e • Social distancing • Pivot • Iso • Close contact • R • Staying apart keeps us together • Stay at home or ling • You’re on mute • Snap lockdown • Unprecede smission • Contact tracing • Toilet paper hoarding • Pandemic • Herd immunity • Face masks • N95 • Q VID jab • Super-spreader • WFH • Get on the beers l worker • 2019-nCoV • Flatten the curve • Social d • RATs • Bubble buddy • Second wave • Staying Get he new normal • Home schooling • You’re on mute Sourdough • Community transmission • Contact tra anitiser • Check in • QR code • Pandemic • Herd imm • Flatten the curve • Social distancing • 2019-nCoV ancing2019-nCoV • Flatten the curve • Social distan e • Flatten the curve • Get on the beers • Flatten th V • Flatten the curve • Social distancing • 2019-nCo tancing2019-nCoV • Flatten th e curve • Social dis ve • Social distancing • Pivot • Iso • Close contact • • Staying apart keeps us together2019-nCoV • Flatt 9-nCoV • Flatten the curve • Social distancing • Pivo e buddy • Second wave • Staying apart keeps us to w normal • Home schooling • You’re on mute • Sna n the beers • Community transmission • Contact tra anitiser • Check in • QR code • Pandemic • Herd imm ine • State of emergency • COVID jab • Super-sprea • Zoom • Blursday • Covidiot • Essential worker • 2 al distancing • Pivot • Iso • Get on the beers • RATs ying apart keeps us together • Stay at home orders ng • You’re on mute • Snap lockdown • Unpreceden smission • Contact tracing • Toilet paper hoarding • Pandemic • Herd immunity • Face masks • N95 • Q VID jab • Super-spreader • WFH • Quarantini • Loc • Essential worker • Pivot • Iso • Close contact • RA • Staying apart keeps us together • Stay at home or
TRINITY TODAY THE MAGAZINE OF TRINITY COLLEGE
2023 ISSUE #92
THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE
STOP.
RESTART.
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TRINITY TODAY 02 WELCOME
WHAT A WILD RIDE T
PROFESSOR KEN HINCHCLIFF WARDEN AND CEO (TC 1976)
imes of crisis challenge us in many ways, but they can also be times of profound learning, and so it was for Trinity during the pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The COVID-19 era, one of the most far-reaching global events of our time, pushed governments in ways they had not been pushed before, created all kinds of logistical challenges, strained global health systems, forever changed the way we work, and highlighted how interconnected and disconnected our modern society has become. But it also highlighted how resilient our societies and institutions generally are in this modern world. To the best of my knowledge, no government was overturned through a coup d’état or
war as a direct result of the pandemic. Arguably, Australia’s systems of government prevailed and largely functioned effectively. Our economy withstood the extraordinary disruption (for the most part), and our health system is something of which we should be very proud. Of course, there were winners and losers, and some people, organisations and industries got through the experience more easily than others. For Trinity College, it was a very difficult time – one of the most difficult in our 151-year history. The pandemic tested our resilience, our ability to adapt and change, and our conviction in holding onto the things we most cherish. It was incredibly unsettling for our residential students, who had to curb
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WELCOME 03 TRINITY TODAY IMAGE BY SOPHIA GAWAN-TAYLOR (TC 2019)
many of the events and traditions that our students would normally experience. They were either locked out of – or locked in – our campus for months on end. In our Theological School, students couldn’t partake in important rituals on campus, such as morning prayer or evensong. And the international students in our Pathways School were particularly hard hit, with many stuck here away from their families in a foreign country or forced to study from their bedroom in their home country, studying our Foundation Studies course entirely online while missing out on the fun and important in-person social interactions that come when studying abroad. Nevertheless, we learned that we could function as a residential community during long periods of
lockdown; that we could teach online to many hundreds of young people around the globe and in Melbourne; that we could support the mental health of our staff and students during the most trying of days; and that, when it was over, we could resume our life as a College of three divisions. We learned that our fundamental values and principles, our shared sense of community, our system of governance and our sense of ‘place’ formed the bedrock on which we stood as a College during those turbulent, unsettling and frightening times. We emerged as a strong and financially sound College to face the next 151 years. I know many people would rather forget the COVID-19 years but, at Trinity, our history is our story, so we wanted
to capture a historical record of the events that unfolded during such a very strange time. We also wanted to share and celebrate the experiences and achievements of our alumni, as many played important roles in helping us adapt to the new world in which we all suddenly found ourselves. To that end, this is our history book, and we hope you find the stories interesting. Of course, if you’re concerned that this content might take you back to a place you don’t want to go, please use discretion. To all our staff, students and supporters who helped us get through those challenging years, thank you once again. If there’s a key message that the pages of this magazine highlight, it’s that community is everything.
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TRINITY TODAY 04 CONTENTS
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Email your feedback about this edition of Trinity Today to tt@trinity.unimelb.edu.au or write to us at: Trinity Today Marketing, Communications and Events Trinity College 100 Royal Parade Parkville VIC 3052 Stay up to date with Trinity College news at trinity.unimelb.edu.au MANAGING EDITOR Emily McAuliffe Communications Manager, Trinity College SUB-EDITOR Simon Mann MediaXpress DESIGNER Bill Farr MediaXpress COVER ART Andrew Hopgood CONTRIBUTORS Anya Arora Robin Cowcher Kate Elix Director of Marketing, Communications and Events, Trinity College Ricky French Morgan Galea Cara Greenham Hancock Professor Ken Hinchcliff Warden and CEO, Trinity College Oscar Hollands Belinda Jackson Stella Mackenzie Danielle Norton Jocelyn Pride Dr Benjamin Thomas Rusden Curator – Cultural Collections, Trinity College IMAGES BY Clive Barda, Kate Elix, Max Elix, Sophia Gawan-Taylor, Jamie Grozev, Kit Haselden Photography, Ken Hinchcliff, Tee Kumjim, Emily McAuliffe, Anthony McKee, Evan Mery, Briony O’Halloran, Pippa Skillington, E Weaving, Above Gastrobar, The Lancemore Group, Trinity College Archives and supplied by alumni, students and friends of Trinity College.
A DIFFERENT KIND OF COLLEGE EXPERIENCE
Information in this magazine was understood to be correct at the time of printing. Views expressed in Trinity Today do not necessarily reflect the views of Trinity College. Trinity Today is printed on Pacesetter Satin FSC®, which is manufactured using low environmental impact FSC® certified pulps in a facility that is ISO 14001 Environmental Management System accredited.
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this country and pay our respects to elders past and present.
EXIT STAGE LEFT
A screenwriter, a soprano and an audio engineer reflect on COVID's effect on the arts sector. 34
HELP IS ON THE WAY
Trinitarians were on the health frontline and behind the scenes in the fight against COVID-19. 42
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CONTENTS 05 TRINITY TODAY SNAPSHOT 2023
06
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 16 WHERE THERE'S A WILL, THERE'S A WAY
20
CRAVING CONNECTION
26
COVID TIMELINE
28
HOSPITALITY IN HARD TIMES
38
COVID AND THE COURT
46
AN OLYMPIAN EFFORT
48
WHERE IS GOD IN ALL THIS?
50
EVENTS GALLERY
52
OBITUARIES
56
Four students reflect on what it was like to be at Trinity during the COVID years. 22
A DAY IN THE LIFE …
Two Trinity staff members recount a typical day during the challenging time that was COVID-19. 10
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TRINITY TODAY 06 NEWS
Our Kitchens Precinct redevelopment is in full swing. The redevelopment includes a complete renovation of our Dining Hall, which is being extended to ensure all our Residential College students can be accommodated in the hall at once, and new kitchen facilities. Many kind donors have helped this project become a reality. This includes Andrew Farran (TC 1957, pictured), and, thanks to Andrew’s generous gift, the new dining space will be known as the A C C Farran Dining Hall.
Peter Logue was announced as our Senior Student for 2023-24. Peter says he sees the role as a way to give back to the community that has supported him greatly since arriving in Melbourne and is keen to promote the inclusivity of all within the Trinity community.
Our choir toured Europe in July and sang concerts and services in Rome, Florence, Dublin, Kilkenny, Cambridge, Ely and London. Highlights included singing mass in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican; visiting the grave of Trinity’s first principal, George William Torrance, in Kilkenny; and staying in the Cripps Building at St John’s Cambridge, thanks to the Cripps family, who are strong supporters of Trinity. Thanks to all the donors who made this trip possible.
SNAPSHOT
Trinity College has continued its partnership with the Cambodian Children’s Fund, welcoming two more students in 2023 – Len Leang and Bun Malita, pictured. The duo joined Trinity’s Foundation Studies program in July, and will go on to study at the University of Melbourne while living on campus at Trinity, all on a full scholarship. Nine students have now received scholarships through the program.
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NEWS 07 TRINITY TODAY
Trinity College hosted the 11th international conference of the Colleges and Universities of the Anglican Communion (CUAC) in July. 75 attendees from around the world attended conference sessions at Trinity College and Janet Clarke Hall, and toured Melbourne and Victoria on a number of excursions.
2023
Face Me – Portraits of a Collegiate Community has been on display in Trinity College’s Burke Gallery this year. The exhibition brings together a selection of works from Trinity College’s highly regarded collection of Australian portraiture, normally only seen by the College community in the Dining Hall. Archibald prize winners Yvette Coppersmith and Peter Wegner joined Trinity’s Rusden Curator Ben Thomas in a panel discussion at the opening on 27 April.
Our Residential College students performed The Addams Family musical at the University of Melbourne’s Union House Theatre in May, and performed The Great Gatsby play in September.
Our Residential College held a careers day on Saturday 12 August to complement the University of Melbourne’s Employability Week. A number of Trinity alumni returned to the College to share their career pathways and experiences with residential students.
We opened the Stephen Jones Wine Cellar in Trinity’s Behan building to honour Trinity alum the late Stephen Jones (TC 1997). Thanks to our generous donors, including the Cripps family, for making this project possible.
Our Theological School held an Anglican Church Law and Governance intensive in Melbourne and Sydney in September and November. This five-day intensive, taught by bishops, diocesan chancellors and theologians, is the only unit of its kind to be run in Australia.
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TRINITY TODAY 08 NEWS
Trinity College moved back into its Victoria Street campus, which is used as a teaching space for the Pathways School. Trinity had relinquished the lease of the building during COVID, but was able to re-sign the lease again this year to accommodate booming Pathways School numbers.
We recognised staff who had completed 25 years or more of service to Trinity College with an event and unveiling of an honour board.
SNAPSHOT
At this year’s Sports Ball, we presented the inaugural Frank Henagan Spirit of Sport award to the student who best displayed the essence of what playing college sport for Trinity is. Hamish Connor was the proud recipient.
Our Pathways School introduced a new valedictory format that combines three intakes, kicking off with the Winter Valedictory Ball. This was also the first time we presented awards to dux recipients. Pictured are duxes Yu Lu, Giselle Lei and Celine Ongkowijaya.
The organ in our Chapel was restored by Australian Pipe Organs. As well as having new windchests made, the organ was split in two, allowing more light to filter into the Chapel. Much of the pre-existing pipework was used, plus all the carvings. The refurbished organ was unveiled in May at a concert with Trinity’s own organist and internationally renowned organ virtuoso Thomas Heywood.
Our Residential College team went on a roadshow, promoting the College in many cities and towns across Australia (see right). Representatives from Bairnsdale (Vic), Herberton (Qld) and Northam (WA) then visited us on campus as part of the outreach program.
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NEWS 09 TRINITY TODAY
Our resident rowers had a great year, with both the men’s 1st VIII and women’s 2nd VIII claiming victory in intercollegiate regattas, and the men’s 1st VIII went on to defend the Australian Boat Race on the Yarra in October. We also had success in the swimming pool, with both the men and women claiming the winning spot, and both our men’s and women’s football teams made their grand finals.
2023
A festschrift was published to honour Theological School lecturer the Revd Canon Professor Dorothy Lee FAHA, featuring contributions from colleagues, students and admirers of her work.
QLD SA
Adelaide
NT
Darwin
WA
Perth
Townsville Cairns Thursday Island Brisbane Gold Coast Sunshine Coast
NSW
Sydney Wagga Wagga Albury
ACT
Canberra
TAS
Launceston Hobart
VIC
Ballarat Shepparton Lakes Entrance Geelong Maryborough Wangaratta Echuca Bendigo Warrnambool
Nell Pierce (TC 2009) was awarded the Bill Cowan Alum of the Year award. Nell is the author of the novel A Place Near Eden, which won the Australian/Vogel’s Literary Award.
Hamilton Mildura
Singaporean radio host and emcee Charmaine Yee (TCFS 2004) was announced as our FS Alum of the Year for her contribution to raising awareness of autism spectrum disorders and empowering and supporting the autism community.
