JrĂš'i i t y
April, 1988
College newsletter
no. 35
Photograph by Angus Smallwood
COLLEGE FACES PARTIAL CLOSURE IF FIRE REQUIREMENTS ARE NOT MET In 1987 the College was advised by the Melbourne City Council and by the Board of the Melbourne Metropolitan Fire Brigade that should certain fire protection requirements not be met within a reasonable period the College could face partial closure above ground floor level. Trinity College, along with many other colleges of the University of Melbourne, was visited by the Fire Board, who, after negotiations, presented the College with a list of minimum requirements which were to be implemented over a 3 to 5 year period. These requirements include: Smoke curtains in the hollow roof space of Behan, Clarkes, and Bishops' Automatic sprinkler system in the Dining Hall, kitchen, Bishops', Clarke, Behan and Cowan Smoke lobbies and automatically closing doors with magnetic holders Fire rated solid core doors with steel jambs and lintels on every room in the College, and Abolition of all fanlights above doors. The cost of implementing the above will be approximately $800,000.
2. Levy on Student Fees In 1987 the fees stood at $163 per week. If the fees were raised by $25 to $188 per week, enough funds would be raised to implement the fire protection programme, but many students would be unable to remain in residence and the socio-economic mix of the College population would be greatly restricted. 3. Funding by Parents Through the Foundation If every parent were to become a Member of the Foundation at $2,000, the cost to them over a three-year period would actually be less than if they were to pay a levy of $25 per week, given that all donations to the Foundation are tax-deductible. There is no tax-deduction for fees. The third option has been chosen with the Foundation undertaking to raise the $800,000 required by launching an appeal to the Parent Body. This appeal was begun at the end of 1987 and the parents have responded generously. If the College were to be closed above ground floor level, the number of places available would be reduced to a quarter of the present number and Trintity would no longer be viable. At the time of going to press $145,000 in pledges had been raised.
The Leeper Building is to be used only for the Library and offices, and not for residential purposes. As a result the Sub-Dean has moved to the Vatican taking over the offices previously used by the Foundation. These offices have been converted into a self-contained apartment. The Foundation is now located on the first floor of the Leeper Building. The university colleges are not the only institutions to be faced with such a daunting proposition. Many buildings in the inner city area are closed above the ground floor because their owners are unable to fulfil the requirements of the Fire Board.
UNION OF THE FLEUR-DE-LYS
Recently the Melbourne Club has undertaken fire protection work on its premises. The funds required were raised largely from the profit made through the sale of several of its paintings. The College does not own any paintings which would be appropriate to sell.
ANNUAL DINNER
Various options for raising the $800,000 required were considered:
COLLEGE DINING HALL
1. Government Grant The Government has gradually withdrawn all support for university colleges over the past few years. Investigations were made and it was clear that no grant for fire protection would be made by either the State or the Federal Government.
INVITATION ENCLOSED WITH THIS NEWSLETTER
FRIDAY, 17th JUNE, 1988
A PUBLICATION OF TRINITY COLLEGE WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE Registered by Australia Post—Publication No. VBG 4336.
FIRST DAY IN COLLEGE On Sunday, 28th March, freshers moved into Trinity and had their first taste òf College life. Non-resident students are invited in for 0-week, and this year the College was overwhelmed with the number of non-residents asking to be accommodated for the week. For the seven days the Music Room, the Billiards Room and Squash Courts had to be converted into temporary living quarters!
Other newcomers head towards the Bishops' Building across the Bulpadock.
THE SEVENTH ANNUAL TRINITY TRAIN PILGRIMAGE
First year Arts student, Kate a'Beckett (centre) checks in with Liz Boltwood, College receptionist, to find out which room she has been allocated. Looking on, on left, is Nigel Warwick, tutor in Biochemistry, and to the right, Sarah Wheatley and Kathryn Grey. Behind them, partly obscured is another fresher, Peter Carlyon.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1988 TO BENDIGO AND RETURN FOR BOOKINGS AND INFORMATION CONTACT FR. JOHN DAVIS, 347-1044 SPECIAL REDUCTION FOR GROUPS AND FAMILIES
SENIOR TRINITY MEN AT LUNCH On the first Wednesday of each month, five Trinity members meet for lunch (which usually has a speaker on an interesting topic) at Graduate House in Leicester Street, Carlton. They are:
The next task is the unloading of the car (with assistance!). On left, non-resident, Helen Radden, is assisted by Chris Elstoff who is being given advice on the perils of carrying so many books by Tim Gough.
