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Some of the 180 guests at the Sixties Foundation Dinner held in the College Dining; Hall in May of this year
FOUNDATION REACHES ITS INITIAL GOAL OF $1.5 MILLION As at the 30th June 1986 pledges to the Foundation stood at $1,506,012, just over the $1.5 million initial goal of the Foundation as the first step towards a longer term $6 million. Attaining this target was the result of many months of intense work which included dinners in Sydney and Ballarat, and a delightful Foundation Dinner for those who were resident in Trinity during the Sixties. The three dinners resulted in pledges of $22,570, $33,240 and $71,380 respectively. The Sydney Dinner took place at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron and was attended by 31 Trinity members and supporters. The Foundation is indebted to Mr Mark Johnson for his help and support in the organization of this splendid occasion. The Warden of the College, Dr Evan Burge, the Vice-Chairman of the Foundation, Mr Clive Smith, Executive Committee member, Mr David Wells and the Executive Officer, Miss Angela Mackie, all attended and presented different aspects of the Foundation's work. The Warden's personal testimony and insight into the values of collegiate life stirred all those present. In sharp contrast of style, the Vice-Chairman stated crisply the aims of the Foundation and why he himself supported its work. The College simply needed the support of all its members and he asked the guests directly for their help. His more pragmatic approach was continued by the Executive Officer who stated that during the following week she would visit personally every College member at the dinner. All those present responded warmly to the College's clear need for assistance and this was reflected in the amount raised in pledges from that evening. Amongst the familiar faces were the jocular Bishop Ken Mason ('65), Gordon Adler ('49), Barry Aldrich ('48), Ted Blamey ('64), Bill Blandy ('65), David Clappison ('60), Hal Colebatch ('63), Rebecca Fletcher ('81), Christopher Garrre ('61), Tony Gibbs ('52), Tony Henderson ('61), Bill Henty ('55), John Hobson ('74), Mark Johnson ('58), Alan Lane ('60), Peter Lawrence ('40), Peter Lincoln ('53), John McDonagh ('49), David Maclntyre ('62), Peter Pockley ('54), Jim Robinson ('68), Chris Roper ('72), John Skuja ('55), Tim Throsby ('72), Shan Turnbull ('52), Peter Van de Velde ('59), Bjorn Valsinger (parent of Patrik, a current student). Two days before the Sydney Dinner, the Foundation held its Annual General Meeting and the Chairman presented the Report of the Executive Committee for 1985. We were delighted that one of our Governors, the co-founder of Juttoddie, Dr Colin Juttner from Adelaide, was able to join us for the Annual General Meeting and Annual Dinner which followed. The next major function of the Foundation was the Sixties Dinner for those resident in Trinity during that turbulent decade. Over 170 people made up of College members, wives and friends crowded into the candle-lit Dining Hall and heard not only the message of
A PUBLICATIONOFTRINITYCOLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITYOFMELBOURNE Registered by Australia Post — Publication No.VBG 4336
the Foundation, but also the strains of nostalgia eloquently rendered by Peter Field ('61) and Nick Alexander ('61) with their "Please don't trip over the Aspidistra - Revisited". Their contribution to the evening was indeed the highlight and we thank them both for bringing back so many colourful memories! Many of those present had already committed themselves to the Foundation, and from those who had not, a further $71,380 was raised in pledges. At the end of the month the Foundation took its message to Ballarat, and a wonderful evening was had in the home of Cr. and Mrs Alf Hancock whose four children have all been students in Trinity. Those present included David Fawell ('55), Graeme Fowler ('67) and his wife Catherine, Peter Heinz ('73) and his wife Jill, the Rev. Canon Lawrence Hodges ('49) and Judith Hodges, Trevor Kuhle ('70) and Jill Kuhle, Bob Northey ('59) and Wendy, David O'Sullivan ('44), John Vernon ('55) and Jenny, and the following parents whose children are currently resident in the College: Melville and Marie Charles, Ron and Wendel Davis, Peter and Yvette Hiscock, and Ferdinand and Maria Maisano. The Chairman of the Foundation, Mr John Gourlay, the Warden, and the Executive Officer all attended the Ballarat dinner. The Executive Committee of the Foundation thanks all those who have given so generously to the "Old Colt' . The Foundation is now making plans to raise the remainder of the $6 million target. $2.5 million is needed for the'Woodheap Building" which will provide urgently required student and tutor accommodation as well as seminar rooms. It will also provide the College with badly needed revenue during vacations The Foundation is seeking major donors for this undertaking, and appropriate recognition of such donors will be given. Should you not have helped the Foundation with its work but would like to do so, you are invited to contact the Chairman, Mr John Gourlay, phone 602 1666, or the Executive Officer of the Foundation, Miss Angela Mackie at the College, phone 347 1044. ALL DONATIONS TO THE TRINITY COLLEGE FOUNDATION ARE FULLY TAX DEDUCTIBLE.
