The End
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- V
As each year passed and our children grew, we realised that it would not be long before we would need an additional bedroom. I also needed a study as I did so much work at home. We did not know whether to extend the house or buy another. After making many sketches for additions, we asked Colin Bourne, of our square dance days, to advise us. Colin was a building supervisor, looked at our plans, thought they were feasible, but advised against extension. ‘For the area, you will overcapitalise the site,’ he said.
We looked at houses for sale. A real estate agent kept wanting to show us a particular home in Como, but I would not look at it because it was over £10,000. I said I could not afford it.
‘The owner is a farmer from South Africa,’ said the agent. ‘Little by little he has been bringing money out from South Africa, as there is a limit on what he can bring in any one year. Now he has enough to buy his farm here, once he sells his Como house. I am sure he will come down in price, so you should look at it.’
We did. The price came down to £8,750, our bank manager approved, and we bought it. We liked the home, which was at 34 Lockhart Street on the corner of Greenock Avenue. This was 1964 and we were very happy there for a few years until unexpected events took us to Nedlands. The house met all our needs: Three bedrooms, a study, lounge-dining room, kitchen with breakfast nook, a bathroom and laundry - with an additional shower room off the laundry. A single garage was under the main roof and gave entry to the study. For the first time we had a hot water system that gave hot water throughout the house. The block of land was big, and we had space for the children to play.
By this time, Peter had transferred to Wesley College. There were more local children nearby than there had been in South Perth, and our children soon developed a “gang” of friends. Many years later, in 1994, Judith reflected on this11.
My memories of my childhood are peaceful and happy, with loving parents at home, and plenty of freedom. I loved dolls and collected, and made, an abundance of them, but I was always a tomboy. I roamed around the streets and lanes in South Perth and Como with my brother in a gang, building tree-houses, underground tunnels and engaging in various forms of childhood guerilla warfare. Although I didn't enjoy schoolwork particularly, I loved the old house that had been converted to a school, and playing on and under the long, winding verandahs.
These were happy times for our family. We loved going to the beach in summer and taking picnics in the hills in autumn and spring. Hardly a week went by without contact with other members of our family. We often visited Kay's sister Doreen and husband John, with their two young boys Stephen and Bruce. Many a Sunday afternoon we all visited Kay's parents at their home in East Fremantle, and we would sit down to a high-tea with a table laden with goodies, while conversation was never ending. If we were not visiting Kay's family, then we would visit my parents. They still lived in the Mt. Lawley home, but had built a "hideaway" home in Warnbro. We often went there on the weekend, walking over to the nearby beach for a swim in the beautiful turquoise water. Warnbro bay seemed untouched by human hand, very few people lived as yet in the district and, once over the sandhills, the sight of the wide sweeping bay bordered by a white sandy beach induced a feeling of tranquility. A Sunday morning swim, a return to the house for a beer before lunch, was a strong inducement to a nap after lunch while the children played outside. It was a happy life.
11 Rumble Family Register, 1994, page 596
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WE MOVE TO COMO FAMILY LIFE I JOIN A ROSTRUM CLUB
- VI
On reflection, I realise that Colin Bourne played a significant part in my life and that I have much for which to thank him. It was through him that I met Kay. It was through him that I joined a Rostrum club, and it was through him that I became a member of the Apex Club of South Perth. These club memberships played an important part in my development.
Colin approached me in 1956 and persuaded me to join his Rostrum Club. This organisation, devoted to the development of public speaking skills, had several clubs, and ours met in the centre of the city for a dinner meeting regularly. My inbuilt instinct of fear warned me not to join. However, I knew that university faculty and other meetings caused me much tension; very often, with pounding heart, I hesitated to speak, although I had something to say. The penalty was to hear someone else make my point, less well than I would have done. I needed to master these fears, and the Rostrum club was one possible way.
I developed a technique to help me: If there was something that I knew I should do, but found the fear of action too great, I would invent a series of stepping stones. Each step was small enough to be faced, and each step, having been taken, made it difficult to go back. Saying `Yes' to Colin, when he asked me to join, was such a step. It committed me to action. Taking part in the club was another step.
About twenty men met around a long dining table in a private room of a city hotel. At the end, sat the chairman of the night, drawn by rotation from the membership. Also present was an experienced speaker, who acted as critic. Over the meal the chairman conducted the meeting, which included three members selected at the previous meeting to give short, prepared speeches on specified topics. Each gave his speech, and then the critic appraised them. I noted with some relief that the critic was always very easy on the new and inexperienced member, while being severe on the seasoned speaker. Newcomers were spared hash criticism, but learnt from that of others, until they themselves became experienced. It was good training.
The idea of Rostrum was born in the mind of Sidney Wicks, in Manchester, in 192312.
Sidney Wicks understood the vital role of public speaking in the life of a successful man and created an organisation that would help men to master the art of speaking in public. In 1930 it spread to Australia where it grew to comprise a series of clubs in each State. Most clubs met weekly. Each meeting had one or more speakers, rostered for the occasion. Sometimes there were impromptu speeches, and other exercises.
The early stages of a meeting probably present the most difficult task for the chairman. All the customary items: apologies, reports, general business and announcements being dealt with against a background of late arrivals and other interruptions. Later, the chairman must introduce the speakers and call on the critic. He learns how to handle all situations that may arise and does so under the watchful eye of the critic, who later points out his strengths and weaknesses. The critic is not simply a fault-finder. He analyses every aspect of the meeting and comments constructively on each. A good critic is an instructor.
The prepared speech, for which I had at least a week's notice, gave me no trouble, but sharpened my use of language and helped me avoid hackneyed phrases. What struck fear into me was the impromptu speech. In our club, this took the form of “the pertinent question”. No one knew who would be asked to pose the question, or which two members would be asked to respond.
12
The following section is taken from Cecil Carr & Alan Foyster, Take the Chair, 1962, an Australian Rostrum Council publication, page 39
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It would go something like this:
‘Now that we have concluded general business, I call upon Colin Bourne to ask the pertinent question, and John Fall and Mike Jones to respond. ’
Every member had a pertinent question in mind, should he be asked. Colin rose to his feet.
‘My question, Mr Chairman, concerns the current trouble in the Middle East. Was President Nasser of Egypt justified recently in seizing the Suez Canal?’
I had to take the floor and give a two-minute answer to this question. The question could be local or international. It might be about the reclaiming of Mounts Bay to provide the proposed Narrows bridge traffic interchange system, or it might be something trivial and humorous. Whatever it was, I found it an ordeal in anticipation but, once started, I coped reasonably.
Never will I forget the first time I took the chair. Although I had attended many university committee meetings, never had I been chairman. Sometimes, one or two members, having been in the bar before dinner, paid little attention to the meeting, and disrupted it with loud, private conversation. I had such a situation, and determined that it would not cause trouble. I felt tense throughout the meeting, and it showed. The critic told me that I had controlled the meeting well, but that I had held the reigns too tightly. He reminded me that, although we had business to get through in a tight time schedule - and this I had achieved - the Rostrum meeting was also a social occasion. It was a gathering of friends, and my job, as chairman, was to act as host, creating an atmosphere in which fellowship could flourish. He gave me a few hints on how I might have handled the situation better.
