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Alumni Profiles
Alumni Profiles By Ian Robertson,
Alumni Manager Wendy Scarfe (Roper, Class of 1950) Author, Social Activist
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After matriculating, Wendy graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne and gained secondary teaching qualifications. In 1955, she married Allan Scarfe and they taught in Australia, England and India. Their experiences in India changed their lives. In 1960, they were invited by venerated political leader and social activist Jayaprakash Narayan (known as JP) to set up an experimental school in a remote Indian village. Inspired by the United Nation’s designation of the 1960s as the decade of development, they set off for a three-year posting. The poverty shocked them. As well as writing syllabuses and preparing plans for the new school, they began a night literacy class for adults. The children were so poorly nourished that twice weekly they boiled up a cauldron of powdered milk to distribute to the children. Wendy set up a kindergarten. After three years, the Scarfes returned to live in Warrnambool, but memories of India haunted them, and they finally decided to write about their experiences. A Mouthful of Petals was published in London. The Scarfes continued to correspond with JP and in 1967, he wrote that the monsoon had failed and famine threatened. With the support of Warrnambool’s Mayor, the Scarfes raised money and Wendy set off for India, recording the inspiring work of aid workers who saved the lives of almost 30 million people. In 1969, JP visited Australia as a guest of the government and the Scarfes gained his permission to write his biography. In 1975, JP, His Biography was published to critical acclaim. Allan died in 2016, but Wendy continues to write. She is the author and co-author of 20 books as well as three anthologies of poetry. Her novels show her interest in political conflict and social injustice.
Dr Laura Schuijers (Class of 2003) A career inspired by nature
Year 9 is formative for many; for Laura, the decision to sign up for the 33-day Trek from the High Country to 90 Mile Beach put her on the pathway that would define her life – although she would not appreciate the pivot point until many years later. When the option to join the 33day Trek came up, the school call to action at the time of ‘dare to try’, resonated. When she returned to camp at the Crosscut Saw 15 years later, she had traversed peaks from Alaska to Switzerland and was in the middle of a PhD in Environmental Law, a field she was driven to by her experiences in nature. Teaching others about the natural world and how to protect it is a passion, but most of Laura’s work is law and policy research. She recently spent two years as a fellow at the Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, and in June 2020 returned to the Melbourne University Law School to join a research project examining links between property law and conservation. Laura’s pathway began with a degree in Science and Law. She secured a job at an international law firm in the middle of the GFC, on the condition she waited a year before starting. She spent the time volunteering with an environmental law firm in Melbourne and as an adviser to the World Conservation Union in Germany (where she got to test out her Korowa German skills – thank you Frau Tamburro). She also began a Master of Environment, setting her up to leave legal practice for a research journey that has taken her to Oxford, Columbia, and Berkeley. Laura used the COVID-19 lockdown to write a book on climate litigation. Grateful for the many mentors she has had, she hopes to inspire coming generations to embrace the outdoors, and hopes that any students (or parents!) a little shy about a big wilderness trip will take the plunge. You never know, it could change your life.