FRIENDS OF TRINITY
ANNUAL DINNER Friday, 26th September, 1986 in the College Hall GUEST SPEAKER: Mr. John Howard Leader of the Federal Opposition Invitation enclosed with this Newsletter
Scenes from the Sixties and Sydney Foundation Dinners
Mr. William Cowan ('63), Senior Student in 1966, addresses the guests and announces the 12th Governor of the Foundation. Since that evening the number of Governors has risen to 16.
Peter Field ('61) and Nick Alexander ('61) entertain the guests.
Geoff Hone ('63) photographed with Marie McDonald.
L. to R. Sev Clarke ('64), Maggie Kirkman and the Warden, Burge, exchange notes.
Dr. Evan
SATURDAY, 11th OCTOBER, 1986 The Trinity Theological School Fifth Annual
TRINITY PILGRIMAGE To Wangaratta Cathedral
Our Special Train will leave from Spencer Street
Station. Parish Groups welcome; Family, Student and Pensioner discounts. Further details and ticket books available through the College Office (347 1044).
L. to R. John McDonagh ('49) shares a joke with Clive Smith ('54), Vice Chairman of the Trinity College Foundation, and Mark Johnson ('58) who organized the Sydney Foundation Dinner held in April at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron.
A happy group at the Sydney Foundation Dinner (clockwise) David Maclntyre ('62), Chris Roper ('72), Dr. Evan Burge (Warden), Bishop Kenneth Mason ('65), Ted Blarney ('64) and Hal Colebatch ('63).
FLEUR-DE-LYS DINNER IN SYDNEY Friday, 19th September, 1986
Alan Lane ('69), David Wells (`61) member of the Executive Committee of the Foundation and David Clappison ('60) at the Sydney Foundation Dinner.
Contact Brigadier John McDonagh, 193 Edgecliff Road, Woollahra, N.S.W., 2025 Telephone: (02) 387 3589 (H) (02) 697 3400 (B)
RESPONSE TO PROFESSOR JOHN POYNTER'S ADDRESS In the December issue of the Trinity College Newsletter we published an address given by Professor John Poynter at the last Annual Friends of Trinity Dinner. Dr. Ian Manning ('63) has responded to this article. Dr. Manning is a former Research Fellow at the Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research at the University of Melbourne, and has recently resigned in order to continue work in a privately financed research institute. Professor Poynter's address was based on Peter Scott's recent book "The Crisis of the University'; a book which Dr. Manning also found fascinating, though, as he states, "from a rather different point of view' We are grateful to Dr. Manning for allowing us to publish his response. The kernel of Scott's diagnosis of the crisis of the British universities lies in their adoption of an 'academic' rather than a 'liberal' set of basic values. 'Academicism' places high value on the accumulation of knowledge, particularly of those kinds which can be discovered and incorporated into the theoretical structure of each discipline. It has come to replace the former 'liberal' emphasis on 'the intellectual formation of the student and his/her socialisation into the role of educated citizen' partly by a shift in the relative importance of disciplines - those scientific disciplines which place great stress on the accumulation of theoretical knowledge have become relatively more important than such cultural bulwarks as history - and partly by a shift in the attitude of the practitioners of each discipline, Scott, P The Crisis of the University, (p.63). The result was that 'the organic knowledge of the liberal university was replaced by the fissiparous knowledge of the modern university' (Op. cit. p.64). One of the reasons for this change was the success of the natural sciences in the accumulation of knowledge; another was the part they played in the training of members of the new technological professions. However, Scott argues that academics have now evolved to a degree of disciplinary specialisations which is counter-productive for the training of even specialised professionals. The high value placed upon research 'at the frontiers of knowledge' publishable in the specialised journals, is competitive with teaching rather than complementary, while the drive to accumulate empirical knowledge is getting so far beyond the synthesising power of the theoreticians that nobody can comprehend the significance of what has been discovered. Finally, 'the process of disciplinary specialisation in the modern university has led to its loss of a common intellectual language' (Op. cit. p.115).