This was good training. As a chairman became more experienced, members purposefully provided ever more opportunity for him to practice techniques for handling difficult situations. I learnt much, not only about public speaking, but about how to conduct an efficient but relaxed meeting. In later years this experience was invaluable, although it did little to lessen my fears. It simply showed me how better to cope with any situation in spite of fear.
Our departure for England at the end of 1957 brought my membership of Rostrum to an end, but it was not long after our return that Colin again influenced me in a much more profound way than through Rostrum membership. Towards the end of 1961 - our first year back home - Colin approached me and invited me to a meeting of the Apex Club of South Perth, of which he was a member. The club met twice monthly for a dinner meeting at the Raffles hotel, near Canning bridge in South Perth.
He told me that Apex - of which I had heard, but knew nothing - was a young man's service club. To be a member one must be between the age of eighteen and forty. At forty, there was compulsory retirement because, as Colin put it, it is then that hardening of the mental arteries sets in. A young man's club did not want to be influenced by the inherent conservatism of older men. It wanted members who were idealists and had vigour in both mind and body. It was a “service” club, because its purpose was to serve the community altruistically, and was affiliated with many other such clubs throughout the world. In Britain there were the Round Table clubs, and in USA and Canada, the 2030 clubs. The clubs differed from the better known Rotary clubs in that members were younger and generally less “well-heeled” than Rotary members. Whereas Rotary members helped by putting their hands in their pockets to provide funds, Apex members rolled up their sleeves and undertook physical service. I agreed to go with him to the club one night.
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- VII
Colin told me that members usually met in the hotel bar at 6.30 pm for half an hour of fellowship before the dinner-meeting. No alcohol was allowed at the meeting itself. When we arrived, Colin introduced me to an assembled throng of jovial Apexians, all of whom seemed to know one another very well. Mike Allen was a big fellow with a correspondingly big presence. He was the sales manager of a firm that dealt in large agricultural machinery. He looked like he could sell anyone, anything. Alistair Campbell was a school teacher, Vinc. Cooper, a pharmacist, and Derek Cole, an industrial chemist, turned paint-manufacturer. I was to discover that members came from all walks of life: There was a banker, a clerk, a registered builder, several engineers, an accountant, a man in real estate, an insurance inspector and others. They represented a much wider cross-section of the community than I usually met in the rarefied atmosphere of academic life.
I thought that I was simply a guest for the night - but it soon became obvious that I was being checked for possible membership. Membership was by invitation only, and anyone could be invited as a visitor for up to three meetings. The Club then decided whether that person should be invited to join.
When we had taken our place at the dinner table, the president, Alan Stephens, opened the meeting. Although short in stature, he spoke with the authority of maturity. He was a journalist by trade, had a peg-leg due to a World War II injury, and was almost forty years of age.
‘Right, quieten down, please. I call on Eric James to recite the invocation and then Colin Wansbrough to give us the ideals of Apex.’
Eric, a thirty-five year old banker, rose to his feet.
‘For good food,
‘For good fellowship,
‘And the privilege to serve,
We give thanks.’
Then came Colin, a thirty-four year old accountant:
‘The ideals of Apex are:
‘To make the ideal of service the basis of all enterprise.
‘To develop by example a more intelligent and aggressive citizenship.
‘To provide a means of forming enduring friendship, rendering altruistic service and building better communities.
‘To promote international understanding and friendship.’
Colin recited these by memory, and then resumed his seat.
Alan welcomed me and one other guest to the Club and then the waitresses served the set meal. Business proceeded during the meal, as Alan called on one member of the board after another to make their reports.
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Apex clubs are organised around portfolios. Besides the usual offices of President, Treasurer and Secretary, there was the Service director - who organised service activities, the Commissar, who made arrangements with the hotel, and the Socials director. Someone was responsible for promoting public speaking, another for “Service to Youth” and yet another member looked after “International Relations” and Publicity. Finally, one member of the board took responsibility for Club membership. Colin Bourne, who was the Service director, told me that the board met regularly to organise Club matters.
‘Would Colin now give us his service report?’
The president interrupted my train of thought, and Colin rose to his feet, scowled benevolently at everyone and looked at a notebook that he held in his hand.
‘Thank you, Alan,’ he began, ‘I have both good and bad news for you. Last weekend we completed the clean up for Mrs Mills of Riverton. Thanks to all those who put in the hard work. You will remember that she has been a widow for six years, has little behind her and works part-time in the canteen at Swan Cottage Homes. Those of you who didn't turn up, missed out on the scones and cream she gave us when the job was done. That's the good news. Now for the bad!
‘I have here the record of the number of service hours that each of you has put in during the year. You all know that, as members, you commit yourself to a minimum number of hours on average per month. Some of you have exceeded that minimum by a long way, and that is great, but there are others - and I won't mention names - you will know if this applies to you - who have a woeful record this year. This is frankly not good enough. I know you may claim that you have been busy, but service work is a grass-roots activity of Apex, so I want you to put in a big effort, as it is almost the end of the year.
‘For each of the next two Sundays I have work lined up at the Swan Cottage homes. We have done a lot of work for them, helping to clear and tidy their grounds as more and more units are built for elderly people. I need ten people at least on each day. And then I need someone to chop wood again for eighty-year-old Mrs Coppin.’
‘I did it for Mrs Coppin last time.’ This was George Prgomet, and I realised that I had been to school with him at Aquinas, but had not recognised him. ‘I'm happy to do it again for her. It's not far from my place.’
‘Thanks, George. I'll leave that to you. Now I want names of people for the Swan Cottage Homes. And I want those of you with low service hours to fall in line.’
Colin took names, and badgered a few with poor service records into committing themselves, before he resumed his seat. As I came to know the club better, I realised that my friend Colin was a life-force within it. A hard worker himself, and a building supervisor and organiser by profession, he would rarely take “no” for an answer. With good humour, he cajoled members into living up to their membership commitments and, although a few sometimes grumbled at his stand-over tactics, his own commitment and enthusiasm did much to make South Perth a strong club.
Now it was Lew Eborall's turn, as IR director, to take the floor. Lew was a teacher.
‘As you know, president Alan, we've had a good year in the International Relations portfolio this year but, as we discussed at last week's board meeting, we have committed ourselves to one last activity for the year. The University year is almost over and the long vacation will start in two weeks
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from now. Many Singaporean and Malaysian students will be returning home, but there are also many who will be staying here.
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I have been in contact with the Albany club and they have agreed to host up to twelve overseas students for a week by showing them the district and billeting them with members on farms. I have a list of the students who want to take part and all we must do, as a club, is organise to pick them up and take them to the bus on the day and collect them from the bus on their return. I think four cars would be enough. Can I have volunteers? It will only commit you to about an hour and a half each time.’
Lew took the names of volunteers, and the meeting moved on. I was very impressed with the club and its commitment to worthwhile activities.
Alan Stephens addressed the floor: ‘A few months' ago we held a very successful progressive dinner and I think our Socials Director, Ken Crofts, has some thoughts on holding another.’
By the time Ken had finished, the progressive dinner was organised. The idea was that all members drove to one person's home for a few drinks. They then moved to a second person's home for entree; they progressed yet again for the main course, and again for desserts. I was to discover, later, how pleasant were these activities.
