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Tempora
mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis
Times
change and we change with them.
Since
its foundation in 1890 the University of Tasmania has made a significant
contribution to the Australian and international community.
Through
their intellect and ability many graduates and people associated with
the University have exercised a key influence in the level and direction
of change that has taken place since European settlement.
They
have been at the forefront in driving, adapting and building on major
cultural and educational shifts in Australia.
Through
innovative thought and research, the University has played a pivotal role
in the growth of the nation. Its people have legislated in various houses
of parliament, made decisions in boardrooms, explored the resources of
Australia and of the Antarctic, provided professional services in medicine,
agriculture, aquaculture, law, and in accounting, and by teaching and
playing music. They have fought in times of conflict and acted as a peacemaker
in turbulent political times, and got on with things at all
stages in between.
They
have responded to global change and concern about the worlds environment
and have helped to develop unique disciplines that exploit the distinctiveness
and natural advantages of Tasmania. They lead the nation in areas such
as Antarctic and Southern Ocean studies, population health studies, forestry
and wilderness studies, earth sciences, agricultural science and aquaculture
research and have taken the university to its current position as one
of the top ten research universities in Australia.
We
have profiled below some of these agents for change who have
had a close association with the University of Tasmania. The list that
follows is by no means exhaustive either in the range of the contribution,
or of the person who made that contribution. It does, however, indicate
the calibre of lecturers, administrators and graduates of this Tasmanian
institution.
Some
of the names will be well known, others less so. The intention is to show
a broad example of people who have contributed to change in the Tasmanian,
Australian and international communities.
1890s
James
Backhouse Walker was a Founding Father of the University
of Tasmania, and a staunch defender of the infant university. He was the
son of the Quaker missionary traveller, George Washington Walker. James
worked as a solicitor in Hobart and became a keen local historian and
stalwart of the Tasmanian Council of Education. In association with the
Rev. George Clarke he strove for a local university and drafted the act
establishing it in 1890. He lobbied Members of Parliament and produced
strong public arguments to ensure the Universitys retention in its
first difficult years. Although he was not a university graduate James
Backhouse Walker was elected Vice-Chancellor in July 1898. Tragically,
he died of pneumonia late the following year. At the beginning of the
nineteenth century the establishment of a new university particularly
in a penal colony was perceived as an outrageous idea. People like
James Backhouse Walker who had vision, and the courage to back their vision,
laid the foundations for the higher education of subsequent generations.
1900s
Andrew
Inglis Clark was an eminent lawyer (eventually a high court
judge), Vice-Chancellor of the University, Member of the University Council,
part-author of the Hare-Clark voting system and notably, a key figure
in connection with the Federation of Australia. As member of the Minerva
Club, Clark was the centre of a group of intellectuals accustomed to debating
great issues of the day. He was Attorney General when the University Bill
was passed in late 1889. Although he did not draft the Bill himself, Clark
was sympathetic and worked extremely hard to ensure the secularity of
the new institution. Clark was still Attorney General in 1895 when the
Braddon Government decided that it could no longer afford a teaching university
and attempted to cut the grant to the University of Tasmania to virtually
nothing. Clark opposed his own government on the issue and eventually,
the Legislative Council insisted on the restoration of most of the original
grant and the Braddon Government acquiesced. In June 1901, the University
Council elected Clark, then a puisne judge, as the Universitys Vice-Chancellor.
During his period in office, the University faced another attempt by parliament
to destroy its existence by cutting off its funding. Clark worked tirelessly
with others successfully re-using the arguments put in earlier
crises by his predecessor, James Backhouse Walker. Andrew Inglis Clark
was one of Tasmanias most distinguished politicians, lawyers and
intellectuals.
1910s
Professor
Alexander McAulay was appointed as the first lecturer of mathematics
and physics at the University of Tasmania in 1893, and in 1896, the first
professor in the discipline. He was born at Luton, Bedfordshire, England
and the famous mathematician Francis Sowerby McAuley was an elder brother.
