Australia's earliest international student

An octogenarian UNSW alumni returns to Sydney and shares his experiences of life as a student

-; BY 1 JYOTI , SHANKAR

Sixty years ago when I boarded a BOAC Skymaster fl ight for Sydney I had m y one newl y- tail ored blue suit in my bag and very litcle idea of Australia, beyond an excited sense of o ptimism for what cl1e furure might ho l.d. I'd never before left Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and, of course, I'd never been on a plane. I had grown up io a rural vil lage where we rook cl1e buggy carr to school. And I hadn't had much rime co get used to the idea either. \Xfhen the teleg ram delivery boy tracked me d own on his bicycle at a tennis court in Colombo in 1952, I tore cl1e envelope open to discover m y application for one of cl1e ver y first Australian 1miversity schol arsbips for students had been successful and that I'd be leaving for fi ve years w ithin a fortnight."

This is 82-year- o ld Tennyson Rodrigo reminiscing about his journey to Australia as one of this country's earliest i.urernarional students, who came here under the 'Col ombo Plan'. He returned to Sydney last month on a special inv ite co attend a g ala dinner at his alma mater, ilie U ni versity of New South Wales. U SW itself has come a long way from the makeshift corrugated- iro n classrooms of Tennyso n's da ) 7 S to one of Ausn:a lia's premi er educational instin1tions with state-of- the-art buildings and programs. The Colombo Plan , under whose aegis Tennyso n came to Sydney, has since bro ught over 20,000 students into the cow1try, changing cl1eir lives forever and making a substantial impact boili locaUy and in their home countries ln the fi fries, after the Second World War ended, countries were

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell delivered the keynote address o n international education at che 60-year retmion on November 22 co an audience chat included Colombo Plan alumni daring back to the first year of ilie scheme in 1952. Tenn yso n was cl1e only person the}' could trace back from cl1at year.

Tennyson Rodrigo in 1953, and (top right) in 2012

Right: Rodrigo's special talents made him a mini celebrity comi ng out of their colonial shackles and tr yi ng ro rebuild their economies The White Australia policy was slowly being dismantled. Australia wanted t o move al1ead, change perceptions and engage i n a meaningful Souili-South cooperation. At che Commonwealth Conference of Foreign Ministers held in Colombo in January 1950, me

Colombo P lan was formulated ro strengthen ilie economic and social development of the countries in che reg ion, and promote the transfer and sharing of techno logy and developmental expe r iences. Original signarories to the Plan were Australia, Canada, Ceyl on, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Malaya aod North Borneo, bur later the membership expanded co 25 countrie s

Tenn yso n won one of the first Colombo P lan scholarships to stud y chemical engin eering, a nd at 22, found hu.1.1self bound for Sydney. Everything was new and different. i\filkshakes and baked beans o n toast soon became part of his diet. He soon discovered that his tailored suit w ith its huge lapels wasn't quite right, so he saved up bis allowance to buy a blue pin-striped suit from Gowings which helped him sail through the next five years.

" There were plenl:)1 of other new arrivals on campus, moscly Europeans in ilie first wave of post-war migration, but 1 did n ot encolmter racism ," recalls Tennyson "Some looked at me strangely but not with hostility, often disp laying a genuine curiosil:)• about Asian cultures".

Brown -skinned people were rare those days and Tenny so n so(.)n became a mini celebi~ry with his musical talents on the sitar, violin and tabla. The .fydmy 11,foming Herald nm a front- page picture of bim attending a ball. He was invited b y ABC Radio to p lay the sitar and featured on the cover of /IBC lf'eek,& The L1dian High Commissioner, KC Sengupta's wife Manjnla was accomplisbed in Rabindra Sangeet and Tennyso n was ofte n called Ltpon to accompirny her with his instruments.

His association with the Indian community was strong during his stay in Sydney, and he fondly recaUs cl1e s taging o f tl1e Tagore dance drama Chitmngadha wicb a have gone on to occupy important positions in ilieir countries and have clone tl1eir b it to promote a mutual understanding of cultures, ilius becoming de - facto ambassadors for Australia Pas t Colombo Plan scholars include Baburam Bhattarai, the current Prime Minister of Nepal; M. J Perera, the first Director General of Radi o Cey lon, cl1e oldest radio station of South Asia; and Khaw Boon \Van, ilie current Minister for National Development i n Singapore. When asked if he ever thought of migrating co Australia, Tennyso n replies clrnt he never considered this m ove. The Sri La.nkan government had him sign a bond cl1at was assured by a famil y friend, to ensure his return after completion of hi s

H,i <, r\ ' "1ts ~ 5-year stu dv. That was not what ',I -'// ' 'I' ,;2 cook him back, hut a sense '• J&t /' of respo nsibilil:)' for

L}l<'IJ nation building. f-le returned co a job as 'temporary ass istant engineer' in Ceylon's @ public service on a salary 'k~i, "•-:,,~:1:-:: equivalent to $2 a month , Ss1'ft,~· - ~ but rose through the ranks ' Vt ' co set up and manage two ,'t• ___., of Sri Lanka's largest industrial ~,~7,•:,_,, projects: its first oil refinery

", and its first nitrogenous fertiliser ;:,, JJLant. Later Tennyso n took up .....:.., ..., senior positions in banking, consulting and industry. He has cast of Australian, Sri Lankan and Indian students. They li ved at the International Friendship Centre at Drummoyne, which became a little microcosm of cultures

"The mix of Chinese, Malay, Indian, Pak istani, Nepali, Filipino, Indonesian, Fijian, Papuan and oilier students, as well as their different re ligions, was itse lf unusual in Australia," says Tenn yso n.

He i s now pleased to see how multiculturalism is such an integral part of Australian society cl1ese days \lifhen leaving, he was presented with a boo k about Kangra Valley paintings of India by ilie then Secretary of the Indian Association as a parting gift, and he cherishes ilie book even to day

The Co lombo Plan graduates continued to live in Co lombo with hi s wife co this day, occasionally visiting bis old friends in Australia and India.

Latel y, with the release of the Asian Century white paper, there has been much talk about reviving cl1e p lan with Australian students smdying in Asian countries as well, and time is no t a bad idea as cl1e equation has now changed. Developing c ountr.ies have a lot to offer too, and a mutually symbiotic relationship would go a long way to promote world peace and development. Tennyson says, '1 have always tl1ought of myself as lucky, rather than especially talented. I felt clrnt good fornme when that telegram arrived. Ne ither of m y parents had been co Lmivers i ty, so 1 was the first. My failier was a good man, but rather taciturn However, on that day l could see rhe pride in his eyes."

H e is happ y that Australia has moved away from i t~ insul ar "i'.v'hite Australia' ouclook since.