There was one other ritual in the club, copied from the Rotary clubs, and this was a "fines" session. As a lighthearted break during the business session, the "fines master" for the week - appointed at the previous meeting -rose, and extracted small sums of money from various members by recounting misdemeanours they had allegedly committed. Most were based on half-truths, and were told in jocular fashion, with much mirth among the members as someone parted with his money. I later discovered that the fines master usually circulated during pre-dinner fellowship in the bar, collecting stories that he could use. (See Appendix F, page 723, for one example where I was fined.)
I went home from my first experience of an Apex club very impressed. The objectives and ideals appealed to me, as did the comradeship that was evident among the members. It was not long before I was invited to join the club. I did so at the beginning of 1962 and became heavily involved immediately.
- VIII
At the meeting during which I was inducted into the club, Alan Stephens announced that we had lost our secretary. Another was needed immediately, but no one volunteered. On the spur of the moment, I offered my services and so found myself promoted from raw recruit to board member at my first dinner meeting as a member. Perhaps it was not completely a spur of the moment gesture.
When I saw that no one volunteered, I did some quick thinking. I was much attracted to the ideals of Apex and I liked those who were current board members. They were people of action, and people from whom I could learn. While I was not ready for an action-taking portfolio, it occurred to me that the quickest way to understand the club was to be a board member with no initiating responsibilities. The secretary's job was ideal. I took the minutes of the Club and Board meetings, and wrote such letters as were required. While at the board meeting I could look and learn.
I discovered that clubs did not operate in isolation, but that there was a tight national structure starting with a National Executive that maintained contact with similar organisations overseas, and from which a general, but loose policy emanated via an annual Association Convention. The convention
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might adopt a nationwide service project - such as donating blood to the Red Cross, or assisting paraplegic organisations. Clubs were encouraged, but not bound, to adopt these projects. Beneath the National Executive there were the Zones, roughly one per State. We were in Zone 4. The zones, in turn, were divided into Districts, with several clubs in each district. Each district elected a District Governor, whose responsibility it was to keep contact with, and encourage vitality within his clubs. He also sat on the Zone Board.
An individual club sometimes sponsored the formation of a new club. South Perth was formed by Victoria Park Club, while it sponsored Melville Club during my period of membership. Sponsoring a new club was a serious business, and the manner of doing it was laid down strictly. One or two members from South Perth took responsibility for looking after the embryonic Melville club, encouraging members to join, and guiding those members so that the new club absorbed the culture and ideals of Apex. Only when the new club was on its feet and had a credible record behind it, could it apply for official national recognition.
Everyone was encouraged to visit other clubs and to attend district and zone conventions but, for most people, awareness of this national structure was very much in the background, while inter-club visiting was limited by the cost of attending the meetings of other clubs and finding the time to do so. The life of most members centred strongly on their own club.
Nothing was more important to the vitality and life of a club than its service record. We were very fortunate to have Colin Bourne as service director, and then George Prgomet. Working as a supervisor in the Commonwealth Department of Works, and being a man of completely unlimited enthusiasm, Colin was made for the job. George Prgomet was a civil engineer with a blunt and forceful character who, if he could not persuade members to contribute their time to service by gentle persuasion, would bludgeon them into action with a strong tongue and stand-over tactics. George was one of the many characters who made the club what it was. He dominated others to get his way, but his intentions were always good. We all accepted him, often laughed at him, and told him that we pitied his poor wife. He took the good-hearted camaraderie in his stride. George was a man who felt strongly about many things and became incensed at government bungling, or plain injustice. Long after I had left Apex, it was not unusual to see a letter in the West Australian or local community newspaper by George, whenever a particular public issue stirred him.
In a practical way Bruce Dawkins, a registered builder, made many otherwise difficult projects possible. Most members were willing, but lacked the skills of an experienced handyman. Bruce showed us how to do a job, often lending his own tools. Not only did the job get done, but members learnt useful skills that they could apply around their own home.
I enjoyed small jobs to help individuals in need: pensioners or widows who wanted their house painted, their fence mended, their garden tidied or their wood chopped. Spending a morning with three other members painting a house while engaging in lighthearted conversation was an ideal way to forge friendships and that feeling of bonding, so important to the club. Invariably the pensioner invited us in for morning tea and wanted us to linger while she showed us her family photo album and remembered more active, happier days. Such people were lonely and welcomed the chance to talk to a group of young men even more than having their gate rehung on its hinges.
Occasionally people took advantage of us. One member reported that he had gone to investigate a case where a widow wanted someone to chop wood for her, as she could not do it herself. The club approved the project and a member went around one Sunday morning. When he had almost finished,
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three strapping sons appeared and lounged around looking at him, while they drank cans of beer. He felt that he and Apex were being used. However, most service jobs were well worth doing.
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FORMING A NEW CLUB APEX SERVICE WORK
Once, we adopted a seventeen-year-old spastic boy who could do nothing for himself. Living at home, his parents never got a break, so our club members on weekends took it in turns to pick him up and take him out to watch a football match or to take part in another activity. He was very excited when Vinc. Cooper and John Court - our secondhand car salesman - took him sailing on the river.
Another class of service job was more impersonal. At my first meeting I had discovered that we gave help to the development of Swan Cottage Homes. The idea of clustering small home units together with a central amenities block, a nursing station and other facilities was new to Perth, but later many others developed. These were intended for those older people who wished to maintain an independent lifestyle but who found the upkeep of their family home beyond them. Swan Cottage Homes comprised small units set in landscaped gardens. The central authority maintained all the facilities, but occupiers could look after a small garden of their own, if they wished. These homes were in Bentley, not far from South Perth, and Richard Cleaver who was a member of parliament and chairman of the Swan Cottage Homes group, approached us to provide labouring assistance, such as lawn planting. We did this for some time.
More satisfying was the work we did for Ngala Mothercraft Centre for single mothers in nearby Kensington. Matron Beryl Grant was in charge and approached our club to help with laying paths and establishing the grounds. The centre catered for live-in single mothers, and helped them reestablish themselves after their children were born. At the end of a day's work, Beryl always invited us to afternoon tea to show her appreciation for what we voluntarily did for the centre. When other clubs learnt of our work, they ribbed us unmercifully, asking what we, as a group of young men, had to do with unmarried mothers. They suggested that we were trying to assuage our guilty consciences for our own past indiscretions. In the 1960s it was still a serious stigma to be an “unmarried mother”, and many still had a hard time. By the 1990s Ngala had become a “Family Resource Centre” for parents with young children.
At Zone level, Apex maintained a holiday camp at Point Peron, near Rockingham. During the annual long school holidays, they invited groups of disadvantaged youngsters from remote inland areas to spend two weeks by the sea. They held three such camps during the six weeks holiday period. While Apex was a men's club, wives always became involved in the holiday camps as several couples would take the responsibility of running each camp. The camps required annual maintenance and this responsibility was often taken by Colin Bourne and the South Perth Club. Colin organised a group of our members to have a weekend live-in holiday at the camp but insisted that, when we took up residence, the men must spend much of their time in maintenance work before they could relax around a barbecue and a few drinks late afternoon and early evening.