Alexander McAuley, with Professor E G Hogg, carried out a magnetic survey
of Tasmania in 1900-01. He compiled a pocket volume, Five-figure logarithmic
and other tables (London, 1909), which was remarkable for the amount
of information it contained, and it was used by scientists and engineers
for at least fifty years. In his later years he published several papers
on relativity. When failing eyesight hampered his research he adapted
the Braille system to include his complex mathematical notation. Professor
McAuley was a distinguished scientist and among his numerous achievements
was his pioneering role in the evolution of hydro-electricity. He studied
the flow and fall of water from Great Lake on the family property, Kanna
Leena, at Shannon in central Tasmania. As a consequence of his work and
advocacy, the first major hydro-electric station was completed at Waddamana,
close to the property, in 1916.
1920s
Professor
Douglas Copland was a leading authority in Australia on currency prices,
finance and the statistical side of economics. Sir Douglas taught history
and economics at the University of Tasmania from 1917-1923. He was committed
to broadening the role of economics, particularly in public affairs and
was a leading commentator and adviser to state and federal governments.
Sir Douglas chaired the federal committee that formulated the 1931 Premiers
Plan, which helped to lift Australia out of the depression. He continued
as an economic adviser to the federal government until the end of World
War II before going on to hold many prestigious positions, including one
as Ambassador to China and first Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National
University. He established the Committee for Economic Development of Australia
(CEDA) in 1960. His other numerous achievements include his position as
the first holder of the Sidney Myer Chair in Commerce at Melbourne University.
1930s
Professor
Leicester McAulay the brilliant son of Alexander McAuley and a distinguished
physicist in his own right was educated at Hutchins and the Cambridge
and Manchester Universities. He lectured in Physics from 1922 and was
appointed to the position of Chair of Physics in 1927. He blazed new trails
in physics and built up the research capacity of the Department. The topics
of particle physics, cosmic radiation and metal surface electrochemistry
were included among his early publications. He became interested in biophysics
in the 1930s at a time when most physicists felt that their field
of study did not extend beyond the inanimate world. He encouraged the
establishment of experimental stations in Antarctica, Macquarie Island,
New Guinea and around Tasmania. In 1940 when Australia had no optical
industry and was suffering from a paucity of components for military equipment
Professor McAuley was permitted to carry out military optical work in
his laboratory. It proved to be a most remarkable period in the war. McAuley,
working with FD Cruickshank, Associate Professor of Physics, very quickly
established an optical annexe and recruited senior students as staff.
They not only performed vital war work, but also broke new ground in optical
astronomy. Within months McAuleys team was producing precision prisms
and lenses for gun-sights and cameras. He and his co-workers developed
an entirely new method of lens design. The Departments subsequent
national eminence in both optical and radio astronomy reflects the genius
of Leicester McAuley.
1940s
Sir
Roland Wilson was born at Ulverstone and educated at Devonport High
School and the University of Tasmania. He was the 1925 Rhodes Scholar
and the first state high school boy to win the award. He attained a doctorate
in philosophy at Oxford and a second doctorate at the University of Chicago.
He went on to become one of Australias most prominent economists
of the mid 20th century, dominating economic policy-making,
and holding many of the Commonwealths top positions. He was the
youngest head of a national statistical agency in the world. Sir Roland
was instrumental in the rebuilding of the economic structure in Australia
after the World War II. He established and directed the Federal Department
of Labour and National Service early in his career. Sir Roland was secretary
to the Commonwealth Treasury from 1951 to 1966 after serving as Commonwealth
statistician and economic adviser to the Treasury. He served as a counsellor
in the Australian Legation and later in the embassy in Washington. Sir
Roland made a significant contribution to the economic clauses of the
United Nations Charter as well as to the establishment of a foundation
of Australian-United States economic cooperation in the 1940s. He
was Chairman of Qantas and of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation. Sir
Roland was one of the few people to be knighted twice, once in 1954 and
also awarded the KBE in 1965.
