ALUMNI NOTES // OBITUARIES Vale Graham Francis Bond (1937 – 2018) Graham Bond (Queensland & Balliol 1961) represented Australia in gymnastics at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and studied at the University of Queensland (BE Mining, First Class Honours 1959). In 1960 he represented Australia at the Rome Olympics. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford where he read PPE. It was through PPE that Graham developed a long-lasting interest in economics, particularly in the gap between rich and poor. Graham made many lifelong friends in Britain, including people from Canada, Uganda, Singapore and France. His friends included a French girl whom he met whilst visiting an Australian friend. They kept on meeting each other and after finishing their final exams Monique Nalder Béliard, (Somerville 1960) and Graham were married in London in September 1963 and sailed to Australia. In 1964 Graham was team captain for the Australian Gymnastics Team for the Tokyo Olympics and in Australia, he and Monique had their first child. His PhD on Mine Ventilation Networks led him to consultancies in Australia. In 1969, Graham, Monique and their 3 children went to England and Graham worked with PA Consultants in the UK. Life was interesting at work - Graham always enjoyed solving problems especially those which needed mathematics - and at home there were interesting trips, making furniture for the children and visiting Monique’s relations in France, Italy and Switzerland. In 1975 Graham suggested returning to Australia to spend some time with his parents. In 1976, 2 adults, 3 children, 15 books and several maps and visas set off to Australia via Munich to Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. They had some tricky moments but Graham’s calm attitude and the open friendliness of the children (aged, 7, 9 & 12) gained them warm welcomes almost everywhere.
Back in Brisbane, Graham joined QCOM, a local computer company ably lead by Roger and Tessa Worthington and they spent many years solving problems, building IT programs and developing as the industry itself developed. 10 acres of land in the Sunshine coast hinterland, fondly called 'Bondage', gave Graham and Monique a great deal of satisfying physical work to do as they cleared lantana and planted local native timber and wildlife habitat trees. Graham enjoyed surprising his friends with novelties such as photovoltaic cells and composting toilets and Monique’s students loved the wallabies, sugar gliders and the Milky Way. But age caught up with Bondy and Bondage was sold in 2011. That meant more focus on the choir Songlines. Graham and Monique both enjoyed singing at various gigs such as Sorry Day, rallies for refugees and Stop Domestic Violence Week. In his last days both at the hospital and even more at home, Graham liked to sing with any of his family and friends who were there. On 17 August 2018, as family members welcomed in the dawn with a favourite song, Graham quietly left this world. Written by Graham’s wife Monique Bond
THE AUSTRALIAN RHODES REVIEW // MICHAELMAS TERM 2018
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