Regular dinner meetings, together with shared, happy and satisfying activities, bound club members together and, in the security of an accepting group, enabled them to try new responsibilities, make mistakes, and learn from them. Our public speaking activities were a good example of this. Although public speaking was a minor club activity compared with Rostrum, it was nonetheless recognised that the ability to speak with confidence was an important part of leadership training. Each year, during the winter months, we had public speaking sessions during dinner, and one of our own club members acted as critic.
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A good example was that of Alan Goerke, a thirty-one year old, who worked in his family's brass foundry business. A relatively new member, Alan had never spoken in public. When he was scheduled to speak at the next dinner meeting he was very nervous, wrote his speech and committed it to memory, word for word. When called on to give his address, he rose, said a few introductory words and then his mind went blank. He could not remember a single word of his carefully prepared speech. He stopped, went red in the face and became flustered. Finally, almost in tears, he gave up, and sat down. This was a most embarrassing moment for him, and one he probably never forgot, but he was amongst friends, where such behaviour was both understandable and acceptable. A few years later, Alan became an accomplished president of the club. He had learnt that the way to present a speech was not to remember it word for word. He had learnt how to relax and how to cope with any situation.
Apex was excellent for leadership training and there were few members who did not gain more than they gave - although not all realised the personal benefits that came from active participation. Each year at the Annual General Meeting we elected new members to the board. Each year, these members had opportunity to take responsibility for a portfolio. They learnt the skills of organisation and they learnt the skills of working with, and of directing, a team. Some were anxious about taking on a new, untried responsibility, but there were always others in the club who had done the job before and who could be trusted to offer a guiding hand.
Not all club activities were serious. At the annual general meeting, we always provided lighthearted entertainment. I was the only academic in the club so, one year, I invited two other members to my house for several evenings where we agreed to provide an item of entertainment. We would give ludicrous degrees to various club members, picking out and exaggerating their weak points in a lighthearted way. We had more fun in my home than on the actual night, but had to censor the more suggestive verses that we concocted. At the AGM, we appeared before club members dressed in academic gowns and carried a collection of scrolls, each being a degree for some supposed outlandish quality. I had composed a little ditty to a catchy tune, not unlike something from Gilbert and Sullivan, the beginning of which went something like this:
Oh we come from the University
With a tra-la-la-la, diddle, diddle da,
As anyone can plainly see,
With a tra-la-la-la-la.
Oh we come from halls of high learning
To dispense degrees to those yearning
With a tra-la-la-la, diddle, diddle da,
With a tra-la-la-la-la.
With cap and gown, make no mistake With a tra-la-la-la, diddle, diddle da, It will cost your plenty if degrees you'll take With a tra-la-la-la-la. . .
We sang many verses, but stopped after the second verse while one of our number called some hapless member before us and read out an outrageous citation, to the delight of other members, but to the embarrassment of the man standing before us. Then we presented him with his degree and sang another verse before calling someone else before us. We had typed the song and our citations on to toilet rolls, which we slowly unwound as we went along.
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APEX PUBLIC SPEAKING, LEADERSHIP TRAINING - SOCIAL ACTIVITIES - MY IDEALISM
This event was a great success. John Webb even framed his degree and hung it on the wall of his home. John was a real estate agent; many years earlier his family had bought up most of Riverton and Rossmoyne when it was unwanted bush. Now, the land was in demand and John was probably the most well-to-do amongst us.
Unfortunately he had a problem. He often came to the meeting drunk, and seemed unable to limit his partiality for alcohol. The Club offered him a novel challenge: Stay off the alcohol for six months, and prove to us that you can go that long without taking a single drop. If you can, we will donate you a ten-gallon keg of beer! John accepted the challenge and, although it was a struggle, kept to the conditions for six months. We duly presented him with the keg, and he invited the whole club to his house to consume it.
Wives took part in many of our social activities, such as our progressive dinners. To some people's annoyance, Colin Bourne always insisted that we have "fun" and he would arrive with a list of childish party games that he insisted we play. In one game we lined up in two teams, with husbands and wives always in different teams. The person at the head of each line had to hold an orange between his chin and neck. The line was arranged alternately with men and women. The first man had to pass the orange to the woman behind him, without using his hands, so that she held it between her chin and neck. She, in turn, had to pass it to the next man, and so on.
If it was not oranges, then it was matchboxes, pressed on to the nose of the first person and then passed from nose to nose. No wonder we all groaned when Colin, with his immense enthusiasm, suggested that we play another game.
For the first time in my life I was a member of a group to which I felt I belonged. I developed a great commitment to, and enthusiasm for Apex, but found that it often fell short of its ideals. I thought about this and, at the end of the first year, wrote the following statement, which I showed privately to our president Alan Stephens:
DISCUSSION, OPINION & LEADERSHIP IN APEX
In its members, Apex encourages leadership: Leadership in ideas and vision; leadership in action and by example. But, as Graham Grose said at the 28th Association convention, Apex itself provides only the opportunity. It is for each Zone, each District, each Club and each member to grasp that opportunity for self-development. It is only by each member expressing himself in thought, word and deed, and identifying himself with Apex and its aims that this leadership can, and will be developed.
As my first year of Apex apprenticeship closes, I can look back on what I once thought Apex to be, and what I now find it to be. Our handbook recommends that new floor members should be given an opportunity, first to observe, and then to comment on facets of Apex life. I have been fortunate at being placed very early in a Board position where, without the responsibility of action, I have had the opportunity of observing my club in all its levels. I have had, too, the opportunity of attending, in my first year, an Association convention.
Twelve moths ago Apex, to me, was a name. Nine months ago it was an ideal. Today, it is an opportunity. I have always been an idealist; when I first joined South Perth Club and recited the ideals, I looked on each member as an active protagonist of them. When I realised that Apex did not retain inactive members, I looked for strength, unanimity and single-mindedness of purpose. I forgot that the other members, like myself, were human beings with both weaknesses and strengths, but most of all, with their differences.
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I discovered that not all Apex members were cast in the same mould, but that each brought his own qualities. Everyone was presented with the same opportunities, but each member reacted in his own way, giving to Apex according to his available time and according to the extent to which Apex moved him to service and citizenship.
The key words in our ideals are Fellowship, Service and Citizenship. I now find that we do not live up to these ideals as well as we might. It is easy to regard Apex as a social club, to enjoy the fellowship but make little other contribution to it. It is easy to fulfil a minimum of spade and shovel service work without ever aspiring to more aggressive, more useful kinds of service. It is easy to forget that citizenship and leadership should be forever encouraged.
If we wish to become better citizens, and give better service, we should never be complacent; we should never be satisfied, but we should concentrate on education and action. Not only new members, but all members need constant Apex education.
The first requirement for action is to think. To think hard, clearly and boldly about our aims and about the means to best seek our ends. Too many matters coming before the club are virtually set aside without thought, or are referred to Directors and are never seen or heard of again. Too little time is spent on "brain-storming" sessions in which we try to form opinion, educate ourselves in service and citizenship, or solve the important problems before us.
Too little time is spent in self analysis, determining our strengths and weaknesses.