Joyce
Eileen Phillips (nee Eyre) was appointed Lecturer in English at the
University in 1946, the first woman appointed to a full-time teaching
position within the English Department. She held this post until her untimely
death in October 1950. During the five years of her appointment at the
University, she founded and directed the Glebe Theatre Players, a group
within the English Department that provided practical training for students
studying drama texts. Of national significance was her introduction of
the teaching of Australian literature at the University. She is now recognised
as one of the countrys pioneers in the teaching of this subject
at tertiary level. The extensive nature of the course and the depth of
study expected made it the most significant study of Australian literature
undertaken by any University in the country at that time. As such, it
received national attention and support. She was also a foundation member
of the Tasmanian Branch of the Fellowship of Australian writers. Joyce
Phillips was an associate of Professor Morris Miller and was compiling
an anthology of Tasmanian poetry at the time of her death. She and Professor
Morris Miller established a tradition within this University of scholars,
poets and writers such as James McAuley, Vivian Smith, Laurie Hergenhan,
Margaret Scott, Lucy Frost and Philip Mead who have contributed significantly
to Australian literature, both as writers and teachers.
1950s
Professor
Sam Carey AO, FAA took up the Foundation Chair in Geology at the University
of Tasmania in October 1946. He came to the University with a well-established
reputation as a geologist with drive and vision. He was a graduate of
the University of Sydney with first class honours in Geology. He gained
a M.Sc in 1933 and a Ph.D in Science in 1939. Following his military duties
during the Second World War he was appointed as Government Geologist of
Tasmania. He took to that position his undoubted ability for organisation
and in his short term in that office undertook a reassessment of the geology
of Tasmania resulting in a new synthesis particularly of the geology of
the metalliferous regions of western Tasmania. As Professor of Geology,
Sam Carey rapidly established himself as an enthusiastic, stimulating
and innovative teacher. He enthused and challenged his students. He encouraged
them to take off the blinkers of dogma, to pursue the evidence,
to be critical, but at the same time, be original. His lectures have been
described as electrifying. He attracted students from all
over the world many of whom have gone on to achieve eminence in
their own right. Professor Carey continued to pursue his geological interests
in the broad structure and evolution of the Earth. From his student days
he had been impressed with the evidence for continental drift an
unorthodox idea for almost two thirds of the twentieth century. He assessed
the evidence carefully and found flaws in the then current idea of the
fixity of continents. He spoke, wrote and organised symposia on the drift
idea in Tasmania, other parts of Australia and overseas. Professor Sam
Carey has won many honours been invited to lecture to the premier
geological organisation in Australia and overseas, been awarded honorary
membership of prominent overseas geological bodies, holds medals from
scientific bodies from around the globe. Within Australia he was appointed
an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1977 and later elected to Fellowship
of the Australian Academy of Science. Professor Carey brought enlightenment
and stimulation to his students, changed peoples perception of the
Earth and its history within a wide geographic range.
1960s
Professor
Harry Bloom eminent scientist and anti-pollution trailblazer,
graduated with a MSc from the University of Melbourne and received a PhD
from London University and a DSc from the University of Melbourne. He
had been associate professor at Auckland before being appointed as Head
of Chemistry and Professor of Physical and Inorganic Chemistry at the
University of Tasmania in 1960 a position he held until his retirement
in 1981. He served the university in many capacities, including holding
the position of dean of the faculty of science, and as a member of the
University Council. A keen conservationist, he was, at the time of his
appointment, already a world authority on the physical chemistry of molten
salt systems. Working in Hobart with his active research group, he further
contributed to both pure and applied knowledge in this field. In the 1970s
he turned his attention to environmental chemistry and in particular to
the problems posed by heavy metal pollution in air, land and sea. He developed
trace-metal analytical methods and initiated monitoring programs. Professor
Blooms studies on the Derwent River were one of the most significant
contributions to chemistry in Australia. When he made his work on the
Derwent River public in the 1970s his findings were dismissed. He
took that criticism head-on and worked tirelessly over the next 15 or
so years to convince industry and government of the need to change the
practices that had caused serious damage. That the Derwent River is now
close to its former pristine state is due to the work of Professor Bloom.
Dr
Winfred Curtis was born in England and graduated from University College,
London. While teaching in England she carried out botanical research leading
to a MSc degree before immigrating to Tasmania in 1939. In Tasmania she
taught, wrote and lectured while conducting research that led to PhD and
DSc degrees. She also became involved in two major projects, The Students
Flora of Tasmania and The Endemic Flora of Tasmania
the former taking more than 40 years to complete and considered to be
the definitive work on the topic. In 1939 she was appointed to
the academic staff of the University of Tasmania becoming only the second
woman to hold such a position. In the same year she was also appointed
Science Mistress at Fahan School and initiated the teaching of elementary
science. She found it frustrating to use textbooks that described only
British plants and animals, so she wrote a text at School Certificate
level, Biology for Australian Students, published in 1948 with
three revised editions to 1962. The book served a generation of students.
