6 10 85 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview John Bannister Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Paul McLeod Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 51 minutes, 44 seconds Interview 2: 47 minutes, 7 seconds Interview 3: 52 minutes, 26 seconds Total: 2 hours, 31 minutes, 17 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Track 1 00:00:00 Introduction. Background, South Australia. Scholarship and Adelaide University. PhD at UWA. Davies, economic history and university housing. Economics. University days in Adelaide. Staff student interaction. 00:05:00 Changes. Interactions. Impressions of UWA. Comparisons to Melbourne and Sydney – Reg encourages people to come to UWA. Memories of Reg Appleyard leader of the group. Anglophile system. Petridis*. Travel from Perth. 00:10:00 Appleyard’s sales pitch. Ease of living in Perth, isolation. Micro economics. David Treloar. Environmental economics. Impressions of the university, comparisons to Adelaide. Architecture. 00:17:05 Budgetary restraints and entitlements. Working environment. Academic community at UWA. Tradition of morning tea. People interact with one another. 00:20:00 Student/staff relations. MBA students. Age of staff and students. Logically entitled to be here. Concerns of getting on the map. Part of the community. Perth isolated. Festival and world class or back water. 00:24:00 Creativity. Establishing a high quality MBA program. Interfaculty relations. Isolated faculties. Sporting competitions and social aspect. Trying to reduces layers of administration. Law, Education, Economics – Faculty of Economics, Commerce and Law. Super-Faculty doesn’t exist in the same way today. 00:30:30 Sharing facilities and buildings becomes too difficult. Direction of the Faculty. Regulations. Increasing the options and units available. Disciplines, core and peripheral subjects. Agricultural and environment. 00:35:40 Ken Clements, the research centre and economic research. Structures at the university. Connections with business. WA Government and Brianne Burke and gold tax. 00:38:50 Ken Clements from Chicago, desire for research. Mainstream economics. Micro and macro. Ken a leader in the group. PhD conference. Roger Bowden*. International reputation. Qualitative skills. Building the links. Unemployed academic. 00:45:30 David Treloar agricultural economics. UWA person. Sense of what is important. Head of Department. Passionate for students. Stickler for rules. Life was sport. Reg was interested in the big picture. 00:49:00 Douglas Vickers. Strict and straight-laced. Devout Christian. Everything is about work. Everybody has their place. US course focus. Intellectual pursuits. Track 2 00:00:00 Paintings. Frazer Waters* and the War over Israel. Modigliani print. Intimate university. Social interactions. Each faculty has broadened its view on things. WA’s cross-disciplinary decision. 00:04:20 Diversity of courses. cooperation and interfaculty entrepreneurial. Evolution of courses. Variety of students. Cross-faculty work. Academic connection. Change. Students branch out. 00:07:05 CBRA* and the Americas cup. Interface into the wide world. University connections and applied research. State government commissions research for planning the America’s Cup. Sponsors from well-regarded corporates. Sponsors and the impact on the city. 00:11:20 Interviewing the Gucci and the syndicate. Solutions. Early career people and corporate analysis. Government and market research. Perth is showcased. Incredible technology. 00:15:50 Cottesloe beach. Attractiveness of UWA to the business community. Participation of teaching with classes. Better understanding of university. Businesses attached to the university. CBRA and applied research. Repository of all information. Love - hate relationships and isolated university. Resources are needed from business. 00:21:56 CBRA. Current Business School. Board meeting and academics. Car parking and coffee. Connections. Mining companies and the university. Work connections. Small issues with CBRA. 00:25:28 Community and international eyes on UWA. Things change over time. Relationship with Asia. Business School attracting students from Hong Kong and Asia. UWA reputation. 00:28:55 Attraction of UWA for international students. People important in the spear head of UWAs internationalisation. Darrell Turkington* belief in attracting students from Asia. Bruce Macintosh* and international centre. 00:032:28 MBA fair in America – putting self out there. Punching above your weight. Sandstone university. Function for graduates in Asia are well attended. UWA reputation and good degree was highly regarded. Paul Johnston and Alan Robson. 00:38:10 Alan Robson. Graduation student from Asia and Robson doesn’t stand on ceremony. Alan relates to the institutions. 00:41:53 Nurturing of the Business School at the university. Revenue is moved away to other things. University management of funding. The problems of the super faculty. One of the oldest MBA program. Underutilised base at the university. 00:46:04 Nurturing takes place and recognition. World class Business School and the value of the faculty to the university. Track 3 00:00:00 Development of the Business School. Revamping the Faculty of Commerce and the Business School. WA Business School. Approaches to the outside world. David Johnstone knew the university inside and out 00:03:35 Other faculties and the new building. Solutions for money and new building. Tennis court site and Business School site. Purpose-built building. 00:07:52 Logical to give the Business School a new location. Benefits of the southern end of the school. Parking. River views and access. Crunching numbers and student projection and overseas funding. Traditional or modern vision of the building. 00:11:20 Tradition of the school. Modern statements. Architects asked to make projections. A turning point for the Business School. Facilities for students. Fulfilling objective and coping with numbers. Different style of building. Zone problems and modern planning. Clients and staff. 00:16:48 Clients students and community relationships. Relating to students in a different way. Talking to the staff. Students and the change in dynamic. 00:19:48 Change in dynamic and the change in technology. Contact with students. Turning point and the virtual university. Need to be on campus. Lecture on line. Do staff need to have an office at UWA. Globalisation. 00:24:11 Nature of large institutions. University of Strathclyde. Online students and international students. interacting and turning up to university. Changes to peoples offices. Everything on the computer. No books in the office. Need for a library. 00:27:58 Earliest research projects. Advertising and tobacco. Applied policy oriented research. Research into rents and river views. Natural research problems. Harvesting fish stocks. Reigning in the commercial catch. Licensed and recreation fishers. Policy fishing. Working out models. Research graphs recreational and commercial – sustainable harvest. Abalone and snapper fish populations. 00:35:45 Rock lobster fishing and stocks. Understanding catching fish and chasing fish. Rational behaviour. 00:39:11 Looking at career and retirement. Changes in retirement from university and social sciences. Internationalisation and university position and rankings. Isolated city running with people on the world stage. Mining and eyes on WA. Shipping and the university. 00:44:50 Historically a part of Asia. Ahead of its time. challenge to be positioned well. China Singapore and Hong Kong. Pushed along by the changes. Strategically heading off. 00:47:44 Reasons that changes occur. White papers tell that Asia is appointment. The University’s strategic plan. Dependence. Student and staff members view for UWAs future. Good track record. Wealthiest economy in the world. Mining boom and WA University. Economy and struggle and UWA in a good position. Campus has a lot of advantages. Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/d100a15e045dd95191dbcb42fc5a9e28.mp3">McLeod, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/85e2a28a409d6a7bbe89498c1bbe5593.mp3">McLeod, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8b06e23307093441cb10b2738af9b538.mp3">McLeod, Interview 1, Track 3</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Paul McLeod interview, 25 October 2012 Subject The topic of the resource Business, Economics Description An account of the resource This is an interview with Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Western Australia Paul McLeod. His teaching encompasses a variety of microeconomics courses including business economics in the MBA and M.Com courses, third year advanced microeconomic theory, Honours public policy economics, and resource and environmental economics in the M.Ec. He also contributes to the teaching of Mining Management for engineering students. Professor McLeod’s academic positions have included Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Commerce; Head of the Department of Economics; Executive Dean, Faculties of Education, Economics and Commerce, and Law; and he was the inaugural Dean of the University of Western Australia Business School. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McLeod, Paul Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Bruce Meakins Location The location of the interview Crawley, W.A. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 1 hour, 1 minute, 51 seconds Interview 2: 1 hour, 2 minutes, 33 seconds Interview 3: 1 hour, 6 minutes, 28 seconds Total: 3 hours, 10 minutes, 52 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Interview 1 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:50 Track 2 00:00 Born Prospect, South Australia on 4 April 1959. Moves to WA aged 8. Family settle in Mount Hawthorn. Attends Mt Hawthorn Primary School and later Perth Modern School, Subiaco. A good music programme attracted good quality teachers. Did Duke of Edinburgh Award – bronze, silver and gold over a 3 year period. Asthmatic but his family encouraged fishing and camping. The Duke of Edinburgh Award involved several components: service contribution; an interest of choice; a physical activity and to prepare and execute an expedition. 07:51 Got good marks at school and was steered towards the academic programme. He got the highest marks for English which he didn’t study for. A medical degree would have been too onerous on the family finances. In about 1972, he took part in an asthma study at UWA. Got significant improvements in health from the swimming programme. Paddling was also an activity that caused less asthma whereas running is detrimental. 14:15 Introduced to YMCA through Duke of Edinburgh Award and did leadership activities with them. Found he enjoyed working with people and decided to do a degree in Physical Education. The fourth year of study was the teaching component. Continued working with YMCA and was offered some part-time work while he was studying. 16:38 The Department of Sports Science was located on the ground floor of the Reid Library. Lectures were held in the Octagon Theatre. Part of the course involved studying Human Biology, Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology. It was a new course structure. Lived at home with his parents. Found the campus very large and didn’t get to know that many people especially as he was doing activities outside. He did not join any university clubs. 20:50 Many of the students in his course were very sports focussed. There were large cohorts from the private schools who had done traditional sports. There were not many international students but there were several teachers who came from the Eastern States seeking a higher degree. Physical Education involved a practical component teaching various sports. The laboratory work – biology and anatomy was fascinating. They also studied physiology and bio mechanics. Computers were beginning to be used. 24:03 It was the early days of using science to improve fitness and performance and to recover from injury. At the cutting edge were people such as Frank Pyke, John Bloomfield (Head of School) and Brian Blanksby. People went overseas to gain knowledge and brought that back to Australia. 26:31 Local community work in the YMCA involved working with children’s activities and camps. When a camp director left, Bruce offered to run the summer camps. A Canadian then came in to run the camps. She brought in knowledge from North America where the YMCA was getting involved in fitness, health and safety. Aerobics was becoming popular. The YMCA started to run fitness centres and fitness programmes. The YMCA allowed Bruce to work even though he did not have his teaching diploma. It was always his intention to go back and do it. Bruce set up international exchange programmes and organised to go to North America to study the new techniques and ideas. In the meantime, he had become good friends with the Canadian lady who later became his wife. 30:37 When Bruce was a student, UWA did not have a swimming pool for recreation – it was only there for study programmes. Kevin Finch who ran the asthma programme went on to become an Olympic doctor. Brian Blanksby became Head of School. Alan Morton later became Head of School. The recreation centre was built in 1970. There was a three court sports hall, squash courts and tennis courts plus the sports ovals. Students took part in the traditional clubs such as cricket and football. There was a rowing club but no canoeing club. There were no fitness classes although there were some free weights in the gym. There was an athletics club. Bruce swam at pools such as Beatty Park. 35:17 Bruce spent most of the day on campus and studied and used the library between lectures. He generally brought his own lunch. There was a refectory at the Guild and a coffee shop at Hackett Hall which was the old refectory. He didn’t visit the Guild. In 1979, Bruce graduated in Winthrop Hall where he had taken his exams. He was the first in his family to go to university. Luckily, education was free at this time. He moved out of home after he graduated and shared a house with university friends. 38:18 Bruce went to America for 10 months in 1981. He enjoyed a personal study period; attended conferences and visited various YMCAs; did a canoeing trip and then travelled and did some hiking and climbing. Cardiac related health was very much to the fore in the USA. The YMCA was also interested in children’s preventative health programmes. He married his Canadian wife in Canada while he was away. The YMCA focussed on Body, Mind and Spirit which complemented what he had learned in Sports Science. The YMCA began to formalise training in fitness and health and encourage healthy activity. Bruce learnt CPR in America. 46:09 Many people in the USA were overweight and ate junk food in large portions. Bruce began to take an interest in encouraging non-athletes to live a healthy lifestyle. He used what he had found out in America to run programmes and activities back in Australia. He taught aerobics classes. The YMCA classes were the precursor to the modern gym classes. 51:39 The YMCA also ran healthy back programmes. They were exploring the idea of having classes before and after work. Women enjoyed group classes whereas men enjoyed the gym environment. Bruce believes that Australians have more international awareness as they travel extensively. He was fired up to do some of what he had learnt and apply it at home. 54:24 Outdoor activities were more structured in the USA as they have a larger population. Their natural heritage was more commercialised. Kids’ camps in Perth were organised at Rottnest and Mundaring. Camps were to encourage children to grow in all areas – not just in sport. Scouts and church groups were doing similar activities. The 60s were the era of structured youth activities. This broke down in the 70s, particularly around the time of the Vietnam War. 61:50 Interview 2 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:42 Track 2 00:00 In February 1984, Bruce left the YMCA and took a job with the Guild Sport & Recreation Department at UWA to run the Recreation Centre. The Fitness Centre had only been set up for 3-4 years and had 500-600 members. It concentrated on the weights room. The job included testing people coming into the fitness centre, employing staff and running the centre. Bruce decided to focus on the broader aspects of fitness and not just weights training. He fitness-tested between 5-12 people a day – students and staff. He met some interesting people and encouraged them to take responsibility for their own lives. 05:08 The building expanded soon after Bruce started. The Recreate programme was a menu of different activities for people to try. Different fitness classes were incorporated in the programme. Bruce wanted the Centre to encourage people to grow their health and well-being. He started the Avon Attack programme which helped people every step of the way to train, prepare for and carry out the Avon Descent. 80% to 90% of participants finished the event. An early morning fitness programme was developed which was followed by nutritional breakfast. Circuit training was found to be an efficient means of providing all-over training. They ran 30-40 classes a week with up to 50 people per session. To keep people active they created various incentives such as a 100 circuit club or similar. These programmes mixed fitness, lifestyle and health and used all his previous experience. 11:08 In 1986, Bruce studied for a full-time Diploma in Education, ran the Centre and participated in the Avon Descent. At this time the Director of the Guild Centre left. Bruce applied for the job but was unsuccessful. Bruce concentrated on running the fitness centre around good core values, applying sports science in its purest form and allowing the centre to develop. He oversaw the Recreate programme and was able to double the programme three years in a row. First years were targeted with a smorgasbord of activities. Customer service was key. 16:00 Bruce saw it as a priority to get women involved. In 1986/87 it was male dominated. They started an aerobics programme but developed a culture that wasn’t about wearing cool gym gear. For some years there was a women’s only centre to encourage women to join. Once they had more women members, it became mixed again. The women tended to dominate the fitness classes and the men the gym. 20:20 When Bruce travelled, he would try and attend a conference to maximise his opportunities and his knowledge. In 1990, his boss left and he was employed as Director of Guild Sports. He became involved in the national body - the Australian National Sports Federation. This was the era of the Dawkins Report where tertiary institutions also became universities. Bruce attended a workshop that discussed the merger. It was a stalemate until the Western Australians instituted some sports games. Once everyone had joined in, progress was made! Bruce was on the inaugural board for a couple of years. They ran the first summer version of the Australian University Games. In 1993, the summer and winter games merged into the one event. In 1992, Bruce attended a Wellness Conference in Wisconsin. In 1993, a university team was sent to compete in Brisbane; in 1994 to Wollongong and in 1995 to Darwin. Each area of Australia was formed into a state body. In WA it became Tertiary Sport WA. UWA students often won so they decided to take the programme out to the different universities. 28:29 Voluntary student fees started to be talked about in 1994/1995. In 1992-1994, they decided to make the clubs less dependent on external funding. By 1994-1995, they had changed the culture. In February 1996, the State Government passed legislation to make student fees voluntary. The 1997 Guild fees would not be automatic. A team was formed to develop a proactive plan to cope with this. A review process started in April 1996 and a business planning model was developed. The end result was a separate association independent of the university. They started off with no money in the bank and 12 full-time staff that had to resign from the Guild and be reemployed by the new body. 36:42 Bruce treated all sports with a sense of equity and didn’t favour one sport over another. There were different prices for students, staff, graduates and the community. It was proved more economical to charge for some activities rather than run them for free as people put more value on it. Bruce would always look at what people did in other places. He feels WA stacked up well compared to the rest of Australia. UWA has had to work hard to provide a service rather than rest on their laurels. 44:13 The colleges were territorial and did not feel that they had to connect with the rest of the system. Bruce sat on the Convocation Committee for about 2 years. The most important thing Bruce did in this period was become involved with the Fitness Accreditation in WA. He was involved in the WA Institute of Recreation and attended the local government conferences. In the early 1990s, he also went onto the WA Sports Federation Board for nearly 8 years. He was also involved with The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation Inc. (ACHPER). 