Professor Poynter argues that Australian universities early on devoted
themselves to professional training and to research on local problems. In this sense their progress from liberalism to academicism came easily and perhaps early. It had not destroyed them as universities, and I would agree with Professor Poynter that many courses at Melbourne are better taught than ever before, and that much of the teaching and the research output of the university is responsive to the needs of society. However, there are problems as well. One difficulty is the conflict between the high value placed on research which elaborates the existing body of theoretical knowledge on a narrow front and the responsibility to teach whole subjects to undergraduates. If the year's study is not to become unbalanced, an entire research program may at best provide material for an illustration in half a lecture. The kinds of research which are complementary to teaching are different, and do not generally result in articles in the learned journals. They are: 1. That kind of wide reading which enables the teacher to keep up with developments in his or her discipline and in the scholarly world in general. This results in balanced teaching, and perhaps makes a modest start towards rebuilding that community of knowledge which disciplinary allegiences have broken. 2. In professional training, contract research can enable the teacher to engage in the sort of day-to-day work which graduates encounter, and to maintain contact with the profession outside the university. fn economics, for example, there is a serious division between the 'academics' and the business economists, which might be reduced if academics spent more time addressing the business economists' questions, within their time constraints, and subject to those inconvenient features of the real world which are so easily assumed away in academic theory. The shortage of money for universities is likely to force academics into this latter kind of research, but the question still arises as to how they are to be rewarded within the academic system for this additional experience. It is even more difficult to find a way to increase the academic rewards flowing from breadth of knowledge, and to reduce those derived from specialist publications, though promotional committees could doubtless devise ways were they so minded. A second consequence of academicism is the demand for costly state-of-the-art research equipment. Costs are also increased because
of the pressure from staff to institute higher degrees by coursework in which they can expound their detailed disciplinary learning. I question the worth of such courses, not only on the grounds of expense, but on the grounds that they do not impart new learning or analytic skills that cannot be introduced into the honours degree. In making this criticism, I would distinguish such coursework degrees from the traditional research degree, which does give experience of a kind not available in undergraduate programs, and also from teaching done as part of the in-service training of career professionals. A third, and not very serious consequence of academicism is the conversion of the university from a scholarly community to a shared bureaucratic environment in which there is no common purpose, and no common values by which decisions of priority may be made. This lack of an internal sense of priority makes it inevitable that sooner or later the universities will become departments of State, in order that (at best) the rules of bureaucratic fairness and ultimate political accountability may be supplied or (at worst) the universities may become channels for the distribution of political patronage. Though Professor Poynter deplores the often contradictory interferences of the Commonwealth and the States in university affairs, it seems to me that the mistiness of Australian federalism is perhaps the universities' best guarantee against conversion into departments - that is, unless they can recreate that scholarly unity, judgment and sense of priority which they have lost. Where does one start in the recreation of scholarly unity? It is sometimes suggested that interdisciplinary studies can cement the university back together, but at best this seems to create little islands
of alliance, and at worst it gives birth to yet another sub-discipline. Others put their hopes in thematic, cross-disciplinary subjects and programs, such as gerontology (the study of anything to do with old people); women's studies or the study of a particular geographic region. One might even suggest that scholarly unity and direction might become a cross-disciplinary subject in its own right, prerequisite for university administrators, and perhaps to be encouraged for disciplinary teachers. Promotion rules which emphasise breadth of understanding would also help. The alternative approach would be to write off the large universities to their vocation - the training of professional personnel as required . by the government's manpower planners - and start out again in colleges in which the unity of knowledge may be pursued. It is possible within a staff of 200 to represent all the major traditional disciplines while still allowing links through personal contact. The experience with CAEs of this size shows that smallness alone provides no guarantee that disciplinary loyalties will be bridled, but it is possible if there is an allegience to a unifying end. In the small liberal universities of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries this was the acculturation of students into a commonly accepted ideal of educated society, but this need not be the only unifying principle. In the missionary days of the Christian Colleges in India, for example, the unifying principle was the interpretation of Christianity in the challenging religious environment in which they found themselves. Whatever happens, I agree with Professor Poynter that the universities have interesting times ahead.
