Cultural The Hon Rev Dr Lynn Arnold, AO is an Anglican priest and former Australian politician. He represented the South Conversation Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party, serving as Premier of South Australia between 4 September 1992 and 14 December 1993 at the end of 11 years of Labor government. After leaving politics, Rev Arnold worked Raggers and Radicals for World Vision from 1997 to 2007, and for Anglicare SA since March 2008. In November 2013 he was ordained The Hon Rev Dr Lynn Arnold AO and Brian Samuels, Deacon in the Anglican Church. In December 2014 he was ordained Priest in St Peter’s Cathedral, Adelaide. Historian in conversation with Cheryl Hoskin, Special He is a graduate of the University of Adelaide. Collections Librarian Brian Samuels became Founder and Vice President of the Historical Society of South Australia in 1974 and Please join University Collections and Rare Books & Special was Honorary Historian of the Port Adelaide Historical Collections for an entertaining Conversation about student life, Society from the mid 1970s until 1994. Brian’s activism radical ideas and pranksterism. and advice helped establish the Port Adelaide State Heritage Area in 1983, which has continued to enrich the Port experience for residents and visitors alike. 12.00 – 1.30 pm Wednesday 10 May 2017 He has written over 150 publications, from books Rare Books & Special Collections and booklets to journal and newspaper articles. Level 1 Barr Smith Library Cheryl Hoskin was appointed Special Collections The University of Adelaide North Terrace Campus Librarian at the Barr Smith Library in 2004. A graduate of the University of Adelaide, Cheryl has worked in a From prosh to protests, students have creatively played pranks and number of research and library positions, specialising demonstrated against university administration, war, injustices and denial in historical bibliography and English literature. She has of rights through the decades, peaking in the radical dialogue of the 1960s shared her abiding passion and expertise in rare books and 1970s. Lynn, Brian and Cheryl were on the University of Adelaide and historic materials through numerous talks, articles and exhibitions which highlight the rich resources campus during some of these periods and were active participants in available in the University Libraries’ Rare Books & campus life which they will share with the audience in this Conversation. Special Collections Cheryl curated the accompanying exhibition Raggers and Radicals and will spotlight key exhibits. University of Adelaide History and Heritage Tours Explore behind-the-scenes areas and buildings The Conversation is free and everybody is welcome at the North Terrace Campus of the University Bookings are essential as space is limited: of Adelaide on one of our guided tours and +61 (0) 8 8313 3086 [email protected] discover hidden treasures which reveal the adelaide.edu.au/uni-collections cultural and social history of the University. Tuesdays 10.30 – 11:30 am Thursdays 2.00 – 3.00 pm Accompanying Exhibitions Meet in front of the Mitchell Building Raggers and Radicals: Student Activity and Activism from 1880 Gate 20 North Terrace Curated by Rare Books & Special Collections adelaide.edu.au/campuses/mapscurrent/ Photographs, student publications and ephemera from the north_terrace.pdf Special Collections and Archives of the University of Adelaide Group bookings: +61(0 )8 8313 3086 Cultural Illumination Raggers and Radicals [email protected] A selection of works from the Adelaide University Union Visual Art Collection Due to the nature of the University’s Campuses please Curated by University Collections contact us prior to the tour if you have any mobility issues. On display at Rare Books & Special Collections Level 1 Barr Smith Library throughout May to 16 June during Barr Smith Library hours historyfestival.sa.gov.au

image On Dit Volume 40, No 12, 1972 (detail) University With thanks to the Division of the Vice-Chancellor and President and the Barr Smith Library of the University of Adelaide for their continued support Collections Raggers and Radicals: Student Activity and Activism from 1880

Ragging food and prices) and compulsory union and sports association fees. Political Ragging, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is “an extensive display of controversy surrounded Elliott Johnston, then President of the Students’ Union, noisy disorderly conduct, carried on in defiance of authority or discipline.” for his support of workers’ strikes which were seen as contrary to the national From medieval times, British university students have enjoyed a long tradition war effort. This led to On Dit ceasing publication from 1941 until 1944. In 1950 the of drinking wine in celebration and boundless merrymaking. In early 19th century majority of students supported the banning of the Communist Party. Cambridge a young Lord Byron took this raucous behaviour to new extremes with In the mid-1950s and 1960s, students again focussed on international issues – eternal partying, drinking and gambling. Legend tells that when forbidden a pet speaking against racial segregation in America, apartheid and the White Australia dog, he sidestepped University rules by keeping a tame bear instead. policy. In the later 19th century, the elegant surface of Cambridge masked