Reg Blakemore (1924) Reg Crisp (1922) Alan Winter (1923) Joe Farran (1923) Dick Garran (1921) All octogenarians are welcome to join them! Phone Reg Blakemore on 527-5854 or Reg Crisp on 20-7115
TRINITY'S FIRST WOMAN DEAN Mrs Leith Hancock was installed by Bishop James Grant as Dean of Trinity College at Choral Evensong on the first day of term, Monday 7 March 1988. She succeeds Dr Peter Wellock who is now Warden of Christ College, Hobart, and is the first woman to be appointed as Dean of Trinity. Her duties include deputising for the Warden as required, being responsible for the organisation of Trinity's extensive tutorial system of about eighty classes each week and for the welfare of the resident tutors, supervising the admissions program which now involves the selection of about ninety students out of over three hundred applicants who are all interviewed individually. As well as the academic program the Dean is responsible for the good discipline of the College, a task which is currently delegated to the Sub-Dean, Mr Tom Egan, except in serious cases. A special dinner in the Hall followed the Chapel service of installation. Former Deans living in Melbourne were invited and the Reverend and Mrs Ray Gregory, and Dr Rod Fawns and Dr Rosemary Fawns (the first woman member of the Senior Common Room) were able to attend. Bishop Grant and the Warden spoke on the Great Rebellion following the closing of the Buttery in 1933 and the origins of the Deanship as a buffer between the Warden and the students. The Warden paid tribute to the thirteen Deans from then until now and observed that Leith Hancock was entering a distinguished succession. During 1987 Leith Hancock was involved part-time in Trinity as Director of Studies. She was then concerned largely with the academic welfare of student studies and the inauguration of "Faculty Dinners". These are dinners where the students of a given faculty or discipline meet informally over dinner with their lecturers and tutors.
Like the Warden, Leith Hancock is an Arts graduate of the University of Queensland. She majored in psychology, became a mother of five children, and came to Melbourne in the early 1970's to join the Student Counselling Service of the University of Melbourne. After achieving widespread respect within the University for her work in the understanding and teaching of study skills, she was appointed Warden of Medley Hall. In seven years at Medley Hall, she succeeded in imprinting many of the most worthwhile aspects of a collegiate ethos upon this Hall of Residence and made a valued contribution to the Heads of Colleges Association.
The new Dean of Trinity College, Mrs Leith Hancock, photographed with the former Warden, Dr Robert Sharwood and the present Warden, Dr Evan Burge, outside the Chapel following the service of installation.
To my second (and connected) conviction - the family. We all belong to one. The healthy family system has rules and limits set first by the parents and with sufficient elasticity to allow for individual growth and development. The hardest thing for parents is to know when and how much to loosen the reins and when to let go altogether. So be patient with them. Your turn will come! There is no such thing as a "happy" family, that is, one in which all is sweetness and light all the time. The healthy family is one where the bonds of loyalty and mutual regard are strong - but not imprisoning; where trust and open communication exist; where conflict occurs and can be resolved through negotiation and (often) compromise; where members can and will give a little to accommodate others, listen to and respect other points of view, other priorities and goals. My notion of family extends beyond our own one of "blood". The Warden often speaks of the Trinity family (some 4000 strong). Each of us here belongs to it, along with the many who came before and will come after. What motivates me in accepting the Deanship is not the salary (though that's useful) and not the title (though I'm proud to wear it) but the chance to have a place and a role in this great family."
After retiring from Medley Hall at the end of 1986, she came to Trinity and found herself warmly and widely welcomed by staff, tutors and students alike. At her Welcome Dinner in Hall last March, Leith Hancock said that she was honoured to be the first woman Dean and that it was "perhaps timely"now that almost half of the resident students were women. She went on to say that she had two convictions forged over time the existence of God and the importance of the family. "My God" she continued "is not the God of my childhood - the bearded
father-figure sitting in heaven above the clouds somewhere, all-seeing, both wrathful and forgiving. That image didn't survive my undergraduate years and a philosophy major. Nor was it replaced with any other for a long time. It took the experience of human joy and pain, loss and confusion and a few little miracles (five in fact) for a personal faith to emerge. My miracles were the births of my five children. Each time it brought an inexplicable rush of pure joy and thankfulness that quite eclipsed any pain and discomfort. There had to be a force human and beyond the human. I now believe that God is the good in us - in what we are. There is also the bad as there is right and wrong in us - the two polarities, with a great deal of grey in between. For me, time in the Chapel (and in the bush) brings quiet, a cessation in the "busy-ness" of daily life.