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TRINITY TODAY 10 A DAY IN THE LIFE
A DAY IN THE
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A DAY IN THE LIFE 11 TRINITY TODAY
day. Parents were forced to home-school their children while trying to work from home themselves
ILLUSTRATIONS BY ROBIN COWCHER
A day during lockdown was unlike any other
(even from the dining room table). Leadership teams had to grapple with ever-changing rules, quickly discerning what each new provision meant for their business and staff. Everyone else had to follow along, coping as best they could with state-imposed restrictions and, in many cases, isolation.
LIFE…
Two Trinity staff members recount a typical day during the challenging time that was COVID-19
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TRINITY TODAY 12 A DAY IN THE LIFE
A DAY IN THE
K ATE ELIX DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS AND EVENTS The times listed in my ‘regular’ day of 2020 and 2021 remain fuzzy, a bit like when you’re in a casino and there are no windows or clocks and you don’t know if it’s night or day. That’s how 2020 and 2021 felt to me. I have given it my best shot.
6am
(Or earlier. Who can remember? Suffice to say, it was early.) I am woken generally by either the four-year-old jumping on the bed or the six-year-old yelling at me for something she wants. Thankfully, the one-year-old sleeps a teeny bit longer.
6.30am
The computer goes on as soon as I am awake and out of bed. While preparing breakfast, I quickly check emails – the workday begins! My husband and I try to divide and conquer, based on our scheduled meetings for the day. He is on call for the kids’ demands when I am in meetings and vice versa. Unluckily for him during this period, I have a lot of online meetings.
8.30am
Set up the kids’ devices and links for their online classroom, which starts at 9am. By year two of COVID lockdowns, we have two children to home school. Every day, without fail, there is a fight between the kids about who gets which device and where they are set up.
10am Online class. I really feel for the teachers. I can hear them trying to control the students and it is truly comical. Every single day between 9 and 9.30am at least one of the two kids (more often than not, both of them) want food delivered to them while in their online class.
Another online class. I mostly avoid having to set this one up as I am still in my Senior Management Team meeting. But our daughter (then six) refuses to do most home-schooling activities. And, in the second year of lockdowns, she refuses to participate in online classes generally on most days. There is screaming and crying. Every. Single. Day.
9.30am
10.30am
9am
Senior Management Team meeting. This meeting can go anywhere from an hour to three hours. Sometimes, my husband and I are both in online meetings. On occasions, my camera and microphone suddenly get switched off, generally because one of the kids runs into the room screaming or wants to see who I am speaking with. I can’t trust them not to yell, ‘Hey, I can see Ken!’
Kids are meant to complete their schoolwork.
12.30pm
By now, my Senior Management Team meeting is generally finished and my husband needs some help with the kids. We live right next door to an oval and playground. We head there, while the playground remains open, although for the most part it’s a no-go zone – too many germs, as declared by the government.
LIFE…
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A DAY IN THE LIFE 13 TRINITY TODAY
of a working parent during COVID So, we play tennis in our driveway and run around the oval for an hour or so – kicking the footy and riding our bikes (a great purchase during COVID). STOP WHATEVER IS HAPPENING TO WATCH THE LATEST COVID NEWS CONFERENCE. This happens at any time of the day, but generally we all gather around the TV to listen to Victoria’s Chief Health Officer and the Premier. It’s the highlight of the day (or sometimes the lowlight, if we find our ‘two-week’ lockdown is now six). The other highlight is my daily trip to Coles (the rule is one trip a day and only one adult per household. It’s a welcome relief to sneak out of the house on your own for a while). Of course, this doesn’t apply when we all end up in ‘iso’ for 14 days (in fact, on two occasions) because one of us is considered a close contact of someone who has COVID. Instead, we rely on supermarket deliveries and kind friends and neighbours, who deliver us food and activities, while the kids go extra batty.
2pm
A team meeting in the afternoon and I need some quiet, but the kids won’t have it. I sit in the car for meetings, lock myself in the bathroom or try to hide outside in the backyard. Somehow though, they always find me. Locked in the bathroom on Zoom? Two little sets of fingers appear through the window behind me. They are relentless.
3pm
Our cars become a play centre. The one-year-old loves to pretend to drive. The other two are likely to be doing something to destroy the house. (After COVID, every flyscreen was broken. We have holes in the ceiling after a Tarzaninspired curtain swing went wrong and most air-conditioning vents have been destroyed … the list goes on.) Might pop over to the supermarket with the one-year-old to escape the chaos.
5pm
Time for a walk, using my one hour of government-permitted daily exercise time. I see a lot of my local area during these years, as we aren’t allowed to venture further than five kilometres from home. Had I not gone to the supermarket earlier, I would pop in now.
6pm
The children’s dinner time, then bath. Maybe some TV watching. TV becomes a good friend – a habit that becomes hard to break after the pandemic.
8pm
Start the kids’ bedtime routine. This can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. They have too much energy after days, weeks, months, years of doing, well, not much at all.
9.30pm
The kids are asleep and the computer is back on for more work before bedtime, as I try to make up for the lost time wrangling children during the day.
Rinse and repeat for two years.
TOP: No matter how hard I tried to escape to get some work done, the kids always found me. ABOVE: With hairdressers closed, home haircuts became a thing.
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TRINITY TODAY 14 A DAY IN THE LIFE
A DAY IN THE
KEN HINCHCLIFF WARDEN AND CEO There was no ‘typical’ day during lockdown as we dealt with emerging problems, changes in rules, uncertainties about borders and so on. This timeline is an amalgamation of various days over the course of many lockdowns. Like many others during that time, I worked exclusively from home, not entering my office in Leeper for almost a full year.
5.50am
The alarm sounds. I let the dog out and change into gym gear, fire up the iPad and log into the Zoom fitness session. Trainer Dave is on screen, as are the six or eight other regulars. I flop and jump around on the carpet in the semi-dark of the lounge room, responding to prompts from Dave (‘All the way down on the push-ups, Ken’). We finish up 45 minutes later with a bit of banter between us. It’s not the same as face-to-face sessions, but an important kickstart to the day.
7am
Masked up, Carole and I head out for our permitted walk with Banjo to The Kiosk, our lockdown-preferred coffee shop. We queue, distancing from others. We enjoy a quick chat with those in line, including the Treasurer, before taking off for our walk – mask-free, as we enjoy our coffees – past the closed beach. We stop and chat with friends and neighbours. Paradoxically, lockdown has grown our relationships with others in the community.
8.30am
I settle into my home office, Carole down the corridor in hers. See you at lunch time! Emails, emails, emails. A quick chat with Leonie in Res Coll – how is the supply of toilet paper? Running low. This could be a problem.
9.30am
Time for the daily Senior Management Team meeting by Zoom (‘You’re on mute!’), one of more than 140 in 2020. Always a lot to deal with – how is the transition to online teaching going in the Pathways School? Have we finished mothballing the Swanston and Victoria Street campuses? How are the Res Coll students finding the takeaway meals from the dining hall? How are we going to handle fees for semester 2? When should we start discussing staffing levels?
Lyn Shalless, CFO, provides the updated revenue and expenses report. How are we going with the JobKeeper application? What more do we need to do to secure the line of credit with the bank, should we need to? How much cash can we access from the Foundation? How is the sale of some of the Royal Parade properties progressing?
11am
I take a break from the meeting to watch the first 10 minutes of the Premier’s daily press conference. What’s this about a ‘ring of steel’? Dan, shed the Northface jacket. (He doesn’t.)
12.30pm
End SMT with, as always, us considering what our communications with staff, students and stakeholders will be. Emails, emails, emails.
LIFE…
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A DAY IN THE LIFE 15 TRINITY TODAY
of the Warden during lockdown
1pm
My weekly Zoom meeting with the Board subcommittee. (‘You’re on mute!’) Great discussions ensue, perspicacious questions. Good governance. How is morale among the students? We review umpteenth ‘back of the envelope’ figures for our revised budget. Will we have enough cash? (Yes) What cost controls are we putting in place? (Lots) What do we think will be forward enrolments in Res Coll and the Pathways School? (Who knows) Will we be eligible for JobKeeper? (Yes) Should we convene an extraordinary meeting of the College Council? (Yes)
2.30pm
Another Zoom meeting, this time with Kate Elix, Alison Menzies and Lyn Shalless (‘You’re on mute!’), to work on messaging and communications for our all-staff meeting next week. A little face appears on screen next to Kate. (Hi, Max!’) What is the message about College finances? How do we signal likely reductions in numbers of staff? What is the timeframe we anticipate? How is this unpleasant message best delivered in a video conference?
3pm
An extraordinary meeting of the Board of Zoos Victoria discusses funding to support essential operations during the closure of all three zoos. On a lighter note, I watch a viral video of the dancing zoo keeper.
3.30pm
Essential office and work-from-home supplies are delivered (a new desk chair and two boxes of wine).
4pm
The twice-weekly Zoom meeting of the Heads of Colleges with Deputy ViceChancellor – Academic kicks off. (‘You’re on mute!’) After the DVC leaves the meeting, we debrief on situations in each of the colleges around the Crescent. It’s a really important mutual support mechanism; a wonderful group of Heads and great colleagues.
5pm
Emails, emails, emails.
6.30pm
I reconnect with Carole as she cooks dinner, and enjoy a glass of wine. Check in by phone with daughter Alex. How was your day working in ICU? Any COVID patients?
8pm
We Zoom with friends while we all eat dinner – no one is on mute – before watching the next episode of Billions or Succession or Outlander or …. whatever is on. Second glass of wine.
9.30pm
The phone rings. It’s Leonie. Oh no, what now? Twenty-four Res Coll students have been found ‘gathering’ in one small room, against all lockdown and College rules. Are they safe and OK? What should we do? Let’s discuss in the morning. This needs a third glass of wine.
10pm
Check for late-night emails. Wrap up the day. As for tomorrow? Probably more of the same.
TOP: Out for a walk with Carole and Banjo. ABOVE: During strict lockdowns, beaches were closed.
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TRINITY TODAY 16 EDUCATION
THROUGH
THE LOOKING GLASS
The education sector was hard hit by the ramifications of COVID-19, particularly in Melbourne, which endured long lockdowns. Five education representatives reflect on the COVID era – the challenges faced, innovations implemented and how it is shaping the future.
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EDUCATION 17 TRINITY TODAY
BY JOCELYN PRIDE
Building a foundation Pathways School lecturer Nazanin Ghodrati found one of her greatest challenges during the pandemic was creating a classroom experience for students to feel connected, when all classes were taught remotely. ‘It was easier for the students who were already in Melbourne when the pandemic began because we’d already seen each other and built a rapport,’ she says. However, many of Nazanin’s students either returned to their home countries when the pandemic was declared or hadn’t left home in the first place. ‘Due to the different time zones, many students were attending classes early morning or late at night, which affected their energy and performance levels. I felt it was really important to be flexible when students missed classes or submitted work late.’ Teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), Nazanin had always embedded some elements of online resources into the curriculum, so already had a solid basis for remote teaching. Still, COVID-19 took things to a new level. ‘I did need to do a fair bit of pedagogical rethinking, and be more creative in various aspects of my teaching. Activities I had created for face-to-face tutorials took much longer to complete online, so I had to redesign lessons.’ Nazanin believes a lasting impact of having taught her subject during the
pandemic was the benefit to emerge in utilising a blend of online and real-life activities within the physical classroom. ‘For instance, in class collaborative writing tasks, where students need to brainstorm and draft a piece of writing together during the tutorial, the immediate verbal feedback is dynamic. ‘On the other hand, when it comes to larger collaborative writing tasks in EAP, such as the group research essay that students need to work on for a few weeks, I find using online tools such as shared Microsoft documents to work best. This is because students will be sharing just one document where they all write, and they can access and review their peers’ work anytime, anywhere.’
Inside China Although Lee Li’s main role as an agent of Trinity College who helps recruit international students didn’t change during the pandemic, the format of communications and need for flexibility was one of his biggest challenges. ‘When COVID came, our team actually started to operate an online platform to do livestreams with students, as offline communication had been prevented,’ says Lee, who is the Australian and New Zealand Destination Supervisor at IDP China. ‘Previously, none of us had the experience or idea how to design, organise, promote and host a livestream session with prospective students and parents.’ With local lockdowns happening across China, Lee notes how difficult it
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TRINITY TODAY 18 EDUCATION
was for international students who were engaging with remote learning such as different time zones and logins, while also trying to support their own mental health. ‘Everyone needed to take more responsibility to maintain the system to be able to operate,’ he reflects. Despite the uncertainty brought on by the pandemic, Lee feels the appeal among foreign students of an overseas study experience remained strong. Between 2020 and 2022, he and his team helped around 350 students to apply for and enrol at Trinity.