GREASE Union Theatre, University of Melbourne July 2nd - 12th, 1986
The Cast for 'Grease' review their progress at an early rehearsal. L. to R. Front Row: Phoebe Fraser, Simon Rosengarten, Helen Wood. Back Row: Federay Holmes, Poal Grage (partly obscured), Amanda Crawley, David Guthrie, Charles Raymond, Roger Kermode. To anyone who has the good fortune not to know anything about the story of "Grease", just let me say that it is an appalling tale of paramount unsubtlety concerning the lustful exploits of teenagers in an American High School of the 1950's! However, despite its plot, the Trinity College Music Society enjoyed many full houses in their nine-night season in the Union Theatre, a tribute to the excellent direction and choreography. After his 1984 success with the "Mikado" Peter Tulloch returned to direct an enormous cast in his own inimitable style and the result was a splendidly disciplined performance of stamina and novelty. Despite the show lasting 21/2 hours, with ten minutely scene changes, the audience was not disappointed, and thrilled to the remarkably swift but graceful dance routines which were choreographed by Marcella Hunter.
A dramatic moment in rehearsal. L. to R. Ben Keith and Thomas Wright. A six-piece band directed from the piano by John Thorn delivered raunchy Rock 'n' Roll with just a dash of Jazz and in addition provided much incidental music of great range and amusement. With all this fine direction behind them the actors and actresses rose to the occasion with a firm belief in themselves to perform well. Their lovable smiles, inelegant bitchiness, lechery, rebelliousness and comradeship were all delivered with enormous energy. Although some of the individual singing was shaky the group numbers were loud and clear and very exciting. No-one really minded that the play itself was horrific. This production was a treat to all who were fortunate enough to see it. Adam Jenney
TRINITY MOURNS ARTHUR'S DEATH Perhaps the most loved Trinity personality of recent years, Arthur Hills, College Porter from 1973, died in office on 12th May, 1986. He had become an essential part of Trinity, and vindicated Dr. Robin Sharwood's conception of the importance of the Porter's role. A congregation of four hundred thronged the Chapel for Arthur's funeral, at which the following address was given by the Warden: If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:12). A good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. (Luke 6:45).
Do not these texts speak to us of Arthur - a truly good man, in whose heart was a great abundance of treasure, whose words were from the heart? And did he not spread among us a spirit of understanding and sympathy for one another, which might properly be called love? And if we love one another, St. John tells us, then God abides in us. All that is good, or true, or beautiful in this world is a manifestation of the One who created and sustains the world. That is why, in our deeper selves, we respond so deeply to love and friendship, and feel it so acutely, almost unbearably, when we are cut off from them. We are made in the image of a loving God, who abides in us when we love one another. You may perhaps ask whether the quotations are particularly apt for Arthur, whose words often verged on the abusive and who was not much given to religious language and practice. Well, I didn't myself ever receive any of the abusive words; they were kept for the students and not least the office staff of whom he was particularly fond. Who else could call the Warden's Secretary 'the blonde bombshell' and not be resented for it? Even his rough words sprang from a good and loving heart, and were readily recognized as such. I do not know about his religious views, and I must confess to wondering about the appropriateness of a great occasion like this funeral in the Chapel, with choir and organ, for one who was so unassuming. Was he even nominally Anglican? At the last papal election, most of Trinity were quite certain that Arthur was by far the best candidate for Pope - and many a truth lies concealed in jest. Some of us thought he may have been a Catholic once, but Fr Terry Laidler tells me that, for all his affection and admiration for Arthur, Catholicism didn't enter their conversation. Yet he obviously had a keen interest and respect for the Church. He treated the many bishops who pass through the College office with proper dignity and respect - exactly the same dignity and respect he reserved for every other human being. Almost every Sunday morning he watched a religious service on television, and often spoke to me about it afterwards. But what determined what we are doing today was decisive: the obvious pleasure and poise with which Arthur carried out his duties at the Annual Festival of Lessons and Carols - escorting the readers from their places to the lectern, dressed in gown and mortar board and bearing the University staff. I am sure that he would take a modest pride in the College's efforts to do our best for him, just as he would be disappointed if no-one went to Naughton's to remember him with a quiet drink when the service was over. One more thing about Arthur and God - a joke which turned out rather poignant. It has long been recognized that he was the most important person in Trinity, the one who knew everyone, the one who above all others made the College a true home and not just an institution. After a tutors' gathering at the beginning of this year, while we were enjoying the hospitality of Peter and Barbara Wellock, I introduced everyone. After various theological gentlemen I came to Arthur: 'These others serve God' I said, 'but so far as Trinity is concerned, Arthur is God' 'Oh' said Arthur, 'that explains why I've been feeling funny lately' His death came as a shock, but many of us had noticed a decline. He lost weight over the last few months and was noticeably slower. He also made extra efforts of a tender and gentle kind. My last conversation with him was at lunch last Friday, when he called me over to say encouraging things about a short speech I made in Hall the previous night. I valued his words then, and even more today. No-one knows if he was in pain or distress. If you asked how he was he would answer with a question 'How are you?' He did, however, tell Mustafa last week that he felt sick and tired.