In any one year the future of our club lies in the hands of its portfolio directors. Too often, the portfolios drift along. Particularly is this so of portfolios requiring imagination and drive. We often say that the Service portfolio is the most important and exacting. Important, it certainly is, and time consuming, too, but it is a straight-forward portfolio. I think that Apex Action, IR, Publicity, Youth Service are far more exacting and require far more imagination and leadership than the Service portfolio. But this does not appear so because lack of a developed leadership results in inactivity. These portfolios thus appear to be "easy" portfolios.
Too often Director's Board meetings are spent pounding away at minor matters. Too often they follow a set pattern: Minutes, correspondence, Director's reports. They lack drive; they lack inspiration. Too little time is spent in soul searching; too little time is spent in exploring the imagination.
To my mind, a Club, a Board, a District, a Zone, the Association - and the World Council itself - at all levels should be asking these two questions:
- (a)
- What are we doing right now? What is, and how do we best direct current policy? How do we get the best out of our members?
- (b)
- What should we be doing? What tasks of importance could lie before us? In what directions should our helms be set?
We are proposing an agenda item for the District convention “That District conventions are useless.” Never having attended one, I cannot give an opinion, but I would venture to say that they are probably ineffective; before declaring them useless, I should want to know why they are ineffective.
My short experience of Apex and my experience of other societies leads me to make two suggestions.
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I CRITICISE THE CLUB AND TAKE ON THE SERVICE TO YOUTH PORTFOLIO
[1] Individual moral responsibility can easily be sublimated to group moral responsibility: It is easy to shelve one's responsibilities with the attitude "This does not concern me personally, it is a matter for the whole association." This attitude can only be overcome by the identification of the individual with the society.
This must be encouraged by an active and intentional program of individual participation in discussions of aims and needs and activity of the club. Every effort must be made to return responsibility for action to the individual and to educate individuals to assume this responsibility.
[2] Too few members think further than to fellowship and a little spade and shovel service work. A vigorous campaign of self-education and leadership development should be undertaken. We are always admitting new members. What do we do to educate them? Nothing. We could invite them to Board meetings, have special education talks within the club. But even club members of long standing need education. I would suggest that an active attempt be made to form discussion groups to formulate opinion on current questions of importance to us and that this be implemented in three ways:
- (a)
- At Board Level
By planned and active board discussion on fundamental matters with a view to self education.
- (b)
- At Club Level
By club discussions and debates on selected topics to form club opinion. Floor members could be appointed to small committees to undertake fact-finding preparatory to discussion.
- (c)
- At District level
By instituting regular district meetings of club members of particular portfolios, convened by the District Governor to exchange ideas and to discuss generally all aspects of their portfolios.
All the above criticisms apply to all of us, myself included; we should work to expand the horizon of members, to decrease self-interest and to develop service and true leadership. But we cannot force these attitudes on ourselves; we must so educate ourselves that we find ourselves automatically assuming them. The minimum requirements of Apex membership are not great; by proper self-education we can all do much more than the minimum, and enjoy it.
Nothing detracts more from a group than apathetic members, and I would strongly urge that the best kept house contains no dead wood, and we should not hesitate to restrict our members to only those who truly do meet the basic requirements.
Alan read my statement and smiled indulgently. I was obviously naive and had not learnt that control of any organisation is a political process, and that politics is the art of the possible. Ideals are fine as a backdrop, but should never become a matter of excessive zeal. Clearly I did not understand my fellow human beings sufficiently well to realise that many members did not want greater involvement, and would be put off by efforts to encourage them all to live up to the ideals. The Club gave something to everyone, and even relatively inactive members made a contribution. However, as Club president, he took me seriously and suggested that the best way to improve the club was by example.
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I had not yet held an active portfolio. Perhaps I should do so and, as the colloquial phrase goes, “put my feet where my mouth was.”13
I did so by taking on the inactive Service to Youth Portfolio.
- VIII
For some years I had been concerned that young students often came to the university not really knowing what they wanted to do. Many chose engineering when it was inappropriate for them. At the end of their first year they failed and dropped out of the system. I discussed this with John Winfield, the University Guidance Officer. He agreed, but went further. There was very little available to guide young people leaving school about the career possibilities and opportunities open to them. Only one or two schools had guidance officers, and there was no general service available. Often choices were made without information, or with misinformation.
Here was a community need: perhaps my club could initiate a Career Information Service to High Schools. In March 1962 I threw myself into the task, and wrote a list of planning actions:
APEX CAREER INFORMATION SERVICE SCHEME: INITIAL PLANNING
1 Range of Occupations and Professions Assess the range of occupations and professions to be covered
- a.
- by asking Applecross High school guidance officer; Mr Collins, Headmaster of Wesley College, National fitness, Commonwealth Employment Service;
- b.
- by collecting any available pamphlets on occupations;
- c.
- by talking to the Perth Technical College guidance officer about the range of trades and professions covered there, and the information that they could give.
2 Orient the Club to the Guidance and Information problem Organise at least two guest speakers to talk on:
- a.
- What is child guidance? What are the problems involved? What do youngsters need to know, and where and how can Apex help?
- b.
- Past patterns of information presentation.
3 Initial Assessment of the problem
Form a small committee within the club. Each committee member to take an existing career pamphlet and use it to write down a set of possible questions that could be asked, and to form a series of questions whose answers are not contained in the pamphlet. This could then be referred to persons in each particular occupation for comment; then refer it to educationalists for their criticism.
13 It was demonstrated many years later that unless members are inspired by ideals, and actively insist on trying to live up to them, a club dies. South Perth Club became more socially oriented, lost leadership, lost members, and finally closed. I was fortunate to be a member during days of great leadership, strong characters, and a great sense of solidarity among members.
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I PLAN A CAREER INFORMATION SERVICE TO HIGH SCHOOLS
For each occupation, ideas should be grouped as:
- a.
- factual - requiring no comment and capable of graphical display;
- b.
- opinion - and therefore needing individual advice.
From this, gauge the personal needs for each occupation and the best way of presenting the information: graphical? small group discussion? lecturer? printed information?
Soon, I had an enthusiastic committee working with me. In particular, Derek Cole, a thirty-eight year old industrial chemist, who had formed his own company, Colortone Paints, was most helpful, offering a wise and stable head to curb my more excessive enthusiasms. After retiring from Apex, Derek became a member of the South Perth City Council.
We approached the Commonwealth Employment Service, who were very receptive to our plan and agreed to provide funds for the purchase of display boards. Mr Hitchman and Miss Edwards gave us such literature about careers as they had. We visited many people: Jack Williams in Technical Education, to seek aid with visual presentations; Jim Farrell in the PMG training school; Dr Mossenson in Teacher Recruitment. Word got around of what we were doing and soon we found ourselves approached by interested parties. Mr Bain of the Commonwealth Public Service Commissioner's office rang me, and asked if he could be an observer on the night of our pilot study which was to be held at Applecross Senior High School.
