STATE LIBRARY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA J. D. SOMERVILLE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION OH 582 Full transcript of SIR MARK OLIPHANT CEREMONY on 18 August 2000 at Bonython Hall Recording available on CD Access for research: Unrestricted Right to photocopy: Copies may be made for research and study Right to quote or publish: Publication only with written permission from the State Library OH 582 SIR MARK OLIPHANT CEREMONY NOTES TO THE TRANSCRIPT This transcript was donated to the State Library. It was not created by the J.D. Somerville Oral History Collection and does not necessarily conform to the Somerville Collection's policies for transcription. Readers of this oral history transcript should bear in mind that it is a record of the spoken word and reflects the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The State Library is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the interview, nor for the views expressed therein. As with any historical source, these are for the reader to judge. This transcript had not been proofread prior to donation to the State Library and has not yet been proofread since. Researchers are cautioned not to accept the spelling of proper names and unusual words and can expect to find typographical errors as well. 2 J.D. SOMERVILLE ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION, MORTLOCK LIBRARY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIANA: INTERVIEW NO. OH 582 ABC radio recording of Sir Mark Oliphant Memorial Ceremony held at Bonython Hall, The University of Adelaide, on 18th August 2000. TAPE 1 SIDE A ANNOUNCER – You’re with 891 ABC Adelaide, and now we cross to Neil Wiese at The University of Adelaide for the Memorial Ceremony for Sir Mark Oliphant. WIESE – Good morning, and welcome to Bonython Hall where today many eminent South Australians are gathered to pay tribute to Sir Mark Oliphant. It is appropriate that the ceremony is being held here, at The University of Adelaide, where in 1919 Sir Mark began studying Physics. Now, as an agnostic, Sir Mark did not want a church service, so we’re here today for a memorial ceremony and to hear from those who want to pay tribute to this great South Australian. Members of Sir Mark Oliphant’s family are being seated in the hall, the last to be seated Ms Vivienne Wilson and Dr Keith Powell, Mr Michael and Mrs Peppi Lawson, Mrs Monica Oliphant, Ms Michelle Oliphant, Ms Katherine Oliphant and Mr Tony Reith and their child, Anna. Invited guests have been arriving here at Bonython Hall since just after nine this morning to the strains of Mozart, Vivaldi, Bach and Handel by the Zephyr String Quartet. Today’s memorial ceremony is being led by Dr Harry Medlin, Visiting Associate Professor in Physics and Mathematical Physics, and Emeritus Senior Deputy Chancellor at The University of Adelaide. Now, amongst some of the guests here today we have four Premiers. We have the current Premier, John Olsen, the immediate past Premier, Dean Brown, and also John Bannon and Dr David Tonkin, a former Premier. And we also have the former Governor of South Australia, Sir Keith Seaman and Lady Seaman, and another former Governor of South Australia, Sir Donald Dunstan and Lady Dunstan. And we also have a number of Members of State Parliament. And the people are gathered here now; the Bonython Hall is full, and the scenes that we’re seeing here are quite moving. Now, after the War, it’s interesting to note that Sir Mark returned to the University of Birmingham, where he continued as Professor of Physics and helped build the proton synchrotron. You may recall there in 1950 he was approached by the newly-established Australian National University to become the first Director of the ANU Research School of Physical Sciences. He accepted, and he returned to Australia with his family. Now, establishing the Australian Academy of Science was just one of Sir Mark’s proudest achievements. He realised, upon his return to Australia in 1950, that Australia had no voice, no international voice, in the scientific arena. 