46:58 Staff was encouraged to take on opportunities and experiences. Sports Science students did practical experience at the Centre and helped to design and implement programmes. Staff training was important. Centre staff were employed all year round whereas students only attended for 8 months a year. To keep afloat, the community was encouraged to join the Centre. Recreate programmes were designed to run twice during a semester to enable the Centre to have a second intake. It was realised that a mix of people was beneficial for the students. Information sessions were a part of the programme as well as cross country ski trips or trips to Nepal. They always offered exciting and challenging programmes. 55:51 New clients had to fill in medical information. Every staff member has a First Aid Certificate. The screening programmes were intense and the Centre is very aware of its Duty of Care. Members could be re-tested every 3 months. 01:01:54 Interview 3 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:41 Track 2 00:00 After Voluntary Student Unionism was adopted (1996-2002), the UWA Sport and Recreation Association (UWASRA) had to cope with ongoing challenges caused by fluctuations in funding. It caused a shift in philosophy and forced them to adapt, be proactive and be smarter. VSU only affected WA at this time. UWASRA separated from the Guild and became independent and entrepreneurial. They decided to get the National University Games (AUG) back to Perth in 1999 in partnership with Eventscorp. The home advantage was significant to their success in these games. Bruce went onto the National Board. 05:24 The universities in WA shared facilities and knowledge. They focused on student participation but were innovative as well and constantly planning and creating future targets. UWA won the Spirit of the Games trophy in 2002. There was a change in State Government in 2001 and it was realised that sport was an essential part of university life. The Guild was divorced from involvement in student sport and recreation so that they could concentrate on other matters. 09:54 It was decided to develop an international event. When fees were reinstituted in 2004, they were already planning this. When funding returned they enacted plans for capital funding programmes and built three facilities: the Water Sports Complex on the foreshore (2005); the water polo pool and the Tennis Centre. The Water Sports Complex included padding, sailing, underwater activities and triathlon. The UWA Tennis Centre at UWA Sports Park, Mount Claremont gave tennis a big boost. Tennis is a big part of the AUG. UWA developed the Indian Rim Asian University Games (IRAUG). 16:14 The land at Sports Park was the best location to run the AUG. In 2004, the games were held in Perth again with a proviso to run it again in 2008. Funding support was developed for a new initiative - the IRAUG in 2005, 2007 and 2009. It gave them forward momentum. The Indian Rim included India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Japan and South Africa. All the WA universities were invited. Much was learnt about protocols involved in bringing different people together on the sporting field and socially. Visitors loved UWA spaces. Sports were selected that would be attractive to this group. UWA badminton and judo clubs increased in popularity. They made some important international connections. It became obvious that UWA has an important role in Asia that it must actively pursue. 23:30 The first IRAUG in 2005 was followed by a conference of sports administrators. On the last day of the conference, national legislation was passed to make student fees voluntary. UWA had tools to cope with this new environment. The IRAUG was held again in 2007 and 2009. The national body pulled out of the region. UWA improved their performance in the AUG after 2003. They won the Spirit of the Games trophy again in 2004 and the Per Capital Trophy in 2008. World events – tsunami, SARS, the Global Financial Crisis and threats of terrorism together with staffing issues meant that the IRAUG games were discontinued after 2009. 31:16 In 2009, UWASRA worked with the University of Singapore to run a sailing programme. UWA won gold in the World University Sailing Championship in 2012. Sailing was started in a partnership relationship rather than at a club level. The sailing club is a community club and not just for students. It encourages junior members too. The clubs must remember that the students are their main focus. UWA has a partnership with Swan River sailing so they haven’t had to buy all their own boats. Sailing and golf have assisted in growing the alumni connection and neither is gender specific. 39:00 UWA has 30 different clubs. UWASRA reach more people through the Fitness Centre. Then through social sport clubs - the most popular of these is mixed netball. The Recreate programme has been running for over 20 years and has also increased participation. Students are encouraged to represent their college or faculty in national and international competition. Exchanges are very popular. 44:51 In order to keep on top of trends, Bruce uses travel to conferences interstate or overseas to investigate what others are doing. He also reads journals and magazines and has been on the board of several sports bodies. UWA is the only university that has won all 3 trophies at the AUG. CSIRO published a Megatrends document in 2010 highlighting the shift away from traditional sport. Sport is good way to communicate. 49:28 Partnerships have been very important – Australian University Sport; Eventscorp and Tertiary Sports WA. Sport tied to education has been a win-win situation. Community partnerships include the Department of Sport and Recreation; the WA Sports Federation and the WA Institute of Sport. UWASRA sits across sport, fitness, recreation and health. They are keen to develop leaders in the community. Partnerships have been made with other Australian universities and those in the Asian region, especially Singapore. Partnerships within the university include sports science, exercise and health; the Albany campus; UWA colleges and aligning themselves with the core values of the university. Another important partnership has been with the School of Indigenous Studies and helping to host the National Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games in 2014. 55:28 Federal funding was reinstituted in 2012. It was realised that many Olympians were training at Australian universities. WA has adapted very well to the last batch of funding. Amenities fees were allowed to be charged once more. UWA got this up and operational in 2012. The database system has been updated to be part of the university structure. Data has been useful as a measurement tool of student participation, trends, changes and outcomes. Growths during that period have been outstanding in usage of the Fitness Centre and in social sports. The Fitness Centre was upgraded in 2011 and the capacity has been doubled. 01:00:31 UWA Sport & Recreation have been on the front foot to align themselves with UWA’s push for volunteering as part of their new course structure. Outdoor leadership is now huge. UWASRA are now operating at 30% funded and 70% self-earned which has been a huge shift. They have been inundated by reviews in this period. The recommendations made in 2011 can now be carried out due to the amenities funding. Employment systems have changed about 7 or 8 times which is onerous on a small business. Technology changes have been massive. Change has been the constant theme. Adaptation has given the organisation to ability to flourish. 01:05:48 Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/61e5e93d696ee85920313dd1addd21c5.mp3">Meakins, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b663c0ce3c0c114761605f18360ae48d.mp3">Meakins, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/c5190548e7c8af5f8a56fcce3544461d.mp3">Meakins, Interview 2, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/22c5fd9cbc7321e4dc4ff7a65467b167.mp3">Meakins, Interview 2, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/c45931448722a561e810e173af476ab9.mp3">Meakins, Interview 3, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/660788e46f2ebc861264194d3461572a.mp3">Meakins, Interview 3, Track 2</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Bruce Meakins interview, 9 October, 2014, 4 November, 2014 and 28 November 2014 Subject The topic of the resource UWA Sport and Recreation Association Description An account of the resource In 1972, Bruce Meakins took part in the Asthma Swimming Programme at UWA. He studied at UWA from 1977 to 1979 and graduated with a degree in Human Movement in 1980. After graduation he worked for the YMCA. In 1984 Bruce was employed by the Guild to run the fitness centre at UWA. In 1986, he studied for a full-time Diploma in Education while working full-time for the Guild and expanding the Recreate Programme. In 1996, Voluntary Student Unionism was passed in WA. Bruce became director of the newly formed UWA Sport & Recreation Association which had to learn to adapt and be proactive in an era of uncertainty and change. It is to Bruce’s credit that sport and recreation at UWA has thrived under his leadership. Today, the UWA Sport & Recreation Association is more closely aligned with the university in terms of its vision and business strategy. The Association will face more challenges in the future but it is now much better equipped to deal with them. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Meakins, Bruce Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed John Melville Jones Location The location of the interview Nedlands, W.A. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 50 minutes, 30 seconds Interview 2: 55 minutes, 43 seconds Interview 3: 35 minutes, 53 seconds Total: 2 hours, 22 minutes, 6 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Interview 1: Thursday 6th September 2012 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:40 Track 2 00:00 John Richard Melville-Jones. DOB 27/08/1933 Marlow, Buckingham, UK. 00:23 First school was in Rumney, a suburb of Cardiff attended from aged 6. Already knew how to read. Found school boring so he was moved up one form. Only problem was mathematics was not up to speed for 2nd form. 01:59 After 2 terms, his father put him into a better school in Devonshire which was a preparatory school leading towards Public School. He transferred here the next year. This was now 1940 and some of the staff had left to fight in the Second World War but it was nonetheless a good school. The worst teacher was the history teacher. But the language teacher was good. Started doing Latin aged 8 years old. Those who were good were allowed to start Ancient Greek when they were 10 years old. 04:13 This went on until he was 13 when he took a Scholarship examination for the Public School he later attended, Clifton College in Bristol. He became a boarder here. 04:27 Went to Clifton in 1947 and stayed here for 5 years. By this time, he had a good grasp of mathematics. At prep school the master would sometimes give the students question from University examination entry papers. Did some French as well. 05:20 After 2 years at Clifton JMJ took the School Certificate examination. After that, he concentrated on Classics for several years. Finally got a scholarship to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. Stayed on at school for another 2 terms and took the Higher certificate a second time in English and Ancient History. 06:49 During the Second World War he remembered the food rationing especially that of sugar and jam. School meals were very basic. Otherwise the war had little impact on his life. 08:15 Saw German airplane jettisoning bombs into the sea that had been made for Plymouth. Paignton was full of US soldiers. 09:46 No idea of future career. Later on, had ideas of working for an oil company. 12:48 3 options – do Post Grad work at Oxford (limited income); librarian or teach in a private preparatory school. He had done this between leaving school and going up to Oxford. 13:55 Booked into Emmanuel College 2 years after leaving school in order to do National Service but he was rejected due to health. Could go up after 1 year, so had to find employment for the gap year. Taught English, History and Geography in prep school in Colwyn Bay, North Wales. 12-15 in the class. 15:54 Taught himself how to ride a motorcycle. Evelyn Waugh had taught in this school and wrote about it in Decline and Fall. 17:18 After University got another job in a Prep School but the college tutor found him a job in a secondary school in Cambridge teaching Classics and Ancient History. 17:45 At the same time, the job came up in WA through the Old Boys Network. One of the teachers from Emmanuel College was from NZ and encouraged young men to go to the Antipodes b keeping an eye of vacancies that were coming up. He told JMJ to apply and wrote him a reference. JMJ sent a two page airmail letter with photo. Referees were consulted and after a while a telegram was sent offering him the position. 20:21 Track 3 00:00 Discussion of what JMJ knew about Australia. Australian relatives. 04:28 At the time JMJ arrived, quite a few English migrants had come in. 05:22 JMJ travelled out first class on Himalaya. UWA a State University. Very luxurious. 07:00 Most recent appointees seemed to have come from UK due to need for expansion. 08:00 Met by Professor Austin when he arrived. 11:17 Track 4 00:00 Impressions of Perth. Arrived in June and thought it was like an English summer. Started teaching the next week with a 3rd year Ancient Greek class. 00:46 Lived in St Georges College. Meals cooked. Walked to and from classes at University. 01:18 In August he went for a swim at Cottesloe and wondered why he was the only one! 01:53 Hitch hiked to Carnarvon to see more of WA. Meal entirely consisted of lamb. 02:50 Tutorial system in Cambridge was 1 on 1 or 1 on 2. Teaching done in the University. Just had a check list of questions to ask. More pastoral care. 04:36 Dined at High Table with other Academic staff wearing their gowns. Students did not wear gowns to lectures and had not done for some time, although Law Students had only just stopped wearing them. Older teaching staff wore gowns but most wore a jacket and tie. 05:44 Hardly any advice given by Prof Austin. Left to his own devices. The other member of staff was Paul Weaver, an Ancient Historian. 06:51 Arrival of JMJ brought student staff ratio in the department to 11:1. Now 20:1 is considered low. 07:12 Timetable different. Students were mostly part time and lectures were at 4:15pm; 5.15pm or 6pm. Many were teachers. This lasted for many years. There were repeat classes during the day. 08:52 After six months JMJ started his PhD. It would be unusual now for somebody to get a university appointment without having a PhD. It was JMJ’s decision and also the second member of staff, who was ahead of him by 18 months, had been doing a PhD. 10:11 Appointment of Professor Austin who started in 1952. Job originally advertised in 1950 but the person appointed (Mr Daunt from the University of Sydney, who was considered brilliant), had a nervous breakdown and did not turn up. 11:45 The first person appointed to Classics with a PhD arrived 5 years after JMJ, in 1962. Two secondary school teachers who joined after JMJ did their PhD’s after they joined the department. 12:43 In the 1950s and 60s all the Australian universities were expanding at a rapid rate due to the Murray Commission recommendations. This enabled Classics to get a typewriter and then a slide projector. 13:40 1960s expansion. Arts building built in 1963 and occupied in 1964. Previously the Faculty of Arts was accommodated on the upper floors of what is now the West Administration Building 14:02 In 1959, a small annexe was built on Fairway. JMJ moved down there 14:48 Should have submitted PhD in 1960 but had arranged to go back to the UK for a year to do a post graduate diploma in Classical Archaeology. A few days before sailing in August, the PhD was typed with 1 copy and 3 carbon copies and it needed to be collated and bound. He turned his leaving party into a collating party with disastrous results. 16:25 The papers were left in a cardboard box. By the time he returned some additions were necessary. The thesis was on Antigone (the tragedy by Sophocles) comparing 6 examples of this play produced between the 16th-20th centuries. During his time away another Antigone play was produced. 17:44 Busy on return from UK. After doing diploma course and visiting places in Greece and Italy, he had photos and was allowed to start an extra unit in Classical Art and Archaeology. 18:20 It was very easy in those days to start a new unit. Nobody objected and the procedures were minimal. The progressive proliferation of petty processes and procedures. 19:01 Track 5 00:00 Conclusion 00:34 Interview 2: Thursday 27th September 2012 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:32 Track 2 00:00 Return from England in 1961. Went to Italy and Sicily and caught the ship from Naples to Perth along with many Italian immigrants. Had become quite proficient in Italian. Not first class travel this time. 01:42 Moved from St George’s College to a ground floor flat in Eric Street, Cottesloe that belonged to a colleague who had gone on study leave. 02:34 Lived here for two years. Remembered being afraid in the second summer due to random shootings. Later discovered to be Eric Cooke. The last man to be hanged in Fremantle Gaol. 03:28 Started teaching things he had learned doing a Postgraduate Diploma in Classical Archaeology (Cantab.) 1961 to Honours students in Ancient History. Then he was allowed to start a full second year unit of Greek and Roman Art and Architecture. This continued until 2011. Designed as background for Ancient History students but also for those who wanted to do the “Grand Tour” of the ancient sites. 04:24 UWA beginning to expand. More money from Commonwealth Government. Enrolments going up and new courses invented. In 1963 UWA got its first computer. It was the size of small caravan. The only computer on campus. Available 24 hours a day. 05:12 A great step forward. Computer got the first air conditioner. UWA was very uncomfortable before air conditioning during the summer months. Many of the staff would migrate to Albany. 06:05 Back to teaching and research. Socialised. Sang in a choir. 06:27 Missed out on the sexual revolution of the 1960s when the world went mad. Dress and hair were very different. Jeans became the uniform. 07:29 Tutor in Philosophy had long caftans, bare feet and long hair and a wife or partner in similar campus. They had a little girl they called Jesus. Administration much smaller. If you wanted more staff you went and asked the Vice Chancellor. One day this went wrong for the Professor of Philosophy who was pleading his cause when the Vice Chancellor happened to look out of the window and see the tutor sitting by the pond with his feet in the water! The Vice Chancellor thus determined that the Philosophy Department were not too overworked! 09:29 UWA booming. 1970s things began to slow down and money became less available. The Whitlam Government abolition of University fees did not make that much difference to UWA as they did not charge for lectures. However, people who might not have thought of going to University began to feel that they could. 11:24 This was particularly true of married women. Many of them realised a potential that they did not realise that they had. 12:43 The Arts particularly attracted more women. Women seem to be better with words. Attitude of women who attend university now is markedly different to those who attended in the 60s and 70s. Many of them were marking time until they found “Mr Right”. 14:28 Women on staff. One lecturer caused a sensation when she didn’t leave her job to look after her husband when she got married. Another lecturer in English claimed some fare money for her husband to accompany her on study leave. This caused quite a shock! 16:20 It was unusual to have married women on the staff. Some of the older women on the staff were unmarried due to a lack of suitors due to the carnage of World War One. 17:10 Things are very different now. Maternity leave, parental leave etc. 17:35 Before he left for England JMJ was accommodated on Fairway away from the rest of the department but it enabled him to have his own office. 19:05 Track 3 00:00 In 1964 the Department moved into the new Arts Building. It was deliberately built to fit in with the original Hackett Buildings. 00:45 By now the Classics Department were all on the same corridor and had its own secretary. They could get together and chat over morning tea in the Common Room. 00:12 Their numbers crept up and peaked in about 1971 when they had 10 teaching staff plus a secretary. Then when people left they weren’t replaced. Today (2012) there are 3.5 staff. 01:46 There is money for part-time assistance. Tutorial numbers are now 20 or more people rather than 10-12. 02:28 Contact hours have been reduced. Classics students used to have elementary language classes 4 hours a week. Then it was cut to 2 hours. Due to the problems this caused, it has recently gone up to 3 hours per week. Two hours a week is not enough to study Latin or Ancient Greek. 