Trinity College Newsletter, vol 1 no 12, April 1978

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TRINITY News /effet COLLEGE A PUBLICATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

April, 1978

No. 12 A MESSAGE FROM THE WARDEN

There is no accounting for student fashions. The strongly motivated radical student movements of the first years of this decade seem to have spent their force entirely. One consequence of this is that Colleges — at least in Melbourne are strongly back in favour. This year the rush of applications for places in Trinity was so great that the office system hardly coped for several weeks. I myself took a bundle of fifty-six applications from good students accepted into the University of Melbourne around College Crescent looking for places in other Colleges. Part of our dilemma arose from an increasing number of students choosing to stay on in College. By pressing various small rooms, originally intended as box-rooms and the like, into service we have now increased the total undergraduate population in Trinity to 227. These include sixty-seven women students.

I cannot say why Colleges in general, and Trinity in particular, have so risen in popularity. The rising cost of student accommodation in Parkville and Carlton certainly has something to do with it. In our less humble moments, however, we like to think that we are doing something right. There is no mistaking the spirit of happy community which pervades the College and our successes in sport last year no doubt contribute greatly to this.

For the first time in twelve years Trinity won the Cowan Cup for intercollegiate sport.

It is pleasing to report too that the academic results of the College members were also excellent. Not a little of the credit for this can be shared by the resident tutors who have been untiring in their efforts to help all students in difficulties. It is striking, and gratifying, that there are very few changes in the membership of the Senior Common Room for 1978.

Last year the Dialectic Society observed its one-hundredth birthday with a spectacular dinner in Hall enlivened with brilliant addresses from the fourth Warden, Dr. Robin Sharwood, and Dr. Sir Clive Fitts. Two months later the Theological School celebrated its first century with a memorable Eucharist and series of lectures by Bishop Michael Ramsey of Lambeth. In 1978 we look forward to the Centenary of the Bishops' building. The main commemoration for this will be at a service in the College Chapel at 7.30 p.m. on Sunday, 18th June at which the Barry Marshall Memorial Lecture will be given by Dr. Norman Curry. His theme will be the Life

A hundred years old in June, the Bishops' Building keeps the names of Bishops Perry and Moorhouse alive in College memory. and Work of Bishop Moorhouse, thefounder of the Trinity Theological School and, along with Bishop Perry, one of the two bishops for whom Bishops' is named.

Our efforts to bring former members of the College back in touch have continued and increased. Nick Turnbull continues to arrange lunch parties in College for former members and a special dinner for the Union of the Fleur de Lys has been arranged for Canberra on April 22nd next. The Melbourne dinner will be on the following Friday, April 28th. It is a great help to have a former Chaplain of the College, the Reverend Alfred Bird, back in Trinity to work regularly on updating our lists of names and addresses.

Future issues of the Trinity Newsletter will include a good deal more personal news of the Trinity family. I am hopeful that many will remain vitally interested in the College and its future. Some lines from the old Roman poet Lucretius describe our continuing and everchanging life: inque brevi spatio mutantur saecla animanturn et quasi cursores vital lampada tradunt.

"And in a brief space the generations change and like runners in a race pass on the torch of life."

Evan Burge

A

new family in College: Dr. John Gaden, the Director of the Theological School, his wife Janet, and children Timothy, Jeremy and Mai.

BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS

A remarkable change occurred in a surprisingly short time at the south end of the Bulpadok just before Christmas.

A new two-storey house in Clifton grey bricks (to match the bricks of Cowan) sprang up almost magically next to the tennis courts. This is the first fruits of the Centenary appeal for the Theological School being organised by Bishop James Grant.

The first residents of the new house are Dr. an d Mrs. John Gaden and their three children. John is Bishop Max Thomas' successor as Stewart Lecturer in Divinity and is now the Director of the Theological School. His wife, Janet, will act as a resident Tutor in English.

Within the older buildings there has been little change except for a continuous THE TRINITY COLLEGE INCORPORATION ACT 1978?

Surprisipg as it may seem, Trinity College is not an incorporated body and has no legal entity. In 1934 it looked for a time as if a Bill to incorporate the College would be presented to the Victorian Parliament, but because of disputes between the Warden and the other members of the College Council there was not sufficient agreement to proceed. At least for the time being, animosity seems a thing of the past.

Accordingly, the Warden has convened an informal committee including Sir Reginald Sholl, Professor A. G. L. Shaw, Mr. Peter Balmford, Bishop James Grant, and Miss Rowena Armstrong, Parliamentary Counsel, to draw up a draft bill.

programme of internal painting. The problem of mould on the Dining Room walls appears to have been solved and the Hall has been made much more habitable in both winter and summer by having its roof insulated for the first time. A handsome addition inside over the entrance doors is a carved representation of the College's coat-of-arms in resplendent heraldic colours. We owe this to the initiative of last year's T.C.A.C. Committee which contributed substantially to the cost.