NAZANIN
GH
OD
almost a decade. Prior to the pandemic, she had been running two streams for her subject, one online and the other in the physical classroom, so switching to teaching 100 per cent online made for a relatively smooth transition. ‘Virtually all our students are based in Australia, so I didn’t have problems with time zones, and the demographic is mainly postgraduates,’ Rachelle says. However, welcoming a baby into the world during the pandemic brought another dimension to her life. ‘My daughter arrived in mid-2021; there was so much joy in having a newborn, it
E LE
peers and talk about things that were meaningful was important. ‘It was really beautiful to have one or two hours a week as a chilled-out social online discussion.’ Although Rachelle believes there’s something really precious about face-to-face teaching that can’t be replicated online, she doesn’t feel it’s fair to compare the two modes of teaching. ‘There will always be situations where people can’t get to a physical environment. The broader access online teaching allows means that students
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‘It’s not just about the studying itself, it’s also about the whole experience of living in a foreign environment. It enables graduates to have critical thinking skills and better interpersonal ability, which is very important in the current competitive job market in China.’
Keeping faith For Theological School lecturer and Bromby Associate Professor of Old Testament Dr Rachelle Gilmour, life was a little different during the pandemic – both professionally and personally. Online teaching wasn’t new to Rachelle, given the Theological School had been running online classes for
soothed my soul.’ With her husband on parental leave, Rachelle returned to work in August 2021, during Melbourne’s sixth lockdown. ‘I was conscious and empathetic of the suffering around me but, in my particular situation, working from home felt like a silver lining.’ Rachelle is philosophical about the COVID era and feels the subject matter of her classes helped her students. ‘We look at texts that were written two and a half thousand years ago; there have been a lot of pandemics in that time. Most of the Bible was written in times of crisis.’ With places of worship closed, creating a place online where her students could feel safe to connect with
who can’t attend a class have an alternative to enable them to fully engage and commit to their studies.’
Wellbeing is everything Wellbeing Coordinators in Trinity’s Residential College provide support, referrals and education to empower students with skills and strategies to build resilience, and to help them deal with health and wellbeing issues. As you’d expect, a global pandemic proved quite the challenge for these support staff. ‘A lot of students struggled during lockdowns by not being able to see their loved ones, feeling isolated due to limited socialising opportunities and finding it difficult to make friends or
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EDUCATION 19 TRINITY TODAY
deepen their relationships,’ says Wellbeing Coordinator Mandy Kitchener. ‘Relationships are at the core of our wellbeing and happiness; our relationship with ourselves, our loved ones, the community we are in.’ Mandy found the times were particularly tough on the College’s first-year cohort. ‘Moving away from home and starting uni is already a big adjustment,’ she says. ‘People are wired to connect.’ From conducting anonymous surveys to ascertain how students were feeling, to promoting strategies for coping with MANDY K ITC HE NE
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teaching and research would continue. Additionally, as a Board member of Trinity College, he was privy to seeing the impact of the pandemic from a financial perspective. ‘It was a very stressful time for everyone,’ Jim recalls. ‘We, of course, had a sudden decrease in revenue from international students, which resulted in painful decisions such as staff cuts and abandoning or putting on hold future strategic initiatives.’ Across both the University and the College, money needed to be spent to enable teaching and learning to
JI M M cCL US KE
assistants so lecturers could manage the online and physical classroom simultaneously.’ Providing health and wellbeing services online was also a focus. And with the majority of the University’s international students and Trinity’s Foundation Studies students hailing from China, professional assistance on the ground was provided. ‘We contracted local Chinese services to support our students who were offshore. Later, when there was more mobility, we opened centres in Shanghai and Beijing and fitted them out with
Y
‘Seeing people being creative and adaptive to stay connected with things like online dinners, walks in the park, and creating interest groups, the focus was on students enjoying their lives in any possible way.’
LOOKINGGLASS isolation and maintaining an ‘open-door’ policy for counselling, Mandy was inspired by how students adjusted. ‘Seeing people being creative and adaptive to stay connected with things like online dinners, walks in the park and creating interest groups, the focus was on students enjoying their lives in any possible way.’
The bottom line For the majority of the pandemic, University of Melbourne Deputy ViceChancellor Professor James (Jim) McCluskey AO was also the acting Provost, responsible for making decisions on opening and closing the university and for determining what
continue. ‘The perception out there that online delivery is cheaper and easier is absolute nonsense. It’s probably more expensive to deliver.’ Apart from training lecturers in the dynamics of teaching online, sizeable outlays occurred, especially when the Victorian government eased the lockdown restrictions enabling face-toface teaching on campus as many interstate and international students continued online. ‘It was called synchronised blended learning and created a tricky kind of choreography to enable every student to feel a sense of belonging. 'We needed to change the design of the rooms by adding equipment, IT support and employing teaching
staff, computers and lounge areas to give the students a chance to study somewhere other than in their bedroom.’ Jim also notes that the COVID era went on for so long that there is a generation of students with a degree who never set foot on the University campus. ‘For a university with its residential colleges, Trinity College as the key one, the notion the campus is your home for a few years is an important stage of development. ‘It’s where students have their eyes opened to the big wide world through the diversity of languages, cultural beliefs, social interactions and form lasting friendships.’
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TRINITY TODAY 20 EDUCATION
Where there’s a will, The Melbourne Indigenous Transition School employed some drastic and creative solutions during the pandemic to ensure their students didn’t miss the opportunity to advance their education.
F
ormer Trinity College Board member Rick Tudor and his wife Liz started the Melbourne Indigenous Transition School (MITS) in 2016. The school was established to provide transition classes and accommodation for year 7 (and now also year 8) students from communities in the Northern Territory Top End and regional Victoria, who wish to pursue secondary educational opportunities in Melbourne. When the coronavirus first became a concern in Melbourne in March 2020,
the MITS team decided to send all of their students home, pre-empting any lockdown, concerned that students could introduce COVID-19 to their vulnerable communities. Through semester 1 of 2020, MITS staff taught students online, but for many students in remote settings, connectivity was a major barrier to learning. When Melbourne went back into lockdown in July that year, it became clear that an alternative needed to be found.
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EDUCATION 21 TRINITY TODAY
there’s a way At an extraordinary Board meeting on a Friday evening, the decision was made to move the school to Darwin. By Sunday evening, the leadership team was on a plane to the NT, with other staff and Victorian students following a few days later. 2021 started with optimism, but Melbourne would soon lock down again. This time, however, the decision was made to keep students in Melbourne, rather than move them to Darwin, as MITS received an exemption from home schooling.
Students then returned to the NT a fortnight before the end of each term to undertake the government-mandated two weeks of quarantine in the Howard Springs quarantine facility. MITS established a pop-up school in Howard Springs, where students continued their studies for two weeks, leaving them free to enjoy the school holidays with family. As a result, these two ‘COVID cohorts’ remained engaged in the MITS program throughout the pandemic and are now continuing their educational journey in Melbourne.
A weekend excursion to Litchfield National Park in 2020. Below: Liz and Rick Tudor.
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TRINITY TODAY 22 STUDENT REFLECTIONS
A different kind of Students studying in our three divisions during the COVID-19 pandemic had a different experience to most of the students who have come through Trinity. Here, four students reflect on what it was like to be at Trinity during those challenging years.
PATHWAYS SCHOOL
ANYA ARORA Foundation Studies student
W
work and class discussion that let me interact hen the pandemic hit, I was in ‘We all thought a with new people. The teachers were also my home country of Botswana. two-week break extremely supportive and went out of their way I remember there were a lot of would be fun. But to help me. rumours that we would go into The time zone difference was my biggest lockdown and, at that time, everyone was kind after two weeks challenge. All my classes were held between of relieved, because school work was picking had passed, 2am and 8am in Botswana, so it was really hard up and everyone was stressed. We all thought everyone, including in terms of time management and trying to a two-week break would be fun. But after two myself, became have a balanced schedule with little sleep. I weeks had passed, everyone, including myself, even more completed my entire course online but was able became even more stressed. It was apparent stressed.’ to travel to Melbourne right at the end for some that this virus wasn’t going to pass quickly. exams. One of the first things I did when I got to My original plan was to start my Foundation Melbourne was meet up with the people I had Studies course at Trinity in February 2021, but interacted with online, including my teachers. there was hope that international borders would be open by Looking back, I don’t feel like I missed anything. Ideally, I June, so I decided to postpone. Unfortunately, the borders would have loved to have physically been at Trinity, but I never were still closed mid-year, so I had to go ahead with my felt I wasn’t involved in student culture or didn’t get the true Foundation Studies course online in July. experience. It was a different experience on its own and I Despite the fact I studied online, I really enjoyed my time at enjoyed my time. Trinity. I made quite a few friends as there was a lot of group
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STUDENT REFLECTIONS 23 TRINITY TODAY
college experience
THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL
CARA GREENHAM HANCOCK Theological School Student Body President
I
PDFs or ebooks. Rather than working with my began my studies at Trinity mid-year in ‘I am full of Greek classmates to quiz each other on vocab, 2019 as a full-time, face-to-face student. gratitude for the My initial enrolment was for a Graduate way Trinity carried I downloaded flashcard apps on my phone and laptop. Diploma in Theology, although, as I fell on its life as best Screens, screens, screens – my eyes and in love with theological study, it evolved into a it could during head would start to ache, and I found it harder Master of Divinity. locdown, but there to focus. In Zoom classes, one thing I didn’t My initial relationship with the school, before I expect was that I was less willing to ask enrolled to study, was through attending the were months questions of my teachers, not wanting to have Monday Eucharist in the Chapel and joining the marked by all attention on me and use up class time, faculty and students for refreshments loneliness and whereas when studying face-to-face it’s very afterwards. I was struck by the strong sense that exhaustion for easy to ask clarifying questions before or after this was more than ‘just’ an academic institution: myself and many the formal group class, and conversation flows that it was a community of people dedicated to others.’ much more naturally and productively. praying and working alongside each other, The Theological School continued to gather learning together and from one another. each day for morning prayer via Zoom, but I When we had to switch to online learning didn’t join in, feeling maxed-out with how much screen time I midway through the first semester of 2020, it was the sense of could bear, instead praying alone or with my housemates. community I most missed. The provisions made by the school I am full of gratitude for the way Trinity carried on its life as were excellent, and I am deeply grateful to the faculty and staff best it could during lockdown, but there were months marked for their hard work as they navigated an unprecedented by loneliness and exhaustion for myself and many others. Now situation, but there is no way to truly replicate gathering in the that, blessedly, we are on campus, I am more consciously Chapel, common room or courtyard in an embodied way. grateful for these parts of Trinity life, and in my role as student The classroom experience, too, was very different, with all our study shifted online. I began to resent the number of hours president I have been intentional in trying to foster a sense of community and shared learning outside of the classroom as each day I stared at my laptop screen. Without access to the well as inside it. library’s physical collections, my readings were always as
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TRINITY TODAY 24 STUDENT REFLECTIONS
RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE
MORGAN GALEA Senior Student 2020
T
he first time I heard of COVID-19 ‘At the time, none would be going into lockdown and the year’s social calendar would be scrapped, has stayed was in February 2020 while on the of us could have with me. The look of dismay among my friends’ Trinity student volunteer trip to India, imagined the faces was the look of children who’d watched supporting the Asha Foundation. As disruption this new their ice-creams roll off a cone and squelch we arrived in Mumbai, reports of a new ‘super virus was going to onto the pavement. virus’ were circulating, with some reports impose on our lives Despite all the anxiety, fear and dismay stating cases had been detected in Mumbai. As entering lockdown, there was a beat of a precaution, we purchased N95 face masks for and the chaos it excitement among the student body. I believe this the return flight to Melbourne. would create for sentiment was cultivated predominantly among At the time, none of us could have imagined college life.’ the first-year cohort, who had never experienced the disruption this new virus was going to College before. For these innocent freshers, the impose on our lives and the chaos it would ‘opportunity cost’ was non-existent compared to other students create for college life. I remember while flying back to (many of whom were in their final year at Trinity). Melbourne, one of my friends said it was only a matter of time At the time, I felt very fortunate that we were able to before major cities across the world would adopt a state of execute our 2020 O-Week unimpaired by COVID-19, enabling lockdown. We laughed, dismissing the doomsayer’s theory. Of us to set the tone of college life and hopefully contribute to a course, it turns out they were right. culture that was immune to the woes of a global pandemic. From my first year at College, I always saw the student There was no doubt college life was different, with rules in leaders as bubbly, happy, social figures who were always place preventing students from congregating in groups larger promoting college life and introducing fun and exciting new than three. However, the student body adopted a glass-halfinitiatives to better the student experience. The thought of full attitude and found ingenious ways of reinventing college being the student leader at a time when Trinity had to be life so that it was lockdown fit for purpose. We held our own stripped down to its primary function of providing student ‘Trinity Survivor’ contest, corridor Uber Eats dinners, El accommodation – taking away all the partying, arts, social Corono and running clubs, and set up a TCAC shop with initiatives and community and cultural events – painted a essential supplies. pretty bleak picture for me (or so I thought). Looking back, lockdown life at Trinity helped me develop my I remember my first meeting with the Deputy Dean as the stakeholder management skills. There were times I felt like all Senior Student in 2019 – pre-pandemic – consisted of I was doing was delivering bad news to students or having approving ‘corri-crawl’ themes, as well as discussing the tough conversations with the College administration about how number of community service hours a student should serve rules were impacting the student experience. But from the for squashing a rose bush. highs and lows of COVID-19, I quickly learnt that a proactive When COVID-19 reached Melbourne in 2020, I remember response to bad news can help manage stakeholder Dean Leonie Jongenelis telling me she was going to hold an expectations, and not to dwell on things outside of your control. emergency College meeting, the likes of which the College Ultimately, I believe my final year at College was hadn’t experienced since wartime. instrumental in helping me to forge key personal and The first meeting the TCAC had with the College professional skills that hold me in good stead to this day. administration after that, when we were told the College
