex Discrimination Comm- issioner, inaugural director of the Queensland Women’s Information Service, and chief executive of the National Childcare Accreditation Council. She was appointed Governor of Queensland in 2003 Former Women's College principal Quentin Bryce … delivers the Louisa Macdonald Current Women’s College principal Oration at the Women's College on 25 May. Yvonne Rate says: “The judging of these awards will be so interesting, psychiatrist, and Women’s College prominent professional, but each will because so many of these women alumna Margaret Sheridan. embody in some way the College’s have done such extraordinary things. The alumnae awards aim to reflect vision of its students as “women who It will be a real challenge narrowing women’s leadership, vision, creativity, shape the future”.Nominations for the the field.” innovation and initiative. The College awards can be made by a member of A sculpture will be unveiled as part has stressed that the recipient of the the Women’s College Alumnae. Contact of the event, created by sculptor, awards may be a quiet achiever or a [email protected] alumni updates

Upcoming alumni events & reunions

1957 Engineering Reunion Faculty of Engineering alumni from the graduating class of 1957 are invited to a 50th anniversary celebration at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron on 5 May 2007. Starting at noon for 12:30 pm. Contact Max Sherrard on +61 2 9449 2360

International House 40th anniversary Alumni and friends of International House are invited to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of International House at a formal lunch on 14 July 2007 in the Great Hall with guest speaker Mr Allan Moss, managing director of Macquarie Bank. Contact

Claudia Morales on +61 2 9950 9800 or photo: NewsPix email [email protected] High Commissioner John Dauth with Prime Minister John Howard … will address the Faculty of Economics and Graduate Connections Breakfast. Business reception Faculty of Economics and Business Association has invited Professor Alumni Reception in New York alumni are welcome to attend an alumni Stephen Garton, Dean of the Faculty of Dr Bruce Stillman, president of Cold networking reception on 4 April 2007 Arts, to welcome 2007 with a talk on the Spring Harbor Laboratory, will address between 6pm and 8pm at the Union faculty at the present time. Alumni are an alumni reception on 29 March 2007, Club, Sydney CBD. Contact Kim welcome to the event, at the University on the topic ‘Understanding two Lockwood on +61 2 9036 6271 or of Sydney on 20 March 2007 from similar cultures – a new US Studies email [email protected] 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Contact Paul Crittenden Centre’ at the Cornell Club, on +61 2 9799 7796 or Rosemary 6 East 44th Street, New York. Visit Medical Faculty: Year of ’45 Huisman on +61 2 9437 4700 www.advance.org/en/calendarevents/ Medical Faculty alumni from the monthly.asp for more information. graduating year of 1945 are invited to a Medical Faculty: Year of ’82 reunion on 13 April 2007 at the Royal Medical Faculty alumni from the Graduate Connections Breakfast Sydney Yacht Squadron in Kirribilli. graduating year of 1982 are invited All alumni are welcome to attend a Please contact John Goldie on to a reunion on 5 May 2007 at the breakfast lecture with guest speaker +61 2 9332 1624. Refectory, Holme Building, University John Dauth (BA ’69) at the Tearoom of Sydney, from 7pm. Contact David in the Queen Victoria Building, Pharmacy lunch and ball Kinchington on 0418 266 486 Sydney. Dauth is currently High Pharmacy alumni are invited to attend or email [email protected] a country luncheon at Yarramolong on Commissioner to New Zealand 29 April 2007 and the Pharmacy Ball at Victorian Alumni Association dinner and until recently was Australia’s the Sydney Convention Centre on 16 The Victorian Alumni Association ambassador and permanent representative June 2007. Contact Margarethe Trimble invites alumni to dinner with the to the United Nations. Date to be on +61 2 9351 2668 or email: Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor confirmed. Contact Andrea Besnard [email protected] Gavin Brown AO, on 23 March 2007. on +61 2 9351 2673 or Contact Daniel O’Brien on email to [email protected]. Details Arts Alumni Association +61 2 9036 9222 or also available online at The University of Sydney’s Arts Alumni email [email protected] www.usyd.edu.au/alumni

30 sydney alumni magazine International contacts The University of Sydney supports a vibrant group of international alumni associations and networks. Each of them provides exciting and interesting programs to graduates in their regions. Contact details are listed below.