Winifred Curtis is renowned for her contributions not only to botanical
research but also to teaching in general and particularly to the advancement
of women in education.
Mr
Peter Byers a graduate of the Victoria University in Wellington, New
Zealand, came to the University of Tasmania in 1968 having held teaching
positions in New Zealand and mainland Australia. He served as President
of both the local Staff Association and FAUSA before being seconded in
1980 to assist in the integration of Mount Nelson College of Advanced
Education. In 1984 he became the Universitys Business Manager and
four year later, Deputy Principal. He made a huge contribution to the
development of physical resources benefiting both the University and the
broader community. He played a major role in the acquisition, development
and establishment of facilities like the CRC and CSIRO building for Temperate
Hardwood Forestry. Others, like the Centenary building, Life Sciences
extension and refurbishment, the Commerce and Economics building, the
University Farm and its development, the Jones Building conversion to
the Art School, the University telescope at Cambridge and student housing.
He also made a significant contribution toward the encouragement of art
as a discipline and its display in public places the Universitys
exemplary contemporary art collection is largely due to his efforts. Mr
Byers played a pivotal role in the formation of the Essential Oils of
Tasmania Company incorporated to commercialise R&D undertaken
by the University and considered a revolutionary step at the time.
1970s
Dr
Richard Jones the distinguished environmentalist was born at Sarina,
near Mackay in Queensland. He graduated as Bachelor of Science and gained
his Masters at the University of Queensland. He achieved a PhD in Botany
at the University of Melbourne. He was appointed senior lecturer in Botany
at the University of Tasmania early in 1970. The Department of Environmental
Studies was created later that year. In 1974 a Masters Degree in
Environmental Science was established and Dr Jones became a part-time
coordinator. He was appointed Director in 1978. He was heavily involved
in a campaign that changed the course of Australian history the
campaign to save Lake Pedder from inundation. Although unsuccessful, it
was the basis of the national effort that later saved the Franklin River
and established Tasmanias World Heritage Area. He chaired the turbulent
meeting in Hobart Town Hall, which established the United Tasmania Group
in 1972. He was elected President of the UTG a position he held
through to 1979. The formation of the United Tasmania Group was a landmark
in ecological history. It was the world first Green Party, preceding Britains
Ecology Party of 1976 and Germanys Die Grunen of 1978. During the
time of the Pedder protests Dr Jones also became a Vice-President and
later a life member of the Australian Conservation Foundation. He took
a leading role in converting that organisation into the nations
major environmental body. As the foundation director of the Centre for
Environmental Studies at the University of Tasmania, he helped position
the Centre into one with enormous stature nationally and internationally.
Professor
Jean Norelle Lickiss a graduate of the University of Sydney
and a consultant physician, was appointed lecturer in the department of
medicine at the University of Tasmania in August 1970, to join Professor
Albert Baikie and Dr Graham Macleod in the further development of the
undergraduate course. Her interests were especially in cancer medicine
and research related to cancer in Tasmania. This was combined with an
interest in the community dimensions of medicine, fostered by her doctorate
research in the health of the Aboriginal people of Sydney, undertaken
in 1968-70, with the help of aboriginal leaders including the late Eileen
Lester, Shirley Smith and Charles Perkins. The program of teaching in
the department of medicine, with the leadership and encouragement of Professor
Baikie, soon included community based student research as well as course
work in community medicine. It also included innovative programs including
teaching on the clinical aspects of the care of dying patients: an interest
in international dimensions of health, especially in developing countries,
was also aroused in the students. Professor Lickiss went to PNG as teacher
and physician during vacations in mid 70's to assist the few staff remaining
after independence. The untimely death of Professor Baikie in October
1975 led to Norelle Lickiss being Acting Head of Medicine for 18 months,
at the same time as taking up the Foundation Chair of Community Health.