03:06 Internet teaching is a new thing. JMJ to attend a public lecture on this. Students can access lots of material online. This would not lead to a degree but perhaps a certificate. This may be an ideal way to study for people who have time or distance constraints. 04:13 JMJ does not think this will work with language studies. 04:22 UWA finished teaching external students in 1972 when Murdoch University was started and they took it over. JMJ would have 5-6 students a year (usually school teachers working outside the Perth metro). A circulating library was set up between them and it worked very well. 06:54 Does not work for language teaching where you need a lot of personal feedback. It might work with Italian which is phonetic. 08:08 Amusing experience of attending a lecture held in 1970s by a visiting Italian in English. He had no knowledge of speaking it. Pronunciation of “through”. 09:13 Discussion of Mandarin and Chinese language system and writing. French and German. English is more difficult. 10:00 JMJ started off teaching all language and literature with an occasional lecture in Ancient History. Later he developed his own unit in Greek and Roman Art and Architecture. 10:24 Taught First Year unit in early Greek history and translation for many years. Poems of Homer translated and studied against the architectural background. 11:31 Course now cancelled due to change of structure in UWA. 11:50 Developed a research interest in coinage and numismatics and ran a course in this subject for Honours students. 12:31 Classics had little contact with the Archaeology Department at UWA as they do prehistoric rather than Classical archaeology. JMJ tried to arrange some links with them when he was Head of Department but it did not work out. 13:05 Classics have had an archaeologist on staff since 1990. He has done work in Jordan. He does not do much digging. 13:44 Track 4 00:00 The early library was in a cramped space in the Administration Building. In 1960, the Undercroft in Winthrop Hall was enclosed in glass and the library moved there until the Reid Library was built. 00:51 The librarian, Leonard Jolley had a great deal to do with the planning and design of the building. It fits in very well with the Great Court. 01:24 It has storage problems now. And some things are stored elsewhere. 01:43 It has moved with the times. You can get articles online within 2-3 days of requesting it. Books have to be posted. 02:12 In the 1960s and 1970s, many universities were created. Murdoch was named after the English Professor, Walter Murdoch. 03:20 Murdoch tried to be different from UWA. Developed different subjects. 03:37 Religious studies developed at Murdoch. Professor Austin in Classics had tried to get this going at UWA. Shot down by Leonard Jolley. They also took over external studies. 04:29 Now specialises in veterinary science 04:51 Then three more universities were developed – Curtin, Edith Cowan and Notre Dame. 06:04 Architecturally very interesting university. Conversion of old warehouses. 06:43 Track 5 00:00 Clouds gathering in the 1980s. Less money and more paperwork and procedures. An application for a job now is much more complicated than when JM applied for his job. Attending a conference is also much more involved: 2-page proposal approved by 2 or 3 people. 01:59 Is it empire building by administrators or the increasingly litigious nature of society? 02:47 More people seem to be engaged in non-academic activity on campus than doing teaching or research. Parkinson’s Law. 04:25 Comparison with 10th or 11th century Byzantium Empire. 05:01 Student numbers have gone up. Cap on numbers controlled by Commonwealth Government. 05:35 Language departments in trouble – the ancient languages particularly. Increase in numbers due to students from other departments such as Botany taking a language as part of a “broadening unit”. 06:40 University education used to be for the upper or middle classes. Perhaps some would be better off learning a trade? 07:59 In India so many people have degrees but can’t find a job. 08:20 The problem of selling an Arts degree including Classics to parents. 10:12 Many Classics students have got jobs in teaching, academic life, tax department, public service, libraries. None seem to have gone into the tourism industry. 11:42 Discussion of tours in 1982. Two weeks in Greece and two in Italy. Stopped after two years. Looking around in Turkey for ideas for another tour but fell asleep at the wheel due to the long distances. 14:19 Somebody also fell sick on the second trip. No insurance. Risky of being sued. Has been suggested again but JMJ feels he is too old now. 15:14 The trip took place outside term time in January. 16:11 Track 6 00:00 Conclusion 00:27 Interview 3: Thursday 11th October 2012 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:32 Track 2 00:00 Has not done the same thing at UWA. Have had 5 different careers – Classicist; Greek & Roman Art & Architecture; Numismatics; Byzantium & Venetian studies; Stefano Shipwreck and Australian history. Enjoys the variety of different work. 03:54 Very concerned about proper English grammar. 04:30 Honorary position from 27 July 2012. Taken off the computer system without prior warning. Lack of communication from Human Resources. 07:07 There are other people who have officially retired but want to continue working. No remuneration but the use of the phone and computer is not to be under-valued. 08:20 There is a process. You have to state what you are doing and there is a review every 12 months. 09:01 Input of department into Emeritus Professor but not sure of their role in reviewing honorary positions. 09:55 Called on for help with a translation (from Greek to Latin to English) with lots of information about coins. Has made his reputation as somebody who knows about Ancient Greek and Latin texts referring to ancient coinage. 11:50 Track 3 00:00 Dawkins Reforms of the late 1980s. Aim to provide more higher education and encouraged academic research. 02:24 How do you measure research? 03:46 Attempts made to judge things on the number of publications. Evaluation through citations. JMJ cited many times for an article due to a mistake on the dating of a coin! 06:15 Evaluation of journals. Some journals are not ranked well because they are foreign journals. 07:50 Eventually this scheme was junked. 08:00 The effect of the push for institutions to do productive research. 09:18 Discussion of Liberal Arts Colleges which are popular in the US. 10:12 The problem of having promotion linked to performance as a researcher. 11:00 Summary of the effect of the Dawkins Reforms. 11:35 Track 4 00:00 Discussion on his book on the buildings of UWA and Hackett bequest. 01:36 Research in the archives and Senate records. 01:54 Discussion of Hackett bequest. Winthrop Hackett died in 1916. The £40,000 distribution did not have to take place at once. 04:18 Interim period and the only building erected on the Crawley site was in 1925 when one was erected in Park Avenue. A plain red brick building. In 1926 the Senate received £425,000. Competition held to pick the architects. 06:58 The site now attracts a lot of questions about the decoration, sculpture and mosaics. 08:15 Discussion on the Aboriginal paintings on the ceiling beams in Winthrop Hall. Referential architecture. 10:09 Stories about things that happened including the joke at the Debutantes ball with Law students pretending to be young women. 12:05 Hopes that the book will be a success. To be published by Hesperian Press. 12:28 Track 5 00:00 00:32 Conclusion Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/750e2708e1496d53d0c8358a1b2354a8.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/29b5eca3613a80e223da32acf8c3a031.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/a256d35e96d651e37c832a337a2026bd.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 1, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/dc47cbe0dc21abf15c13c3ca4d7d2481.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 1, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/e48339ab65b2bcd48c1b634b470ca88a.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 1, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/1fecaa467513d862d9d025be583d8d8b.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 2, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/a98423e5229c491b0790998c699cc88a.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 2, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/705f21ff1ecf37e0e7e1e7d3c04f51cb.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 2, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/608b08d430799da9dd9e4512b31912b2.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 2, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/c9b87809a75b8e6b6feea1adcf10d699.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 2, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/f5e743d38922b6700a1d0a2911e86ca1.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 2, Track 6</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b6d1ff5d044f49e43f014d5d8d90e07f.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 3, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/da1f9ffc79873f252680a2c3ce18fdd6.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 3, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b121386e0012bd25b25f5b3344a51c3b.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 3, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8db49999fcfd2dd8919eb4f9a82607ea.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 3, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8f66d41a5cb492c0dfc5b8bd20675ef2.mp3">Melville_Jones, Interview 3, Track 5</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Melville Jones interview, 6 September 2012, 27 September 2012 and 11 October 2012 Subject The topic of the resource Classics and Ancient History Description An account of the resource This is an interview with Professor John Melville Jones. A Cambridge graduate, he joined UWA in 1957, aged 24, as a junior lecturer. He taught in Classics and Ancient History, starting with Ancient Greek history and language, and developing courses in Classical Art and Archaeology. He moved into numismatics and later into Venetian and Byzantine history. From 2012 he held an Honorary Research Fellowship. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Melville Jones, John Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview John Bannister Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Constantine Michael Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 53 minutes, 45 seconds Interview 2: 56 minutes, 24 seconds Interview 3: 43 minutes, 21 seconds Total: 2 hours, 33 minutes, 30 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Track 1 00:00:00 Born in North Perth. Schooling modern school. University. One uni. Tech school. Perfectly adequate. Impressions of UWA. Crawley baths, aspirations. Medical school. Sponsor by legacy. 00:04:46 Family background. Living in cluster of Northbridge with Greeks and Italians. Church Community – Greek Orthodox. Language. Kailis and Kukulas families. Re family. 00:08:39 Growth of church and community. Nearest school was Highgate. Father’s experience. The Cue mining town and the First World War. Father’s poor health. Mother was the matriarch. 00:11:55 Scholarship school. Academic high level. Cohort of bright children. Len Buckeridge*. Best scientists come from Modern school. Medicine was studied in Adelaide or Melbourne medical. Medicine and the community. Community-based school. 00:16:00 Going to Adelaide. Advice to do medicine. Competition increases. The junior medical work-force from the Eastern States. 1954. Newspaper story of students away from home as promotion. Return to WA in 1958. 00:20:10 First year to receive a medical degree from UWA. Accreditation of the school by the GMC. Memories of early years of University study. Revering teachers at University. Zoology botany, chemistry and physics. Harry Waring was a fantastic entertaining Englishman. Spermatogenesis. 00:23:30 Memories of St George’s College and Chemistry and Physics. Bruce Kendall*. Law school established, as opposed to Medical school. Botany, Anatomy and Physiology in prefab huts. Will Simmons*. Fantastic pathologist Ten Seldam.* 00:28:10 Seeing changes on return. Clinical placements in Royal Perth Hospital. Perth Chest Hospital opens. Gairdner Hospital. First group to get a WA degree. Pathology and Microbiology at Royal Perth. Reputation of University of Western Australia. The Florey Institute. 00:33:00 Comparisons between Adelaide and Perth. National service. Staying at St Marks. Coming back to UWA. 00:38:30 Broader non-academic education. Established university at UWA. Colleagues and staff community. Neville Stanley was keen on cricket. Competitive law and medicine. Lovely small university. Winthrop Hall is an academic monument. 00:42:00 Facilities and resources. Learning the ropes and talking about research. MD in obstetrics and gynaecology. Researching in your own university. MDWA. Academic staff were very helpful. 1973. Doing the English degree. University College London. Famous people and true academia. 1964. Gordon King foundation professor of obstetrics and gynaecology. Senior lecturer and lecturer. Harry Reece and John Martin*. 00:47:00 Harry Reece and John Martin* mould future. John Martin offers Senior Lecturer and Associate Professor. Adjunct Professor and other titles debase the currency. Appointed the chair. 00:51:20 Impressions of UWA and its level of pre-clinical and Medical research. Professor Saint. Mary Locket* and pharmacology. Co-researching between departments. NHMRC funding. Ten Seldam.* Strong endocrinology. Roland Hanal* and Professor King. Excellent people around. Track 2 00:00:00 Returning to WA. Career decisions. Money and sterile situation. Academic university salary and recognition. Comparisons between pay and department and hours worked. Health Department recognition and clinical loading. Private practice colleagues. 00:04:05 Gordon King and John Martin, Pat Gyles – 1966. Short-staffed on return. Attitudes toward lifestyle balance. Bruce Armstrong. Training and ongoing professional interaction. Top 2% of intelligent students. 00:09:07 Mature students are very good. Research was expected of you. MD thesis. Funding depending on research. John Newnham and King Edward Memorial Hospital. Size of numbers in department. Big problem in funding. Employing people to get research done. Catch 22 situation. 00:13:10 Interest in personal career and high blood pressure and pregnancy. Professor Rosenthal and Laurie Beilin. Michael Le suoef. Collaboration and research. 00:18:20 Collaboration and RAINE study. Tracking foetuses in utero and watching them grow. Object of the RAINE study. John Newnham and the growth of the child. Ultrasound. 00:21:00 Honorary foundation fellows of the Ultra Sound Society. Looking for spina bifida and Down Syndrome. Memories of sabbatical Norman Gant Parkville hospital. University College Hospital. Students have a broad base of study. Working and clinical exposure. Genetic Ambiothesis. 00:29:44 Returning home, returning to England 1973. Ultrasound pretty crude. Doppler ultrasound. Standard practice and foetal wellbeing. John Newnham, sheep and lung function. 00:35:40 Inter-faculty interaction. Animal research beyond reproach. 00:37:00 Gordon King and RPH and teaching hospital. Neo-natal unit. Prof Hanall* laboratory and the foetus. Cinderella depot. King Edward children’s maternity hospital. Gynaecological cancer unit. Surgical facilities. Lack of an intensive care unit. KEMH should be relocated. Dangers in isolation with disease. 00:44:20 Leaving and Douglas Enquiry. Memories of John Newnham. Establishing a chair – Winthrop Professor. Reputation as foetal specialist. Women’s and children’s foundation. Endocrine research. RAINE foundation. 00:48:20 Memories of Promotion Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Head of Department in 1988. Long-term planning committee. Sydney. Lance Townsend had best departments. Geoffrey Robinson. 00:53:45 Excellence proportional to the people running the department. Best foetal med units in the country. Head of Department fighting at Faculty. Patron of the Medical Student Society. TEE. Students fall out of medicine. Track 3 00:00:00 Experience of Head of Department. Dean Stephen Swartz. An important time for the Faculty of Medicine. NHMRC funding. 00:05:50 Potential of the university. 1988 convenor of the working party to review regulations for private consultative work. Personal areas of expertise hypertension and Rhesus babies. Funding research and people and travel. 00:09:20 John Newnham complex obstetric department. Vice Chancellor’s working department. Professor Smith and the Art Gallery. Comparisons with alumni in the US. Strong alumni connections. Overseas students and the Colombo plan. 00:12:50 Administration and support. Competitiveness, funding and research. NHMRC producing money. Paul Johnson and embracing reforms. 00:16:10 Reforms vs. changes. External manager in Singapore. Attraction of students in Singapore. Maintaining interest in personal research. 00:20:10 Control the blood pressure and delivering the baby. Prevention of pre-term birth. Changes from genes to artificial conception. Senior examiner of the Australian Medical Council. 00:26:25 Concerns for UWA. Research institute and working with Notre Dame University, comparison of UWA and Notre Dame. Director and Governor of Notre Dame. 00:31:14 Medical services of St John of God. Health Care Advisor of WA Department of Health. 00:34:55 Rural community, rural health services, rural obstetrics and safety. Involvement with Beyond Blue, clinical depression, post-natal depression, depression in medical students. 00:39:17 Awards, Officer of the Order of Australia. Looking back on the experience of UWA. Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/e9b1c86fa09754f46d27b9ea79767e1d.mp3">Michael_Con, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/09f7fdb9aabf1b78a7cc268fbd10033c.mp3">Michael_Con, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8215ea96d09d651822fafc7839ed2bde.mp3">Michael_Con, Interview 1, Track 3</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Constantine Michael interview, 6 November 2012 Subject The topic of the resource Medicine Description An account of the resource Professor Constantine ("Con") Michael holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (University of Western Australia), Doctor of Medicine (University of Western Australia) and Diploma of Diagnostic Ultrasound. At the University of Western Australia he became Lecturer in 1966, Senior Lecturer in 1967, Associate Professor in 1977, Head of Medicine from 1988-1999 and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at from 1987-1999. Professor Michael’s research has focused extensively on hypertension in pregnant women and other areas of reproductive technology. Professor Michael was appointed to the Agency Management Committee in March 2009 as a member with expertise in health, education and training. He was reappointed in September 2012 for a period of three years. He is the Principal Adviser of Medical Workforce for the Western Australia Health Department, Consultant Medical Adviser for St John of God Health Care Inc. Professor Michael is the current Chair of the Western Australian Board of the Medical Board of Australia, Director of the Australian Medical Council, a member of various state and national medical committees and Chair of the St John of God National Ethics Committee and Chair of the Reproductive Technology Council of Western Australia. He is a Director and Governor of the University of Notre Dame Australia and Chair of its Advisory Board of the School of Medicine Fremantle. Professor Michael is also a Fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (a past President) and Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, London (a previous Sims Black Professor). Among his numerous awards, Professor Michael was named an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2001 for service to medicine, particularly in the field of obstetrics and gynaecology, and medical education. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michael, Constantine Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Ken Michael Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview (1) 1 hour 10 minutes 43 seconds Interview (2) 55 minutes 38 seconds TOTAL: 2 hours 6 minutes 21 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Interview 1: Thursday 23 April 2015 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:39 Educated at Highgate Primary School, Perth Boys’ School (1951-1953) and Perth Modern School (1954-1955). Went to UWA in 1956. Debating and sporting opportunities at Perth Boys’ School. Had caring teachers at all of his schools. Mathematics was his favourite subject. 