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STUDENT REFLECTIONS 25 TRINITY TODAY
RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE OSCAR HOLLANDS Senior Student 2021
L
ike most, my first memory of the ‘… I have so many rules in the context of a residential college with pandemic was hearing news reports fond memories of 300-plus people both on and off campus. At various times, some residents were living at of an alarming virus in Wuhan, China. I those years at home and wanted to come back to College, but remember watching an interview with a College, and will couldn’t, while some residents were living at teacher who was in isolation there and thinking always be grateful College and wanted to go to their home about how alien and strange quarantine must that I got to spend overseas or interstate, but couldn’t. Everything feel for them. My thoughts quickly turned to was in a constant state of flux. what movie I was going to watch that night. my lockdowns … I decided to return to my family home in During our first few weeks of College, among such a announcements were made reminding everyone vibrant community Scone, NSW, for the June 2021 break and ended up staying when Melbourne went back into to be mindful of hygiene – wash our hands, not of people.’ lockdown in July. It would have been a strange share toothbrushes, stuff like that. I thought it choice to travel back into the fire and flames of was a bit excessive; there was no way a virus a Melbourne lockdown when all of my uni courses were online was going to interrupt the Games Society’s big plans for 2020 and I could leave the house at leisure in Scone, where (which, as president, I was keenly anticipating). restrictions were less strict. Within a week, we were sitting socially distanced on the This time away gave me insight into what it was like to be a Bulpadock on a cold, grey day as our Dean, Leonie, delivered member of the Trinity community. Like every other community the speech that I’m sure every 2020 College resident will around the world, we had to adapt. Social events and activities remember clearly. When she said ‘this is our war’ in an effort were run online. Tutorials were run online. The corridor you to emphasise the gravity of the situation, that was when the were on became your ‘family group’ and communal spaces penny dropped for most people, including myself; it was not had to be booked so that only one family group would venture going to be a normal year at College. in at a time. I started my role as Senior Student in September 2020 Trinity should not really have worked online. At other when Melbourne was very much in lockdown, but as we colleges around Australia, communities fell apart and many entered 2021, restrictions started to ease. The TCAC and I opportunities to make memories were lost as a result of the were excited that College would soon return to full swing. pandemic. Yet, somehow, in the face of COVID, Trinity’s culture As it turned out, 2021 would see us in and out of lockdown, triumphed because of its spirit and sense of togetherness that with me handing over the Senior Student role to Paddy Bates most people reading this know very well. The pandemic just as I had received it from Morgan Galea – over Zoom. certainly proved that, while we have pretty buildings and our Fortunately, however, the trials and tribulations that COVID gardeners do a very good job on the flowers, Trinity is presented us with in 2021 were ones that we had all been ultimately its people, not its place. facing for a year by then, so we were prepared and ready when The pandemic was a strange time to be a Trinity student, they came. I have huge respect for Morgan and his TCAC for but I have so many fond memories of those years at College, the way they improvised and kept the College together in 2020 and I will always be grateful that I got to spend my lockdowns during an unprecedented and difficult situation. – both online and in person – among such a vibrant community It was still an incredibly challenging exercise in of people. improvisation and interpreting the government-mandated
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TRINITY TODAY 26 PSYCHOLOGY
CRAVING With COVID-19 infections raging on for weeks, then months, then years, it became clear that the pandemic was impacting our mental health. For some, it masked existing conditions; for others, it brought new mental health challenges.
BY EMI LY MCAU L IFFE
T
he COVID-19 pandemic was like one big social experiment, says Foundation Studies alum Dr Michelle Lim (TCFS 1997). Michelle, a practising psychologist who is also a world-renowned expert on loneliness, watched as the pandemic pushed the concept and lived experience of loneliness into the mainstream as the broader population started identifying with a condition Michelle has long known to be detrimental to health. ‘I think, prior to the pandemic, there was some awareness of loneliness, but it was very much seen as an “other” issue, someone else’s problem – maybe that of people who are socially isolated or older,’ says Michelle. ‘The pandemic highlighted that it’s not just for people who are vulnerable, because when you put people in these extreme situations [such as extended lockdowns], it can elicit loneliness for anyone.’ Loneliness is suffered by one in three Australians (noting that someone can feel lonely, despite not being alone) and, in a somewhat warped silver lining, the pandemic brought more attention to the issue and, in turn, more advocacy and funding. But even though loneliness is receiving increased attention, Michelle says an ongoing challenge is its stigma, with more than half of sufferers ashamed to talk about their feelings of loneliness, according to her research. For many, the pandemic triggered feelings of social isolation that they hadn’t previously experienced or hadn’t experienced to that extent. Michelle says it proved that we can’t discount the positive effect on our mental health of minute daily social interactions. ‘When I’m talking about minute social interactions, I mean talking to the person who makes you coffee, who you see at the post office, who you bump into at Coles. Those kinds of minor interactions are just as important as the ones that we hold close to our hearts.’
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PSYCHOLOGY 27 TRINITY TODAY
CONNECTION If you find yourself struggling with loneliness or any other mental health issues, Michelle says it’s important to remember that you’re not alone – help is available, and the earlier you tackle any challenges, the better. Start by having a conversation with someone you trust, remembering that loneliness is far more common than you may think. Then, seek the advice of a health professional. Information is also available at lonelinessawarenessweek.com.au Unfortunately, in a post-pandemic world, those incidental social interactions have become less frequent as we embrace hybrid work and working from home. ‘People realise hybrid work has positives, which is fine, but it also means there are less opportunities to connect,’ Michelle notes. ‘It’s a new way of living that I think won’t go away, but it’s something we need to think about – how we can nurture the initiation and maintenance of meaningful social connection … There’s lots of value in face-to-face meetings and it can cement relationships and friendships much quicker than online versions.’ The value of these kinds of interactions also applies to young adults, and Michelle says 18 to 25-year-olds studying online can miss opportunities to connect face-to-face and experience organic social interactions, like bumping into someone over lunch or having a quick chat before class. ‘I went to uni in the ‘90s in the days when we had protests, we had clubs, we had all sorts of things. There was so much opportunity to have that face-to-face interaction, but when you go into these hybrid models, that becomes a lot less.’ In this way, college can offer a protective effect, in that daily social interactions are plentiful. ‘I think college is a wonderful environment, really, to get to know people in different settings,’ says Michelle, before adding that it is certainly possible to be surrounded by people at college and still feel lonely. ‘People who don’t go to college are highly disadvantaged in the sense that they may not have that kind of interaction on a day-to-day basis … For the most part, I think college nurtures this shared experience and nurtures organic social interactions.’ While the curbing of social connection during COVID-19
negatively impacted many, Michelle says that, for some, the pandemic was a time of reprieve. ‘Young people with emerging mental ill health found it much easier during the pandemic because they were less exposed to social interactions … When social restrictions were implemented, they felt safer and it was like, “Now, everyone is experiencing or living the life I live where I feel trapped all the time”.’ And once [restrictions] were lifted, they were more worried.’ Michelle says such worrying is also the case for immunocompromised people, who are not necessarily able to be protected by COVID vaccines. On reflection, Michelle says the pandemic was a very strange time; a time that was socially challenging and scary for many people. She admits it took a toll on herself, too. ‘Even as a trained psychologist of 20 years, I can say that my mental health was starting to suffer by the fifth lockdown. By the end of it, I was feeling like [actor] Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Every day was the same. ‘What it really made me appreciate was the diversity of experiences that we do need in our lives, but also freedom. When you’re told that you can’t do something, it’s much, much harder. When you’re choosing to do something, like choosing to stay at home or choosing to do remote working, it’s a choice and you feel less stress tied to it. ‘There’s not very much of a silver lining with the pandemic. Many people lost their lives, but I hope that we all go through with a couple of important lessons for ourselves and for our generation, and that’s that meaningful social connections are really critical to our wellbeing, even more so than we ever imagined. And it’s not just our family that we need. It’s more than our family. It’s a wider a network and we need to nurture that.’ So, while the pandemic may have been a social experiment that many of us would have preferred not to have been a part of, the least we can do is learn from it.
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TRINITY TODAY 28 COVID TIMELINE
The quiet and
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COVID TIMELINE 33 TRINITY TODAY
the chaos…
ILLUSTRATION BY STELLA MACKENZIE (TC 2022)
THIS IS HOW IT For many of 2019 The Wuhan Municipal Commission in China reports a us, particularly Health cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan. illness, COVID-19, is later identified those living in The as being caused by a novel coronavirus, Melbourne – SARS-CoV-2. one of the most 2020A case of COVID-19 is in Thailand; the first recorded case outside of China. locked-down confirmed The first case of COVID-19 in Australia (Melbourne). cities in the world isDailyconfirmed news reports of COVID-19 cases and deaths become the norm. – the COVID-19 COVID-19 is declared a global public health emergency of pandemic has international concern by the World Health Organisation. The Australian government become a blur. So, advises that visitors from mainland China who are not Australian citizens here, we tease it or permanent residents, or their dependents, will not be allowed entry out to show how into Australia. The Board meets via conference for the first time to the pandemic video learn about the College’s response to Weekly video briefings are evolved, and how COVID-19. held thereafter. Victoria’s minister tourism, sport and major events it was managed for launches a $5 million interstate and campaign to encourage at Trinity College. international people to visit Victoria, in response to
18 MARCH The Australian government
31 DECEMBER
13 JANUARY
25 JANUARY
30 JANUARY
1 FEBRUARY
6 MARCH The Pathways School holds an on-campus welcome party for new students, which will be the last major event to take place before strict social distancing measures and lockdowns are introduced. 11 MARCH The World Health Organisation declares a worldwide pandemic – the first caused by a coronavirus. This prompts 348 countries to close their borders, partially or completely.
3 FEBRUARY
19 FEBRUARY
COVID-19 and the summer’s bushfires. 4 MARCH Pathways School students are told they need to be in Australia by 18 March in order to commence their program on campus in Melbourne. 5 MARCH Panic buying prompts supermarkets to impose purchase limits on toilet paper, which will be expanded to other items, including canned goods, flour and hand wash, at various points of the pandemic.
12 MARCH The Formula One Australian
Grand Prix in Melbourne is cancelled hours before the practice session is due to begin, with thousands of fans turned around at the gate. 13 MARCH A National Cabinet is established to bring together the Commonwealth and state and territory governments, chaired by the Prime Minister. 16 MARCH The Victorian government declares a state of emergency for four weeks (if only we knew...). Trinity College closes its campus to visitors. All Trinity events are postponed until further notice. A Residential College COVID action plan is put in place.
announces a number of measures to be implemented by state governments, including banning non-essential indoor gatherings of 100 people or more and 1.5-metre social distancing measures. All Pathways School lectures, University of Melbourne lectures and tutorials, and Theological School units that don’t have a practical field-based component go online. 20 MARCH Australia closes its border to all non-residents of Australia.
26 MARCH The first death in Melbourne
from COVID-19 is confirmed. Trinity College announces that it will temporarily stand down a number of staff. 27 MARCH All Trinity College staff, except for essential workers, are ordered to work from home. 30 MARCH Victoria goes into lockdown – only two people can gather outside unless they are members of a household, and there are only four reasons to leave home: for exercise, food and supplies, work and education, and to access medical care or provide caregiving. The University of Melbourne becomes a virtual campus. The Australian government introduces ‘JopKeeper’ payments to help businesses retain staff.
22 MAY The Games Society hosts a trivia
night, which off-campus students tune into via Zoom. 27 MAY 24 students are asked to leave Trinity’s Residential College for the remainder of the semester after holding a common room party that breached government and College restrictions. 29 MAY The first virtual Pathways School valedictory is held.
21 MARCH The Warden convenes an
emergency senior management meeting on a Sunday to discuss how to manage a Residential College close down. Tasmania is the first Australian state to close its borders, imposing a two-week quarantine period for anyone arriving in the state. 22 MARCH Pubs, gyms, cinemas and other entertainment venues are ordered to close across Australia, and restaurants and cafes are permitted to only serve takeaway or home delivery orders. 23 MARCH An emergency meeting for Residential College students is held on the Bulpadock, where Dean Leonie Jongenelis tells students, ‘This is our war’. All Trinity College staff are encouraged to work from home if they can. 24 MARCH The Tokyo Olympic Games are officially postponed (see story on page 48 about Trinity alum Ian Chesterman). Residential College and Pathways School tutorials are moved online, as well as drama classes, which, until this point, had remained face-to-face. Schools in Victoria move to online teaching. Residential College students are given the option to return home and remain actively engaged with the College virtually. 160 students choose to stay, and these students are not permitted to leave the campus.