During this time, she sought to broaden the conceptual base of medicine,
clinical and community. She became, especially concerned (after a period
of study leave in Israel in 1980), with the role of doctors as advocates
of the weak in society, and with the ethical failures of the profession
in early 20th Century in Europe. In 1985, Norelle Lickiss was
appointed to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, as Director of Palliative
Care, initially within the Dept of Cancer Medicine under the headship
of Professor Martin Tattersall (and subsequently was appointed Clinical
Professor (Medicine), University of Sydney), with a conjoint appointment
to UNSW. Registrars from 1987 sought training in palliative medicine in
such numbers that a network of positions was established initially in
Central Sydney and the Sydney Institute of Palliative Medicine emerged.
The developments of this institute reflect the areas of emphasis seen
in the Tasmanian period. Precise clinical medicine, energetic teaching,
a commitment to the humanities, and to the international dimensions of
medicine (expressed especially in WHO consultancy and teaching concerning
cancer pain relief in China, and serving as Visiting Professor in Japan,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan). She was one of the two Western speakers
at a major medical symposium celebrating the coming of Western thought
to Japan 400 years previously. She remains basically a clinician and clinical
teacher; her particular clinical interests have become focussed in palliative
care for women with gynaecologic cancer, concurrent with anti-cancer treatment,
and her considerable influence has been exercised internationally.
Mr
Michael Mansell is a passionate and incredibly driven advocate of
the Aboriginal people in Australia, and particularly in Tasmania. A graduate
in Law from the University of Tasmania, he has been a practising lawyer
with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for more than sixteen years and is
its Legal Manager. At the same time he has maintained his involvement
in broader Aboriginal issues. His contribution to the political landscape
of Tasmania is significant and his role as a key negotiator in the Living
Marine Resources Management Bill 1995 (Tas) resulted in a positive outcome
for Tasmanian Aborigines. He also played a pivotal role in the decision
to return 0.06 percent of the landmass of Tasmania to Tasmanian Aborigines
with the passage of the Aboriginal Lands Bill. Michael Mansell is one
of the founding members of the Aboriginal Provisional Government, and
he continues to campaign strongly on national and Tasmanian Aboriginal
issues. He was instrumental in the successful campaign to have Aboriginal
remains returned from Europe and the United States and in having Australian
Aboriginal input to the international policy on indigenous rights through
the United Nations in Geneva. He continues to be involved in ensuring
that rights under the Mabo decision are not diluted by government legislation.
Michael Mansells people are Trawlwoolway on his mothers side
and Pinterairrer on his fathers side. Both tribes are traditional
owners of the Lumaranatana region of North Eastern Tasmania.
1980s
Professor
Stephen Fitzgerald a graduate in History and English
from the University of Tasmania, Professor Fitzgerald took his doctorate
in International Relations from the Australian National University and
subsequently studied Chinese Language and Literature. He is well-known
as Australias first ambassador to the Peoples Republic of
China, and has spent thirty years developing the experience, business
associations, political networks and cultural insight that make him one
of Australias foremost authorities on Asia. Professor Fitzgerald
was concurrently Ambassador to the Democratic Peoples Republic of
Korea. In recognition of Professor Fitzgeralds work in Australias
foreign relations he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO)
in 1984. An extensive commitment to major policy and advisory committees
is characterised by his appointment in 1991 as Co-Chairman of the Joint
Policy Committee established under a Memorandum of Understanding between
the Governments of Indonesia and the Northern Territory to coordinate
joint economic development. Professor Fitzgerald is currently Chairman
of the Asia-Australia Institute at the University of New South Wales.
Dr
Peter Dunn was a Bachelor of Science with Honours and Doctor of Science
graduate of the University of Tasmania and one of its most outstanding
graduates. Born at Smithton, he spent his childhood in the Arthur River
area before moving to Burnie to complete his secondary education at the
Burnie High School. His career has been notable for the excellence of
his research and his service to the wider national and international community.