06:02 Engineering was a 5 year course. Student numbers had reduced considerably by 5th Year. Dr Michael had to do a supplementary examination in English which provoked letters to the West Australian debating how much English an engineer needed and eventually an editorial “The Un-poetical Engineer”. He is now very interested in English and History. He did not engage in sporting activities at university. At Perth Boys’ School, he chose “Roads” as the subject for a talk. 10:13 To go from high school to university was quite a bit jump. He is supportive of the new 5 year course structure being introduced at UWA. First year students were initiated by the other students in the Engineering hall. It was just good fun and nothing dangerous. The School of Engineering was off the main campus and situated near Matilda Bay. Lectures were in Shenton House. Engineering students also took lectures with the science students. The first three years was a general education. Students were encouraged to join the Engineer’s Club. The student experience through the Guild was very good. Dr Michael chose Civil Engineering over Mechanical and Electrical Engineering for his last two years of study. Civil Engineering students did survey work in the university grounds and studied astronomy. They had to create their own design project and drawings. 16:17 Dr Michael enjoyed the theoretical component of the course. Fundamentals were stressed. The lessons he learnt at UWA are still applicable today. You need to identify the problem, enunciate the assumptions and establish the boundaries. It is a very methodical way of working. He finds reflection an important element in undertaking any task. George Hondros was a key lecturer who taught structures. Graham Glick taught structures and design elements. Campbell Massey taught the theoretical elasticity approach to science in general. 19:30 There were outside lecturers as well. The hydraulics lecturer was a practising engineer. His practical knowledge was very helpful. The exams in this subject meant that you had to apply the principles. Gilbert Marsh, a Bridge Engineer at Main Roads, lectured to the 5th year students. Gilbert Marsh was a close colleague of George Hondros. George Hondros told Dr Michael that he should contact Gilbert Marsh to get a job at Main Roads. Gilbert Marsh agreed to this and offered him a job over the telephone. Gilbert was a great mentor during Dr Michael’s time at Main Roads. 23:00 Civil Engineering graduates could work on public buildings, consulting or construction. Dr Michael wanted to understand structure and design and to gain an overall picture. He also wanted to be able to apply the skills he had developed at university. He only intended to work at Main Roads for 3 years but Gilbert Marsh encouraged Dr Michael to remain at Main Roads. He also encouraged him to apply to Imperial College in London. Dr Michael got a scholarship to attend Imperial College and went to London with his new wife Julie in 1964. It was a good decision. The lecturers at Imperial College were very close in teaching methods to those at UWA. 27:12 Track 2 00:00 In the first three years at UWA, the engineering students took laboratory classes with the science students. The new buildings in Fairway were finished in about 1959. Dr Michael used the new building to test concrete models for folded plates for his Honours thesis. The students also tested soils and used theodolites to survey the empty grounds more or less where the University Club is now situated. He remembers the agricultural area around Shenton House where sheep nibbled the lawns. Hymie Spiegel, the Government astronomer taught the students. One of the projects he set them was to view a star by day using mathematical calculations. 05:58 It was a broad education. It was too early for the resources boom but opening up the State and infrastructure was very big in the mid-1950s and 1960s. In 1955, Professor Gordon Stephenson and the Town Planning Commissioner Alistair Hepburn published the Plan for the Metropolitan Region (the 'Stephenson-Hepburn Report'). The decision was made to build the Narrows Bridge and Michael visited the site when he was in Fourth Year Engineering. The bridge was built by the Danish firm Christiani and Nielsen in conjunction with Clough Engineering. The bridge used a new construction method – pre-stressed concrete. 11:57 The new Narrows Bridge used different innovations in construction. Things had changed over the fifty years between the building of the first bridge and the second bridge. University training and research programmes are instrumental in developing new technologies. 15:10 It was an exciting time to join Main Roads. In-fill material for the Narrows Interchange was being developed. The materials were tested in the labs at Main Roads and at UWA. Gilbert Marsh was very skilled in this area. Main Roads had a good relationship with the university. Main Roads people gave talks at UWA and mentored the students. The piers on Mount Henry Bridge were tested at UWA using micro concrete models. UWA also did specific testing for Main Roads from time to time and Main Roads sponsored short research programs at UWA. Dr Michael believes it is essential for academia and the profession to maintain strong links. 20:25 Dr Michael wanted to do postgraduate study. He could have gone to New South Wales but was advised to go to London. Dr Michael did a computing course in 1962 and used the new Main Roads computer, the Bendix G-15D, to do the calculation and analysis for a joint paper published in 1964. He enjoyed the analytical aspect. Dr Michael was supported by Main Roads and got a British Council Scholarship that enabled him to study at Imperial College, London. He married Julie in July 1964 and they set off for London in August 1964. 25:51 The couple returned to Perth in February 1968. They took advantage of living in London to see the UK and to travel in Europe. Dr Michael was awarded a PhD in 1968 for his analysis on shallow shells. He was inspired by the many bridges he saw in Europe including those in London. 33:05 At Imperial College he was exposed to other international students. Some of the inspiring people who delivered general lunchtime lectures included the Archbishop of Canterbury and Sir Barnes Neville Wallis of Dam Busters fame. Imperial College also taught him to stick to the fundamentals. 38:12 Returning to Perth, Dr Michael worked on the Mount Henry Bridge before he moved to Geraldton with Main Roads. He returned to Perth in 1976 and was able to finalise some of the details for the Mount Henry Bridge as the contract had been let. He worked on the extension to the freeway and country bridges and became more involved with construction. In the three years that Dr Michael was away, Perth had begun to change towards being the modern city it is today. Malcolm Street Bridge was in place and the freeway section was built but the Narrows interchange was being planned. Dr Michael used modelling to help understand some of the features for this. Even in the last 10 years he notes that there has been a dramatic change in the Perth skyline. 44:31 Interview 2: Wednesday 6 May 2015 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:50 Students worked for Main Roads during vacations and Dr Michael supervised them. He also taught a Masters’ class on Foundations. He remained involved with members of the Faculty both through his connections with Engineering Australia and with joint research programmes. 02:52 Dr Michael finds UWA campus a delightful place – then and now. Engineering students spend most of their time around the Matilda Bay area although they did visit the refectory and take part in the tug of war with the lawyers across the reflection pond. 05:30 He considers Winthrop Hall a magnificent building and enjoyed the Graduation ceremonies at which he officiated. There were only about 15 Civil; 8 Electrical and 4 Mechanical engineers who graduated in 1961. He considers the graduation ceremony to be a special 10 seconds and a moment when a student’s life can take many different directions. Contribution to your profession is important but so is contribution to the wider community. Now there would be approximately 150 plus engineering graduates each year. 12:10 Some Engineering graduates became consultants. A government job is no longer secure as it was then. Main Roads had a cadetship system but was forced to reduce the number of cadets that they took over time. Engineering students used to have to spend 12 weeks in industry to do practical work as part of their degree. UWA and Curtin were the main source of the engineering students who came to Main Roads. Dr Michael also encouraged draughtsman in Main Roads to study and become engineers. Some of the students challenged the way things were done and stimulated discussion at Main Roads through their questioning. They were encouraged to bring forward ideas. Dr Michael is of the opinion that listening is key and that there is always more than one way to solve a problem. Sometimes you have to go back to basics and rethink something. 20:03 Dr Michael was Commissioner of Main Road from 1991-1997. An essential part of his role was to consult the staff in the various offices and to take part in community consultation – over the Graham Farmer Freeway , for example. Dr Michael started Team Brief information sessions in Main Roads on a Friday morning to keep everyone in the organisation engaged and informed. He attempted to lead through engagement. 24:57 Dr Michael was elected to the UWA in 1998. He was approached by friends in Convocation and asked to join. He had attempted to join the Senate some years before but was unsuccessful. The Senate seeks people with a broad perspective who can relate with the wide range of activities that take place at UWA. They are also looking for professional expertise that people can bring to the table. Some positions are ex-officio and include students. The Senate comprises a very broad cross section of people. The university not only offers services to graduates but to the school community and to the broader community. An example of the latter is the Festival of Perth which has been operating since 1953. The university campus is also used for public forums. The university is there to offer opportunity for debate. 29:12 Originally there were 24 people on the Senate. This was reduced to about 18 people. At first they met monthly and then bi-monthly. The Senate has a committee structure in place that can allow for bi-monthly meetings and which leaves the Senate free to concentrate on the strategic direction of the university. The committee structure also allows people from the business community and other areas to contribute their expertise. 31:27 Dr Michael was elected as Pro Chancellor from 1998-2000. The Chancellor’s term used to be for one year and the Chancellor was elected annually from within the Senate. This changed to a four year term and the Chancellor could be elected from within the wider community. Dr Michael was very pleasantly surprised to be elected as Chancellor and his wife, Julie, considered this to be a special highlight. He had retired from Main Roads in 1997 to work as a consultant. Even though this change did not make his workload any lighter, he kept time for university business and would meet with the Vice Chancellor (Derek Schreuder and then Alan Robson) on a weekly basis. 35:50 Dr Michael regards the role of the Chancellor as being like the Chairman of the Board; the Vice-Chancellor is the CEO and the Pro-Chancellor is the Deputy Chancellor. If the Chancellor was away, the Pro Chancellor has to stand in for him such as at graduation ceremonies. Dr Michael believed the relationship between the executive team and the academic staff to be good at that time. He met with the academics and with the students. 39:39 There was an instance where the students were concerned about changes being made by the Federal Government to Guild funding. The student experience at UWA is very important and one that is highly valued by the student body. He called a student protest that took place during one of the Senate meetings. 42:58 In 2000, the Senate had to address the fact that the Festival of Perth had spent too much money under the then Director, Séan Doran. There was talk of handing the festival over to the State Government but it was agreed that it had always been a means for the university to give back to the community and that it should be sorted out by the university. The situation was managed and from then on. the role of the artistic director was made separate from that of the general manager who managed the finances. When Dr Michael was a student the Festival was part of the summer school but it was fairly low key compared to today. Séan Doran took the festival out to the regions. Jonathan Holloway brought out the French marionette show The Giants in February 2015 which was a huge success not least because it provided free entertainment to the wider community. 49:00 Convocation, the graduates association for UWA, has been a very significant part of the university and they have representatives on the Senate. The warden when Dr Michael was elected to the UWA Senate was Sue Baker. The students are encouraged to remain active and engaged with the university after graduation. The alumni are given the opportunity to get together from time to time. UWA alumni are spread all over the globe. Dr Michael is proud to be part of Convocation and to contribute to it. 55:39 Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/5b762784200e4f0c7ebf4f685b01ca6f.mp3">Michael_Ken, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/d9957fb4fd196cbfaa7c0e769f898082.mp3">Michael_Ken, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/e0fd73991515f2d70b231cab50b1a8e4.mp3">Michael_Ken, Interview 2, Track 1</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Ken Michael interview, 23 April 2015 and 6 May 2015 Description An account of the resource Dr Ken Michael AC was installed as the thirtieth Governor of Western Australia on 18 January 2006, retiring from this position in May 2011. He was educated at Highgate Primary School, Perth Boys’ School and Perth Modern School. He graduated in civil engineering from The University of Western Australia and completed his PhD degree at Imperial College of Science and Technology in London. He was Chancellor of The University of Western Australia, Chairman of the East Perth Redevelopment Authority, Chairman of the Western Australian Museum and a member of the Economic Regulation Authority. He also served as Commissioner of Main Roads and Public Service Commissioner. Dr Michael has made a significant contribution in many areas, including public service, engineering, academia and, in general, to the Western Australian community. He continues his support of the community in his retired capacity. He is currently Chairman of the Australian Defence Force Assistance Trust and Chairman of Broome Future, as well as being involved in other community based activities. He has received a number of awards in recognition of his contribution to his profession and the community. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1996 and Companion of the Order of Australia in the 2006 Australia Day Honours. Subject The topic of the resource Other – Chancellor (at UWA from 1950s) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Michael, Ken Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Dennis Moore Location The location of the interview North Perth, W.A. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 1 hour, 12 minutes, 34 seconds Interview 2: 33 minutes, 24 seconds Total: 1 hour, 45 minutes, 58 seconds Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Interview 1 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:32 Track 2 00:00 Dennis Moore born in country NSW in 1937. Parents encouraged him to take a scholarship and he got a place at Kings School, Parramatta. From there he took the mathematics Tripos at Cambridge. Dennis returned to Australia in 1958. 01:31 Track 3 00:00 Returning to Australia aged 21 and needing work, Dennis decided to become an actuary and joined the AMP. Dennis wasn’t there long when he was told that AMP was getting a computer and he was to program it. He spent the next 2 years writing actuarial programs. 02:00 Before the computer they had a room full of young women doing hand calculations. In those days, all office had a comptomotrist who did the accounts by hand. 03:26 The first computer in Australia was built by Trevor Pearcey in about 1947. In the 1950s Sydney University had the SILLIAC computer. Computers were scarce. The first commercial computers in the USA date from about 1953. 04:13 The IBM 650 was used by AMP and MLC insurance companies in Australia. Australia was 4-5 years behind the US. There was a weapons research establishment in South Australia that had a computer as did CSIRO. 04:57 The first electronic computer in the UK was Colossus. It was installed at Bletchley towards the end of the Second World War. Lyons Corner House became the first commercial users of an electric digital computer named LEO in 1951. 06:10 A lot of the early computer manufacturers combined and then gradually disappeared. 06:27 When Dennis was first working the computers were punch cards, tabulators and sorters. The punch card originated in the Jacquard loom in 1801. Herman Hollerith in the 1880s invented the 80 column punch card. This was taken over by IBM. IBM did not get into computing, as such, until the early 1950s. The head of IBM at that time thought that there would only be 10 computers ever built! These would be housed in the major universities. However, the company grew from strength to strength in the computing area. 07:36 Track 4 00:00 After 2 years at the AMP, Dennis decided that being an actuary was not for him and he joined the operations research department at Colonial Sugar Refining Company (CSR) in Sydney. He used computers extensively and used the SILLIAC computer at Sydney University. IBM had opened a service centre in Sydney and Dennis was able to use this computer. CSR did not have a computer. The project was to optimise the return to the sugar milling industry. 02:13 By this time Dennis was married. A job was advertised to put in the first computer at UWA (and the State). He applied for this and was interviewed by Don Watts (Chemistry) over a few beers at the Metropole Hotel in Sydney. He was offered the job in 1961 but the computer would not arrive on campus until the following year. 03:58 In the meantime, Dennis worked on an IBM 620 machine at Lucas Heights which was the same model as the one to be installed at UWA. 04:30 Dennis arrived in Perth by plane in May 1962. The airport consisted of wooden shacks and was very small and primitive. The couple and their small baby were put up at the Captain Stirling hotel for 2 weeks before moving into rented accommodation. 06:05 The Computer Centre was to be located in the new Physics building. Dennis was the first tenant. The computer room was the only room with air conditioning on campus at that stage. 06:40 John Ross (Psychology) met the couple at the airport. The official title in his new role was ‘lecturer in charge’. He was officially a member of the Maths Department. The computer was to assist other departments. Crystallographers, in particular, were dependent on computing. To compete with overseas research projects, the Engineering and Science faculties needed to have access to computers. The university administration department was also a big user. 09:00 The computer was used 24/7 and people had to book their time slot. The Busselton Survey was done on this computer and CSIRO used it a lot. Engineers from the public service also used it. Outside people had to pay for their time on it. Internal people had a budget for use of the computer so everyone had to pay for it one way or another. 11:11 Dennis reported to the Computer Policy Committee headed by Burkett-Clews. He had used computer in WW2 for range finding. 11:49 The Commerce department took very little interest in computing. 12:24 Track 5 00:00 A university house on Fairway became available. They had 3 children under four so cheap rent was important. There were many young people from the university houses on Fairway and the social life was very good. They stayed here for 5-6 years. Neighbours included Leonard and Elizabeth Jolley. 02:22 Dennis was equal walking distance to campus, University House, Steve’s and the yacht club. 02:45 Dennis was a one man band and got into trouble at home as he worked such unsocial hours. 03:16 Fairway was called ‘Fertility Flats” as most people were in their 20s or 30s. Behind the buildings was an open paddock with sheep used by the Agriculture Department for research purposes. Agriculture was strong as was Chemistry under Noel Bayliss. 04:38 Campus was small. Only 3000 students. Young staff. Fielded a rugby side against the students. The staff played cricket against Jack Mann’s team in the Middle Swan. Dennis played second grade cricket for the university and rugby. 06:39 The university gardens were a tourist attraction. 07:14 The Computer Centre was next to the old Chemistry building. The library was built in the early 60s while Dennis was there. Physics was one of the first extensions from the old stone buildings. It was designed by the Public Works Department. 08:17 Friday night was very vibrant at University House. The Computer Centre staff played the students at cricket. They had parties. Overseas visitors would be taken to the hills and they would have a barbecue. It was a young and social department. 