Arthur Hills, or 'Artie" as he was affectionately known to students.
On Sunday, he was found by Frank unconscious on his bedroom floor, and despite the best efforts of ambulancemen, nurses and doctors, he did not recover. They thought that it was a stroke or perhaps a heart attack or a coma associated with his diabetes. According to the post-mortem report, however, he had a cancer of the lower oesophagus with metastases in the liver. Even more surprising, he had purulent meningitis, no doubt of rapid and catastrophic onset. Much as we hoped he would recover, I think we are all thankful that he died quickly and peacefully, and did not have to bear the burden of feeling himself a burden to others. He was too independent for that. I'm sure that he would have wanted his last conscious hours to be in Trinity, and his last known act to tell one of the students to go to bed. For 131/2 years, Arthur has embodied so much of the spirit of Trinity that we felt that he had been in the College for ever. For many he was the College. And so, we somehow expected that he would go on for ever. Students, tutors, and wardens come and eventually go. Arthur alone has been the abiding link between successive College generations, and one who received nearly all the Christmas cards, the first one sought out by those who return from travel abroad.
Who, we wonder, will sort out the mail, and keep an eye open for that special letter we've been waiting for? Or clear the coin boxes of the phones and washing machines? Or call the electrician or plumber when theres darkness or water everywhere at night or during the weekend? Or ring the bell, stand at the door for formal meals, and accept improbable stories that 'my gown is at the dry cleaners'? Or take the College banking along a predictable route at the same time each day, defying robbers and the insurance company alike? Or find free parking in Trinity for the bank staff every vacation? Or hold court in Naughton's every night? For myself I find it quite dreadful not to begin my day in the office with 'Good morning Arthur'. What it must now be like across the road every evening I cannot imagine. Arthur seemed to know everything about everbody. And he never forgot anyone. He could have written a book about the Burge family, and probably a paragraph if not an essay about your family too. He knew us with insight, with compassion, with understanding. Is it not ironical then that the one person who was the best known to the Trinity family, who knew us all, was himself so little known? It is usual at a funeral to tell something of the life story of the person who died. With Arthur, it is almost impossible. On Monday morning, after his death, we tried to discover if he had any relatives, or if he had left a will, or had expressed any wishes about his mortal remains. We found nothing. Surely his friends would know - but they didn't.