5 JUNE Residential College students virtually tune into a compulsory meeting, where staff announce additional COVID-19 prevention measures at the College. 5 MAY All Residential College students living on campus are compulsorily tested for COVID-19. 11 MAY Victoria eases its restrictions.
15 JUNE Some Pathways School classes
21 MAY The Trinity College Council holds its
first-ever virtual meeting.
resume face-to-face teaching. 29 JUNE Trinity calls for voluntary redundancies and fraction reductions. 30 JUNE Selected ‘high-risk’ postcodes in Victoria go into lockdown. 1 JULY Trinity makes plans to welcome Residential College students back to campus for semester 2.
ALL WENT DOWN 7 JULY The rest of Victoria goes into lockdown. The border between Victoria and New South Wales closes for the first time in 100 years (the last time being during the Spanish flu). The military patrols the border to prevent illegal crossings. 13 JULY Trinity’s CEO Ken Hinchcliff announces to staff that the College’s Boardmandated break-even financial target was not met through voluntary redundancies, and therefore non-voluntary redundancies will be made. 2 AUGUST Victoria enters a state of disaster and announces its toughest lockdown yet, including restrictions on travelling more than five kilometres from your home and a curfew between 8pm and 5am. 4 AUGUST Victorians require permits to be able to travel to approved places of work.
14 AUGUST The Pathways School holds a
virtual lip sync battle with students studying Foundation Studies around the world.
6 OCTOBER A $10m debt facility is approved by the Trinity College Board to help with the College cash flow if required. (This facility was never drawn on, and it was closed in September 2023.) 26 OCTOBER Victoria’s lockdown ends.
6 NOVEMBER Without Valedictory Day (V-Day) as an end-of-year last hurrah, students organise Technic, a socially distanced picnic with music supplied by the Tech Committee. White circles are painted on the Bulpadock to indicate where a maximum of 10 students can sit together. 7 DECEMBER Warden Ken Hinchcliff has an opinion piece published in The Age about the positive impact international students have in Melbourne, to advocate for international students being allowed back into the country. 8 DECEMBER A 90-year-old woman in the UK is the first person in the world to be given a COVID-19 vaccine.
21 FEBRUARY Only students are permitted onto the Trinity College campus for the Residential College move-in day, meaning family members and friends cannot leave their vehicles to meet staff or say goodbyes. 22 FEBRUARY COVID-19 vaccination is rolled out across Australia. Face-to-face classes resume for Theological School students and in-country Pathways School students. Staff are encouraged to come back on campus.
22 MARCH Mass vaccination centres open
in Victoria, including at the Melbourne Convention Centre and Royal Exhibition Building. 31 MARCH The Australian government indicates that it won’t invite international students back to Australia en masse until 2022.
2021
25 JANUARY The Therapeutic Goods
13 SEPTEMBER Being the only TCAC
member residing on campus at the time, 2020 Female Sports Rep Emma Boyd-Law hosts the TCAC AGM in the JCR via Zoom.
Administration (TGA) provisionally approves the Pfizer vaccine for use in Australia. 12 FEBRUARY Victoria goes into lockdown again. 16 FEBRUARY The TGA provisionally approves the AstraZeneca vaccine (manufactured by CSL) for use in Australia (see story on page 42 to read about Trinity alum Andrew Cuthbertson’s involvement in its development). 18 FEBRUARY Victoria’s third lockdown ends.
21 MAY The August Main and October Fast
Track valedictory is the first in-person Pathways School event to be held on campus in more than a year. 20 students attend in person, while hundreds of others tune in online from their home country. 27 MAY Victoria goes into lockdown for the fourth time. The Trinity campus is closed again.
3 JUNE Restrictions are eased for regional Victoria, but metropolitan Melbourne remains in hard lockdown. 11 JUNE Melbourne’s lockdown ends. 17 JUNE All Victorian businesses are required to use the Victorian government’s QR code through the Service Victoria app (see story on page 42 to read about Trinity alumni James Kane and Noah Harlan’s involvement in its development) and Victorians are required to check in everywhere they go to help contact tracers identify virus exposure points. 15 JULY Victoria goes into lockdown for the fifth time. 20 JULY Victoria’s fifth lockdown is extended. 28 JULY Victoria’s fifth lockdown ends. 5 AUGUST Victoria goes into its sixth lockdown. 9 AUGUST The TGA provisionally approves the Moderna vaccine for use in Australia. 11 AUGUST Victoria’s sixth lockdown is extended. 19 SEPTEMBER The Victorian government outlines the state’s ‘roadmap out of lockdown’, which states that more freedoms will be available when 70 per cent of people in the state are vaccinated. 20 SEPTEMBER The Pathways School introduces Trinity Talks – an online lecture series that gives prospective students a taste of Trinity’s Foundation Studies program. 27 SEPTEMBER The University of Melbourne mandates vaccination for students and staff ahead of its campus re-opening on 5 November. 7 OCTOBER With a forecast drop of $30m in revenue in 2022 compared to 2021, CEO Ken Hinchcliff announces that the organisation will be restructured and around 50 more staff will be made redundant. 18 OCTOBER The Board approves the surrender of Trinity’s leased space at 200 Victoria Street and divesting of interest in 611 Elizabeth Street, planned to be Trinity’s second Pathways School campus.
21 OCTOBER Melbourne exits its sixth
lockdown, with vaccination rates reaching 70 per cent. By this stage, the city has racked up 262 cumulative days in lockdown. Ken Hinchcliff announces a new hybrid work policy, to come into effect from 1 January 2022, permitting staff to work up to 40 per cent of their regular hours from home. Pathways School teachers have their own work arrangements depending on teaching schedules. 29 OCTOBER A COVID-positive person visits the Residential College, subsequently prompting student corridor ‘family units’ to be reinstated. Students who are deemed primary contacts are required to isolate until they can provide a negative COVID-19 test result on day seven. 15 NOVEMBER Fully vaccinated Trinity staff are permitted to work on campus for up to 60 per cent of their work fraction for the rest of the year. 20 NOVEMBER Two students in the Residential College test positive for COVID-19. The students move out and close contacts are required to isolate. Trinity’s end-of-year choral evensong is cancelled as a result. 15 DECEMBER Fully vaccinated international students and skilled migrants are allowed to enter Australia.
22 DECEMBER Many people in greater
Melbourne are required to show a negative COVID-19 test result before travelling interstate for Christmas. At some statefunded PCR testing sites, people start lining up from 4am, prompting the testing clinics to suspend testing by 6am, due to an inability to keep up with demand.
2022
1 JANUARY Trinity’s new COVID-19 vaccination and site attendance policy comes into effect, requiring that all staff, students and visitors to the Trinity College campus be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, unless they have a medical exemption. 2 JANUARY With the rapid spread of the new Omicron variant of COVID-19, Trinity staff are once again instructed to work from home. (So much for the hybrid work policy that was meant to kick in at the start of the year.) 19 JANUARY The TGA provisionally approves the Novavax vaccine for use in Australia. 30 JANUARY Staff are invited to work from campus again if they choose. The College’s Senior Management Team accepts that COVID-19 is too widespread in the community to continue to strive for total exclusion in the College, and instead aims for management of the disease in line with its COVID-safe and COVID response plans. 21 FEBRUARY Australia re-opens its border to double-vaccinated tourists and other visa holders for the first time in nearly two years. 22 FEBRUARY The Victorian government announces the end of its work-fromhome directive. 24 FEBRUARY Trinity College announces that hybrid work arrangements will resume at the College from 15 March. 22 DECEMBER The Victorian government makes rapid antigen tests (RATs) free to all Victorians. (Free or paid, those things went out the door like hot cakes.) 31 DECEMBER Victoria closes the last of its state-run PCR testing sites.
2023
11 APRIL The Pathways School goes back to 100 per cent face-to-face teaching. 5 MAY The World Health Organisation says it no longer considers COVID-19 a global public health emergency.
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TRINITY TODAY 34 ART AND CULTURE
EXIT STAGE From the perspective of a screenwriter, a soprano and an audio engineer – how did COVID influence and change the arts sector?
Siobhan Stagg (Susanna) (TC 2011) and Anna Stéphany (Cherubino) in The Marriage of Figaro. PHOTO BY CLIVE BARDA.
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ART AND CULTURE 35 TRINITY TODAY
LEFT
BY BE LINDA JAC KSO N
W
hile the world closed down around him, the global pandemic opened up the world for television writer, director and voice actor Tim Bain (TC 1997). ‘Animation went gangbusters during the pandemic,’ says Tim, the creator of kids’ action comedy Kangaroo Beach and writer on such hits as Bluey, PJ Masks and Fireman Sam. ‘It's the format that can survive a pandemic.’ He says actors had their own home studios with microphone setups, and everything was delivered on schedule. Live performance, however, was another story, says Australian opera singer Siobhan Stagg (TC 2011). ‘Along with tourism, performing arts was one of the hardest hit sectors, and the whole ecosystem seemed to grind to a halt in a number of days,’ says the Berlin-based soprano. ‘Usually, I’m booked three years in advance, and the engagements fell like dominos.’ London-based audio system engineer, writer and composer Vic Hofflin (TC 2015) agrees. Based in Melbourne when COVID struck, there was no JobKeeper (government assistance) and no certainty in the theatre world. ‘Everyone was on hold,’ she recalls. ‘After the first six-week lockdown, things were starting to open up in Sydney, but there was no sign of our industry returning. People said, “We can’t do what we do at home."’
As the world closed… ‘In February 2020, I was working in Italy and South Korea – two COVID hotspots – and managed to stay unscathed before flying to Australia,’ says Siobhan. ‘I performed at the Adelaide Festival and had just flown to Sydney for concerts with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra when I got the call that they were cancelled. I didn’t even leave the airport; I just few straight home to Berlin to be with my husband [fellow Trinity graduate Nelson Yarwood].’ In the same month, Vic was working on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Melbourne. ‘I remember standing on the street with the team after a meeting and we got the call that said, “We’re done.” We said, “Well, I guess we should just go home...” It was one of those moments.’
Working in the COVID era It was business as usual for Tim. Almost. ‘I always work from home anyway,’ he says, ‘but now my husband and three-year-old twins were home in Sydney with me.’ ‘There weren’t many places kids could go in lockdown, so our family banded together and made a five-minute trailer about a teddy-bear spy. Knee High Spies is now being developed with the ABC and Werner Films.’
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TRINITY TODAY 36 ART AND CULTURE
RIGHT: Vic Hofflin (TC 2015) working as an audio engineer. FAR RIGHT: Tim Bain (TC 1997) (right) with Peter Lord at Aardman Animations.
‘There was great funding to be had – the screen bodies in Australia really put out the support net for Australian artists,’ says Tim, who developed another new series, Princess Prime Minister, with support from Screen Australia, while the Australian Children’s Foundation provided funding for Knee High Spies. Meanwhile in Germany, Siobhan felt a loss of identity for performance artists. ‘We were basically told we weren’t relevant to the system, and that can affect your psyche over the long term.' In response, she released a lockdown anthem called Listen (by composer Dermot Tutty), and helped raise over $40,000 for struggling Australian artists through a fundraising concert and via fellow soprano Nicole Car’s Freelance Artist Relief Australia project. Siobhan also completed a governance course and joined the Board of the Melba Opera Trust. When the lockdowns began, Vic had already been accepted into a Master of Collaborative Theatre Production and Design at the Guildhall School of Music
& Drama in London, to begin in August 2020. So she spent the first Australian lockdown with family in Sydney before emigrating to the UK. It was a great time to do a degree: the pandemic gave Vic unexpected access to interviewees for her thesis about women composers and sound designers in the musical theatre industry. ‘Everyone had time to talk to me about equality and pay; they were excited to talk about something other than COVID,’ she says. Vic, who is now the deputy head of audio on the mixed-reality concert sensation ABBA Voyage in London, found it incredibly hard to find inspiration for her writing. ‘There was nothing to write about, even though [the COVID era] was such a different experience. A couple of us wrote a play and put it on, but we could have only three actors, spaced out on stage with no touching. ‘It was my first time directing and it was a great challenge, but there was no other option but to work within the constraints.’