3 And now let’s just enjoy some of that music while we await the speakers. (Music continues for several minutes.) Would you please stand for the arrival of the Oliphant family? Amongst this morning’s speakers will be John Olsen, the Premier of South Australia, and the current Governor of South Australia, Sir Eric Neal. JD DR HARRY MEDLIN, Master of Ceremonies Ladies and gentlemen, welcome. The members of the Oliphant family who are here today are Sir Mark’s daughter, Vivienne Wilson, with Keith Powell, her son, Michael, and his wife Peppi, Sir Mark’s daughter-in-law, Monica Oliphant, and her children, Michelle Oliphant, Katherine Oliphant with her husband, Tony Wright, and Sir Mark’s great-grandchild, Hannah. Well, I taught both Monica and her late husband Michael, Sir Mark’s son, here in Adelaide. Sir Mark and I had many contacts over the years, but I mention only two, and both were during centenaries. The first was in 1974, the year of the centenary of this great university, and in the middle of Sir Mark’s term as Governor. He attended many, if not all, of the formal occasions that ran from March through to October in that year. The second was in 1986, the centenary of the appointment of Sir William Bragg, later Nobel laureate, together with his son, Sir Laurence Bragg, as the Elder Professor of Mathematics in Experimental Physics, with the appointment dating from the 1st of March 1886. Sir Mark and I attended the centenary lectures in this great hall by Professors Frank Close, Freeman Dyson and Paul Davies, and by Stephen Bragg, grandson of Sir William. Well, having graduated as he did, in 1923, with first class honours in Physics, and having worked as a demonstrator with Professor Sir Kerr Grant in 1926 and 1927, Sir Mark was our oldest living graduate and our oldest living former staff member. Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome all of the distinguished guests, together with all friends and colleagues here and elsewhere today. The order of today’s ceremony is as shown in the program. The first tribute today is to be given by the Honourable John Olsen, Premier of South Australia. Mr Olsen. THE HONOURABLE JOHN OLSEN, Premier of South Australia The Oliphant family and descendants, His Excellency, Sir Eric Neal, Lady Neal, Leader of the 4 Opposition, Ministers, ladies and gentlemen. Born in the year of Federation, Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant was, like his nation, within sight of the Centenary when he passed away last month. He lived through an extraordinary century, the likes of which the world had never seen before, and few people could have appreciated the fact as fully as Sir Mark Oliphant himself. He was a man who embraced progress and placed himself at the vanguard of change. And what changes he saw! He lived through the century that took us from dreams of flight to the moon, from the box brownie to the digital handicam, from the Overland Telegraph to the World Wide Web, and from trench warfare to the nuclear madness of mutually assured destruction. Sir Mark Oliphant regretted some applications of science, particularly his role in developing the atom bomb, but that was what made this brilliant scientist even more laudable. He embraced change, but warned of its consequences. He encouraged progress, but realised the need for conservation. He loved science, but he never valued it above humanity. Growing up in Adelaide in the Adelaide Hills, Mark Oliphant had the benefit of a strong family life. Mark and his brothers attended public school. His father was a dedicated public servant, and his mother worked hard to maintain a good home life. He studied hard because he wanted to learn, and what a lesson he then leaves for the rest of us an honest toiler from a school in the Adelaide Hills, who worked hard and made the most of his talents forging a career at the forefront of world scientific endeavours. As a youth, Mark Oliphant endured the frustration and disappointment applying for jobs and missing out. He worked hard at jobs he didn’t enjoy, but he kept at it and he kept his sights high. This was a man who had the self-confidence to believe he could be a nuclear physicist, yet he had the humility to spend his days stacking books onto library shelves so he could pay his way through university. At this very university, the young Oliphant’s enthusiasm for learning grew. He allowed himself to be inspired by people around him. His biographers cite a debate the young Mark Oliphant witnessed involving the great geologist and Antarctic explorer, Sir Douglas Mawson. And what a momentous night that seems now Mawson and Oliphant in the same room here at the university, discussing, no doubt, the great theories of the 5 day. Of course, at that time Mawson was a hero, Oliphant unknown, but now together they stand as scientific heroes of Adelaide, Australia, the world. In his early twenties, Oliphant left Adelaide with his young wife, Rose, to take up a scholarship at Cambridge, joining the world’s leading laboratory in experimental physics. And even today, in the post-nuclear age, many of us are mystified by the term ‘nuclear physics’. It seems so difficult to some of us, so abstract, so incomprehensible. It certainly holds a beauty that attracted, however, Mark Oliphant. He and his colleagues were investigating the very building blocks of matter. Their immensely challenging quest was aimed simply at discovering how the substance of the universe was structured.