For some years a large room near the entrance to Bishops' has housed the Mollison Theological Library. Thanks largely to the personal efforts of Bishop Grant and the College Librarian, Miss Mary Rusden, this Library has now been moved into part of the Leeper Library.

As this Newsletter goes to press the room

thus vacated is being renovated and will soon provide a handsome Senior Common Room in a position central to the life of the College.

The former Senior Common Room at the back of the Dining Hall is being subdivided to provide a waiting room, office space, and a small private dining room which cap also be used for tutorials.

The College grounds now resemble a large and beautiful park with fullygrown trees and spreading lawns. They contribute greatly to our atmosphere and sense of well-being. A closer inspection shows that our garden beds require more attention if they are to regain their former glory. The College Chaplain, the Reverend Rodney Oliver, has undertaken to supervise groups of students in this work and we look forward to a great improvement in a year's time.

The work of this Committee was presented to Council on February 27th this year and approved in principle. We expect, therefore, that the College will be legally incorporated from the beginning of 1979. Among other things the draft bill includes a Constitution for the College. Provision is made for three students, including the Senior Student, to have places on Council and also for the Senior Tutor and the Director of the Theological School to be included. The representation of the Union of the Fleur de Lys will be increased from one member to two. These are to be elected by the Committee of the Union which is itself elected each year before the Annual Dinner.

WE REGRET the deaths of former members of College including: Raynes Waite Adrian DICKSON . 1923 Jack Ellis NEWTON 1931 Howard Marcartney BAINBRIDGE 1931 Alfred Thomas Tampion DAGLISH 1933 Hibbert Richard NEWTON 1940 Hugh.William Hastings ANDREW 1930 Robert Paton DALZIEL 1946 Arthur William Edwin BENNETT late 1920s Leslie Eyre PARKER early 1930s Douglas Alfred WHITE early 1920s John MacDonald AGAR 1930 Fr. Bainbridge and Mr. Newton died some years ago, but their deaths were not recorded at the time.

NEWS OF ALUMNI

GIFTS

Mr. John McMillan Australian High Commissioner in Malta since 1976, wrote early this year. He is also nonresident Ambassador to the Holy See, a function he has been exercising since 1974.

Professor A. M. Gibbs began a threeyear term as Head of the School of English and Linguistics last year, Macquarie University, N.S.W. He was appointed Professor of English at the University in October, 1975.

Dr. A. K. Gregson Department of Chemistry at the University of New England, Armidale, is Senior Lecturer in Physics and Inorganic Chemistry. He married Jane Connor on 17th December, 1977.

Mr. D. J. Medley is with Rockwell International — South America Regional Marketing Director. He paid a visit to Trinity last year. His address is: 902 Creekdale Drive, Richardson, Texas, 75080.

The Reverend David Oliphant at present Assistant Priest at St. John's, Canberra, has been appointed LucasTooth Scholar for 1978. He and Mrs. Oliphant and their children will be leaving for the University of Birmingham later this year. David (whose first profession was architecture) will undertake diplomas in Pastoral Studies, Liturgy and Architecture.

The Reverend John S. Shepherd: After five years of service to St. Ann's, Sayville. Long Island, New York, John and his wife, Joy, and their three small children have moved to Cambridge, where he will be doing research in 14th and 15th century music at St. Catherine's College. He has been appointed organist of the Church of St. Edward, King and Martyr. His address is: 4 Chelwood Road, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge, England.

The Reverend Edwin Byford at present holds the Lucas-Tooth Scholarship. He is doing research into the theological and existential adequacy of certain contemporary Asian Christian Theology in the Department of Social and Pastoral Theology at the University of Manchester.

Visitors to the College have included Mrs. Jo' Cowan, Sir Norman Henderson, Sir John Bunting, and Dr. Michael M. Wilson.

The first all-Trinity marriage (since J.C.H. was separated in 1962) was made at the end of 1977 between Linden Hope and Priscilla Boaden.

The College is deeply grateful to Dr. George Garrett (1945) for a portrait of the late Dr. Barry Marshall. This was painted by Dora McRae from a small photograph taken during Barry Marshall's last years as a member of the Bush Brotherhood. At last year's service for the Commemoration of Founders and Benefactors when the painting was presented to the College, Bishop Grant called it "an earnest of things to come".

The portrait, now hanging in the College Hall depicts him with the ivy-covered walls and tower of Bishops' in the background. Those who knew Barry Marshall well can see a hint of joy and gaiety ready to break out from a strikingly successful likeness. It is easy to imagine that he has just received the famous telegram from Warden Cowan: "Come over to Macedonia and help us".