Despite his open friendliness, he was essentially a very private person. Even his name and birthday were unknown. According to his medical records it was 1920. According to the Department of Social Security, who claim to have sighted a birth certificate, he was born in New Zealand on 7th July, 1911. What is more surprising, his official name was Arthur Crouch, which doesn't seem to fit his personality nearly so well. At some stage after the family moved to Australia, his mother married again, and Hills was apparently the name of Arthur's stepfather. We believe that Arthur had a brother, a policeman in Sydney, who may have since died. He was once married, to a dancer in the ballet at the Tivoli, but the relationship lasted only nine months. They were separated but apparently not divorced, and no one knows if his wife is still alive. He sometimes spoke of his work in the old Royal Melbourne Hospital when it was in Lonsdale Street, and I have a strong feeling he had nursed psychiatric patients at some stage. He was also involved as a courier in the Royal Tour, when the Queen visited Australia in 1958 but I don't know any details. In the truest sense, Trinity College was his family for the past 131/2 years, and we are his grieving and grateful family now. You will all have your pictures and memories of him. He was the despair of the conscientious administrator. When he came as porter in 1973, The Council was told that the profits from running the shop outside the Hall would be sufficient to pay his salary. What happened in fact was that the shop ran at an ever-increasing loss until it had to be closed. Arthur couldn't sell things - he preferred to give them away. The same with College lunches. When he was supposed to click the voucher three times, he couldn't bring himself to do it more than once - unless you had annoyed him that week - and sometimes he wouldn't click at all. A few months ago he noticed I was watching. There had been a shortfall of several thousand dollars in lunch receipts, and I stressed that he would to click more frequently. 'Hey you, bring back that ticket', he called to the student.he had just waved on. He took the ticket and clicked several times very studiously. Few of you will be surprised to know that the places where he clicked were already cancelled. Love, our readings told us, casts out fear. Arthur truly loved, and he is now in the hands of the loving Creator he, perhaps unwittingly, revealed in Trinity College. We who are left to grieve cannot really
understand the mystery of life, of another person, or even of ourselves. How then can we hope to penetrate the mystery of death? Yet, if we are in the hands of the Spirit of life and love, we are as safe in death as we are in life. Around us this autumn the trees are turning to gold. Like the leaves, we must all answer when we are called to return to the great Source of life. Like Arthur, we too will one day lose our hold on life, as the leaf falls from the branch when its work is done. The deeds and memories of people like Arthur enrich the world, as the fallen leaf enriches the soil. We pay our best homage to the dead when we live our lives most fully. In the light of death we can see how trivial are many things that often seem important: wealth, power, prestige. We honour today one whose life was simple, whose work might appear lowly in the social scale, the sum total of whose possessions when we found them amounted only to six dollars. Each tree is known by its fruit. In honouring Arthur, we honour what is truly valuable in human life. And where love is, there is God. The College student magazine, the Fleur de Lys 1986 will include a full commemoration of the life of Arthur Hills. The Editors are anxious to obtain any photographs of Arthur for inclusion in the magazine. If you are able to help with photographs, please send them to - Sam Staley, Trinity College, Royal Parade, Parkville, Vic., 3052.
DEATHS OF COLLEGE MEMBERS The College records with regret the deaths of the following members reported since the last edition of the Newsletter: Alan John Grange Mackay (1919) Keith Brayton Brown (1920) Geoffrey Roland Norwood (1922) Jack Charles Laver (1929) Nicholas Harry Georgeff (1940) William Harold Graham (1942) John Maynard Hedstrom (1960)
TRINITY MEN PADDLE TO VICTORY Late last year five Trinity men found a way to extend the cameraderie and challenge of their College rowing days when, with two others, they took to the water on the 92 kilometre first stage of the annual Red Cross canoe marathon along the Murray River. Although not clearly visible in the photograph, printed on the back of the team's uniforms was a stone-rubbing from a 12th century Mayan temple in a place called Tibal. This certainly produced results since they
completed the long journey in 7 hours, 49 minutes and 55 seconds. We congratulate them on their endurance, speed and determination. From L. to R. the successful seven in the Murray River Canoe marathon: Ron May ('76), Mike Burgess (78), Paul Stanley, Tim Kelsey, Ted Salter ('77), Bill Gillies ('74) and Harry Asche (76). (Photograph from the 'Age')
OBITUARY Margaret Blackwood 1909-1986
because we hate to be parted from our friends. Rejoicing because death is not an end, but the opening of a door to the way of fulfilment. They were women of what King James version translated as moderation - a very inadequate translation. The Greek Lexicon translates epieikeia "sweet reasonableness" Would it be too much to say that without this gift she could not have held the respect and attention of the various groups and organisations with which she was associated. Here is a short list of them. The University of Melbourne, which seems to have taken a long time to recognise her greatness, did reward her in the end with a deputychancellorship. She was the first woman to hold that office.