China Alumni Network The University of Sydney Mr Vincent Lam (BSc ’84) United Kingdom Alumni President Association (USUKAA) Phone: +86 10 6517 9999 Kerrie Botley Email: [email protected] Phone: +44 20 7201 6882 Email: [email protected] Sydney University Graduates Union of North America (SUGUNA) Hong Kong Alumni Michael Challis (BE ’54) Association, Singapore Secretary / Treasurer Alumni Chapter and Phone: +17 3 4971 6186 Alumni Network Email: [email protected] in Europe Sydney University Graduates of Anna Schubert Malaysia (SUGMA) Chapters Officer Ken Lim (BSc ’91, BArch ’94) The University of Sydney Committee Member Phone: +61 2 9036 9644 Phone: +60 3 2711 4711 Email: Email: [email protected] [email protected] grapevine

(published by Polgrave, (Mix 106.5) and is acting Development Certificate 2000s UK). The launch was held in Home and Away for a with the University of at Sydney University on 1 few months. South Africa in 2000 and Benedetta Calzavara December 2006, with now works with the World (MLitt ’02) left her home University staff member Setsuo Otsuka (DEd ’06) Relief Corporation. city Milan last year to take Gerard Goggin (PhD ’99) writes that he is the first up a position as an art also launching his latest Japanese student to receive exhibition manager at book. Both books were a Doctor of Education in Complesso del Vittoriano launched by Professor the Sociology of Education “He misses the in Rome. In October 2006 Elspeth Probyn: Cultural from the University of Studies’ Affective Voices Sydney. His thesis examined elephants in Africa she married Salvatore but says it's great Trombatore. The couple (Gregg, 2006), and Cell Phone cultural influences on aca- is based in Rome. Culture (Goggin, 2006). demic performance in Fiji. to be home.” He is currently lecturing at – James Thompson Nesbitt Denis Hazelman Tiffany Preece Charles Sturt University in (MIR and HRMgt ’04) (BA ’04, MMedia Prac ’06) Wagga Wagga, NSW. returned to Fiji after com- has returned from New pleting his masters program York after performing in Bronwyn Pearson in 2003. He became general The October Sapphire,a play 1990s (BEd ’96) has taught for 25 manager of Divisional written by her friend Nick years. She has created two Support Services for the Fiji Coyle and first performed Julie Field and Martin guided meditation CDs to Development Bank, based at the Sydney University Field (BSc ’94) are in help students learn simple in Suva, and is the current Dramatic Society (SUDS) training at the Anglican relaxation techniques. chairman of the Fiji in 2004. The recent per- Church Missionary Society These skills she believes Employers Federation formances were part of the in Melbourne. They will assist students to build a Human Resources Council. New York International learn Spanish and take up healthy state of mind and Fringe Festival, and most a post in Argentina confidence. Her CDs have Melissa Gregg (PhD ’04) of the cast were University both been well received by recently launched the book of Sydney alumni. Tiffany Gholamreza Heidari the public. version of her PhD thesis is now working in radio (Dip PHlth Dent ’92) previously worked with the Penny Szentkuti (BE ’93) World Health Organization travelled between Sydney, as a technical adviser in the London and Slovakia after Mediterranean region and finishing her degree. She SHARE YOUR NEWS later joined the Health and returned to Sydney to work Medical Education Ministry at King David Prep School in Iran. He was appointed (Moriah College) then University of Sydney alumni are invited to share their director general for Iran's settled into teaching at news in this section of the Sydney Alumni Magazine. Network Development and Sydney Grammar St Ives We’re interested in hearing about your career, academic Health Promotion, and is Prep School. In 2003 she achievements, community involvement, or other events. working on reforms in moved to Randwick and Please send details via email Iran’s health sector. took up a position as part- or post to the Sydney Alumni time teacher-librarian at Magazine editor. Full contact Victor Kabaghe Kambala. Penny married, details are listed on page 1. (GradDip PHlth ’95) has had a baby, and is now worked with World Vision enjoying full time mum You can also update your International and managed duties. Last year she details and search for classmates a Canadian-funded nutri- completed a Postgraduate online by registering with your tion project in Malawi Diploma in Special Alumni Web Community at (1996 – 2001). Victor Education at Macquarie www.usyd.edu.au/alumni obtained an Advanced University.