a culture of heavy drinking and debauchery. Student rebellion emerged in 1897 when male The Radical 1960s and 70s students hung an effigy of a female cyclist in protest against the proposal to grant The late 1960s and early 1970s saw a rise in radicalism amongst the world-wide ‘new women’ full degrees. Riots followed, and it was not until 1948 that women student population, and Adelaide campaigns were mounted against the Vietnam were finally awarded full degrees. War, racism and apartheid, the treatment of Aboriginals, capital punishment, The University of Adelaide was founded in 1874 on the Oxbridge tutorial model, nuclear warfare, and university administration and education. and our students happily embraced the tradition of raucous high spirits and ragging, An increase in student activism in Australia was activated through the nearly always characterised by a joyful sense of humour. introduction of selective conscription in 1964 and Australia’s entry into the Vietnam Rowdy student entertainments became a traditional part of commemoration War in 1965 – accelerated by the defeat of the Labor Party in the 1966 Federal or graduation ceremonies. The 1896 Commemoration ceremony held in the election. It was argued that more extreme political action was needed to bring early Library in the Mitchell Building, was continually interrupted by alarm clocks about change, resulting in larger and more militant protests and demonstrations. hidden behind the books. Later Elder Hall commemorations featured student The Committee for Vietnam Protest (CVP) was formed at the University in 1966 entertainments held before the official ceremonies which were often interrupted by four history and politics students. The informal group attracted large numbers at by satirical songs about the officials and the graduates. The ceremonies were its first general meeting but proved largely ineffectual. In 1967 the more enduring also interrupted by pranks. The 1902 ceremony was punctuated by tin whistles, group, the Campaign for Peace in Vietnam (CPV) was founded with an executive accordions and hair-raising shrieks, the singing of songs, electric bells and the mostly comprised of University of Adelaide staff and students. lowering of a skeleton in a black apron. In 1968 the more radical Marxist group, the Students for Democratic Action The student antics were alternately condemned and celebrated by the press, (SDA), was formed at the University of Adelaide to protest against the SA the SA Register reporting in 1899: “Varsity students are always enthusiastic … gerrymander and the majority election loss of the State Labor Party, and to push Youth must have its mug, and it is no use trying to suppress hearty, happy for major societal change. Further campaigns protested against the undemocratic undergraduates.” nature of University administration and courses, spreading their message through While the interruptions were usually accepted in the spirit of exuberant good their newsletter “Grass Roots.” The allied Napier Liberation Front sought to similarly humour, by 1905 the Council moved to restrain larrikin behaviour by demanding liberate the Arts Faculty. prior approval of the student programme, and the student community decided to An alternative group eschewed protest and theorising and formed ‘Social Action’ organise their own independent processions and concerts. to actively bring about change by helping and educating deprived people in order to hasten the development of a more egalitarian society. Abschol, originally set up Processions by the National Union of Australian University Students to support scholarships Public processions were held from 1905, in which satirical tableaus on trolleys for Aboriginal university students, encouraged Aboriginal tertiary education and and carts witnessed by large crowds progressed through the streets of Adelaide, became a political pressure group concerned with land rights and other indigenous followed by concerts featuring topical songs, academic caricatures, variety acts issues. and farces. The 1910 procession offended some sensibilities with the Crippen In 1969 demonstrations against conscription and the Vietnam War involvement float depicting the dissection of a corpse, while the crowds were entertained by led to violent clashes between police and demonstrators, culminating in the burlesque costumes and mixed bathing in a tub while being showered with water violence of the September moratorium which led to a Royal Commission. by the University fire brigade. In the 1970s a shift towards personal politics saw the development of Women’s Processions and concerts were abandoned during the First World War, but and Gay Liberation groups, while the SDA morphed into the Adelaide Revolutionary resumed in the 1920s. Correspondents to the Advertiser and Register complained Marxists and the Worker Student Alliance. about the tone of the processions in 1921 and 1922, apparently with some effect, Student radicalism declined after 1972 with the withdrawal of troops from for the 1926 procession appeared to have been dropped. Vietnam, the election of Federal and State Labor governments, and the introduction The 1936 procession aroused renewed criticism (“a disgraceful atrocity”) and of greater student participation in University administration. they were again abandoned, in spite of calls for