Dame Margaret Blackwood when she was appointed a Fellow of the College five years ago. At the funeral of Dame Margaret Blackwood, held in the Trinity College Chapel on 5th June 1986, Sir Frank Woods delivered the following address: "Whatever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things' (Phil. 4.8). Only a month ago I heard those words spoken by Prince Philip in the splendid hall of Monash University which bears the name of Blackwood. When I was honoured by the request to be the speaker at Margaret Blackwood's funeral those words came back to me. I hope I shall not misrepresent the speaker if I say that, having congratulated the University at having in twenty-five years achieved world-recognition for scientific research, he quoted those words of St. Paul to drive home his point that all the applied science in the world does not necessarily result in the good life, or even in decent civilization, unless equal attention is given to the study of history, philosophy, morals, art and religion. In other words, he pleaded that Monash, and by implication all universities, should feed its students with a balanced diet. We are here to give thanks to God for one who was indeed an academic and a distinguished one, but whose life and thought, whose teaching and interests, had just that balance. In a moment I shall ask you to meditate on St. Paul's list - a list not of virtues which any Greek humanist might have drawn up, but of graces, God-given graces which had evidently been given to Margaret, and which now, we believe, she can exercise in the fullness of eternity, a fullness unimpeded by the limitations of temporality. Note then that St. Paul was writing to a group of women, some of whom evidently were leaders in the church and some of whom held office within it. He says that they laboured with him in the Gospel and that their names were in the book of life. Margaret would never have claimed such distinction for herself, but we may claim them for her. She was a convinced Christian, not religious in any narrow sense, but with the deep awareness of God whose natural creation she loved, a creation to which she devoted her keen intellect. There was no conflict in her mind between science and faith. On the contrary, her faith taught her that she was sister to her fellow human beings, whoever and wherever they might be. Her science as geneticist made it possible for her to help the poor starving and ignorant farmers of the third world - and of the first - so to increase the weight of their harvested grain as not merely to allay immediate hunger, but to open up the possibility of a hunger-free world. St. Paul notes that there are certain dispositions of heart and mind which characterize the sort of life those women to whom he wrote and our Margaret were leading: There were people of rejoicing; not of religious gloom, in spite of persecution. So was Margaret. You couldn't be gloomy with her. At a Christian funeral tears and rejoicing are equally in place - tears
When she joined the Women's Auxiliary Australian Airforce in 1941 she was among the first group of women to offer for military service. At first she was a drill instructor - it makes me laugh to think of it; but soon she was working out a cypher for the better secret communications of the West Pacific allied airforces; in 1942, the year of war crisis, she was appointed to command the training school for the sudden influx of 450 women, and from then on was widely known and respected throughout the Australian Air Force at home and overseas. On retirement she held the rank of Wing Officer in charge of training and Commander of No. 1 R.A.A.A.F Depot and, out of uniform became the first National President of the WA.A.A.F Association. I presume that such experience of her own and other women's capabilities lay behind her foundation membership of the Soroptomists of which she became the Chairman in Australia. She was not an agitator for women's rights, but she was a feminist in the best sense of the word, believed in the equality of women, worked. for its recognition and had personally experienced male-domination. After the war and for the rest of her life her main interest, apart from her work as a professional botanist, was in Janet Clark Hall whose status as an independent college she worked for, and of whose Council she was member and Chairman for thirteen years and the first Foundation Fellow. She was no mere figurehead. She cared for and knew personally numbers of students and staff. She was chief adviser to the Principal, rejoiced in its successes and gave her full support to its opening its doors to male students. A true feminist, she believed in the equality of the sexes. I have no doubt that a large proportion of this large congregation are here because Margaret had been something of a mother to them. The secret of her inner strength is well defined in St. Paul's next few words of exhortation: be careful for nothing. We might paraphrase his Greek: You needn't be a worrier because you can commit your worries to God in prayer; doing this you will experience a peace of heart and mind beyond all human contriving. This she did. St. Paul ends his thumb-nail sketch of the ideal Christian character with the famous and much quoted catalogue of graces. Margaret had the nobility of humility and would have been horrified if I had claimed that she had them all. She was human and must have shared some of the shortcomngs of human frailty. But I personally was not aware of them and, at her funeral, believe that you will not object if I pursue my theme - that St. Paul, writing to his friends at Philippi, has given us a word portrait of an ideal human life and that we may legitimately use it to measure Margaret's greatness. The things to be cared