32 sydney alumni magazine How to ... Adrienne Cahalan (LLB ’89, BA ’90) Stay calm when you’re all at sea James Thompson “The buck stops with you,” says Adrienne Cahalan, professional yacht racer, (BVetSc ’92) worked in lawyer and the fastest woman circumnavigator. “As a navigation and meteorology North Wales, Zimbabwe specialist, people come to you for advice. As in law, there is no point saying 'it and Scone (NSW) before depends' – you have to tell them what you think they should do.” returning home to start a A trailblazer for women in a formerly male-dominated sport, career highlights veterinary clinic on Sydney’s for Adrienne include breaking the around-the-world record and winning the North Shore. He misses the 2005 Sydney to Hobart race on Wild Oats II. elephants in Africa but says “Working in confined spaces, things have to be resolved quickly,” it’s great to be home. she says. And because navigation is such a precise science, she says preparation is paramount. Piccolo Willoughby “Making a mistake can be the difference between (BA ’98, LLB '02) has been winning and losing.” working in Fiji since 2004 When you're at sea, experiencing rough weather, as a legal officer for a non- you need patience, optimism and the ability to let government organisation things unfold. “You accept you are dealing with called Citizens’ Constitutional many variables beyond your control. You realise Forum. The position was life is short and stop worrying about the small arranged by Australian things. It teaches you responsibility because Volunteers International. you can’t compromise peoples' safety.” He married his love, — Marie Jacobs Jotishma Devi, in Suva in January 2007. Adrienne Cahalan’s autobiography, Around the Buoys, was released in September, and is photo: NewsPix 1980s available online at www.dymocks.com.au

Russell Ferrier Jennifer Paterson Centre for Contiuing Phyllis McLaughlin (BEcon ’84) has spent (née McNeilly) (BSc ’85) Education, and his new (née White) (BScAgr ’74) many years working and is a public health officer at book The Little Red Writing has been working for the living in London, and after Sydney West Area Health. Book appeared in October past four years at Tudor a brief period in Washington She is a member of a local 2006. Mark has five children House Preparatory DC and San Diego, moved musical theatre group in and lives in Glebe. His latest School in Moss Vale. She to Buenos Aires in 2002 to Sydney's northern districts, book, The Blue Plateau,will graduated with her MEd fulfil a long-held desire to and is interested in catching be released this year. (SpecialEd) in 2004 and develop real estate. He says up with Wesley collegians lives in the Southern things couldn’t be better. from the 1980s. Highlands of NSW with 1970s her husband Bruce and Janet Naylon (BEd ’89 Sheryn Platts (MA ’83) is four children: Alex, Angus, wishes to say a big thank happily teaching nurses at Jennifer Donovan Tom and Tess. you to her family, friends North Sydney TAFE. She (MBBS ’76, MMedHum ’06) and colleagues for supporting was most proud to learn awarded a Master of Medical Joseph Kaven her team in the Oxfam that a friend from primary Humanities degree with (Dip TropMed & Hyg ’76) Trailwalker. The team school is now a Professor merit on 20 October 2006. is now 50 years old. He raised over $10,000. Janet of Psychology at the graduated from the is off on her next mad University of Sydney. Bruce McLaughlin University at the age of 25. adventure to Switzerland (BScAgr ’74) re-shaped his Later he completed a post- with her partner, Stuart, so Mark Tredinnick career in 2003, leaving graduate degree at the he can run up a mountain (BA ’84 LLB ’86) has property development and University of Papua New in the World Masters taught creative business moving to the Southern Guinea. Joseph is a physi- Mountain Running writing for 10 years at the Highlands to teach science cian consultant in Papua Championships. University of Sydney’s at a local high school. New Guinea.