It took over a year of intensive work for our committee to prepare the pilot study which was not held until 1963. After much consultation we drew up a list of career areas to be covered. These were:
| 1 | The Automotive Trades | 9 The Public Services |
| 2 | The Metal Trades | 10 The Armed Services |
| 3 | The Building Industry | 11 Teaching |
| 4 5 | The Electrical & Radio Trades Graphic & Applied Arts, and Printing Trades | 12 Medical Ancillaries, including Nursing 13 Clerical, commerce, Banking |
| 6 7 8 | Women's office work: Typistes, Office machinists. Hairdressing and personal services O t h e r n o n -p r of ess i onal occupations for girls. | 14 Sub-professional and technical training through Technical College and School 15 Professional training and careers through Technical College 16 Training and careers through the University. |
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We had our mind on promoting this service to many schools via other Apex Clubs, and realised that the actual areas covered would depend on the size of the school and its needs. Our committee and other club members went through the available literature and wrote lists of information that should be imparted to school children for each area. The committee sought out experts in each field and asked them both to edit our written statements about each career and to suggest the names of people who could form speaker panels in their area - as we could not expect the same person to give a talk at each school.
While this was in progress, I persuaded the printing apprentices in the Technical Education division to print large size posters about each career area, using the copy that eventually emerged from our consultation with the experts. We went to West Australian Newspapers and persuaded them to donate a photographer, and to print large scale photos depicting each area. The enormous goodwill that we received from everyone showed how great was the recognised need for career information to be presented to school children.
There were restraints placed on us, of course. WA Newspapers said we could have the use of a photographer for one half day per career area. With advice from experts in each field, we chose photographic locations, arranged a schedule with commercial and other companies to visit them, and then had a hectic period of driving the photographer from one site to another to obtain the pictures. Much of this work fell on me as my time was more flexible than that of most of our members, who could not take time off from work.
Eventually everything fell into place. We had sixteen double-sided four foot by three foot freestanding boards on which we mounted our photographs and printed information. We already had the cooperation of Applecross High School, which had 1,500 students. The Parents and Citizen's Association and School Principal gave publicity to all parents, and our club members delivered the stands to the school and set them up on a weekend, over one week before the scheduled careers night. For the careers night itself we set up one room for the speaker in each career area, a central room for general career enquiries. We held the career night on a Friday. After school that day, the school children set up the rooms, removing desks and arranging chairs. After the night, on the weekend, our members rearranged the rooms and tidied the school. We tried to give minimal disruption to the school itself. On the evening, experts in each career area attended and presented one session at 7.30 pm and another at 8.30 pm.
At each session the speaker aimed to give children and parents background information about the career area, the nature of training and the range of occupations covered. They also covered a realistic appraisal of career opportunities, and where and how to obtain more information. They concluded with a question and answer session. Every one of our club members was rostered on the night to give back up service.
We had no idea how many people would attend, but had not counted on the West Australian newspaper running an article on our project on Thursday. This brought to the school many parents and their children from around Perth. The Director General of Education told me later that he and his wife decided to attend, but could not park their car within two miles of the school, as several thousand people turned up. The night was a resounding success and it was not long before we repeated it at Wesley College.
During the latter half of 1963, the displays were set up at Perth City Council Chambers, taken to Kalgoorlie and Esperance in October for use in career nights, and used at the Marine Fair in Fremantle where the Department of Industrial Development allocated us space.
Everyone encouraged us to extend the service further, so I set up an Advisory Board with influential people drawn largely from outside Apex, with myself as chairman.
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THE WIDE ADOPTION OF CAREER NIGHTS - INCREASING PRESSURE OF UNIVERSITY WORK
The following people served on this Board:
Mr G.A. Bartlett Mons. J.E. Bourke Miss A.B. Edwards
Mr E.J. Garratt
Mr A.N. Hitchman Mr D.A. Lawe-Davies Miss U. Mitchell
Mr. R. Oakley Mr A. Smith Mr R. Robinson Mr W. Stallwood Mr R.M. Tompkins
Mr F.R. Ware
Mr J.W. Winfield Assistant Registrar, University of WA
Director of Catholic Education Officer-in-charge, Professional Services Office, Department of Labour and National Service
Lecturer, Technical Extension Service, Education Department and
member of the Mt. Hawthorn Apex Club.
Department of Labour and National Service Headmaster, Guildford Grammar School President of the Association of Principals of Independent Schools, and Principal of St. Hilda's Church of England Girls' School
Governor, District 6, Zone 4, Association of Apex Clubs Governor, District 7, Zone 4, Association of Apex Clubs Governor, District 1, Zone 4, Association of Apex Clubs Principal, Applecross Senior High School Superintendent, Guidance and Special Education Branch, Education Department
Officer-in-Charge, Psychology and Counselling Service, Technical
Education Division, Education Department
Acting Guidance
Western Australia. and Appointments Officer, The University of
I wrote a "Career Information Service Handbook", which set out in detail how to organise a career night and, in 1964, the metropolitan Apex clubs of Claremont, Fremantle, Inglewood, Kalamunda, Perth, Rockingham, Scarborough, Subiaco and Victoria Park cooperated with schools in their area to mount a careers night, using our displays. The displays were used at career nights in other country centres.
The entire project was a great success and it was not long before various government agencies and schools took over the idea, so that career nights became a common feature. Having initiated the project, Apex was then able to relinquish it.
An unexpected sequel to this was that I received a letter from Bill Thomas, who worked for the Commonwealth Employment Service and who was the Mayor of South Perth. He wrote to me in his mayoral capacity to tell me that the City of South Perth had voted me "Citizen of the Year", and invited me to a suitable ceremony.
While I became heavily involved with Apex, my professional academic life continued with increasing pressure and commitment. I still carried membership of committees to which I had been appointed on my return from London in 1961. I was a member of the Faculty Higher Degrees committee, the Library and Education committee. I belonged to the University Digital Computer committee and to the Faculty Course Planning committee - which would later take much of my time. In 1962 several members of the Civil Engineering department persuaded me to join the committee of the University Staff Association, as they said the Engineering staff were not represented, and I was the right man for the job. 1964 saw me pick up membership of the “Engineering in History” committee, and of the University Orientation committee. I became a contributor to the Orientation Handbook. I never seemed to drop anything, but became more and more loaded with work. Then, in July 1964, I was appointed Sub-Dean of the Faculty while Alan Billings intimated to me that he wished me to become Acting Head of the Department in 1965 when he would be overseas for twelve months. The total pressure on me became so great that I became ill. Something had to go, and it could not be my career, so I reluctantly resigned from Apex.
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- IX
In the early 1960s I was so busy with Apex and University affairs that I took little notice of other events around me. Since 1957, when Sputnik-I was launched, we constantly read about space exploration. Initially, the newspaper told us at what time a satellite would pass overhead; often we rushed outside and pointed out to Judith and Peter the “shooting star” slowly moving across the sky, and said that it was a satellite. In February 1962 America planned to send its first man - John Glenn into orbit around the earth. When our government discovered that, on its first orbit of the earth, the spacecraft would pass over Perth in the evening, they urged everyone to turn on all their lights as a welcoming sign to the Astronaut. All street lights and public buildings blazed, and we, along with everyone else, turned on all available lights. Perth gained much publicity from this action, as Glenn reported from his craft that he could see the lights of Perth that the residents had left on, especially for him.
We watched with interest the construction of Perry Lakes Stadium and other venues in preparation for the Commonwealth Games held in Perth late in 1962. We drove around the “Games Village” while it was under construction near City Beach, and felt excited when athletes arrived from all over the Commonwealth. While these games brought Perth into contact with people from other parts of the world, our return to Australia from Britain again made the rest of the world and its politics remote from us. Immediately after the cessation of the Second World War, the world had been divided into two major blocs - Western Europe and USA on one hand, and the USSR on the other. The “Cold War” had started.