09:57 Track 6 00:00 During the 1970s, Dennis was President of University House at a time when drink driving was 0.08 and the economics of the house started to decline. Dennis pushed for non- academic staff to be made members 01:28 University House was extended and a new dining room was financed with the support of Ken Townsing, the State Under Treasurer who was also on the Senate Finance Committee. Dennis decided to name the new dining room after him which was widely accepted. However, he was rapped over the knuckles for this as decisions of this nature were the province of the University Senate! 02:27 Track 7 00:00 Arrival of the IBM 1620. It was the size of a large desk and installed in the Physics Building. It had been shipped from Brazil and the packaging housed lots of cockroaches. 01:08 IBM engineers helped to install it. They also did routine maintenance. It was a fairly reliable machine. They were common machines in universities throughout America. 01:56 At that stage, IBM gave 60% discount to universities. In 1962, the discounted IBM 1620 cost about £30,000. Computers were expensive. 03:43 Dennis recruited his own staff. He employed a key punch operator. There was a printer and a free standing accounting machine. Staffing was required. PhD students were given jobs for special projects. The first programmer recruited full-time was Colin Jarvis. Dennis approached him in the Great Court. 05:27 Not many people were doing computing at that stage. Training started off later on. The Commonwealth Government ran its own PIT courses. 06:32 The computer held 60,000 decimal words in memory. Programming languages are still used today such as Fortran. It was designed for scientific type programming. If you had to conserve space, then you wrote in Assembly language. 07:30 Dennis ran programming courses for the staff and students. 07:52 Pressure for using computers had exploded and there was a new round of Commonwealth government funding in 1967. The IBM 1620 was used from 1962-1967. It was kept after a new computer was bought and was finally given to the Observatory at Bickley. 09:14 Federal money was given for computing and it was decided to buy a computer from a small company in Massachusetts. It was the first commercially produced time sharing machine allowing multiple users. This was the DEC PDP 6. They put out to tender and the Computing User Group talked to the sale people. 12:05 They were able to run research equipment directly into the computer and share that time with other users who had machines hitched to it. 12:34 The power was able to cope with the computer. The 1620 was transistorised. Valves had gone. SILLIAC and the 650 were valve machines as was Colossus. 13:35 Dennis spent a lot of time helping the research students. He co-supervised the first PhD in computing by Colin Jarvis. There was no time to do personal research and the rewards were not there. 15:25 By the mid-60s, UWA had caught up with the rest of the world in the computing age. The PDP 6 gave them a huge fillip. 17:01 Track 8 00:00 Staff mainly recruited from amongst the graduate students. There were many female programmers such as Roz Fisher and some Asian students. 01:46 Dennis upset UWA again when he attempted to appoint programmers who had TAFE qualifications but not degrees. He invented a new position called Data Processing Officer. 02:34 Dawn Drysdale was the first key punch operator and the first employee. 03:25 Dawn was a good cricketer. An Oxford professor who visited was treated to a picnic and social cricket match in the National Park. Dawn opened the batting and played a cover drive that might have been the envy of Neil Harvey. 04:51 Track 9 00:00 The Computer Policy Committee was persuaded to support the purchase of the PDP 6 by Burkett-Clews. He and Dennis researched the computer in America. 02:00 The computer cost in the regional of $250,000 02:43 IBM were upset that they didn’t win the tender. The General Manager of IBM Australia suggested that Dennis was incompetent and that he should be dismissed. Burkett-Clews paid this absolutely no attention and backed Dennis to the hilt. 05:44 The PDP 6 arrived by air. It took a while to get it going. There was an acceptance period which is similar to the warranty period today. There were odd glitches as it was a new machine. 07:51 This computer was much larger than the IBM 1620– about the size of 4-5 very large fridges in rows. This was installed in a separate room to the IBM 1620. 08:45 The computer came with a high precision display and light panel which enabled them to have graphics for the first time. This was due to a donation from BP in return for the Computer Centre writing some software for their maintenance overhauls. 09:50 James Trevelyan in Engineering wrote a flight simulator on it. 10:04 Brian Horan wrote the software for BP. He was an ex bus driver who later did a PhD in psychology who was employed to do this programming. 12:33 Computers were proven to be a useful tool and were used in administration and the engineering and science faculties. But a Professor in Commerce stated that using computers in business was only a passing phase. 13:19 A big project was done with John Jory in the Classics Department to index the Latin inscriptions. This took 2-3 years to complete and was a world first. 15:33 It opened up the eyes of people in the Arts department to how computers might be used to help their research. 16:51 Interview 2 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:46 Track 2 00:00 PDP 6 required more staff. Monte Sala was recruited from the Carnarvon Tracking Station where he was lab manager. He was from Dalmatia. He turned out to natural electronic gifts. 00:51 John Ross was using the graphic display unit in Psychology. He had discovered that moving dots across the screen could be made readable using fewer lights than a traditional display unit. This could be used in advertising or for flight information display in airports. This was named the Betagraph. It was only ever used commercially at the Belmont race track. At the time the university was very naïve in their understanding and practice regarding intellectual property and patent for inventions. 03:07 At the time it was quite novel to have remote terminals linking into the PDP 6. They needed terminals remote from the computer centre to have modems. Sala was able to make modems but he was never able to get Telecom (or the equivalent at that time) to approve this. 03:52 When Dennis was working in government, he mentioned to Sala that he was concerned about security and privacy issues. Sala developed a low cost encryption device supported by the Research Institute of Australia. Dennis went to New York to raise venture capital from Merrill Lynch to get the device developed and marketed. They were placed in the SWIFT network which was the international banking network. 05:14 The major problem with the device was that it was too strong. Pressure was placed on Australia not to allow export of the device. For the time, this device was too strong for the international intelligence agencies. 06:38 Track 3 00:00 As smaller computers came along these became connected to the PDP 6. The Centre was very interested in packet switching and built a packet switching network. Bruce Kirkby was the main driver behind this. His packet switching devices went into various government departments. 00:52 Packet switching is the basis of the world wide web. Small packets of information with addresses and headers on them are sent and they are sent around from computer to computer until it finds the computer that is looking for it. 01:28 It was originally developed for some of the early major US universities such as The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The California Institute of Technology where research workers wanted to use each other’s computers. Later on, it was taken up in a big way by the US military. 01:51 If you have direct line connection computers then taking out a major switching centre will destroy the communications but with packet switching, you can switch to a different path. The Apernet helped to push this along. This is what is used today. 02:23 Track 4 00:00 In 1968, Dennis was due for sabbatical leave. At the time UWA was servicing more and more government departments and it became obvious that the PDP 6 was not going to be powerful enough to service the community. 00:40 Dennis wanted to experience large computers. Control Data had computers in the CSIRO and they were the ones producing the large computers at this time. Dennis contacted them and he was offered a research position in Palo Alto in California. He worked on developing an online communication program for Stanton Pause between brokers and purchasers of shares to be in some sort of pseudo English. It was enjoyable work. 02:17 The side benefit was that he was working on Stanford Industrial Park and had contact with Stanford Mathematics Department which was then the computing department. He observed the close relationship between a large technological industrial park next to a university and the resulting interaction. The Stanford Research Institute was also in close proximity. 03:07 This area later became Silicon Valley. Dennis was able to play cricket on weekends all over Northern California. At the time, America was suffering heavy losses in Vietnam; Martin Luther King was shot dead as was Robert F Kennedy. 03:58 While Dennis was away the Federal Government had decided to put more money into computing in universities. Large computing centres were to be set up in the cities to service CSIRO and the universities. WA received funding to expand the Computer Centre. At that time, Perth was small enough for people to talk to each but big enough for things to happen. 06:08 Dennis helped to negotiate to buy a large cyber computer. A new wing was built onto the Physics Department to house the new computer and the air conditioning requirements. 07:04 Large remote batch terminals were introduced. By this time, student numbers had increased. The Graduate Diploma was introduced which was the first computer qualification in WA. 08:01 Main Roads, Hospitals, Universities and the Department of Agriculture were all serviced by this Regional Computer Centre [see hand drawn plan]. In time these people got batch terminals and then smaller computers themselves until they installed their own computer systems. 08:43 At this time, hacking was unknown and it was probably almost impossible to get into each other’s systems. 09:50 The economies of scale were workable – compared to the eastern states, UWA’s costs were 50% and they were able to meet the demand. It was run as an almost independent business. 10:41 The two major hospitals (RPH and SCGH) were major users of the computers. It soon became clear that they needed more computer power. They bought their own cyber computers. These were put in with the other computer. They also needed their own programming staff. A deal was negotiated where another wing of the Physics building would be constructed which would be paid for by UWA. This would be leased back for 30 years to the Health Department, after which the building would revert to the university. 12:09 The field of health computing was ripe for new developments in computer technology. In Western Australia every patient had a single number which was the patient master index enabling them to be identified in the WA medical system. This was in the days before Medicare. It was decided to install smaller computers in the hospitals that would have direct online access to the bigger computer. Control Data engineers could not link the smaller computers to the large cyber computer. E-health is still not a reality. 14:43 Track 5 00:00 Dennis was seconded to the Lands Department for 3 months. They were using computers to help draw maps. There was enormous potential for integrating land information systems but the technology was not well enough developed to move forward. 02:07 Dennis thought that Japan would be the next big centre of computer technology. He studied Japanese for 2 years before taking a Sabbatical in Tokyo (1977-78). He realised that the Japanese computer industry was imitative rather than novel. 04:30 On returning to Australia, Denis realised that computing was changing and the Regional Computer Centre would eventually decline as agencies became independent. 05:44 Dennis got a secondment to Government Computing for 3 years and then decided to become permanent and he resigned from UWA in 1978. He was also frustrated by the fact that UWA told him that he was not allowed to do any research. Dennis feels that UWA did not fully appreciate some of the unique things the University Computer Centre was doing at the time. 06:50 Don Watts and Dennis had been keen to set up a Technology Park in Perth. Perth was not a place that was driven by technological development and even UWA placed more emphasis on agriculture rather than technology. Don Watts became director of WAIT when Dennis was working in Treasury. Technology Park was developed in the pine forest opposite Curtin. 09:40 Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/68bd96b28f431967de65c32f54debf3d.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/306b80de357ac5d881a3ad1ee01ec505.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/f9d55bcd37969b496d1a3348ad32962e.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/5940ce57302f50e154165d440e165403.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/ff6ff156eeca9da012d028e06132eec7.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b889f75a3a66d9d6cdc1b8da856b4a6e.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 6</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/73694799943e9e65fce6746a6304a246.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 7</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/20331ccabcafc44e01ae78ea6a72e8fd.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 8</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b9e246d34310364516abb679a076e456.mp3">Moore, Interview 1, Track 9</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/5463ca879af5441af9ad775ae113c033.mp3">Moore, Interview 2, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/1091df0b0b196399a54127f45f2e396a.mp3">Moore, Interview 2, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/2c473249746e45c3f6f3072d02a92ec9.mp3">Moore, Interview 2, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8d1f0b9fc6a7aad20ac0751606c8cfd3.mp3">Moore, Interview 2, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/7ffd0f438caaf8945519f27f56a9fe95.mp3">Moore, Interview 2, Track 5</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dennis Moore interview, 5 July 2013 and 12 July 2013 Subject The topic of the resource Engineering; History of computing Description An account of the resource Dennis Moore was born in Goulburn, New South Wales, on 5 April 1937, he won a scholarship to Kings School, Parramatta. He later won the Broughton and Forrest Exhibition, a scholarship given to ex-students of King's School to qualify to attend Oxford, Cambridge or Durham University. Dennis graduated from New College, University of Oxford, with an honours degree in mathematics. He arrived in Perth in 1962 to become head of the new Computing Centre at UWA. He later became the inaugural director of the Western Australian Regional Computing Centre (WARCC). Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moore, Dennis Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder: University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Armenag Nassibian Location The location of the interview Claremont, WA Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 50 minutes, 29 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:47 Track 2 00:00 Armenag Garabed Nassibian. Born 1928 in Palestine. His father was Armenian and worked in the British Colonial Service during the First World War. His mother was from Turkey. His parents returned to Cyprus when he was about 4 months old. He attended an Armenian school in Cyprus. In 1951 he went to London. He was initially interested in becoming a pilot but decided to try and get into university instead. He studied part-time for GEC examinations and then attended London University for 4 years. 06:09 He was then offered a job in the research laboratory at General Electric Company in England and worked on semi-conductor devices. The lab was under the umbrella of London University and he enrolled for a PhD in Physics. His field was solid state Physics which was considered a useful subject for engineering. 09:05 He put an advertisement in The Times newspaper seeking employment as he was unhappy working in his current job. He was offered a job at Bradford University which was a new university. He was also telephoned by Professor Alan Billings who offered him a job which he accepted – not even knowing where Perth was! He was told he could set up a micro-electronics laboratory at UWA. 14:25 He was given a first class fare to travel to Australia by ship and the university paid for him to bring his wife and children and all his furniture. He arrived in Perth in 1968. The family were put up at the Captain Stirling Hotel. He was met at the ship and taken to the hotel. Later he was shown around the university. The clean room was quite primitive as it was in the old building. Some years later they moved to the present location where they had a good clean room. 18:26 He retired from UWA in 1993. He worked overseas as a professor at McMaster University in Canada for a while. The Professor in charge at that time was Professor Lorenzo Farone who is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences and was one of his best students. Another PhD student was Professor John Dell who is now the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics. 20:55 Mr Nassibian found the UWA campus very beautiful. It was not as big then. Professor Billings was very keen to turn the Department into the premier Engineering department in Australia. Mr Nassibian started teaching the first year students quantum mechanics and theory in order to understand semi-conductor materials. Later he started teaching second year students as well and then final year and Honours students. He had some very good Honours students. Lorenzo Farone went to the USA when he graduated but was enticed back to UWA. He became his right hand man. 26:45 There were one or two girls studying engineering. Engineering today is very sophisticated. The degree was 4 years. A new Nanotechnology Laboratory was built and opened in 1994 and named the AG Nassibian Nanofabrication Facility. It is a state of the art laboratory that looks at very small devices. 32:10 Track 3 00:00 Professor Alan Billings was sure that he had done the right thing in bringing Mr Nassibian to Perth. He was very supportive. Another top student went to the USA and married an American girl. There were a lot of Indian students. His first PhD student was Hema Sharda (now Winthrop Professor/Director, South Asian Relations). She encouraged students from India to come to UWA to do their PhD studies. 05:18 Visiting professors came from Holland, Germany, the USA and Canada on the Gledden Fellowship and stayed about 6 months. They enjoyed their visit as liked Perth and Western Australia. Perth is much more sophisticated now. When Mr Nassibian arrived the only food restaurants seemed to be serve was steak. The culinary landscape has changed completely mainly due to immigration. 09:38 By the time Mr Nassibian retired the Faculty was very well recognised. Once the students qualified many moved overseas. India and China are at the forefront of this sort of research today. Many of the manufacturing industries in Australia are no longer operating. 13:40 He does not regret moving to Australia and to UWA. Perth was a bit boring in 1968 but began to improve when the mining industry started to take off. He would not go back to the UK or the America but he might have been tempted to move to Europe. He spent long periods of sabbatical leave in Germany. Mr Nassibian used to go out for a drink with his post graduate students and liked to be considered as a friend to them rather than as a supervisor. 17:33 Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/572f34b8095c4844c5377edd6ac76dc7.mp3">Nassibian, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/6fb879e38b1e214ca7f8e0f9222526a5.mp3">Nassibian, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/2386c8151293405d75a268f7a7154c81.mp3">Nassibian, Interview 1, Track 3</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Armenag Nassibian interview, 18 September, 2014 Subject The topic of the resource Engineering Description An account of the resource Armenag Nassibian was born in 1928 in Palestine. His parents moved to Cyprus when he was about 4 months old. He attended an Armenian school in Cyprus. In 1951 he went to study in London. Armenag Nassibian moved to Perth with his family in 1968 at the behest of Professor Alan Billings to set up a micro-electronics laboratory at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Later he became a Professor at that department and worked there until his retirement from University in 1993. A new Nanotechnology Laboratory was built and opened in 1994 and named the AG Nassibian Nanofabrication Facility, for Nassibian's outstanding contribution to microelectronics research. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nassibian, Armenag Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview John Bannister Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed John Newnham Location The location of the interview Perth, W.A. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 52 minutes, 51 seconds Interview 2:48 minutes, 1 second Interview 3: 39 minutes, 4 seconds Total: 2 hours, 19 minutes, 56 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Track 1 00:00:00 Introduction. John Phillipps Newnham was born in St John’s Subiaco in 1952. Background information. Father was a General Practitioner. Delivered by the head nun and surviving obstetrics. Father William Arthur Newnham was a big influence. Father went to Perth Modern School and UWA. Wishes to serve in WWII. Father is thrown out of the army. Father works day and night and instils an interest in a career in medicine. 00:06:13 The road to UWA. Memories of schooling at Christchurch and going to University. The quota hurdle for 2nd year was vicious. Competitive experience and getting into second year. The brightest guy in WA. Dom Spagnolo is now a pathologist at Sir Charles Gairdner. People hide books at the library. The pressures of studying. Unfortunate policy of quota system. 00:11:27 Not as engaged at UWA as students today. The importance of University. Arrival at university was an anxious experience. Passive recipient of information. Arriving at Royal Perth Hospital. Life begins. Clinicians are the heroes. Memories of the University experience. Regretting not being able to get involved at the University as a student. 00:16:05 Further thoughts of University. Wanting to get to the hospitals. Interests in foetal medicine and advice received. Cut when you are young, talk when you are old. 00:20:30 Memories of Hugh Callaher. Development of career, Royal Perth and Stan Reid at King Edward. Proactive recruiting. Advice given. Basic training and going overseas. Defined by where you are sent. America and Tom McCarthy Australia’s first specialist. Wanting to go to Africa. 00:25:18 Zulu Hospital in Edendale. Cyril van Hildren. Going to England and fellowship in California. Life’s work foetal medicine, caring for sick women. Memories of South Africa. Child dies first night on call. Challenges experienced. Cord prolapsed experience. John Miller. 00:35:32 Life-changing experiences. No talk about the new-born baby. The spiritual aspect of the job of obstetrics. Gold Medal from the Royal College of Obstetricians in London. Studying hard and achievements. 00:40:40 Research at UCLA. Working on sheep. Sport science meetings. Camaraderie, challenge, excitement of getting new data. Interaction, interdepartmental collaboration. Catheterised sheep. Los Angeles. Coming back to Perth to do more sheep work. Murdoch and sheep work. Agriculture and sheep foetus. Ultrasound. Sheerer help with ultrasound work on pregnant sheep. Alan Joe. Taking over the market in sheep research. Track 2 00:00:00 The Raine Study. The development of ultrasound. The wave sound and measure of placenta function. Funding from the MRC. Improving outcomes of childbirth. The Raine Foundation. Origins of disease in humans. Fiona Stanley has a future in the field. 00:06:00 Further memories of the Raine Study. Barry Marshall and Robin Warren. Tracing health and disease over a long period. DOHAD. 00:11:00 Internationalisation of UWA, Alan Robson, progress. Successful in isolation in 1984. Memories of parliamentary enquiry and interview panel. Cohort study in isolation. Medical sheep research. Success of Raine and sheep study. 00:16:40 Isolation and success. Benign dictatorship and the Alan Robson show. Support of Alan and thoughts of internationalisation. The story of China. The Confucius Institute. Learning Chinese. Experience of visiting China and giving lecture, giving a speech in Chinese. The Chinese were impressed. 00:24:23 Doing ward round in Kungming and Beijing. Chinese and pre-term birth. Rates of pre-term birth. Nanjing and work on 2.9% Chinese preterm death. Westernisation of Chinese women increases as a result of modernisation. Honorary Professor of Obstetrics Nanjing, Adjunct Professor Peking University. Thanks for the University of WA. 00:29:30 Reputation of UWA in 1981. Memories of Louis Landau. Early life studies. Memories of Fiona Stanley and Neville Stanley. Neville Stanley microbiology. 00:34:00 1999 story of construction of sheep research facility on campus UWA Perth, Shenton Park bush. Animal ethics community and no sheds. Costs of construction. Surgical training on sheep and laparoscopic work. Combining funds and the surgical training at the cricket nets. Great success story of sheep and surgical study. 00:40:35 Head of School of Woman’s Health. School reviews and best international standard. Formula for recruiting people. Tailoring jobs for the individual. The Department’s achievements and research foundation. King Edward Memorial Hospital Research Fund. 00:45:23 Competition with Fiona Stanley. Costing and recruiting KEMHRF. Volunteer and profit for research and building up the department. Research foundation, The University Department and building the School. Track 3 00:00:00 Gordon King – first Dean of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. Stanley Prescott and Gordon King. Gordon King’s wartime story. Escape north from Hong Kong, continued teaching Chongqing. Training recognised by Britain. Hong Kong restored medical system. Justice Kennedy. Gordon King scholarship. 00:07:19 Memories of Professor John Martin. Origins and Con Michael. Standing in the footsteps of Gordon King. Internationalisation. David Barker hypothesis and research. DOHAD. Dean Steven Schwartz. Chronic adult disease and the Raine Study. International Council for the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. 5th World Congress 2007 at UWA. 00:16:06 Midwives become sub-dean. Mark McKenna and Sandra Carr. Midwifery want to be independent. UWA and the community. Notre Dame and UWA teaching and research. Value of university. Comparisons between UWA and Notre Dame. Marketing. Research and teaching. Somerville Auditorium. Community perceptions. 00:22:30 International reputation has grown. International students add to the university. Good promotion of UWA. Curtin and Murdoch improving. WA in the top 20% worldwide. Future research changing over time. Predictions for life before birth. Epigenetic signatures leave messages over thousands of years. Tiny glimpse and price of doing genome. Early development studies. Future health developments in genetic knowledge. 00:30:17 Technology benefits and detriment. Human life experience. The team and the University as a whole. Breaking down the barriers. Conferences. More memories of Stan Reid. Ultrasound pioneer. Stan Reid and Alan Bond and the America’s Cup. Looking at old diggers from World War One as motivation. Understudy for the dean. Born lucky. Final words. 00:39:00 Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/fe7f6bc35830c48997cc40c5e6cd1bf1.mp3">Newnham, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8338fec6d384cd488d49932c2d99b476.mp3">Newnham, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/d05ca074f194ba436ff97c4079fbfc72.mp3">Newnham, Interview 1, Track 3</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource John Newnham interview, 16 October 2012 Subject The topic of the resource Medicine Description An account of the resource A graduate of UWA in 1976, John Newnham was appointed Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Maternal Foetal Medicine) and Head of the School of Women’s and Infants’ Health of UWA, and remains in that position. In 2008 he was appointed as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences of The University of Western Australia. In 1989, he was initiator and principal investigator of a major cohort study of 2,900 Western Australian children followed from 16 weeks gestation to adulthood, designed to investigate the developmental origins of health and disease. This Study, known as the Raine Study, is the largest and most complete of its type in the world. The children in the study are now 20 to 22 years of age and retention remains at nearly 70%. He heads the Australian arm of a major international research collaboration investigating novel methods of enhancing foetal maturation and preventing preterm birth; these collaborative studies are now in their 22nd year and have contributed to world-wide changes in clinical practice. He discusses the University of Western Australia and its reputation on a global scale and outlines his career in the field of obstetrics. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Newnham, John Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Beverley Noakes Location The location of the interview Nedlands. W.A. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 54 minutes, 39 seconds Interview 2: 1 hour, 18 minutes, 14 seconds Total: 2 hours, 12 minutes, 53 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Interview 1: Wednesday 30 January 2013 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:27 Track 2 00:00 Beverley Neave Noakes (nee Evans). Previously married to David Ormerod. Born in Jamaica in 1937. Parents did not do higher education. No free secondary education. Father would have loved to have gone to university and encouraged his children to read and discuss things at home. 01:28 The other big influence on her life was her father’s older sister, Hazel who had been to France to study and was taught French at High School in Jamaica. French was Beverley’s favourite subject at school although she also learned Spanish. 01:46 Won the Jamaica girls’ scholarship to study at a university in the UK. Her uncle told her she had to overcome being Jamaican and female and therefore should go to Oxford or Cambridge. Worked for a year between school and university as a secretary at the University of the West Indies. A couple of the people there had been educated at Oxford and were not very pleasant, so she went to Newnham College Cambridge in 1956 (to 1959). Did an honours degree in modern languages (French and Spanish). Then got a scholarship to do a PhD in French and spent two years in Cambridge and one in Paris. 03:30 Taught at the University of the West Indies for 8 years (1962-1970). A lively, young university. Once a college of London University but then became independent and they could put new subject in the syllabus such as Caribbean courses. Beverley started new courses in French in both Caribbean and African literature in 1968. 04:30 Good years – young, independent, earning a good salary and had lots of friends. Very good students from all over the Caribbean. Able to meet people from the other islands. 04:58 Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados are the main English speaking islands. There was a campus on each of those islands but the chief campus was on Jamaica. Cuba and Haiti were north of Jamaica. In the 1960s nobody could go to Cuba due to US foreign policy which meant that it you went to Cuba, your passport would be confiscated when you arrived back in Jamaica. US government very influential politically and economically. 06:06 Beverley went to Haiti when she was preparing the course in Caribbean literature. It was the period that Papa Doc was President. Had to run the gauntlet of the paramilitary police (Tonton Macoute ) on the way to the library. 07:05 Beverley also visited Martinique and Guadeloupe which were islands under French control. Air France would fly in fruit and vegetables twice weekly. Ambivalent attitude towards the French at this time among the intellectuals. People very friendly and the houses in the countryside were similar to those in Jamaica. 08:49 Left in 1970 because her husband David Ormerod an English lecturer had obtained a job at UWA. 09:13 They came by boat. It took 6 weeks as they had to come via England. Came on the Oriana, a P&O liner. Very well regarded as academics. Their big achievement on the trip was wining one of the Quiz nights. 10:51 Arrived in Fremantle and were met at the docks by both Professor Alan Edwards of the English Department (David’s boss) and Professor Jim Lawler (Beverley’s boss). Beverley was coming as a temporary lecturer at that stage. 11:52 Alan Edwards drove them to them to their temporary accommodation which was in a flat opposite Steve’s Hotel. Beverley was concerned that there were no locks on the bedroom door and that they would suffer a violent home invasion from the patrons of the hotel! 12:49 The couple were warmly welcomed during their first two weeks. The Edwards took them to a Peter Shaffer black comedy at the Octagon Theatre on their first night. Beverley discovered day temperatures in May were very different to night temperatures. On their second night, Miss Randall took Beverley to the Alliance Française. Miss Randall was the President and booked Beverley to give a talk. On the second day the French Department held a welcome lunch. 13:52 The lunch was held at the old University House (located near the Music Department) where she met all the staff. Every Thursday the French Department held a lunch here where everybody had to speak French. This had been going for some years and was instigated by Jim Lawler (whose wife Christiane was French). This lasted until the Lawlers left Perth at the end of 1972. 14:45 After 3 months Professor Lawler arranged with the university for Beverley to be given a tenureship which made her feel very secured and welcomed. 15:06 Track 3 00:00 Dr Leon Tauman had been head of the French Department before Jim Lawler arrived to take up the first Chair. A very vague man. Story that he had forgotten to buy a ring when he got married. 00:58 Jean Randall was there with him and apparently ran the department. Taught here during WW2 and was involved in trying to help the French during the war giving charity and aid. Jean was passionate about the Alliance Française and was President for many, many years. Miss Randall involved UWA people with the Alliance activities. It rented rooms in the Nedlands Teachers College and organised lectures. Jim Lawler lectured on modern French poetry. Lisette Nigot also spoke. Bruce Pratt and Grahame Jones were senior lecturers who also contributed. Beverley gave two lectures in her first year – one was on Jamaica and the other on Caribbean music. It didn’t matter was the subject was as long as the lecture was in French. 03:45 Students, especially Honours students, also became involved in the activities. Today it has its own premises at 75 Broadway, Nedlands. The activities are now more social. 04:00 Academic lectures are no longer given. In the 1980s and 1990s there were academic lectures jointly sponsored by the Alliance and UWA (also occasionally Edith Cowan). Collaboration with the Alliance has been an important part of the French Department and there has often been a UWA staff member on the Alliance committee. Beverley was a committee member at one time and Lisette was on the committee for many years and became President. She also ran the Alliance exams which are given to schools. 04:51 Miss Randall had retired but was filling in when somebody was on study leave. She would turn students away for arriving barefoot at the language lab. 05:35 When Beverley arrived Jim Lawler was running the department. His wife Christiane was a tutor and gave lectures on French civilisation. The Lawlers felt that it was important for students to have a feel for French buildings, French music, politics and way of life to accompany the literature courses. In the early days they had more teaching hours per week. As part of Beverley’s 17th century literature course, she used slides, records and the students were treated to an annual lecture by Prof David Tunley (Music Department) on the French chanson, accompanied with a rendition on the piano. 07:36 After the Lawlers left, they had to cut down their teaching hours and this had to be incorporated into the literature lectures rather than being taught as a separate subject. 08:10 There were two language classes a week plus a language lab session and a conservation class. It would be 3 hours of language work a week. Later they had to cut this down. Similarly the literature element of the course was once 3 hours a week (literature lecture, civilization lecture and tutorial). 09:02 By the end of the 1970s there was no civilization course and students had only 2 French language classes plus a session in the language lab. This later became the multi media lab. The lab session and the conversation class were cut down to half an hour. Difficult to teach a language without regular input from the teacher and regular output from the student. 10:00 This is a problem pertinent to language department. Other departments in the Arts faculty did not have this issue. Getting the requisite number of hours required to teach a language has always been a vexed issue between the department and the faculty. 10:46 The beginners’ course was a pure language course taught by Noelene Bloomfield. Beverley also gave tutorials for this course. The course was very well planned and structured. Noelene knew and Beverley also felt that the students needed to be encouraged and never put down. People running the course had to have a lot of empathy for the students. This course comprised 3 hours a week of classes plus language lab and conversation. This course had been very successful in terms of enrolments for French and is a very popular course. The aim was to try to encourage students to keep it up. Unfortunately some very good students who were music and medicine majors dropped French after completing the beginners’ course. 13:58 In the late 1970s, Noelene devised a second year course that followed on from the beginners’ course and provided a bridge between that course and third year. It was very intensive and introduced the students to literature. If they achieved an A or B+, they were accepted into the third year course. 14:45 Some students had not studied French at High School. French was not compulsory in schools. It was taught intensively in schools to those who did study French. These students were very well prepared to enter the first year course (French 100) as they could read, write and appreciate French literature. This changed as time went on and the schools change to what was called a ‘communicative’ approach. The emphasis here was on communication rather than spelling or grammar. 16:06 This changed the calibre of the students that came into the French department and became noticeable in the 1980s. 16:22 Track 4 00:00 The French Department was in the south eastern corner of the Arts Building. The big room at the corner was Jim Lawler’s office and next to him was the secretary. Beverley had a room with a lovely view of gum trees and the Matilda Bay foreshore. She loved the room so much that she refused to leave it, even when she became head of department. 01:00 At first there was a lot of space but then as money became tighter, space also became an issue. 01:35 Danielle Morris was the secretary from the mid-1970s and she is still here. Initially she had a half time person to help her. Money did not seem to be an issue. When Beverley was teaching the text Hiroshima Mon Amour in first year she was able to hire the film and show it on campus. This was not possible in Jamaica. 02:20 There was enough money to cover extras. Her room was larger than in Jamaica and had a fan. It was an idyllic setting. 02:46 Many of the French department staff were women. Tea room incident when the Professor of Classics commented they looked like the Domestic Science Department. Many women working at UWA in that time often had lower grade jobs and the senior positions were often occupied by men. Classics had no women on the staff. In the 1990s there was a big push for gender equality. Those women working in high positions were expected to be on committee to even up the balance. Beverley had never felt disadvantaged due to her background or gender. She believes that things began to change when UWA got their first female Vice Chancellor, Faye Gale in 1990. 07:12 When Beverley came to UWA, the French Department had 9 staff: Professor Lawler, Bruce Pratt & Grahame Jones (senior lecturers), Lisette Nigot from France, Andrew Hunwick and Beverley were lecturers. Noeline Bloomfield and Unity Beswick were both senior tutors. They had 1.5 support staff. Before Danielle Morris the secretary was called Anthea. 08:03 In those days the support staff did everything. Budget, timetable, liaison with administration and the students. Later on, the timetable was taken over centrally. After Beverley retired in 2002, the budget was taken over by a Faculty Manager. She also did the typing as the academic staff did not have computers. Beverley did some typing and photocopying of her lecture handouts. 