The turning point ‘It was as if we escaped the pandemic,’ says Tim. ‘Sydney was relatively untouched when compared with Melbourne, and our family had applied to leave Australia to travel to the US, where our third child was being born in March 2021. Then, a month into our stay, the Californian government released a vaccination, so we were in the right place at the right time,’ he recalls. While Tim was queuing for a vaccine at a Sears department store, Siobhan was sitting at her computer in Berlin, hoping for tickets to a special pilot performance by the Berlin Philharmonic. The concert would employ COVID testing and a well-spaced audience in a bid to revive the performance sector. ‘It was the first live concert I’d attended in many months, tears streaming down my face as the orchestra played their hearts out.’ By August 2021, London’s West End was starting to re-open and shows were finally in rehearsals after an 18-month hiatus, although performances were heavily restricted. In a twist of fate, The Lion King was the last show Vic saw before London locked down, and the first show she began working on after finishing her studies.
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ART AND CULTURE 37 TRINITY TODAY
there live, you can watch from home.’ After a slow start, audiences have rebounded to near pre-pandemic levels. Siobhan recently debuted in the role of Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, a production that was cancelled in 2020 and 2021. ‘After a six-year gestation period for this role, I had an enormous sense of relief that it was finally over the line.’ Vic says it’s very noticeable how many people have left theatre production. ‘There is no security in freelance work, so people found other, more reliable jobs. In his late 50s, my boss is one of the few experienced people left in the industry.’ ‘I was working freelance in the West End, but have settled into a salaried role as the deputy head of audio on ABBA Voyage. I have this anxiety since COVID that it is all very fragile, and it can just be taken away from you.’
And now…
‘But there were no systems – backstage at the Lyceum, one of the oldest theatres in the West End, it was mandatory for us to wear masks in a 40-degree heatwave with no air-con, but the cast did not have the same rules. A lot of people left because there wasn’t one set of rules for everyone.’
Out the other side With a surplus of animation created in lockdown, international buyers were hungry for live action, so it took a while for Tim’s Kangaroo Beach to start selling overseas post pandemic. Also, the federal government had cut commercial networks’ requirements to provide children’s entertainment during the pandemic, and quotas are yet to be reinstated. ‘So American tech companies are getting a huge share of the Australian
audience without being accountable for having Australian-made content, or content for children,’ he says. ‘Also, children’s audiences are splintering off from the major networks. ‘So there’s been a dearth of content being made recently – I’m seeing the writing on the wall for kids’ television in Australia.’ Work life has also changed, as writers’ rooms go virtual. ‘I did Series 3 of Kangaroo Beach by dialling into the writers’ rooms at 5am, which is also very good for the environment.’ In the opera world, there is more streaming of performances in a hybrid format, says Siobhan, ‘so if you can’t be
A silver lining for Vic was ABBA Voyage taking the stage earlier than expected. ‘ABBA really flourished because of COVID – it was brand new and people were eager to go. And George Lucas’ company, ILM, did all the content for us while such projects as Star Wars and Marvel were on hold.’ It’s also made Siobhan realise that you can start to give back at any point in your life. ‘We often associate philanthropy with grey hair, but you can instil habits of kindness and generosity at any time in your journey. So, this year, to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of my international career, I started three scholarships for young singers in my hometown of Mildura.’ Now based in London, Tim’s Kangaroo Beach is in its third series, and Warner Bros-Discovery has greenlit 52 episodes of Let’s Go Bananas. ‘I am international in my writing and work on British and American shows, but I don’t have to fly anywhere now … and there’s no dressing up for Zoom anymore,’ he says. ‘It’s opened up the world for me.’
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TRINITY TODAY 38 HOSPITALITY
Hospita
Above Gastrobar in Ipoh, Malaysia.
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HOSPITALITY 39 TRINITY TODAY
l i t y IN HARD TIMES
When COVID-19 threw life’s dice in the air, there were industry winners and losers. Most would agree, hospitality lost out. BY E M ILY M CAULIFFE
O
f all the industries plagued by the pandemic, hospitality and tourism were among the hardest hit. A study published by the Reserve Bank of Australia found that, by April 2020, international tourism had declined globally by approximately 90 per cent while, in Australia, domestic visitor numbers dropped to 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels during the September quarter lockdowns of 2021. According to Julian Clark (TC 1997), CEO of the Lancemore Group, which has a portfolio of six hotels in Victoria plus the Alamanda in Queensland, the hospitality industry found itself ‘in the toilet’. ‘[Hospitality] was comfortably the worst,’ he says of industries badly affected. Despite Julian’s lifelong connection to the industry through his family’s hotel business, he had never intended to work in hospitality, let alone take over as Lancemore’s CEO. He studied an arts commerce degree while living at Trinity and had his sights on strategy roles in large corporations. Upon graduating, he did just that, then joined the family business ‘for a year’ after returning from a stint in London. He’s still there, 16 years later. Given the challenges of COVID, does he wish he’d steered clear, as per his original plan? ‘If you’d offered me a move into a different industry for a couple of years during the pandemic and then
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TRINITY TODAY 40 HOSPITALITY
ABOVE: Lancemore hotel Werribee Mansion. INSET: Julian Clark (TC 1997), CEO of the Lancemore Group. BELOW: Yu Cheng (TCFS 2009), owner of Above Gastrobar.
come back in, I would’ve happily taken that,’ he says. ‘I’d have a few less scars on the body to show for it, but it is what it is, right?’ Julian says he could never have imagined what was about to unfold but remembers exactly what happened when COVID struck. He was in the US to attend a conference when the first rumblings of the new and deadly virus surfaced. When the conference was cancelled, arrangements were quickly made for him to fly home to Australia, as the travel industry – and the world – hit turbulence. From that point on, Julian says he worked seven days a week from 7am to 11pm for a month, trying to work out what to do as his business lost 95 per cent of its revenues. All Victorian hotels, aside from those functioning as quarantine facilities, were shuttered. ‘Nothing in business has ever prepared you for anything like that,’ he says. ‘I’ve been through the GFC [global financial crisis], I’ve been through other recessions, but this was unique. No one was ready for their business to lose that amount of revenue.’
Ryan Moses, the co-owner of Naughtons – a pub well known to Trinitarians – says he well remembers the day in March 2020 that he was forced to call a meeting and stand down his entire team. ‘You had to tell everyone that they no longer had a job and you weren’t sure when they’d have a job again,’ he says. ‘I’m not going to lie, there were quite a lot of tears that day from various people, and everyone was a bit afraid. It was a very tough time.’ Ryan and co-owners Laura and Ryan Berry trialled turning the hotel into a takeaway deli and bottle shop, but found the business case didn’t stack up. ‘I spoke to a few people [in the industry] at that point to see what their plans were. The overwhelming response was that everyone was going to hunker down, manage what costs they could and then hope for the best.’ Like many other hospitality businesses, the Naughtons team opened when they could, then made do aligning with the COVID restrictions of the day, which at one point meant opening at only 25 per cent
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HOSPITALITY 41 TRINITY TODAY
capacity. Ryan says this was not enough to turn a profit but allowed the owners to offer some hours to their team. They also got creative, offering a 'pub in a box', which included a takeaway meal, wine, craft beer, Spotify playlist of pub songs and trivia cards, to try to stay engaged with the local community. ‘Again, it wasn’t profitable,’ says Ryan. ‘But it meant that when we were open, we had our full team and we had all our regulars coming back through the doors, and even some new people who found us through that experience and became regulars.’ The pandemic wasn’t dire for all hospitality businesses, however, and in the case of Yu Cheng (TCFS 2009), who owns Above Gastrobar in Ipoh, Malaysia, it proved a saving grace. ‘For me, it was a blessing more than a curse, because when the pandemic happened, it was at a time that we needed some new direction [in the business] … we were at a low point.’ Yu, an entrepreneurial type who worked in Malaysia in politics, then copywriting, after completing Foundation Studies at Trinity and studying accounting and finance at Melbourne University, had gone into the hospitality industry cold and realised his menu and operations weren’t up to standard. But
Naughtons hotel, across the road from Trinity College. PHOTO BY E WEAVING
when travel restrictions and lockdowns were imposed, many Malaysian chefs who had been working abroad returned home in search of work. Yu seized the opportunity, learning from some of the best chefs in the business while galvanising his menu and workflow. Only able to open for a total of one year over a two-year period, he also used the downtime to work on a marketing strategy. ‘Being not very busy actually afforded me the time to go online, watch YouTube, watch all the best chefs in the world in action, look at their recipes ... I didn’t come from a culinary background, so having the time and head space to explore these things is what catapulted me forward.’ Upon reopening, Yu’s restaurant was booked out every night two-and-a-half months in advance. ‘I always say opening Above Gastrobar is the biggest and best mistake I’ve made, because it’s a situation where we
were so close to giving up so many times,’ Yu says. ‘But then, you see a bit of hope and each time you push yourself forward to go through the adversity and the difficulties. You learn from there, and the next time, it’s much easier.’ Julian thinks the pandemic helped people re-evaluate what is important in their lives. ‘We’ve bounced back a lot quicker than anyone thought we would as an industry, and that’s not just due to pent-up demand. I think a lot of people now see travel as a core part of their identity, not something purely discretionary.’ On a personal level, permanent changes in the workplace, specifically flexible work arrangements, allowed Julian to reassess his own priorities, and he decided to move from Melbourne to South East Queensland. ‘I wouldn’t have been able to work remotely as much as I do now without the experience of the pandemic. I’ve got three young kids and they live a life that is ridiculous. They get to surf, they play sport all the time … Anything that’s that seismic – there are always positives and negatives to come out of it.’
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TRINITY TODAY 42 HEALTH
Help is on the way BY RI CK Y FR E NC H
F
or people not living in Melbourne during the darkest days of the pandemic, it may be difficult to comprehend just how grim life actually became. Of all of Australia’s capitals, Melbourne was particularly hard hit. To have avoided any feelings of isolation, stress or uncertainty you would’ve had to have been living under a rock. Coincidently, living under a rock is what it felt like much of the time. And, of course, there was the fear of serious illness, even death. With global health authorities charged with managing the emergency and navigating a way out, many Trinity College alumni found themselves on the frontline of the pandemic response, helping to develop vaccines, design mobile technology or lend holistic support to those most impacted. But what was life really like in those dark days, and what is the likely legacy of the pandemic for the health sector? From the outset, few people would have felt the weight of responsibility more acutely than Professor Andrew Cuthbertson AO (TC 1980), the retiring chief scientist and head of research and development at biotech behemoth CSL. Andrew was a non-resident at Trinity College during the 1980s, following in the footsteps of his father Alan Cuthbertson, a senior fellow and tutor in surgery at the College, who sadly passed away in 2021. Andrew’s son Jack was a Trinity resident in 2012 and 2013.
As the decade opened, the health sector was thrust into the spotlight, with a number of Trinitarians on the frontline and behind the scenes in the fight against COVID-19.
As COVID-19 spread globally and the death toll mounted, Andrew was asked to delay retirement to help lead Australia’s vaccine response. ‘Well, one could hardly say no,’ he reflects. The stakes couldn’t have been higher, and the project started well. By early 2020, CSL had teamed up with the University of Queensland, which was making great progress on a potential vaccine. At one point, there were hundreds of staff working around the clock on the program. ‘It was an exciting project and a brilliant idea,’ says Andrew. ‘Other than public health measures, there was no other way of stopping the virus spreading and killing people, so we had to do this.’ The experimental vaccine went into early clinical trials and appeared to be working well. Then came heartbreak, with the vaccine found to be triggering false positives in HIV tests. ‘It wasn’t dangerous to people, but the decision was made to shut the program down,’ says Andrew. ‘It was devastating.’ There was no time to wallow in disappointment. Attention turned to the other side of the world and to a promising vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. At the request of the Australian government, CSL staff pivoted and were able to start manufacturing the vaccine at scale in their Melbourne plant, and by February 2021, Australia had started taking its first steps out of the pandemic. ‘At that time, there was no vaccine available in Australia,’ says Andrew, ‘so
the responsibility was immense.’ For any biotech company, developing a vaccine to fight a global pandemic is as big as it gets, underscored by the fact that it was developed in a time of great uncertainty. ‘We had great gaps in our knowledge,’ Andrew says of the pressure-cooker moment. ‘We didn’t know how the virus spread, or how deadly it was. There was a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes. But there was also that wonderful moment of realisation when we saw that we could actually do it.’ Andrew says the way the medical sector embraced collaboration would be a lasting legacy of the pandemic. ‘The world is involved when you have a global pandemic, so sharing information is vital. Rapid identification of threats, rapid development of diagnostic tests, followed by vaccines and antiviral agents – we can do all those things better and faster now, so long as we don’t forget the lessons.’ New initiatives such as the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics (which will be part of the Doherty Institute) and the opening of CSL’s new global headquarters in Parkville, Melbourne, gives Andrew confidence that we’ll be better prepared for a future pandemic. ‘And there will be a next time,’ he warns. Also contributing to Australia’s COVID response, but more in the background, was Trinity College alum James Kane (TC 1996), the co-founder and CEO of Two Bulls digital product studio, which he established with fellow Trinitarian
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HEALTH 43 TRINITY TODAY
LEFT: Andrew Cuthbertson (TC 1980) helped lead Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine response.