As long ago as March 1946, Britain's famous wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, speaking from the small town of Fulton, Missouri in the United States, warned:
‘From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the Continent.’
Churchill was master of the apt phrase, and the “Iron Curtain” became synonymous with the Cold War with its breakdown in communications, and the development of mistrust between East and West. Both Russia and the West had atomic and, later, hydrogen bomb capabilities. Both mounted programs of developing these weapons as “ultimate deterrents”. In 1948, the Russians blockaded Berlin and the Western Allies introduced an around-the-clock airlift, flying food and essentials into the city. This lasted until May 1949 when the blockade was broken.
The British government negotiated with Australia to establish a rocket testing facility at Woomera, 240 miles northeast of Adelaide. By late 1953 Britain was testing atomic bombs in the Australian desert. The Australian government became paranoid over the local threat of communism, and Prime Minister Bob Menzies introduced a Communist Party Dissolution Bill that was finally thrown out by the High Court as unconstitutional. Communism became the big bogey, and the United States was drawn into the support of South Korea against the communist North. In the US, senator Joseph McCarthy conducted a witch-hunt against “communists” and found them everywhere, but in 1954 he was condemned for conduct unbecoming to a Senator.
By 1953, the US Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, was warning the world of a possible "domino effect" in South East Asia. He was concerned that in Indo-China the Viet Minh in the north would drive the French out of the country and set up a communist state. Then, he said, the whole of South East Asia would fall under Soviet domination, just like a row of dominoes14. The domino theory was to become a powerful emotional tool used by USA and others in the 1960s and early 1970s. In 1954
14 If dominoes are stood on end in a long row and the first is pushed over, it will collide with the next in line and push it over, and so on, until all dominoes have fallen.
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WORLD AND AUSTRALIAN AFFAIRS LEADING TO THE 1960s
at Dien Bien Phu, the French fortress in Indo-China - increasingly known as Vietnam - fell to the communist Viet Minh, confirming America's worst fears. I was aware of these developments but they were not highly significant to me until later in the sixties, when Australian youth became involved and I came to know Vietnamese students.
All was not well within the Soviet Bloc and in October 1956 the Hungarians rose in revolt against Soviet domination but were put down savagely by Soviet tanks. Then, in 1959, the communist threat came close to the US. Thirty-year-old Fidel Castro won power in Cuba and introduced agrarian reforms that worried the US government. When armed Cuban exiles made a bid to overthrow Castro's communist government in 1961, the USSR went to his aid, while the US supported the overthrow. This sparked a wave of international tension. Protagonists of the cold war practiced the art of brinkmanship15.
The reality of the “Iron Curtain” was demonstrated when, in 1961, the Communists built the Berlin Wall. Berlin was divided into two sectors, one controlled by the West, the other by the Communists. Concerned about the number of defections from the East to the West, East Berlin built a substantial wall made of prefabricated concrete blocks and established guard posts with machine guns along its length.
From the comfort of Perth, I was aware of the political turmoil in the world, but felt remote from it. The first time it was brought home to me emotionally was in August 1962 when an eighteen-year-old East German boy tried to escape by climbing the wall. He was machine gunned and left to bleed to death as East German guards looked on. This single event, although minor compared with the much larger atrocities in Hungary and elsewhere, struck home to me.
In Australia in the 1960s we were going through a boom period. When men returned to their girlfriends and wives after the second world war, many established families that had had to wait until after the war. Not unnaturally there was a boom in the number of births. The children born in this period were known as the “baby-boomers” and, by the 1960s, they were either late teenagers or in their early twenties. Increasingly they dominated the mood of society.
Australia was in a state of full employment and, with an influx of migrants from Europe after the war, put in place expansive schemes. In August 1947 the Federal government approved a scheme to build seven major dams in the Australian Alps, diverting the headwaters of the Snowy River into the Murray River system, establishing major hydroelectric power and irrigation schemes. Work began in October 1949 and was completed in October 1972.
In my own State of Western Australia, the first stage of the Ord River irrigation project opened in July 1963. When completed it was planned to irrigate 200,000 acres of the Ord River valley. Nineteen sixty three also saw the development of a North-West iron industry in the Pilbara when the West-Australian government signed an agreement with Hamersley Iron Pty Ltd for a thirty-year development. The State hoped to become a centre for steel production and iron-ore export. Increasingly, Western Australia was to dominate the nation in its export-earning capacity. As a child, I had been told that Western Australia was the “Cinderella” State - the poor relation of the other States, who went cap in hand to beg for money. In the 1960's this changed and there was a mood of optimism and prosperity.
15 The art or policy of pursuing a dangerous course to the brink of catastrophe before desisting.
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There was another worldwide social change taking place, and this centred on the baby boomers. Before the 1950s, there were no “teenagers” as a social force, but by the end of that decade and with the coming of the sixties, they had invented a culture of their own. With increasing prosperity, for the first time they had their own money, and spent it on records, clothes, cosmetics, cigarettes and going to the picture theatres. Industry pampered and cultivated them. They developed cult styles, such as bodgies and widgies with duck-tail hair for boys and girls alike, stove-pipe pants for the boys and skimpy tops, wide belts and flared dresses for the girls. Britain had its “Teddy boys” whose uniform comprised draped jackets with velvet collars, drainpipe trousers and sideburns. Rock and Roll music evolved, catering for this age-group, while a new hero emerged in America as the ultimate bodgie. Elvis Presley, with wild pelvic-centred gyrations, sang to thousands, with each girl in the audience convinced that he was singing to her alone. His cult lasted for many years after his death in 1977 and still persisted in the 1990s.
While Presley was famous, nothing matched the success of a group of four young men from Liverpool, calling themselves The Beatles. In 1962 the recording company Decca rejected them, not realising that they would emerge as the most famous group of all time, appealing not only to all baby boomers, but to the older generation as well. They produced their first record album in February 1963. By the end of that year “Beatlemania” had swept Britain and the world. Their success depended not only on good marketing by their manager but on their genius in writing popular songs that were different: Songs that went beyond what my former friend Kevin Parsons sarcastically referred to as “Moon, Toon, June and You” songs. The Beatles brought a young message and vibrant music. They were not afraid to address the subculture that increasingly used illegal, hard-drugs. I was not a baby boomer, but Kay and I both loved the Beatles' music. However, all this, and the politics of the day were but a backdrop to my heavily committed life.
- X
I was never happy about being pushed into the committee of the Staff Association. Essentially, the Association served as the union for University staff, and wrangled with the Vice-Chancellor and Senate over matters concerning pay and conditions. Never was I a political activist; I lacked both the motivation to “fight for my rights”, and the courage to engage in confrontation. Fortunately, there were others who would do that and, at least, I represented the views of the engineering staff on matters that concerned them.