autumn 2007 33 grapevine

Chris Mansell (BEc ’75) the mandatory age of 65. Relations; chairman of the member of the Australian recently published her eighth Adewuni is currently Central Trades Committee, College of Herbal book of poems, Love Poems, working part-time at Commonwealth representa- Medicine. Gerry lives on with Kardoorair Press. Bowen University, a private tive on the commitee on the Gold Coast with his wife, university near Ibadan. Discrimination in Sue, and has professional David Wright She is working on standar- Employment and Occu- rooms at Tweed Heads (Dip TCPlan ’73) moved to dising the university’s pation, and a member of and Ballina. Canberra after he grad- catalogue record. the National Occupational Health and Safety Comm- uated to join the National “On 11 December Capital Development Harold Klose (BA ’64) ission. From 1989 to 1996 Commission. He stayed was a teacher in NSW high he was the executive director 2006 a ceremony with the Commission until schools for 23 years. He of labour relations for the was held at Mullewa 1989, then joined the recently celebrated 25 years ACT. He represented the to hand over old National Capital Authority as owner of a computer busi- ACT in national wage cases field photos to the where he worked in statu- ness, Timbertown Computers, before the Commonwealth tory planning, development in Wauchope, NSW. Industrial Relations Comm- Yamaji Aboriginal planning, national capital ission. He retired in 1996. community.” projects and, finally, as the Annette Van Den Bosch – Ruth Latukefu director of the National (DipEd ’66 BA ’66 PhD ’90) Capital Plan. David retired retired from Monash 1950s in July last year after almost University due to the Ruth Latukefu (née Fink) 33 very enjoyable years with closure of the Department Gerald (aka Gerry) (BA ’54, MA ’56) attended the Commonwealth. of Art and Architectural Douglas (MBBS ’57) has the symposium 50 Years of History in 2005. Annette is enjoyed a diverse career in Anthropology in The West at now an Honorary Fellow medicine. He completed his the University of Western “I retired in July last in the Centre for Leisure residency at Townsville Australia in December year after almost Management Research, Hospital and became a 2006. Ruth worked at the 33 very enjoyable Faculty of Business and general practitioner at University of Western Law at Deakin University, Sutherland for nine years. Australia as a Senior years with the Burwood Campus. Research Fellow on social He later became an evaluator Commonwealth.” change and cultural identity with the Therapeutic Ernest M To in Murchison, Western – David Wright Substances Branch of the (BE ’66 MBldgSc ’73) has Australia. She visited Commonwealth Department been selected for inclusion Geraldton and Mullewa to of Health, then joined in a biographical directory present old field photos CIBA Pharmaceuticals as published by Marquis Who’s (now on CD Rom) to the 1960s associate medical director Who,a leading biographical Yamaji Aboriginal commu- before becoming medical Dennis Buckley (BSc ’67, reference publisher of the nity. On 11 December director of CIBA-Geigy. MSc ’68, PhDSc ’71) has highest achievers and con- 2006 a ceremony was held retired as director of staff tributors from around During this time he was at Mullewa to hand over and student services of the he world. also a clinical assistant at the photos. University of London but Royal North Shore remains as chairman of the John Woodrow (BA ’62) Hospital. He returned to university’s superannuation was an officer of the general practice, working in 1940s scheme. Commonwealth Public Perth, Sydney, and Ballina Service Board from 1962 to until 1955. He is a Fellow Reginald Clarke Adewuni Faniran 1979. He attained the rank of the Royal Australian (BSc Agr ’40) is a senior (Dip TEFL ’68) worked at of assistant commissioner. College of General alumnus of the Faculty the University of Ibadan in From 1980 to 1987 he was Practitioners, a member of of Agriculture. He was a Nigeria from 1974 to 2005. first assistant secretary in the College of Nutritional student from 1936 to 1939, She retired as deputy the Department of Employ- and Environmental graduating in June 1940. librarian in April 2005 at ment and Industrial Medicine, and a founding He taught agriculture at

34 sydney alumni magazine Muswellbrook, Nowra and Hurlstone, became a Allan Stewart (BDS ’36] subject master at Maclean, then deputy principal at Yanco Agricultural High Never too old School, then principal at Broken Hill High (the Allan Stewart returned to university after a successful career in dentistry, largest high school in and graduated with a Bachelor of Law degree. NSW). He finished as principal at Hurlstone Proving you are never too old to learn, 91-year-old Tea Gardens resident and Agricultural High School University of Sydney alumnus Allan Stewart has graduated from the University of in 1978. He was the New England (UNE) with a Bachelor of Law degree. inaugural president of Dr Stewart received a standing ovation as he climbed the steps to receive his the NSW High School testamur from the University’s Chancellor. Principals’ Association. Dr Stewart was born on March 7, 1915, a little over a month before the first Anzacs landed at Gallipoli. He enjoyed a distinguished career in dentistry after Donald Evans graduating from the University of Sydney in 1936, working for many years on (MateriaMedica Sydney’s Macquarie Street. But he says his passion was always law. Pharmacol ’48) has just The father of six, grandfather of 12 and great grandfather of six, completed his law completed a history of degree at UNE in a mere four and a half years (it normally takes six years to complete). pharmacy from the 4th “Time is of the essence when you get to my age,” Dr Stewart joked. century to 2006. Donald Dr Stewart played down the significance of his achievement, describing himself established a group of retired as an “average, middle-of-the-road Australian.” volunteer pharmacists to “I feel a little humble about it,” he said. assist 3rd and 4th year Dr Stewart said he had decided to return to study after his son Alan Cameron students in the laboratory Stewart (BPharm ’74) completed a counselling degree and in dispensing. at UNE. “I wanted to get back to university life,” Roma Francombe-Bedford he said. “I am a great believer in keeping the (MBBS ’54), after years of mind and body active. I have been told that specialising in anaesthet- although I am 91 years old, my biological ics, Roma is now studying age has not kept up with me.” pain management in the Completing his law degree presented a ACT and Sydney. Her chil- number of challenges to Dr Stewart, not dren are now married least because his course material was mostly with children of their delivered over the Internet. own. Roma’s grandchil- “I was not literate in computers at all. I dren are both in Australia was completely self-taught as far as that and overseas. Her husband was concerned.” is semi-retired. Dr Stewart said he hoped his graduation would serve as an inspiration to other Stephen Smyth (BA ’55) people to take up study in later life. reports that his family has “I think it is an encouragement to gained nine Bachelor the community in general, and to degrees, three Masters – people of my generation in one of which is from the particular,” he said. University of Sydney – three diplomas and two — Kristen Bastian, Australian honours. His Myall Coast Nota photo: wife Eris was named on (reproduced with Tasmania’s Honour Roll of permission). Women in 2006.