their return in 1940. The end of the A public image of radical students as long-haired, drug addicted, promiscuous, Second World War in Europe was marked by a spontaneous Varsity Victory March, pseudo-intellectual ratbags with hippie clothing and suspect personal hygiene has held amid general good humour, and from 1947 –49 the annual Procession, then been countered in Ann Draper’s thesis which found that many Adelaide activists known as Procesh, was revived. were academically successful and morally concerned students who graduated to The 1950 procession, however, again offended many and in 1951 the Registrar become useful and skilled members of society. advised the SRC that “no display will be tolerated which is likely to bring the Others factors said to have contributed to the rise of radicalism in the University into disrepute in the eyes of any section of the public.” Although period include an increased middle class population of students supported by some students protested, others agreed that the previous year’s display was Commonwealth Scholarships, a system of end of year exams which left time for “adolescent, puerile and filthy” and the procession was cancelled until its revival in debate and ancillary activities, and the rise in student unionism. 1952. Collections for charities were introduced as part of the Procession in 1952 in an attempt to legitimise the disruption caused on the city streets. Recent Years Students have continued to protest and demonstrate on University and political Prosh issues, but action never again reached the intensity of the late 60s to 70s. In the 1950s and 60s crowds of thousands would turn out to watch the lunch hour The Liberal government at one stage banned the compulsory student services Procession Day marches of 30 or more floats, typically of a political bent. The floats, fee in the belief that it supported left-wing political activity. A downturn in student along with the Prosh rag published from 1954, often veered into questionable activism has alternatively been attributed to the end of free University education taste of giant phalluses and sexual innuendo, while exuberant student rowdiness and the rise in the number of part-time students with work commitments, a more approached larrikinism with smoke bombs, theft of road signs, and vandalising of diverse student body (including mature age and international students) and a street lights. system based on continual assessment. Student unions are also more focussed on Some of the more memorable Prosh stunts included the placing of female supporting students rather than political causes. Social media has also become the dummies on the Elder Hall spire, hoisting a Jolly Roger at half-mast above Bonython preferred media for political dissent and discussion. Hall and the kidnapping of TV personality Ernie Sigley by SCIIAES (Society for the Cheryl Hoskin 2017 Confining of Immoral Impulses Among Engineering Students.) Special Collections Librarian Legendary among Prosh tales was the suspension of a FJ Holden underneath the The University of Adelaide University Footbridge by Engineering students in 1973. More recently construction workers were warned by anonymous tip-off that students dressed as policemen Main Sources would be arriving to disrupt their work, while the police were similarly tipped off that Charity by Anarchy M Robin students dressed as construction workers were illegally conducting themselves. A adelaidestudentpolitics.blogspot.com.au/2009/05/charity-by-anarchy.html confrontation ensued where both parties were convinced that the other was not Ann Draper Adelaide student radicals: then and now, 1968 –1980 legitimate. Students stood by and smugly watched the ensuing confrontation. Honours thesis, University of Adelaide, 1980 Funds collected by students and money raised through the sale of the Prosh Tim Pitman Is student activism dying in Australia’s universities? rag were donated to charity, at first often politically aligned such as the Campaign The Conversation, January 9, 2014 against Nuclear Energy. In 1986 a General Student Meeting narrowly voted for theconversation.com/is-student-activism-dying-in-australias-universities-20970 proceeds to go towards the Heart Foundation and this trend to non-political charities Stephanie Boyd The History of Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2005. has continued. In 2005 the ransom demanded from the ABC for the release of Peter Malcolm Saunders Opposition to the Vietnam War in South Australia, 1965-73 Goers went to Oxfam’s Save the Children fund. Journal of the Historical Society of SA, No. 10 (1982), p61 – 71 “Throughout its history, Prosh has trodden the fine line between philanthropy and downright extortion. It is similarly liable to public nuisance, piracy and defamation. And yet, despite, or perhaps because of, the litigation and public outcry, it remains a cherished part of University of Adelaide history, which has unfortunately lost its shine among students in recent years.” (Charity by Anarchy / M.Robin) Post-War In the 1930s student concerns were focussed on internal issues, such as the quality of refectory food and facilities, compulsory Union fees, criticism of the lecture system and the limitations of library services. University The 1940s student was concerned with Union organisation (specifically refectory Collections