09:25 The first lectures were held in the Murdoch lecture theatre. The lecture theatre had very steep steps which was a hazard in the days of short skirts. Most of the other lectures were held in the Arts lecture rooms. French was usually in Arts lecture room 4 or 5. Third year classes were also held in Arts lecturer room 6. The first year lectures were repeated at 5pm in the evening for the part time students. Repeats for 2nd and 3rd year were not possible so one of the courses would take place after 4pm. Lectures were not taped until the late 1990s. Most people did not use the microphone in the Murdoch lecture theatre as they preferred to come out in front of the lectern and speak to the students. 12:16 The lectures covered medieval literature as well as 19th and 20th century plus the Caribbean and African courses. These were a trial for the 3rd year students but then became part of the programme. In the early period, there was flexibility to put on new courses. They had more money and more staff and were trusted to be able to run their department. Later on, Faculty approval was required. There was plenty of choice because they could afford to put on a lot of hours of teaching. 14:18 Staff members would lecture on their special area but other people could take the tutorials in the first and second year due to the large numbers. Everyone took a turn to teach the language classes. 15:40 The staff all worked as a team and got on together very well. There was a lot of good will and good humour in the department. The students appreciated the happy atmosphere. 16:43 There were a lot of post graduate students. They also had many matured aged undergraduates as in those days it was free to study at UWA. The older students (some up to 60 years old or more) helped to motivate the younger ones. 17:44 The post graduate students became very important as the department got credits for them. Professor Dennis Boak who became a professor in about 1976 instituted a weekly postgraduate seminar and built up the school and encouraged research. Beverley supervised post graduate students in Caribbean, African and Renaissance literature. 18:38 Jean-Marie Volet was a mature aged student from Switzerland who did a degree in French and did an honours thesis and then a PhD on French African writing. He was then successful in obtaining a post-doctoral scholarship for 5 years at UWA. He set up an online journal Mot Pluriels. He has retired from this now but still has a website on African women writers written in French. 19:58 The post graduate school and the post graduate seminar were very successful for the department. 20:05 In the early days, the idea was attract first year students and every afternoon there was a school afternoon and Year 12 students attended the Octagon Theatre. Every year Lisette Nigot did a skit on the oral examination which the school students really enjoyed. The intake from high schools was very high at one stage. Even those who didn’t attend at UWA would take the oral exam prepared by the French Department for high schools. This was a very successful outreach programme. 21:55 By the late 1970s early 1980s it was more important to attract postgraduate students as the intake from high school fell due to circumstances outside their control. 22:15 The 1970s were a decade when there was big change from having plenty of money, students, leisure and enthusiasm to when things got tighter for teaching hours and money. Post graduate enrolments became more important as they were weighted in the eyes of the University. The department became more business-like and less relaxed. It was a different approach. 23:11 Track 5 00:00 Conclusion 00:08 Interview 2: Tuesday 5 February 2013 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:40 Track 2 00:00 Assessment was 100% by examination when Beverley first arrived. Gradually assessment started to include course work. Risk of plagiarism and help with language classes. Exams ensured that the work was done by the student and the student only. 02:10 The mathematical calculations were checked by Danielle Morris. 02:23 In the late 80s there was a move to student assessment of staff. This was initiated by the Student Guild who surveyed the teaching staff. It was then decided to rank the teaching staff by these results. The Head of Department was contacted for their opinion. Then a group of the finalists were asked to write a piece on teaching. 03:37 This was done in 1988 and the staff did not realise what the reasoning behind it was. Beverley got a letter to say that she was a finalist for the Distinguished Teaching Award and dutifully wrote her piece. 04:25 Later on, she was told that she was one of 6 people who received the Distinguished Teaching Award. Over 80 staff had been surveyed so she was delighted to be honoured in this way. 04:54 There was some ill feeling that the teaching staff had not been able to prepare for the award. 05:41 Track 3 00:00 Courses had to be adapted from 3 terms of about 9 weeks to 2 semesters of 14 weeks. This did not affect the language course but it did change the literature course where 3 texts had been studied (Caribbean literature, African literature and Canadian literature). The Canadian literature was dropped and the other texts studied more thoroughly. This coincided with a need for students to be brought up to speed due to the communicative approach taught in schools. 02:53 Policy in the French department of literature and texts being discussed in French. 03:15 Adaption to changes that happened over time at UWA. 03:31 At this time, the French Department began to experiment with bringing in different texts into language classes and bringing in communication and media work. The language lab was converted into a multi media lab in the 1990s. Before that, there was a co-existence between the language lab and the multi media lab as materials (especially language material) were transferred from the old system to the new system. 04:23 Semesterisation also affected staff study leave. Previously staff had missed the first or the last term and tacked it onto summer term to make up 6 months. Some staff saved up their leave and had a whole year off after 6 years. If they took 6 months study leave it meant that they missed part of a semester. Alternatively, some took 4 months in the middle of the year instead of the 6 months they were entitled to. 05:12 In 1980, Beverley took off 4 months in the middle of the year and went to the French Caribbean. This interested her both in terms of its sociology and literature. 05:28 In Beverley’s first study leave she went to Europe as she was working on Renaissance literature. Afterwards she always went to the Caribbean. 05:37 In 1980, she went to London to have talks with Heinemann who were to publish her book on French Caribbean literature. 06:08 Study leave is a great asset. It is a privilege but allows staff to make contacts for their research and reinvigorates their teaching practices. 06:44 Visiting professors sometimes came after contact with someone on study leave or by them supervising some work. 07:05 An English colleague who also wrote on the French Caribbean came to UWA as part of a scheme that the Faculty had in the 1990s where a visiting professor was invited to come for 2 weeks and give lectures. 07:40 Professor Jaques Robichez had supervised Graham Lord in Paris and he came to UWA in 1983. 07:52 Visiting professors (from France, Europe and other countries) required a concerted effort by the UWA staff in making them feel at home. They had to be taken out and entertained. One French professor wanted to buy a pink shirt and Lisette Nigot spent a whole morning trying to find one in the Perth shops. Another visitor could not speak English at all and had a miserable time. 08:59 When Beverley was Head of Department in the 1990s, she found the visitors a bit of a trial as they had to be met at the airport and helped with their luggage. A roster of staff had to be devised so that they were always being looked after and then they had to be entertained socially as well. 09:45 Beverley’s PhD was on the poet Théophile de Viau. Beverley taught Renaissance literature for many years at UWA but the course was abandoned in the 1990s due to lack of staff and money. 10:37 In the 1980s, the Faculty of Arts offered an M Phil in Renaissance Studies by course work. Beverley taught a course on French Renaissance writers. The English, History and Italian Departments also took part. The course was taught to graduates who were doing the course part time. They were all tired but very interested in the course. Lack of staff and heavier teaching loads for remaining staff put an end to this, especially as staff did not get paid for this teaching. 12:00 Beverley already had contacts with the other departments through her interest in the Renaissance. She already knew people in that area in the English Department due to her husband, David Ormerod, working there. 12:37 Trish Crawford’s office was on the top floor among the language departments. Her area of expertise was the Early Modern Period. 13:06 Trish was the first person who wrote to Beverley on hearing the news that Beverley’s sister had been sentenced to death in 1986 expressing her sorrow and asking how she could help. 13:36 The Arts Faculty was a very friendly building in those days and everybody knew everyone else. 13:49 There was no theatre course in the French Department but the staff put on a play every year. When Beverley arrived in 1970 the French Department put on skits for the students. Lisette Nigot was the leading light. Bruce Pratt was also a very good actor. Brian Willis, the Head of the Language Lab, also took part. The performances were held in the old Dolphin Theatre which was situated where the Law Faculty is now. This event was the highlight of the year. 14:44 In about 1972, the French Department did a skit on the campus Post Mistress. Later on, the students took over producing French plays with the help of a member of staff that were open to the public. Mauritian students asked to take part, even if they weren’t studying in the French Department. This enabled students to try their hand at drama and also showcased the French Department to the general public. 16:23 Some of the productions were traditional 17th century French plays. More often they did 19th century farces or modern plays such as those by Eugène Ionesco. There were a variety of productions depending on the tastes of the students and the staff member helping with the production. 17:00 The rehearsal had to be done in the student’s free time. Sometimes this was used as an excuse for not getting an essay in on time! 17:24 Track 4 00:00 Beverley’s sister (Phyllis Coard) was a government minister in the People’s Revolutionary Government in Grenada from 1979 to 1983. Her husband was the deputy Prime Minister. There is a report on the Amnesty International website which has a report on the events leading up the trial called The Grenada 17: Last of the cold war prisoners? 01:00 In 1983 the revolutionary government broke down and the US took the opportunity to invade as they were unhappy about there being another Left Wing Government in their region. All the well-known Marxists were arrested. In about 1984, they were charged with conspiracy to murder. They were tried in 1986 and 14 of the 17 were sentenced to death and 3 to life imprisonment (with no prospect of release). 02:30 Beverley was asked to speak to Amnesty in Perth about the trial. They then contacted the student Amnesty group and Beverley also addressed this group (that she did not know existed). 03:03 Some of Beverley’s students were members of this group and they asked to help and wrote letters to Grenada in the late 1980s. 03:27 They prisoners appealed but in 1991 the sentences were confirmed. Bernard Coard (Beverley’s brother in law) had been deputy Prime Minister and was one of the first who would be hanged. 04:00 By this time Beverley had lots of contacts in Australia through working to help release the Grenada 17. Through the auspices of Dr Judyth Watson, a Minister in Carmen Lawrence’s government she was able to reach Foreign Affairs in Canberra. 04:26 An agonising month where things were suspended in Grenada but Beverley was supported by many of her students and colleagues and the department secretary, Danielle Morris and the secretary from German and then Classics, Margrit Warmsley. The secretaries organised petitions and faxed them to Grenada. The students would come to see hear and ask what news there was. 05:18 Due to the international protest in England, America and Canada as well as Australia (much to the surprise of the government of Grenada) they commuted the sentences to life imprisonment. 05:48 This surge of energy culminated with their lives being saved, much to the delight of the students and Beverley’s colleagues – particularly Patricia Crawford, Rosemary Lancaster and Noeline Bloomfield. 06:08 Unfortunately life in prison meant exactly that and they had to write more letters about this. 06:22 From about 1983 to the mid-1990s was a terrible period but one where Beverley received a lot of warmth and support from people at UWA. 06:55 Track 5 00:00 When Beverley came to UWA in 1970 the Professor of a department was also Head of Department for the whole term of his professorship. This changed and it was arranged that the term for a head of department would be 3 or 6 years. At the end of Professor Boak’s 6 year term, the Associate Professor, Bruce Pratt, became head of the French Department. The two men exchanged the role back and forth for quite a while. 00:50 In 1983-1984 Bruce asked Beverley to act as Head of Department while he was away on study leave. However, Acting Head is not the same as being Head. 01:07 In 1994, Bruce was ill with cancer and asked Beverley to be Acting Head again. He died a month later. The Dean of the Faculty of Arts, John Jory, consulted the Department as to who should be the next Head of Department and they chose Beverley. 01:30 Beverley became Head of Department in 1994 but the following year, the three language departments, French, Italian and German became the School of Modern Languages. Professor John Tonkin from History was put in as Head of Department. The previous heads of the language departments became convenors. The Convenors did the same job as a Head of Department but without the money as the money from the three language departments was combined into the one kitty. 02:30 This was unfortunately as the French Department had more students and more money. When they lost a member of staff for any reason, they did not get that person replaced as the other departments were overstaffed. In 1970 there was 9 staff. In 2002 there were 5 staff and two of these took early retirement when Beverley retired aged 65. This left 2 staff. 03:39 There was a long delay before these jobs were advertised leaving 2 staff and some part-time staff to run the French Department. Finally only 2 of the 3 jobs were advertised. Effectively, when Beverley left there were 4 members of staff instead of 9. 04:00 This has had a detrimental effect on the French courses which stems back to 1995 when the School of Modern Languages was created. There was a show of consultation about this, but in effect, the decision had been made. 05:00 The Convenor lost control of the money but also the ability to make decisions about things like staffing. You had to make a case for everything you wanted which was exhausting and took time. 05:30 During the 1990s Noelene Bloomfield had set up a course in the Graduate Certificate (1 year course) and Diploma (2 years) of Modern Languages. In 1993, she had started a course for high school teachers giving them a certificate to enable them to gain skills and perhaps promotion. The Department lobbed for them to be given an official UWA certificate. The courses were very successful and ran for 5 years and earned the French Department in the region of $400,000. However, they had to pay the University for the privilege of using their letterhead and logo on the certificates. They also had to pay a percentage to the Arts Faculty that had contributed nothing. 07:35 Financial problems caused a souring of some relationships within the Faculty and between the Faculty and the Administration. 08:05 They were told they had to earn money for the department. They were also under pressure to get research grants. The ARC grant was particularly coveted and encouraged but takes a very long time to prepare. 08:48 Jean-Marie Volet who had done a postgraduate degree in African literature in French suggested they apply for a joint grant and they co-operated on writing this and were successful in getting an Arts Faculty grant two years running. Then at his instigation, they put in for an ARC proposal and were successful. The following year it was renewed. Beverley would never have applied for a grant without his friendship and support. 10:16 People felt under pressure to do this and if you wanted promotion you had to prove yourself academically. Later this changed, and you could be considered in light of your teaching and/or research. When Beverley was promoted to Senior Lecturer and then Associate Professor (1986) it was due to her research; for winning the teaching award and due to the publication of her book on Caribbean literature in 1985. 11:17 The Department got points for postgraduate students and the awards that you won. There was also a system that judged what you had published over the year. These had to be in approved journals. They did not seem to understand the difference between a science article and an arts article. You didn’t get credit for editing a book – only if you had published an article in that book. 12:28 These things made people feel unappreciated. People who teach in the arts subjects always feel undervalued in comparison to science or medicine. The arts seem to be more susceptible to cut backs. 13:40 The Administration people were sympathetic to Beverley and she was not made to feel second rate but there is this feeling in the ether. 14:25 Another new initiative was the study tours devised by Rosemary Lancaster. These were very carefully planned with a number of activities. 14:59 Track 6 00:00 The Graduate Certificate and Graduate Diploma courses that began in the 1990s terminated in a study tour for the graduate high school teachers. Rosemary Lancaster devised the course. They did an intensive cultural and language programme in Paris with Rosemary. Then they stayed with a family in Provence. This were organised through a link that the Department had found with a lady in Provence. They were away for 3 weeks. This began in 1997 with 15-20 teachers and ran for 5 years. Later on, Hélène Jaccomard (who is now Convenor of French) took this over. 03:16 A similar tour was started with Rosemary in 1996 with about 12 UWA students from the French Department. Later on, Hélène took this over as well. The teachers were financed by the Education Department to do the French Abroad in-country study tour whereas the students had to fund themselves. Eventually the numbers dwindled and the tours stopped. 04:03 Track 7 00:00 Another form of student exchange was started between UWA and the University of Reunion in the 1990s. 00:32 Four came from Reunion Island and four students from UWA went there. The planes came in at midnight. The students would have to be greeted at the airport and taken to their accommodation. They had to use 2 cars for the luggage. The first time Beverley went to the airport with Danielle. This caused quite a ruckus in the middle of the night as they settled into their colleges! 01:44 The students had to be on the Erasmus programme. More students from Reunion wanted to come to Perth than students from Perth wanting to visit Reunion. Also the exchange had to be with the Faculty of Arts only. 03:16 The students from Reunion were great fun and from different racial backgrounds. It was nice to see a bunch of international youngsters walking down Hay Street as in those days Perth was not so multicultural. 04:20 Track 8 00:00 Staff development was launched in the late 1980s or 1990s. It was set up to help academics teach. As a result of the teaching award in 1988, Beverley was asked to help make an interactive CD-ROM that came out in 1995. It was entitled “Teaching in Large Lectures” and was produced by the Graduate School of Education. It also dealt with how to run a tutorial. 01:40 When Beverley saw the student reports she realised that students valued the attitudes of staff towards them. They didn’t seem to care so much about staff knowledge but were more aware of their interpersonal skills. 03:38 An offshoot of the CD-ROM was that Beverley ran a workshop on the student/teacher relationship and how to run tutorials at the Staff Development Centre for 26 UWA staff in 1991. At the end of the session somebody from the Law School said that there tutorials had 30 people in their tutorials and not 12-14 people! 04:59 Within a few years, the French Department also had about 20 students in a tutorial and this was not good for anybody. The ideal number of students for a tutorial is not more than 15 students. 05:34 Other people in the French Department also won a Distinguished Teaching Award - Zoë Boyer; Rosemary Lancaster and Noelene Bloomfield. 