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TRINITY TODAY 44 HEALTH
INSET RIGHT: Elizabeth Thompson (TCTS 2020) saw the effects of COVID-19 up close as a chaplain for NSW Ambulance. BELOW: Noah Harlan and James Kane (both TC 1996) developed the Services Victoria app, the most downloaded app in Australia in 2021.
Noah Harlan (TC 1996). Two Bulls (which was originally named ‘Bulpadok’ in honour of Trinity’s famous open space) were invited to design the Services Victoria mobile phone app, which allowed users to check into entertainment and other venues via a QR code to help track COVID-19 transmissions. It became the most downloaded app in the country in 2021. Later, vaccination certificates – the ultimate passport out of lockdowns – were integrated within it. ‘We were working on something that couldn’t fail,’ says James. ‘It was hugely challenging but also very rewarding. When you’re stuck inside during a pandemic there’s nothing better to work on than the thing that gets you out of it.’ James and Noah had been developing apps in the medical space since 2015 and had become adept at creating engaging, scalable apps within a highly regulated environment. When the
pandemic arrived, those skills were exactly what were needed. ‘It felt like we’d been working towards this for a decade,’ says James. The app’s development stands as the most challenging, unusual and memorable chapter of James’s career. ‘Government was working at light speed, and so were we,’ he says. ‘Everything was evolving so quickly. We’d be watching press conferences and learning in real time what we’d be needing for the next iteration of the app.’ While he doesn’t long to repeat the experience, James acknowledges that the pandemic helped fast-track many positive initiatives for the health sector, such as the development of remote and digital healthcare solutions. ‘If you’re engaging with a hospital now, you’re likely to have apps or digital components.’ Two Bulls is now working on home diagnostics apps, the new ‘front line’ for healthcare. ‘So, if you can do that
without needing to go to a doctor, it takes an enormous strain off the healthcare system.’ That strain was particularly evident to Elizabeth Thompson (TCTS 2020) throughout the pandemic. A chaplain with NSW Ambulance, Elizabeth holds a Graduate Certificate of Divinity from Trinity College Theological School and is currently working on her PhD in theological studies. As a chaplain, Elizabeth offers holistic support to both paramedics and members of the public during and in the aftermath of traumatic events. She credits Trinity for contributing to her depth of academic knowledge and her lived experience of ministry and pastoral care. One of the most valuable pieces of advice she has received was imparted by Dr Fergus King, director of Trinity’s Ministry Education Centre, who once told her the first thing to do when feeling flustered was simply to put on the kettle and make a cup of tea.
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‘In the emergency services, my charge is to be the calm, non-anxious presence,’ Elizabeth says, ‘so I need to start with making myself calm and non-anxious.’ Unfortunately, the pandemic was anything but a calm time; people, everywhere, were anxious. Added to that was the compounding impact of government-imposed health restrictions, with Elizabeth facing the challenge of her career. ‘The hardest part was finding ways to support my crews when I couldn’t be there in person,’ she says, referring to periods when non-essential staff weren’t permitted to be on station. ‘The risk was just too great. If you had knocked a station out with COVID that could have been a public health emergency.’ Elizabeth found ways to adapt, to continue fulfilling a role that became increasingly vital. ‘I remember making video calls on my phone, recording encouraging
‘When you're stuck inside during a pandemic there's nothing better to work on than the thing that gets you out of it.’ messages and letting paramedics know I was still there, just trying to maintain that presence.’ The barriers to connection were even starker for the general public, and Elizabeth had to find different ways to offer support and pastoral care to families dealing with acute loss and trauma. ‘I remember supporting a family who’d experienced a sudden death,’ she recalls. ‘Relatives wanted to say goodbye but couldn’t come in person. I brought the local priest in, who prayed with the family while I held mobile phones on speaker so family members could listen in on the rites and offer their own prayers.
‘I remember hearing the muffled sobs and thinking what a privilege it was to help facilitate that.’ Elizabeth says recognising the potential of technology to maintain connection has been a positive legacy. ‘There might be paramedics who I don’t see for a while, but I’ll often now make a little video and send it to them, just to maintain connection. Embracing the agility that technology offers has been a real gift.’ Paramedics, too, have learned how to better integrate technology to help meet clinical needs, with virtual call centres available for clinicians to access patients. Above all, the pandemic illuminated the role of healthcare workers as never before. ‘Being a healthcare worker is a difficult job, and that reality was illuminated in a very public way. They were the visible ones, and their clinical skill and personal sacrifice really shone.’
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TRINITY TODAY 46 LAW
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LAW 47 TRINITY TODAY
COVID AND THE
COURT BY DAN IE L L E N O RTO N
J
ustice Helen Rofe attended Trinity College after growing up in Melbourne bayside suburb Brighton, the only child of the Brighton Grammar headmaster. ‘It was weird living in Brighton with everyone knowing who I was,’ she reflects. Her mother had lived on campus at university in Sydney in her youth and knew her daughter would benefit from the anonymity, independence and social aspects of college life. ‘I made a lot of friends I still see. I have fond memories of being at Trinity.’ After studying science, Helen went on to complete a law degree, then worked as a solicitor before going to the bar and becoming a Queen’s Counsel. She specialised in science and technology in intellectual property matters. She hadn’t considered a move to the bench until, six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, she was invited to take a seat on the Federal Court. She’d been at the bar for more than 20 years, so thought it was time for a change. By the time Helen started in her new role, the technology necessary to accommodate remote working had already been embraced. ‘The Federal Court moved pretty seamlessly to working online,’ she says. ‘Given it doesn’t have crime and doesn’t really have juries, except for the odd case, once it got the online system going everything just went as before, except that it was on [Microsoft] Teams.’ However, for anyone working in crime, family or common law – anything with a jury – the work stopped for about two years. ‘It was quite dire for people in those areas,’ says Helen.
Trinity College alum Helen Rofe (TC 1986) took on a new role as a Federal Court judge just as the pandemic was taking hold – an event that would change the way trials and hearings were held, for better or worse. Before COVID, electronic trials were a novelty. ‘If you were doing a serious application, you always wanted to be where the judge was, or you’d be at a disadvantage. If you were the one on video, you could be easily marginalised. Whereas, when it went onto Teams, everyone was back on an even footing because the judge was on the screen or counsel was on the screen. So, there was no particular advantage to anyone. That was a better system.’ One permanent change to come out of the COVID era has been the move to online case management hearings in which the judge and counsel work out timetables for filing documents and working towards a trial. No longer having to traipse to a physical courtroom, the parties can all appear for 10 minutes from their chambers before resuming normal business. Teams is also used for hybrid trials involving overseas witnesses who may not be as willing to travel as they once were. Despite Teams and Zoom appearances making things more accessible, Helen is relieved that some former routines and the mise en scene of the courtroom have been restored. ‘I still would prefer hearings to be in person, particularly the witnesses,’ she says. ‘And particularly if there’s a credit attack and you need to decide whether what they’re saying is the truth or not. I find being on Zoom for extended periods of time more hard work than being in court. ‘It’s much better to have everyone in the courtroom with you. When people are making submissions, they use their arms, they use more than just what you see on the screen. It’s far better to see them in person and hear them in person.’
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AN OLYMPIAN EFFORT
TRINITY TODAY 48 SPORT
The Games of the XXXII Olympiad were on a knife’s edge amid the onset of the pandemic. Trinity alum and chef de mission of Australia’s 2020 Olympic team, Ian Chesterman AM (TC 1978), reflects on the unpredictable lead-up to the Games, and the sense of accomplishment and exhaustion that followed. BY EMI LY MCAU L IFFE
N
o alcohol. No high fives. No talking loudly. And, definitely, no cheering. The Japanese, known for their sense of order and compliance, were ready to impose stringent rules on spectators attending the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. Organisers were gearing up for a domestic-only crowd after the Games were postponed just months out from their original July 2020 starting date, and pushed back to July 2021. But, as those who have lived through the COVID era well know, even the best-laid plans could never be guaranteed during a pandemic. A new wave of COVID-19 started to build in Japan in the lead-up to the rescheduled event, pushing organisers to scrap all spectator plans. For the first time in history, the Olympics would go ahead without a crowd, leaving athletes to run, throw, swim and kick in quiet, empty stadiums while fans cheered on from their living rooms. The fact the Games went ahead at all was remarkable in
itself. The Olympics have only been cancelled during wartime (in 1916 during WWI, and in 1940 and 1944 during WWII), but COVID threatened another cancellation as cases continued to soar worldwide and into 2021. The International Olympic Committee and Japanese government decided ultimately to postpone the event, although most Japanese citizens opposed the decision, believing the Games should not go ahead at all. Welcoming athletes and administrators from many countries, which had imposed a mix of restrictions to fight the virus, was seen as risky – but the organisers forged ahead and onto great success, given the circumstances. ‘To cancel the Games would have been enormous,’ says Ian Chesterman, chef de mission for the 2020 Australian Olympic team and current president of the Australian Olympic Committee. ‘Athletes have spent, in many cases, a big portion of their life preparing for the Games. So, to cancel the Games – to cost a whole generation an opportunity to go to a Games – would have been devastating.’ A joint statement issued by the IOC and Tokyo 2020 organising committee read: The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Ian mirrors this thinking, saying, ‘I think it was an incredibly great outcome for so many of the fans of sport, or even people who weren’t fans of sport, who became uplifted by the fact that we saw athletes in action in Tokyo at a time when so many
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SPORT 49 TRINITY TODAY
people were doing it tough.’ Although Ian felt confident by the end of 2020 that the Games would be held, largely because of the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, he says there was a great sense of uncertainty every step of the way. Part of his job as chef de mission was fighting the rumour mill about whether or not the Games would proceed, and in what form. ‘I felt I had an obligation to be incredibly truthful to the athletes, and to be able to give them the information and for them to know that they could rely on the information that we gave.’ Ian’s other concern was what the experience would be for the athletes. ‘Would they always think they didn’t have a chance to go to a real Olympic Games?’ he wondered at the time. ‘But one thing I was really delighted about was that I think the overwhelming feeling was, that they had an incredibly special experience by going to those Olympic Games.’ Ian believes the fact that Japan was slated as host was fortuitous. ‘I think the only country that could have hosted a postponed Games was Japan; their commitment to do so was enormous,’ he says. ‘It would’ve been very easy for any country to walk away from the commitment to host, but the Japanese were resolute in their will to put on the event. ‘The Japanese people had to pay for the Games … but even though they didn’t get to go to the Games, they still found inspiration and pride in hosting and creating that opportunity.’ Australia sent 487 athletes – its second-biggest Olympic cohort ever – and nearly 500 support staff to Tokyo, despite
there being severe restrictions on travel at the time, which disrupted preparation and training programs. Perhaps even more surprisingly, only one athlete needed to withdraw because they caught COVID-19, while everyone else competed and came home COVID-free. Ian says that even though everyone competed and returned safely, the vast uncertainty that overlaid every aspect of the event took an emotional toll. ‘The after-effects, I think, were complete exhaustion from everybody involved. No one can underestimate what it took by everybody involved in the team to get the [Australian] team there, to get them to compete, to get them home safely. It was a huge commitment from a lot of people … it left the system exhausted.’ Looking back, Ian notes that the experience led to permanent change in the way the sporting industry operates. As is the case in many other industries, business travel has reduced thanks to the popularity of Zoom and administration has been streamlined, but Ian says the essence of sport cannot change. ‘Fundamentally, sport is a people business, and people need to get together. That’s the way we operate. ‘People also have to understand the power of sport to inspire the next generation of people to actually try and be something, to try and do something. Not everyone is going to be an Olympian … but the role of sport is to inspire people just to try something and be the best they can be, whether it’s in sport or any walk of life.’ Here’s to Paris 2024.
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TRINITY TODAY 50 FAITH
Where is God in all this? The Revd Colleen Clayton (TCTS 2008) became a priest-in-charge at an odd and challenging time – right at the outset of a deadly global pandemic. BY EMI LY MCAU L IFFE
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FAITH 51 TRINITY TODAY
O
ne of the cruellest consequences of the outbreak of COVID-19 was that people were often isolated from their loved ones throughout illness or at their time of death. At the height of the pandemic in Melbourne, only 10 mourners were allowed to attend funerals, while travel between towns, states and within cities – even to see the ill or dying – was not always permitted. The Revd Colleen Clayton, priest-in-charge at St Matthew’s Anglican Parish in the southern Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham, oversaw five funerals in her first three months in the role and remembers how harrowing it was for families to decide who to invite. On top of that, funeral companies were new to live-streaming – a workaround that was introduced (and has since continued) to reach a wider congregation – so there were some awkward teething issues as the technology was refined. Funerals weren’t the only challenge facing Colleen. In the early days of her role, which she took up in May 2020, she often had to grapple with technology herself and find novel ways to keep members of her community connected, despite having met very few in person, and with lockdowns in place that prevented her from doing so.