Dr. Garrett has also given the College two prints of the fine original pen drawings of Leeper and Clarke buildings by W. Beasley. He hopes to persuade Mr. Beasley to make a similar drawing of Bishops' in its centenary year.

The College is also deeply grateful fox several generous gifts by Dr. David McGowan Steele, himself a member of Ormond, in memory of his father, William Huey Steele. These include a magnificent illuminated manuscript commemorating his father's life. William Steele entered Trinity in 1887 and later won the Bromby prizes in Biblical Greek and Hebrew. Before his ordination to the Presbyterian Ministry he was a brilliant physicist who, in 1891, was awarded a scholarship in Science by the Commissioners of the London Exhibition of 1851. In due course, he became Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Western Australia and later in Victoria. He was always conscious of his debt to both Trinity and Ormond. It was fitting that Dr. Davis McCaughey was present when Dr. David Steele made this handsome presentation to the College.

THE COLLEGE RECORDS

As reported elsewhere, the Council has appointed the Revd. Alfred Bird for two years as Keeper of the College Records.

These have not received the full-time attention of any one person for many years past and it is essential that our records now be put into order.

The address to which this Newsletter was sent has been printed by a 20-year old Addressograph machine purchased in first-class order, at a very reasonable price, on behalf of the College by the Chaplain (the Revd. Rodney Oliver. We now have the means of keeping addresses up to date and of sending material to all members of the College family. To do this effectively, however, we shall need donations to help meet the cost of producing and distributing the newsletters and of Mr. Bird's salary. Even more important, we need news and information. Please use the enclosed card to assist with this essential work.

The Revd. Alfred Bird, Chaplain 1951-60, is now back as Keeper of Records. His passport photo above is hardly a fair portrait, which would include glasses, a smile and a pipe.

ANY COLLEGE ANECDOTES

If a criticism can be made of Bishop Grant's centenary history "Perspective of a Century", it is perhaps that it does not include the many anecdotes which go to make up the human story of the College.

Some of the most pleasurable moments at the lunches organised by Nick Turnbull have been when the guests have regaled the table with amusing incidents from former times. Many of these will be lost to posterity unless they are recorded soon. Perhaps you would care to put something in writing and send it to the Warden. A selection of the best anecdotes will be published in next year's newsletter.

This picture of the Billiard Room dates from the 1890s. It is virtually unaltered today. The fireplace has gone, a ping-pong table has been added, and various oars commemorate former glories.

THE SENIOR STUDENT REPORTS

The Senior Student for 1978, Mr. Bill Gillies, writes: 1977 was a very successful year for Trinity; there is no reason why 1978 will not be also. Third term saw, apart from a refoliated oak tree, the College officially win the R. W. T. Cowan Cup, for the first time in the last decade. With the advent of co-education in all the Colleges, the W. K. Tickner Trophy will now be awarded to the most successful college in both men's and women's sport. The most pleasing thing about winning the Cowan Cup was that Trinity performed outstandingly in the minor sports, and did not have to rely on the major sports.

It was, most of all, an effort from the entire College. It was, of course, fitting that a glorious win in Rugby should clinch the Cup. Trinity also won the debating. A packed J.C.R. saw Ormond trounced in the final. There was also a very successful revue-cum-impromptu-pop-concert and a Fleur-de-Lys of high standard. For the first time, advertisements were used to help offset the cost of printing it. It is hoped that in future the College Council grant can be maintained and the `extra' money used to print more copies for distribution among as many as possible former members of the College. This has been too expensive for some years now.

Unfortunately, 1977 saw the departure of most of the College's more senior students. (Eight of these had 55 years of College combined.) But, and this is the test of a happy and successful College, rather than counting the trophies on the wall, overall very few members left.

Indeed, there were a number of re-entries from members who had been out for several years. So 1978 will see only about 50 freshers.

There are a few early signs that College will have a good year. The T.C.A.C. Committee is already working hard on its `O' Week programme. The College eight has virtually been boated, and decided upon. Mr. John Harry, a former College member and excellent oarsmen, is Coach.

The Dialectic Society has already booked speakers beginning with Mr. Justice Kirby, and planned functions, while the Wine Club has ventured to darkest Rutherglen to find the best wines for its members.

There is plenty to look forward to. A dinner in Hall for all College oarsmen on March 20th shortly before Shums should see the inauguration of the Hughes Club.

Soon after will come the Elliott fours, Jutoddie, and the College Ball, to name just a few things.

Top: Sacks have replaced gowns at Jutoddie, new obstacles have been devised, but the bricks are still heavy.

Centre: Calling the races at Juttodie 1977 is Rod Lyle.

Right: Aboard the Bookies' truck at Jutoddie 1977 are Tim Ross-Edwards, Peter Clarke, and the current Senior Student Bill Gilles (left).