06:12 Rosemary Lancaster developed a cultural studies course in the 1990s. It was a first year course to bridge the gap between school and university and was designed to introduce them to French through media that they were familiar with. An example of an extract that she used was the book by Marcel Pagnol, La Gloire de mon père. 08:00 Rosemary bought the film and showed the students extracts from it which showed what life was like. She also used other technology such as music, magazines, videos and comics to involve the students interactively. Beverley tutored on this course. The students enjoyed the course very much. They were gradually led to read a short novel in French. This course was still running in 2002. 10:16 Susan Broomhall was a postgraduate student in the French Department and also used paintings to illustrate her research. 10:50 When the French Civilisation course was no longer taught, Beverley began incorporating bits of culture into her literature lectures including slides, especially for French Renaissance literature. 11:54 Rosemary used film to the same effect for her courses. 12:02 Before film the staff used slides. When Beverley tried to book out slides from the library, she found that an Arts Professor always had the slides booked out on 19th century art. 12:46 Track 9 00:00 Reflections on working at UWA. A lovely campus, nice colleagues, good students. Relationship with postgraduate students. One was in her 80s when she gained her PhD comparing the work of an Aboriginal writer with a French Caribbean writer. Many of the students were from different countries. 01:43 Very proud of graduates such as Sue Broomhall (Winthrop Professor, History); Bonnie Thomas (Associate Professor European Languages and Studies) and Mark Pegrum (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education). All three were very interested in her sister’s plight and gave great support. 02:29 Other students she still meets in the city and is always pleased to see them and find out how they are doing. 02:46 Track 10 00:00 The relationship of the French Government with UWA. They organise assistante posts for 3rd and 4th year graduates in France with accommodation and a stipend. The French government operates a liaison with the departments and Beverley was asked to do a survey of those students living in France as the French government was anxious to see if the scheme was working well. 01:16 The French Government also sends a representative to all the annual meetings of Heads of Department in French across Australia. Their cultural attaché deals with all things cultural and pedagogical. He also liaises with high school as well. 01:46 The French Government also recognizes worthy academics working in French by decorating them. In 2005, Beverley was awarded the Chevalier des Palmes Academiques. Others in the Department have also won this award - Denis Boak, Bruce Pratt, Andrew Hunwick, Noelene Bloomfield and Rosemary Lancaster. UWA and Perth has many purple ribbons! 02:34 UWA has a good relationship with Adelaide University. During the time that Beverley was running the Department they had a reciprocal arrangement, examining each other’s Honours theses. 03:16 Beverley had close contacts with the University of New South Wales as they also had Francophone literature courses. In the 1980s she was asked to speak at two conferences on French Caribbean literature. She also collaborated with one of their staff, Dr Anne-Marie Nisbet, on a short book about a French Caribbean writer (published in 1982). 04:08 Since retiring from UWA, Beverley missed the human contact with the students and since 2003 has been working with CARAD helping refugees. She uses French to communicate with refugees from the Ivory Coast and from the Congo. It is personally very rewarding but also educational to learn about what happens in other countries such as Iran and Afghanistan. 07:43 In 2010, Beverley was asked to help Sumi Jo, the South Korean opera singer, in composing a speech in French for the next stop on her tour. 09:20 Track 11 00:00 01:37 Conclusion Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/ee76f29e14568959a90355166acc3581.mp3">Noakes, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/28bd30a4351c9e3c5e6eb63ae5fff909.mp3">Noakes, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/ae9e6993dbcdbdef0625809b19cf83cd.mp3">Noakes, Interview 1, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/41abb7cc76080cfd578b43ce06151331.mp3">Noakes, Interview 1, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/4c97d61240fda6f47d111978f9762b77.mp3">Noakes, Interview 1, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/56e0ca4b13231b1ec6a488729589ec2b.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/565058f8380aee4cd559da0c5316ce41.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/c5d9ff3eb5b36d9f2af6cfa752de2e06.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/363ef3bd3315fa6b4db0fc938d12bbc7.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/812e2284df6aa820d207e64a358e5fa6.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/91485579b688f072e6af63eb22bde7d5.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 6</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/615c3bf814902687680057130be3a175.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 7</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/90fb1caa6a304793f26e866c0c682f43.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 8</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/143a0f849d3dc9bcbe271a48ec3945a1.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 9</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/9723181a367e1a19fca8f8a4db53a972.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 10</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/75e2a6bbad7393d5fce6d8bad8d8be54.mp3">Noakes, Interview 2, Track 11</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Beverley Noakes interview, 30 January and 5 February 2013 Subject The topic of the resource French language and literature Description An account of the resource This is an interview with Professor Beverley Noakes. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, she won a scholarship to Newnham College, Cambridge, and completed her PhD in Cambridge and France. She then taught at the University of the West Indies between 1962 and 1970. She came to the University of Western Australia in 1970, and taught in the French Department until 2002, specialising in Renaissance and Francophone literature and winning awards for her teaching. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Noakes, Beverley Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource UWA ORAL HISTORIES Description An account of the resource A collection of interviews with former UWA staff, recorded by the <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society" target="_blank">UWA Historical Society</a> to mark the Centenary of the University in 2013. <br />The UWA Historical Society’s <a href="http://www.alumni.uwa.edu.au/community/historical-society/oral-histories" target="_blank">Oral History Program</a> started as a project with four oral histories funded from Society resources. It was then expanded with support from every Faculty on campus, the Guild, Convocation and through private donations. Additional funding was received through a Heritage Grant. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource University of Western Australia Historical Society Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Julia Wallis Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Peter Norgard Location The location of the interview Subiaco, W.A. Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) Interview 1: 33 minutes, 28 seconds Interview 2: 50 minutes, 14 seconds Total: 1 hour, 23 minutes, 42 seconds Bit Rate/Frequency Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio) 128 kbs Time Summary A summary of an interview given for different time stamps throughout the interview Interview 1: Wednesday 12 June 2013 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:37 Track 2 00:00 1958 – Peter is aged 17. Applies for job at UWA. Had junior certificate. Was employed by Telematic Developments – worked on inter communication and recording devices. 01:28 Saw advertisement for lab assistant in Department of Engineering. Called in for interview. A queue of about 10 people waiting to be interviewed. Interviewed by Reader, Keith Taplin. 02:40 Behind him was a large clock. Clunked every 30 seconds. It was a Master Clock. 03:30 Handed to Mr Howard Bundell who took him around the labs. In the workshop he was asked to use a brand new drill to drill a hole in brass. Peter passed the test as he asked to blunt the drill. 04:52 Duly offered the job, had a compulsory X-ray to show he was TB free. Started the job just after Easter in 1958 05:18 Track 3 00:00 Original department of engineering was near Shenton House and the dairy was used to house a compressor. Civil, Mechanical and Electrical engineering were all together and housed in buildings that had been used by the US army in the second world war to house the Catalina flying boats. 01:19 Peter’s job was to put out the lab equipment. Lectures were in the morning and labs in the afternoon. The labs used machines that were once used in industry. 02:20 The DC machines came from the Collie coal mines. They were full of coal dust. 02:51 Afternoon tea was taken in the lab and staff and students sat down together while Peter made preparations for the next part of the lab experiments. 03:21 The DC current which was used to power the machines was a generator which came from the Waroona milk factory. They donated it to the university went they went over to AC current. Peter believes the generator is still housed in the basement of the new department of electrical engineering near Fairway. 03:04 Track 4 00:00 Peter was treated very well by staff and students. Being the young apprentice he had the menial jobs and tricks played on him 01:04 In his previous job Peter worked at various jobs around town and was not treated that way. People thought it was a ‘black art’. It was a dramatic change to work at UWA where the students were the same age as him. He even knew some of them. 01:41 He joined the Engineers Club and initiated along with all the other first year engineers. 02:02 A wonderful atmosphere – no distinct divide between staff and students. Small student numbers: 9-13. 02:42 The first female electrical engineering students would have joined in the mid-70s. There was no barrier, it just didn’t happen. Women have proved very good at design work. 03:40 The female staff was mainly clerical and administrative. In the 1970s, female lecturing academics joined 04:09 The department has grown hugely. Peter knew about valves and then the semi-conductor was brought into production (a transistor). It rocked his knowledge to the foundations 05:15 The university degree course was more academic but in the early days the practical side was stressed. Students had to spend 3 months of their final year in industry. 06:28 Engineering students had to know a little bit about civil, mechanical and electrical in order to be able to work with each other. Today there are much more specialised. The recent mining boom has put a lot more emphasis on practical skills again. 07:31 Track 5 00:00 Peter had to work for other departments. They would pool equipment or machinery. One of Peter’s early jobs was to do the amplification in halls and lecture theatres which didn’t have built in sound systems. 00:54 Peter had to lower down high quality RCA microphones through the ceiling of Winthrop Hall to record symphony concerts. 01:31 It also included functions all over the university inside and outside. There was a sound shell at the Somerville Auditorium. Peter had to climb up the very tall pine trees to put up directional microphones or loud speakers 02:43 George Munns the groundsman was in charge of the grounds and did not appreciate Peter driving his Morris Minor full of sound equipment over his pristine lawns. 03:33 There are still sand buckets in the roof of the old Chemistry Building to put out incendiary bombs during WW2. They were also in the top of Winthrop Hall. 04:20 The new Arts Building had its own built in sound system. From the 1970s there was no need to take equipment into the lecture theatres to record sound. 05:33 Peter was asked to set up the sound for when PM Menzies delivered a talk in the old Ref Building at the official opening. Peter recorded the audio for the UWA archives. At the finish of the lecture the Commonwealth Police confiscated the tape to check it was all bona fide. 07:10 Track 6 00:00 Peter also recorded the occasion of the Royal Visit on 25 March 1963 in Winthrop Hall. Security was all vetted before the visit, including background checks on Peter himself. 01:43 Peter was concentrating so hard on making sure that the quality of the audio was good, that he does not remember the content of the Queen’s speech! 02:37 Another occasion was a graduation ceremony in Winthrop Hall. Sir Alex Reid was addressing the gathering. He kept moving the mike to one side of the lectern. Keith Taplin insisted that Peter walk down the aisle in the middle of the ceremony and move the microphone. He had to do this three times during the ceremony! 04:08 The tapes were large 12 inch studio quality reels. The tapes came from Atkins Carlyle who was the representatives for Phillips. The microphones were American – Shaw Brothers. The RCA microphone was like a sausage and was suspended from the ceiling at Winthrop Hall. 06:13 Track 7 00:00 The department used to put on exhibitions to the public and prospective students. The engineering exhibition was a big affair and they tried to have a spectacle and a theme. One year Peter made a large Tesla coil 6 feet x 18 inches. He got to draw out a large electrical arc. 02:14 Children were given 30 watt fluorescent tubes to carry around. These lit up as they approached the tesla coil. 02:40 Later in the evening, a PMG detection van turned up because the tesla coil was causing chaos to the television reception in Nedlands! 03:10 Interview 2: Wednesday 26 June 2013 Track 1 00:00 Introduction by Julia Wallis 00:40 Track 2 00:00 Interaction with students. Initiation into Engineering in the old Broadway Picture Theatre 01:08 Socials held in Winthrop Hall – before the organ was installed. The Engineers Ball was held here each year. Also graduation ceremonies. 02:49 The Undercroft was used for bbqs and social gatherings. At one stage it was not enclosed. 03:20 The intake of overseas students caused a shift in culture, food styles and social activities. 04:00 No liquor outlets on campus. Alcohol was banned from the campus but the students managed to get around this! 04:30 Pranks in graduation ceremony when sheep were driven in. Students made ghostly noises through the glass in Winthrop Hall. 06:09 Cacti garden in Engineering Garden turned into “Cacti Nicotini” garden. 07:28 Stolen road roller caused damage and ended up crashed into the Reflection Pool. 08:22 Rivalry between engineers and lawyers. The tug of war. 11:00 The bath tub race on the Swan River was very popular but upset the Swan River Trust when bath tubs sank in the river. 13:26 PROSH is another student tradition. It used to take the form of a parade through Perth. 15:09 The medical students took materials from Robbs Jetty and threw that around. The Engineering truck threw water melons. Peter rode an eccentric wheeled bicycle. One time a medical student hit Peter on his German helmet with a cow bone and knocked him out. 19:28 Track 3 00:00 The rural aspect of the campus. It was smaller. Many buildings from WW2. Sheep kept in an enclosure near Shenton House. Along Fairway there was bush and cows. The groundsmen had a stable for their work horse. Rabbits were a huge problem. 03:12 One of Peter’s jobs was to set non-lethal possum traps. They would be released but would find their way back. 03:56 In later years the peacocks were introduced. They would fly around campus and interrupt ceremonies with their loud calls. 05:11 The Engineering building took over most of the bush between James Oval and Fairway. Demand for electricity on campus meant that a substation had to be built on campus. 06:00 Gradually the campus became built up and the bushland disappeared. 06:30 There were workshops situated on the southern end of campus – carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters, and a sign writer. The university used to be able to maintain itself. 09:27 Track 4 00:00 Research included trying to solve problems such as global warming and pollution and solution such as electric powered motor vehicles, solar cells and wind turbines. 02:42 UWA helped the Museum of WA with their 1910 Brougham electric motor vehicle 03:41 An experimental electric motor was also fitted on a mini van especially with regard to improving the efficiency of acceleration and braking. This project was led by Dr Leary in the mid-1970s. 04:45 These experiments are continuing today with a Lotus sports car 05:59 The department has done experimentation with solar cells that were on the roof to test for efficiency. This project was led by John Livingstone. 06:46 Vertical wind turbines were another project. They were made in the workshops and installed at the switch yard terminals at Ballajura. It was later moved to Buckland Hill and was there until the tail end of a cyclone destroyed it. The horizontal wind turbine has proved to be a better design. 09:31 Track 5 00:00 When Peter first came to UWA the department were working on a project to design and build a computer to assist with the simulation of distribution of power in the south west. Howard Bundell and Duncan Steven christened it TAC (Transformer Analogue Computer). The three banks of equipment were as big as a bedroom wardrobe. 02:22 Vacuum tubes were used then semi-conductors. Then printed circuits made possible the reduction in size of electronic equipment. Lasers became very useful in nearly every field. 03:29 Calculators were very simplistic in the early days. The first electronic calculator could only display 3 digits at a time. 04:45 Robotic machinery has become very useful now. All these technological changes have taken place since Peter started work at UWA. 05:35 UWA had a lot of interaction with universities in Australia and around the world. For a small university it has a good reputation in this field. 07:08 Track 6 00:00 Retirement in 2007. The retirement booklet with photos of all the staff many holding banners saying “Happy Retirement”. James Wong in the computer section did the cartoons. 02:10 Feels very lucky to have spent his life at UWA. He thought of leaving for a better job with more money several times but the work, the people and the environment at UWA were too good to leave. Towards the end, bureaucracy was starting to creep in and this was a little bit frustrating. 03:25 It was a very social department at times. Peter considers Yianni Attikouzel to have been a very good head of department. 05:11 Audio Files Links to audio files <a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/33b0f8136cd5333d71799bd07db40bd7.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/68bfb800285a4102a3e2a1697ac45d9f.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b25145d5428664de7097aad7e6d41c09.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/c80d053d35a1ea702cd84c167f6848b4.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/97d346c6b0a3f275dedb356a9bb12a58.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/da865b42acd3e4ab3b8b64963eab8198.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 6</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/8a5d094a931b7a6341398cd4f065b17f.mp3">Norgard, Interview 1, Track 7</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/136fbec2e91208d8ac39f38015577e2e.mp3">Norgard, Interview 2, Track 1</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/937ceea5ab333f571e97a7145ec48656.mp3">Norgard, Interview 2, Track 2</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/b452634556b34ef93840392de4de1343.mp3">Norgard, Interview 2, Track 3</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/e3a12bd9e2cdd6d322fced5bf26a768a.mp3">Norgard, Interview 2, Track 4</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/f4285b8bdfd04e64eadaf0440f316ce9.mp3">Norgard, Interview 2, Track 5</a> <br /><a href="http://oralhistories.arts.uwa.edu.au/files/original/0566798eb9744440605fe13b70a1d042.mp3">Norgard, Interview 2, Track 6</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Peter Norgard interview, 12 June 2013 and 26 June 2013 Subject The topic of the resource Electrical Engineering Description An account of the resource This is an interview with Peter Norgard, recorded on 12 and 26 June 2013. Peter Norgard worked as a Technical Officer in Electrical Engineering from 1958 to 2007. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Norgard, Peter Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available University of Western Australia Historical Society Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Copyright holder University of Western Australia Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource MP3 files Type The nature or genre of the resource Oral History