Everyone on the committee had a role to play and, for the two years that I served, I was appointed Social Secretary, as the Association arranged one staff social function each year. In the first year there were no suitable premises: University House - a club house for staff - was being built but was not completed. I went over to Crawley Bay to the Perth 14 foot Sailing Club and hired their Kurrajong Hall for the night. I persuaded George Munns the Head Gardener to deliver a lorry load of potted palms to help decorate the Hall. The evening went well, and I was put in charge of the next year's function - this time to be held in the newly completed University House. On this next occasion, I both disgraced myself, and gained new respect.
John Birman, the Director of Adult Education, who was also connected with the Extension Service and the Summer School, was keen that, for the first social in University House, we supply premium quality wines. He was a very persuasive, enthusiastic man, and took me down to Fremantle to seek a suitable selection. As social Secretary I acted as host on the evening, welcoming people as they arrived. I introduced many people to the special wines we had purchased and, being the good host, each time I had a drink with them. I was so busy that I forgot to eat anything and did not realise that the alcohol had affected me.
The party was a tremendous success but at 10.30 pm a member told me that, unfortunately, he had to leave early. I walked with him to the front door. When I opened it, a blast of cold fresh air hit me in the face; suddenly my head began to reel. Hurriedly, I said goodbye, rushed into an unused room, slumped into a chair and blacked out.
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1960s TEENAGERS STAFF ASSOCIATION & COURSE PLANNING COMMITTEES
Not since 1951 had I experienced this when John Wilson had taken me to a Melbourne pub16. I don't
know how long I was there before Andy Cole from Chemistry and Hemmingway from Mechanical
Engineering found me. I could hear them calling out to me, but they seemed muffled and far off.
could not move.
‘What is your car number, John?, What is your car number?’
Somehow I told them. Andy searched my pockets for keys, then went in search of the car. On
returning, they picked me up, carried me to the car, and dumped me in the back of the station wagon.
They then went back to the revelries of the party. I had many responsibilities that night, but failed in
all of them. I had to pay off the stewards, lock up the premises and do all those things that a
responsible person should do. I did none of them. Around 1.00 am the party broke up, the last small
group wandering off with the remains of a ten-gallon keg of beer in the direction of Crawley Bay.
‘Where do you live?’ Andy Cole shouted in my ear. Somehow, I told him ‘318 Mill Point Road.’
So Andy drove my car, followed by Hemmingway in his. They knocked on my front door and told
Kay that they had brought home her husband. ‘What's happened? Is he ill? Has he had an accident?’
‘No,’ replied Andy, ‘he's just plain drunk.’ Grabbing me by either arm they delivered me to the
bedroom, my feet dragging behind me. Then they left, and I promptly vomited.
By Monday I had recovered and felt rather sheepish when I turned up to the Engineering Faculty
morning tea room. Everyone knew what had happened and I received many wry smiles and smirking
enquiries about my health. Ever since I had joined the staff I had been known as a sober and serious-
minded person who did not indulge in frivolities - and certainly never got drunk. Now, I had proved
myself human and, to my surprise, my stock went up enormously.
‘I could never accept that! You are squeezing us out and not giving us fair representation.’ Professor David Allen-Williams, normally a mild-mannered man, raised his voice in protest. It was 1964 and the venue was a small committee room in the engineering school. Nine people had responsibility for bringing proposals to Faculty for a new engineering course, and discussions were charged with emotion as departmental politics became tangled with educational principles. Both Staff numbers and the money available to a university department depended on student numbers. It was a matter of hard-fought politics, to so structure the course that your department would attract a disproportionate number of students.
It had all started early in 1964 when Alan Billings had brought the attention of the Faculty to the Robbins and the Ramsey reports. In October 1963 Lord Robbins reported to the British Prime Minister on Higher Education. Then followed the Australian Ramsey report on the same subject. The Ramsey report noted that the numbers entering the engineering profession were doubling every thirteen years, but that the number of engineering graduates from the Australian universities was not matching this. The country had to import engineers from overseas. Changes were needed to encourage more young people to enter the profession.
In the community, engineering did not have the glamour that attached to science. Any new development, be it in pure or applied science, or in engineering, was hailed as an exciting scientific achievement. Any failure - such as a bridge, or a crashed plane, was headlined as an engineering disaster.
16 See page 106
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5: GANG LIFE - THE YEARS OF EXPLORATION (1961 - 1966)
Most teachers of science in schools had a science, not an engineering background, and so did not present to their students a balanced perspective of the applications of science. The community did not have an accurate picture of the professional engineer: many thought only of bridges and roads, and not of the rapidly expanding areas of mechanical or electrical engineering. Those attracted to electronics thought that this was not engineering but science. The image of the engineer was often that of a man in dungarees, holding a spanner or an oily rag in his hand.
Two other factors worked against enrolment in engineering: it took five years to gain an engineering degree and only three for a science degree. When a student chose engineering, he entered the University only to discover that he studied mathematics, physics and chemistry but not engineering in his first year. This was off-putting.
There was much pressure on the existing course: Every lecturer felt that his own area of speciality was of overriding importance and must be given space in the course. Every year the course became more crowded with detailed content. When I was an undergraduate in the late 1940s, we had a five-year course, but spent the fourth year in practical engineering work. The University worked under a system of three terms, each of nine weeks duration. We changed the third and fourth year so that students spent the first two terms only in academic work. The third term and the long “vacation” became periods of practical industrial experience. When the academic pressure increased, the third year reverted to a full academic year. The work load and pressure on students became very high, failure rates grew and, by the time they had completed four years, most students had had enough; they were poorly motivated for a fifth year of academic work at undergraduate level.
Because engineering techniques advanced so rapidly, there was continual pressure to put ever more into the course. Other Australian universities generally had four-year engineering courses, but students came from school with a higher entry level. The question arose whether the Australian government should fund our five-year course, when others could produce graduates after four years.
All these considerations sparked heated and acrimonious faculty debate. Billings had proposed that we reduce the course to four academic years. The problem was how to do this in view of the conflict between educational principles and course content, particularly as many vested interests existed. Faculty referred the matter to a “Course Committee” comprising three members of each department, headed by the three professors. Unfortunately, the professors played politics as they jockeyed for a superior advantage. Alan Billings insisted that his arguments were based on firm educational principles, but the others saw him as pushing his own departmental barrow. Eventually, after reaching a deadlock, the committee referred the matter to a “course subcommittee” comprising one person only from each department. Graham Reynolds from Civil Engineering, Ray Minchin from Mechanical Engineering and I now had the task of hammering out a solution and then acting as “gobetweens” to the professors and Faculty. We three put politics to one side and concentrated on educational principles. It was not easy but, although we did not always agree, we realised that there was far too much technical content in the course and that some had to be deleted. Finally, after much work and consultation, Faculty adopted a new four-year course structure that included a subject called “Engineering” in the first year. This new unit covered the fundamental principles of all three branches. Chemistry was deleted from the first year but not before we fought a battle with the Chemistry department. Up to that time all first-year engineering students had taken a chemistry unit. Loss of this had severe staffing implications for Chemistry, so they fought the proposal fiercely. The new structure commenced in 1966, and I was delegated to talk to the Institution of Engineers about the changes.
This exercise caused me to hone my skills in quiet negotiation and diplomacy. I learnt how to steer around political issues and concentrate on fundamental educational principles. It was at the beginning of this period that my role within the Faculty increased considerably when I became the Sub-Dean.
But I'm really sorry you're
In such a stew."