He was a distinguished Australian who made major contributions to world
peace, and showed considerable courage in his efforts in disarmament activities
in Iraq on behalf of the United Nations. Prior to his involvement in chemical
disarmament Dr Dunn made an important contribution to polymer science
in his work at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. In the
1980s he was asked to be a member of a team to visit Iran and Iraq
to investigate the alleged use of chemical weapons in the war between
those two countries. In 1991 he was appointed Chief Inspector, United
Nations Special Commission, to lead the first international team of specialists
into Iraq. He became Commissioner to the United Nations Special Commission
and Coordinator, Chemical and Biological Weapons Working Group. His many
honours include the award of an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Australian
Chemical Institute (its highest honour), an appointment as an Officer
of the Order of Australia, the award of the ANZAC Peace Price and the
award of the Queens Commendation for Brave Conduct. Peter Dunn helped
facilitate change for the well-being of humanity. The University awarded
him an honorary doctorate of laws in 1997.
1990s
Professor
Terry Dwyer arrived in Tasmania in 1985 from Sydney where he had worked
as a senior lecturer in the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
at the University of Sydney. Previously he had studied at Yale and worked
at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, and the CSIRO Division of Human
Nutrition, Adelaide. Professor Dwyer made a significant contribution to
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) research through the Centre's first
study that identified a link between sleeping position and SIDS. This
finding and the subsequent fall in the SIDS rate in Australia and overseas,
was recognised as one of the 10 major contributions by the Prime Minister's
Science and Engineering Council in 1994. In addition, the research was
recognised as one of Australia's 13 most significant medical research
achievements this century by a National Health and Medical Research Council
report published in the prestigious international journal 'Lancet'. The
Menzies Centre now holds data on 11,000 Tasmanian babies in its Tasmanian
Infant Health Survey compiled as part of the SIDS research. More than
400 pieces of information have been collected on each mother and child.
While this database is continuing to contribute to the understanding of
the causes of SIDS, Professor Dwyer and the Menzies Centre's researchers
continue to use the data to search for ways to prevent other significant
diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, multiple
sclerosis, diabetes and asthma.
Professor
Kate Warner is a graduate of the University of Tasmania. She was appointed
to a lectureship in 1981 and in 1992 she was elected as Dean of Law, the
first woman Dean of Law in the history of the University. She was made
a professor in 1996. She has been an active campaigner on many issues
of law reform. In the 1980s she prepared papers and reports for
the Law Reform Commission on rape law reform, lobbied and advised politicians
and spoke publicly on many occasions advocating change which included
the abolition of marital rape immunity and other reforms which sough to
ameliorate the position of the rape victim in the criminal justice system.
After legislation was passed in 1987 she continued to urge further changes
in the law. In the 1990s was involved in the movement for gay law
reform and was adviser to the Greens in the drafting of reforms that resulted
in the most liberal laws in relation to homosexuality in Australia. She
has continued her research and work in the area of sexual offences and
in her writing and teaching has endeavoured to challenge the meaning of
rape in an effort to achieve change by changing social attitudes as well
as merely changing the law. Other areas in which she has worked for change
include restrictions on the availability of guns, reform of the laws in
relation to child witnesses, abortion and juvenile justice. In addition
she has acknowledged as an expert in the area of sentencing law and has
published widely in this area.
These profiles
were compiled with information and assistance generously provided by:
Professor
Richard Davis
Professor
Michael Roe
Mr Graham
Foster
Mr Ralph
Spaulding
Professor
Robert Menary
Dr Alf
Hagger
Dr Peter
Smith
Dr Bruce
Scott
Dr Max
Banks
Ms Eilis
Rae
Dr Bob
Brown M.H.A.
The Hon.
Justice Pierre Slicer
Miss Rhonda
Ewart
Department
of Primary Industries, Water and Environment
Tasmanian
Trustees Limited
Professor
Arthur Sale
The Menzies
Centre
Information
was also sourced from the following publications:
Togatus
University
of Tasmania Calendars and Examination Papers
Open
To Talent The Centenary History of the University of Tasmania
Professor Davis
Tasmania
2010 Forum papers
Graduates
In The Community a University of Tasmania publication
The Mercury
Newspaper
Australian
Dictionary of Biography Melbourne University Press
Aspects
of Tasmanian Botany A tribute to Winifred Curtis Published
by the Royal Society of Tasmania A Biographical Sketch by Gintaras
Kantvilas
Essays
on the Mabo Decision
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