Colleen grew up Anglican, regularly attending church, and, as a teenager, had dreams of one day becoming ordained. Her dreams were just that, though, because, at the time, women weren’t permitted to become members of the clergy. Instead, Colleen began her working life as an occupational therapist, working mostly with young men who had suffered head injuries in road accidents. She started to search for meaning in these traumatic and unexpected events and, through considering the role faith played in supporting these young people and their families, her calling to ministry grew stronger. This prompted her to enrol in a Master of Divinity at the Trinity College Theological School, and she eventually became ordained. In pursuing her theological vocation, Colleen worked as a lay minister and school chaplain, and, following ordination, became curate at St John’s Camberwell. She recalls the steep learning curve that ensued after being installed as priest-in-charge in Cheltenham, not least because suddenly there was no supervisor to turn to for advice. There was also COVID-19. Colleen was fortunate that the locum who had been filling her position had requested that parishioners write a letter and send a photo to their new priest. ‘That was really helpful,’ she says. ‘It gave me a starting point for making phone calls with people.’ Still, it didn’t feel enough. ‘I really felt the need to get some kind of electronic, online communication with people happening, partly so I could meet them, but partly so that they could stay in touch with each other.’ Colleen started by recording services, but this proved difficult without the right technology. She also didn’t like that church then became something that people watched, rather than participated in. Like many organisations, she quickly switched to Zoom and her husband became her tech support, while an assistant drove around to families’ houses to drop off care packages and activities for the Sunday service. Zoom services meant parishioners could still perform readings and lead prayers, with the proceedings ending with a virtual cup of tea. ‘I made the decision to Zoom from the church, so people were still seeing the building,’ says Colleen. ‘We had the candles lit and, when it was possible for flower arrangers to come in, we’d still have flowers in the church. Those little things gave people a sense that this place that was precious to them still existed and was still being used, and it signalled that their worship was still connected with it.’ Colleen could see the value the church brought by the effort people made to attend these out-of-the-ordinary services. ‘It was remarkable,’ she says. ‘One lady, who’s since passed away, was in her nineties with macular degeneration, but she still made an effort to get herself online so that she could hear her friends’ voices.’ Many attendees lived alone, so the weekly Zoom service and online morning prayers were their main social interactions for the week. Just as Colleen’s time as an occupational therapist prompted her to think about where God was in all the trauma, COVID prompted questions of where God was in the midst of an unforeseen event like the pandemic, and in the event of losing loved ones you couldn’t physically be with. After some thought, Colleen points to the heightened importance of community and marking moments in people’s lives as a small virtue to have come from the pandemic. ‘I noticed that it was really important to acknowledge people’s birthdays and significant times in the community’s life, and to remember people who died with ceremonies, like the interring of ashes,’ she says. ‘It really did show me the human need for connection with each other, the value of ritual, and the value of tradition and special places.’
EVENTS ●
TRINITY TODAY 52 EVENTS
↑ DRINKS UNDER THE OAK n
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE: Kathy Zhang (TC 2016), Kristine Lempriere (TC 1987), Penelope Foster (TC 1986) and David Stewart (TC 1986); Jemma Heathcote-Morris (TC 2018), Clive Morris (TC 1957), Kate Morris (TC 2016) and Tim Morris (TC 1982); Keri Whitehead (TC 1979), Dawn Leicester (TC 1979), Vivienne Corcoran (TC 1979), Elizabeth McKenzie (TC 1980) and Penny Zagarelou-Mackieson (TC 1980); Thomas Franchina (TC 2017), Johnny McDonald (TC 2017), Galen Maxwell-Leone (TC 2017), Chris Graham (TC 2018) and Evan Sinclair (TC 2017); Georgie Cameron (TC 2008) and Charlotte Guy (TC 2008).
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EVENTS 53 TRINITY TODAY
← EARLY 90s REUNION n
CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Kate Reith (TC 1995), Claire Molesworth (TC 1993) and Ro Treseder (TC 1993); Susie King (TC 1988) and James Murray (TC 1990); Georgia Rekaris (TC 1990), Richard Bowers (TC 1991), Hayden Stockdale (TC 1988) and Rachel Walsh (TC 1989).
← EARLY 80s REUNION n
FROM FAR LEFT: David Beischer (TC 1980), Lisa McSweeney (TC 1981) and Andrew Beischer (TC 1981); John Thorn (TC 1983) and David Jones (TC 1983).
← WINTER n
VALEDICTORY BALL
FROM LEFT: Community Spirit Award winners Vanneit Nhoem (TCFS 2023), Ngan Ha Pham (TCFS 2022) and Prottoy Prokash (TCFS 2022); RIGHT: Graduating Foundation Studies students.
EVENTS ●
TRINITY TODAY 54 EVENTS
↑ The Choir of Trinity College performing n at the Supreme Court Library, Melbourne.
↑ Will Giles n
(TC 2023) and Ken Hinchcliff (TC 1976) on Admissions Day.
n
↑ Ali Moore (TC 1983), Margot Foster (TC 1976), Lara Nicholls (TC 1986) and Chloe Buiting (TC 2010) at the Founders and Benefactors dinner. ↓ Indi (TC 2012) and Tathra (TC 2019) Lowe with n
father Robbie Lowe at the Darwin alumni gathering.
n
↓ Thaha Abdul Aziz, Han Cheng, Jianran Li and Zixin Hu (all TCFS 2023) at their Foundation Studies orientation. INSET: Xin Kyle Lim, Xiangting Tin, Wenjun Li and Jington Li (all TCFS 2023).
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EVENTS 55 TRINITY TODAY ← Guest speaker Leigh Matthews with n Chris Cordner (TC 1968), Ken Hinchcliff (TC 1976) and Scott Charles (TC 1986) at the Cordner Oration.
↑ Bob Derrenbacker, n
Archbishop Philip Freier and Luke Hopkins at the Archbishop’s Dinner Evensong. INSET: Sue Chapman, Rowena Armstrong and Louise Anderson at the Archbishop’s Dinner.
↓ Davyn Edwards n
(TC 1997), Molly Wojcik, Katherine Murray (TC 1990) and Juel Riggall (TC 1998) at the Stephen Jones Wine Cellar opening.
↑ Our latest portrait, commissioned by n
the Board, is of Dr Alison Inglis AM, pictured here with artist Dena Kahan at the Face Me exhibition opening.
← Priti Mukherjee and Trish Valastro at n
the College staff honour board unveiling.
↓ New TCAC members Kate Beggs, Ally n
Harrop, Peter Logue, Allegra Dennison, Zara Blake, Baxter Aurisch and Francis Heath at the TCAC dinner (missing Alyssa Wilson).
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TRINITY TODAY 56 OBITUARIES
LAURENCE (LAURIE) COX AO
SIR ANDREW GRIMWADE CBE
TIMOTHY KLINGENDER
(TC 1957) 9 December 1938 – 21 May 2023
(TC 1949) 26 November 1930 – 30 January 2023
(TC 1982) 19 February 1964 – 20 July 2023
Laurie was one of the founding fathers of the Australian Securities Exchange. He was appointed the director of the Melbourne Stock Exchange in 1982, then became the inaugural director of the ASX when it was established in 1987. He later became the executive director of the Macquarie Group (then Macquarie Bank) and joined Macquarie’s board. He also chaired a number of entities, including the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Transurban Group, and was director of Genetic Health Services and the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre (even before his own diagnosis of prostate cancer). Laurie was born in Benalla, Victoria, and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne in 1961. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1996 for his service to business and commerce and was installed as a Fellow at Trinity College in 2015.
Andrew was born into a family with long, generational connections with Trinity. He entered the College in 1949, when demand for places was high after the war, and shared what is now the Middle Common Room with his ‘wife’, Jim Court (TC 1949). Secretary of the TCAC in 1951, he graduated that year with a Bachelor of Science before continuing with a master’s degree at Oxford. Andrew’s business interests were coupled with a lifelong commitment to serve, and he did so on numerous boards, including as president of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. A trustee, and later president of the National Gallery of Victoria, he would also chair the Felton Bequests Committee, helping to support the NGV’s acquisitions. In 1977, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his support of the arts and community. Andrew was a foundation member of Trinity’s Art Committee when it formed in the early 1980s and served for over four decades, the last 10 years as chair. In 2015, he was installed as the inaugural Trinity College Art Patron in recognition of his contribution to the College’s cultural life.
Tim was a well-known art dealer and recognised world authority on Australian Indigenous art. He became Sotheby’s Aboriginal art consultant after joining the organisation as a University of Melbourne Bachelor of Arts (fine art) graduate. His knowledge and passion for Indigenous art was palpable throughout his career, and he dedicated much time to understanding and appreciating many forms of Indigenous art. Tim founded Sotheby’s Aboriginal art department in 1996, two years after establishing its contemporary art department, and began touring Indigenous art works internationally, championing an ethical international market. He began his art advisory business, Tim Klingender Fine Art, in 2009. Tim was a keen painter himself, and loved boating and the sea. Tim’s sister Jessica also attended Trinity in the 1980s.
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OBITUARIES 57 TRINITY TODAY
VALETE We are saddened to acknowledge the passing of the following alumni and friends of Trinity College. Revd Neville Anderson (TC 1980) Dr John Barker (TC 1950) Michael Best (TC 1961) Revd Graham Bride (TCTS 1955) Charles Bright (TC 1963) Professor Peter Brockwell (TC 1955) Dr Graham Capp (TC 1952) Ian Carnegie (TC 1959)
CLIVE SMITH OAM
RICHARD WOOLCOTT AC
Janet Clark (former JCH) Bronwen Colman (TC 1984)
(TC 1954) 14 January 1935 – 6 March 2023
(TC 1946) 11 June 1927 – 2 February 2023
Gwendolyn Cordner (former JCH)
Clive was appointed chair of the Deutsche Bank of Australia and New Zealand in 1999 and went on to become chair and CEO of investment and securities group EL&C Baillieu (acquired by Deutsche), as well as chair of Reline Investments and Hamilton Island Ltd. Clive retired from Deutsche Bank in 2007 after nearly 50 years in the financial services industry, which had seen him act as a senior adviser on corporate strategy to some of Australia’s leading companies, including BHP Billiton, Qantas Airways, Westpac, ANZ and Telstra. Clive served on many boards, including the Institute of Public Affairs and the Sir Edward Dunlop Medical Research Foundation, and was a member of the National Gallery of Victoria’s Business Council. He supported a number of foundations, including those of Melbourne Grammar, Geelong Grammar and Trinity College (of which he was a founding member). He was made a Fellow of Trinity in 2012. Clive loved motor racing and vintage cars and was a keen attender of Melbourne’s Formula One Grand Prix. He also played a pivotal role in establishing a basketball club for underprivileged youth. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the General Division in 2019 for service to children through charitable initiatives. Clive’s daughter Pip also attended Trinity.
Richard was one of Australia’s most respected and successful diplomats. He played a key role in establishing the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and was secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, ambassador to the United Nations and Kevin Rudd’s special envoy. He said his posting to Indonesia as ambassador in 1975 was one of the most significant roles of his career, given Indonesia invaded East Timor during this time. Richard was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1985, then a Companion of the Order in 1993 for his services to international relations and Asia Pacific economic cooperation. Later in life, Richard went on to author a number of books. In an interview for Trinity Today in 2019, Richard said his years at Trinity formed a very important part of his life and he found the experience ‘delightful and fascinating’. He was made a Fellow of Trinity College in 1996. Richard’s granddaughter Isabella joined Trinity in 2015.
Ian Curwen-Walker (TC 1950)
Stephen Cuming (TC 1974) Professor Daryl Daley (TC 1957) Professor Derek Denton AC (TC 1943) John Dudley (TC 1967) Dr Colin Dunstone (TC 1962) Dr Allen Evans (TC 1967) Francis (Ian) Ezard (TC 1953) Robin Foster (TC 1961) Emeritus Professor Christopher Gardiner (TC 1971) Leith Hancock (former Dean of the Residential College) Ian Hanson (TC 1945) Graeme Henry (TC 1958) Revd Wendy Hudson (TCTS 2004) Emeritus Professor John Hunn AM (TC 1945) Commodore John Jobson (TC 1956) Zachary Jowett (TC 2020) John Kaemmerer (TC 1963) Dr Andrew Kingsbury (TC 1947) John McDonagh (TC 1949) Revd Dr Stephen Miles (TC 1983) Dr Alan Millar (TC 1976) Christopher Mitchell (TC 1965) Norma Mullins (former staff member) Neil Murray (TC 1953) Revd Dr Andrew Peters (TC 1978) Emeritus Professor William Rachinger (TC 1944) Peter Read (TC 1954) Alastair Roosmale-Cocq (TC 1970) Revd Dr Fae Rouse (TC 2001) Revd Dr John Scott AO (TCTS 1986) Rory Sheridan (TC 1974) If you’re aware of any other Trinity alumni who have recently passed away, let us know at alumni@trinity.unimelb.edu.au
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TRINITY TODAY 58 COLLEGE NEWS
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COLLEGE NEWS 59 TRINITY TODAY
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