Academe of the fields

ANU has come a long way from the “shed in the paddock” on its 60th anniversary.

It was the early 1950s. Frank Fenner strode through the scrubby fields at the foot of Black Mountain, eyes trained to the ground, hunting for mushrooms. Perhaps he startled a rabbit, which streaked off into the scrub. He looked up and around, taking in the fringe of bush, the fields, and the huts housing his temporary laboratory.

“I don’t recall having any worries about it,” Professor Fenner says. “I’d work from eight to about five, and sometimes knock off to go to a board meeting. We had a block grant, and we used to complain that we didn’t have enough money, but we always had enough money. A lot of the chores that a departmental head has to deal with nowadays – they didn’t exist. It was just straight out research work.”

The first permanent building for the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) would not open until 1957, but Fenner, its future director, wasted no time in getting stuck into fundamental research as the University’s first professor of microbiology. His work on myxomatosis (the rabbit-control disease with which he famously inoculated himself to prove it was harmless to humans) and smallpox would earn him international acclaim. It was these achievements, and the can-do attitude underpinning them, that led ANU historian Stephen Foster to describe Fenner as the epitome of the founder’s vision – a world-class researcher and a true knowledge leader.

This year ANU will mark its 60th anniversary. Foster, who co-wrote a book with Margaret Varghese covering the first 50 years of the University’s history, says the milestone is chance to reflect on the origins of ANU.

“There was a clear perception that the national university must serve national needs,” Foster says. “Sir Howard Florey [the Australian-born scientist who discovered penicillin and was instrumental in shaping JCSMR] convincingly argued that Australia was way behind in medical research.”

But Foster says there was also a feeling that it would be a long time before ANU started paying dividends in advancing the horizons of knowledge and supplying benefits to the nation.

“Florey was constantly playing up and talking down expectations simultaneously. He said that JCSMR had not only to be good – it had to be ‘superlatively good’, but that this would take a great amount of time.”

For every failure, there were many more success stories. During its 60 year history, ANU has repaid the costs of its establishment many times over. For example, in the 1970s PhD student Douglas Haynes developed a method for detecting hidden reserves of copper underground. This led to the creation of BHP’s Olympic Dam copper mine in South Australia, which is expected to generate profits in the tens of billions in its lifetime. Similar contributions to knowledge in the sciences and arts include groundbreaking work on treating cancer and other diseases, helping to understand DNA, the development of greenhouse accounting, illumination of the national and regional history, and the fostering of world-class musicians.

In 1960 ANU expanded to take on undergraduate students, merging with the Canberra University College. Fenner says some researchers in the Institute of Advanced Studies bristled at the creation of the School of General Studies for undergraduates, adding that it was the job of successive Vice-Chancellors to bring the research and education aspects of ANU together. Ross Garnaut, who started as an Arts student in 1964, says his early encounters with researchers at the Research School of Pacific Studies were very cordial.

“We students were very earnest,” Garnaut says. “We used to run teach-ins: long seminars on the Vietnam War. A number of professors from the Institute and General Studies would speak. Sometimes they would go all night, with aging professors waiting their turn on the rostrum.”

Life for the early undergraduates at ANU wasn’t all work. Garnaut recalls an incident where students challenged the prohibition against women in Canberra’s pubs by staging a mixed-gender drinks session. He also remembers the scavenger hunts of Bush Week, where enterprising students would be awarded points for attaining rare objects.

“Dobel’s painting Billy Boy hanging in the War Memorial got the maximum number of points. During the scavenger hunt this was removed, and hung in the Chifley Library, leading to a police incursion on the campus and no arrests. It was very carefully looked after.”

For all their youthful exuberance, the new ANU students were characterised by a willingness to work hard at their studies. These efforts are now apparent in the many prominent politicians, public servants, business leaders, academics, writers, and artists who studied at ANU. Garnaut himself is now Professor of Economics in the Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.

“It’s crowded, but not if you compare it with a similar sized university like Wollongong,” Fenner says. “If you look at any of the capital city universities they’re very cramped for space. This still is a lovely campus. The gardening here has been very perceptive.”

Now an emeritus professor, Fenner continues to chip away at his research and writing goals in a well-appointed office at JCSMR. In times past he would break up the day with a lunchtime walk by the Molonglo River or in the National Botanic Gardens, which were established by Fenner’s friend and ANU Professor of Botany Lindsay Pryor. He reflects on a time when ANU was an unknown quantity, yet to take its place among the leading universities in the world.

“The high regard in which ANU is held nationally and internationally is thanks to the efforts of its extraordinary staff and students over the last 60 years,” Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb says.

“We can all take a leaf from Professor Fenner’s book. We’ve a lot of which we can be proud. The combination of talent and hard work will ensure that ANU remains a national asset well into the future.” 


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ANU Reporter
Winter 2006