Deaths of College Members The College records with regret the deaths of the following members reported since the last edition of the Newsletter: William Wettenhall Lempriere (1924) Melville Macpherson Smith (1924) Franz Konrad Saddler Hirschfeld, C.B.E. (1925) Frederick Augustus Berrill Sheppard, O.B.E. (1926) Alan Derwent Dixon (1929) Norman Beaumont Welsh (1929) Brian Lister Hellings (1932) Richard Stanley Smibert, O.B.E. (1932) Thomas Frederick Holt (1933) Samuel Yescovitch (1938) Jack Wilson Skinner (1942) Robin William Smallwood (1953) Geoffrey Charles John Morieson (1957) Ian Matthew Campbell (Tutor 1971-1973)
NEWS OF TRINITY MEMBERS Richard Gardner ('47) finished almost 14 years service with the Asian Development Bank last Christmas. He is now in Sydney and has moved into an apartment attached to the house of an old Bank colleague—his base until recently. House renovations will be his first major task, and he is greatly looking forward to resuming life in Australia, especially as the situation in the Philippines looks a little cloudy at the moment. Ian McKenzie ('56) received the Advance Australia Award for Medical Research in February this year. We send him our congratulations. John Calder ('59) and his wife Jill are now back in Melbourne after four years in Sydney, and four years in Germany. John has been appointed Vice-President—Commercial with CRA Limited after managing CRA's steel activities in Dusseldorf. Jill is teaching English at Wesley College and the girls, Kate and Suzie, are in Years 12 and 11 at Corio. Having found apartment living very much to their taste in Europe, they purchased an apartment in Queens Road. They are looking forward to renewing their Melbourne ties and to attending Trinity Dinners again. David Tucker ('68) has recently been appointed Exploration Manager at the Chevron Exploration Corporation which is the Australian metals mining subsidiary of the U.S. based oil giant Chevron Corporation. Chevron's first gold mine world-wide was brought into production in Western Australia in 1987. Kingsley Gee ('71) has recently taken up the position of Regional Adviser in Noncommunicable Diseases covering WHO activities in the fields of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and tobacco or health in the Western Pacific Region. Ed Shackell ('73) is a solicitor in Maffra, and is married to Kate Robertson with an eight month old son, James. John Shackell ('74) works with John Avran, a property developer based in Melbourne. Ken Hinchcliff ('76) and his wife Carole (nee Taylor '78) are living in Columbus, Ohio, where Ken is studying for a PhD in advanced veterinary science. Rupert Myer ('76) married Annabel Plummer ('83) on Friday, 8th April 1988 in St John's Anglican Church, Toorak. Anthony Rouse ('77) and his wife had their baby son, William, baptised by the Warden on Sunday, 10th April 1988 in Trinity Chapel. Alison Inglis ('77) is now a research assistant in Department of Fine Arts at the University of Melbourne, working on the early history of Melbourne's artistic institutions. Martin Sevior ('77) finished his PhD in Nuclear Astrophysics in 1985 and has been living in Vancouver, Canada where he is employed by the University of British Columbia as a research associate in Nuclear Physics. He was married in April 1987 to Lynne and they now live at #302 3506 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C., V6R178, Canada, Telephone (604) 731 5128. Any Trinity Members passing through Vancouver are invited to drop in! Mark Williams ('77) who is putting the finishing touches to his M.Litt. thesis has been appointed resident tutor in drama at Ormond College.
APPOINTMENT OF QUEEN'S COUNSEL The College congratulates the following Trinity members who have been appointed to be Her Majesty's Counsel for the State of Victoria: W. B. Zichy-Woinarski (1965) F. H. Callaway (1965)
James Abbott ('78) and Georgina (nee Webb '77) are now in Hull, England where Georgina is gaining experience in anaesthetics. James has recently completed a Melbourne PhD in anatomical pathology on the effects of various drugs on the liver of people with high blood pressure. Georgina Israel (nee Shakell '78) and her husband Peter ('76) are enjoying being parents of their increasingly lively son James whose first birthday was last August. Peter is Business Manager for Welvic which is the plastics division of I.C.I. in Melbourne. Terry Jasper ('79) and his wife Jessica (nee Billson '81), who are living in London, travelled through Scotland, Scandinavia and Russia last year, and are longing to experience again the warmth of an Australian summer! Kate Purvis ('79) has recently returned from 21/2 years in Europe and America. During this time she spent ten months working as a Paediatric Social Worker at St. Mary's Hospital, London; she taught English to French students and adults for 12 months in Bordeaux; and lived at a winery in California for four months. She is currently the Social Worker at Mildura Base Hospital. She has become engaged to Andrew Fleming -(ex Ormond Resident) who is a Winemaker with Mildara Wines Limited. Simon Phillipson ('80) former Senior Student and currently non-resident tutor in Accounting, has been outstandingly successful in two recent T.V. Shows: "The K rypton Factor" where his many talents brought him within a point of winning and "Sale of the Centry" where he survived for three nights—and cleaned up handsomely. Jeff Trahair ('80) and his wife Chris ('75) left Australia at the end of 1987 to spend two years overseas. Jeff can be contacted at the Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, U.S.A. Deborah Hollingworth ('81) is working as a solicitor with the Coburg Legal Service and also studying for a Master's degree in Law. Rex Pirie ('81) is teaching History and Classical Studies in Wangaratta. He and his wife Tracey have a young son, Paul. Jennifer Gome ('82) after completing studies in Music Therapy in England and a post-graduate diploma in secretarial studies, has been working in Melbourne in the music industry, including the production of compact discs. Jeffrey Sheather ('82) has been appointed the head of the Boarding House at Girton College in Bendigo. For the past three years Jeffrey has been a Chaplain at Melbourne Grammar. Tony Way ('83) has recently returned to Melbourne from five months in Bologna, Italy, with an Italian Government Scholarship to undertake research in late Renaissance instrumental music. He is currently organist at St. Francis' Church in the city—the third Trinity member to hold the post in recent years.
HONOURS AND DISTINCTIONS Professor-Emeritus Joseph Terence Burke K.B.E. awarded Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Melbourne The following members received Australia Day Honours, January 1988— Bishop Peter John Hollingworth, O.B.E. (1955), AO, for service to religion and to the community. Dr Ian Robert Hanson (1945) AOM, for service to community health.