about, according to St. Paul, are truth, honesty, justice, purity, beauty, and a good report in the community. Truth. Here we bring before God her life-long search for scientific truth, a search recognised by her Cambridge doctorate, by academic honours in her own country, by her honorary doctorate and appointment as Deputy Chancellor in her own university, and eventually by the Commonwealth as Dame of the Noble Order of the British Empire. But she researched not for any reward except the reward of uncovering the truth for the benefit of the human race. Honesty. Above reproach. A quality that has in these days become quite uncommon in all walks of life. Justice. Let those who served under her in the W.A.A.A.F and in the examination halls speak. Purity. Jesus said Blessed are the pure in spirit for they shall see God. She did discern the face of God - perhaps darkly - through the mists of human sin and ignorance, the God whose face she now sees in the pure air of heaven. Continued page 8
Beauty. Yes, she loved it; she loved the beauties of nature and the beauties of human character, and the beauty of a mathematical formula. Margaret was a beautiful woman. And lastly: Of good report in the community; evidenced by her dameship in The Order of the British Empire. I think I have said enough to show that we are right to report to God in this funeral service that we loved her and that we commend her to his loving care. I cannot finish without asking a question: what is she doing now? To answer this question we have to go to the visionaries and the poets. I go to the Author of the Apocalypse, the last book of the Bible. He, like all of us, can only speak of heaven in figurative language. I personally am comforted by the inclusion, in his picture of heaven, not only of the angels and the saints, and not only of the countless number of ordinary men and women, but of the Four Beasts representing the world of nature; the world full of eyes that look towards and worship God:
The lion representing all that is strong, The calf representing nature's amazing powers of reproduction (I think Margaret may well have her arms round that one). The third beast had a face as of a man standing for the order in the natural world; the incredible skill of the migrant bird that returns two thousand miles to the same tree; the skill of the bee that makes a hexagonal honeycomb. And the fourth beast was like a flying eagle standing for the grace of movement, the movement of the wind, of the athlete (hockeyplaying Margaret must love that beast too); the grace of the ballet dancer, the ragmuffin movement of children at play. All these, and Margaret with them, are with the great company of heaven with the angels and the saints, with the ordinary men and women, Ten thousand times ten thousand all look to God, and we here on earth are joined with them in the Communion of Saints saying Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty which was, and is, and is to come. AMEN
NEWS OF TRINITY MEMBERS Walter Harold TAYLOR ('28) has been honoured by the American Biographical Institute Research Association by being appointed to the Association's board of Governors. This award has been made in recognition of Mr. Taylor's brilliant achievements in engineering, especially in relation to concrete technology. The College congratulates him on this latest achievement. John Douglas RITCHIE ('61) has just completed Lachlan Macquarie: a biography, which is to be published in October this year by the Melbourne University Press. John is at present a Senior Lecturer in History at the Australian National University. Ross NANKIVELL ('62) who married Elizabeth Sydon Long in St. Mary's Episcopal Church, Barnstable, Massachusetts, has now been appointed Visiting Assistant Professor of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Adrian PIZER ('76) who was awarded the Monbusho Scholarship to study Mathematics in Japan at the University of Osaka, has just completed his Ph.D. and is now employed by the City Bank in Tokyo. Kay McKENZIE ('78) is currently working at L'Oreal Marigny as a marketing assistant in the Sales Division. Over the past three years she has been studying marketing part-time at the Chisholm Institute. Kate PURVIS ('79) recently organised a reunion of Trinity people in London. Attending the dinner held at the Criterion Brassierie in Shaftesbury Avenue were the following Trinity members: Alison GRINDROD ('78), Nick THOMAS ('76), Caroline ALLEN ('79), Xenia WILLIAMSON (nee BOYNTON) and husband David, Peter VERNON ('80), Frank Macindoe ('76) and Kate PURVIS ('79). A good night was had by all. Mark CARNEGIE ('80) recently called into the College after completing an honours degree in Jurisprudence at Oriel College Oxford. Among other enjoyable aspects of Oxford was his involvement with the famous Oxford Union, where he had the honour of being elected Secretary. In September he begins a merchant banking career in New York with James D. Wolfenshohn Inc.
UNION OF THE FLEUR-DE -LYS
GALA DINNER to be held in the distinguished presence of The Governor of Victoria, His Excellency Dr, Davis J. McCaughey and Mrs McCaughey
Trinity College - Friday, 20th March, 1987
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Arabella SCOTT ('80) has just graduated B.Arch.(Hons) from the University of Sydney. Wayne WEAIRE ('80) is now the Assistant Priest at Holy Trinity, Benalla, and is to be married on 27th September 1986. John CARRUTHERS ('81) is a Journalist on the Swan Hill Guardian.
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Charles HILL ('81) is now a resident tutor at Christ College, Sandy Bay, while working towards a higher degree in Indonesian Politics at the University of Tasmania.
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