autumn 2007 35 From 26 March 2007 diary Faces of Power: Imperial Portraiture on Roman Coins Nicholson Museum 30 April – 8 June 2007 Using coins from the Nicholson Outpouring Museum's extensive but little-seen University Art Gallery collection, this exhibition traces the Outpouring is an installation by Jan 19 February – October 2007 history of the imperial families of Fieldsend created for the University Rational Order: ancient Rome. Carl Von Linné 1707–1778 Art Gallery space. This work continues Macleay Museum her use of military insignia and Carl von Linné (or Linnaeus) devised decoration in juxtaposition with University Museums a simple two-part Latin naming domestic decorative elements to comprises the system placing all known plants explore the legacies of conflict. Nicholson and animals into a rational order. Museum of This exhibition celebrates Linnaeus’ 7 May – 20 July 2007 archaeology, the legacy and investigates his world Jenny Pollak, Untitled Macleay through the spectacular diversity in Macleay Museum Museum of the kingdom animalia. Jenny Pollak is an artist who works natural and cultural in a variety of media including history and the University Art Gallery photography and sculpture. Jenny’s of visual arts. Open Monday to Friday installation is a response to the 10am to 4.30pm; and the first Sunday Macleay Museum’s Rational Order: of each month between noon and 4pm. Carl von Linné (1707-1778) exhibition. Entry to exhibitions is free; public lectures generally charge a fee, payable 12 May 2007 on booking. For more details visit Sydney University Graduate Choir: www.usyd.edu.au/museums or Impassioned Puccini phone the Nicholson Museum on Great Hall, at 8pm. The choir and 61 2 9351 2812, the Macleay Museum soloists present excerpts from on + 61 2 9036 5253, or the University photo: Rational order, Macleay Museum. photo: Rational order, Puccini operas. Art Gallery on + 61 2 9351 6883.

Throughout 2007 Unearthed Tales 2: Public Lectures A Fascination with Death John Bennett, “Linnaeus and the Nicholson Museum Poetics of Evolution.” Wednesday 21 12 March – 20 April 2007 Unearthed Tales 2 continues the March, 6.30pm, Macleay Museum. The Last Thing I Remember Nicholson Museum's fascination Bookings are essential. University Art Gallery with the curious and the bizarre. “Food, wine and dining in Ancient In The last thing I remember… three Greece: the symposium experience.” artists use photography, painting 27 May 2007 Tuesday 17 April, 6.30pm, Nicholson and video to explore the rupture of Alumni Reunion Concert Museum. Bookings are essential. narrative in the domestic sphere. The Conservatorium of Music hosts Jane Burton, Lily Hibberd and an alumni reunion concert at 4pm. Michael Turner, “The Portland Vase: Brie Trenerry render a sequence of The program includes Vivaldi and Adonis in the Underworld.” Tuesday oblique and unsettling psychodramas, favourite castrato arias. Phone 24 April, 6.30pm, Nicholson Museum. telling stories of tension and intrigue. + 61 2 8256 2222. Bookings are essential. Dr Martin Gibbs, “Failed Empire: Finding the Lost 16th-century Spanish colonies of the Solomon Islands.” Thursday 10 May, 6.30pm, Nicholson Museum. Bookings are essential. Celebrate Carl Linnaeus’ 300th Birthday. Wednesday 23 May, 6.30pm, Macleay Museum. Includes talks by Professor Stephen Simpson and Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. Bookings are essential.

See page 30 for additional alumni activities. Lily Hibberd: I want to break free (Clean sheets) 2006