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First secretary looks back on ANU in the making
Hidden treasures on show
Views on the 60th birthday celebration
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The ANU community experiences the sights and sounds of the 60th birthday party. |
More than 2000 ANU staff and students brought their family and friends to work on Sunday to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the University.
A carnival atmosphere descended on Fellows Oval from 12.30pm as people arrived to enjoy the free barbeque lunch, music, and plentiful activities.
Vice-Chancellor Ian Chubb launched the birthday party while excited children squealed with glee on the nearby jumping castle and Velcro wall.
“It’s a great place to work and to study, but ANU is more than the people who work here and study here – it’s all those people who work with us and beside us, and sometimes behind us, pushing us on,” Professor Chubb said.
“We wanted to take the opportunity today to say thank you; a sincere thank you to staff and students, their families and friends, for helping us make ANU the fine institution that it is.
“The support that we get from you collectively is vital for making ANU a great place, and I have no doubt that it will continue to succeed provided we try and do the right thing by you as well.”
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Professor Adam Shoemaker, Professor Ian Chubb, Professor Penny Oakes and Professor John Luxton switch on to music. |
The Vice-Chancellor made another public appearance later in the day at Llewellyn Hall as one of four soloists in a performance of Arnold’s Grand, Grand Overture.
Professor Chubb, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Community) Penny Oakes, Dean of Arts Adam Shoemaker, and School of Music head John Luxton played vacuum cleaners and a floor polisher during the avant-garde piece, which culminated in the mock assassination of the prominent quartet by conductor Jean Louis Forestier.
The comic carnage terminated a stirring concert from ANU Virtuosi, which is made up of talented ANU music students. The ensemble was bolstered by musicians from the Band of the Royal Military College, Duntroon.
The birthday concert was one of a series of activities and demonstrations held across campus on Sunday afternoon. Hundreds of people packed into the foyer of the John Curtin School of Medical Research to hear opera highlights. A floor talk and demonstration from artist John Wolseley at the Drill Hall Gallery also drew a large crowd.
The Founders’ Cup staff versus student soccer match attracted many spectators, as the blue-clad staff team defeated the yellow students one-nil.
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First secretary looks back on ANU in the making
Joan Dawson was present at the birth of ANU – but you won’t see her in the centre of official photographs.
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Joan Dawson recalls the early days of ANU. |
The first secretary of the University’s Academic Advisory Committee in London kept to the sidelines, keeping a record of the conversations that set out the foundations of ANU.
In 1947 she kept detailed records as founders like Mark Oliphant, Howard Florey, W.K. Hancock, and Raymond Firth made careful plans for the research schools that would form the kernel of ANU.
“They were all convivial, efficient, and constructive,” Mrs Dawson remembers. “They were very much focused on the business of establishing their respective schools.”
Mrs Dawson took centre stage at the celebration of the 60th birthday of ANU on Sunday, interviewed about her recollections of the early University. She described the opportunity as a great privilege and a surprise, as she’d only moved back to Canberra a week earlier to be closer to family.
Later, she recalled details of her time in England in the late 1940s, including a luncheon invitation from Sir Howard Florey who was then master of Lincoln College at Oxford.
“I’ve never seen so much silverware in my life! Such rich food was a welcome treat back then. Remember that these were the postwar years. Food restrictions were still in place – everyone had ration cards. At another time I recall going into a shop to buy a cake. It tasted like sawdust.”
Mrs Dawson returned to Canberra in the early 1950s to become secretary to the first Vice-Chancellor, Sir Douglas Copland. She said the young campus was “small and intimate”, but the University’s governors were already sowing the seeds for grand achievements.
“The Interim Council offered more than 50 overseas postgraduate research scholarships, around half of them in the medical field. A good proportion of those scholars came back to senior positions at ANU and other universities around the country. I think Australia’s pre-eminence in the medical field now owes a great deal to that decision.”
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Hidden treasures on show
Some of the University’s ‘hidden treasures’ were on display during the 60th birthday celebration, allowing people to step back in time at the Classics Museum or experience the future at the Wedge Virtual Reality Theatre.
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The Tatami room offered a taste of traditional Japan. |
The usually peaceful Tatami room in the Baldessin Precinct Building was buzzing as people took the opportunity to learn more about traditional Japanese culture from members of the University’s Japan Club.
“We’ve been busy with visitors all afternoon,” Japan Club President Thomas Mahony said. ‘Usually this is a very quiet and peaceful part of the University – a place of solitude where students come for some study or a nap.
“Almost every house in Japan has a traditional Tatami room, regardless of when it was built or what style it follows.”
Other treasures on display included the anatomy collection at the Medical School, the first geographical map of the United Kingdom, and the autonomous submersible Serafina.
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Views on the 60th birthday celebration
Allan Hawke, ANU Chancellor: “It’s the 60th anniversary of ANU, and the 40th anniversary of my association with the University. I came here as an undergraduate in 1966 and stayed on and off for 10 years. It’s wonderful to be back as Chancellor at this important milestone.”
Eleonore Smith, Telopea Public School student: “This ‘Stick-to-it’ ride is fun. I’m looking forward to having a go on the jumping castle.”
Pauline Griffin, former ANU Pro Chancellor and Council Member: “It’s fantastic to see so many students here. I was involved in organising the 50th anniversary, which had more of an outreach focus, but wasn’t aimed so much at students. It’s lovely to catch up with old friends. There’s an old Irish saying that you can take Mary out of the bog, but you can’t take the bog out of Mary. I think it’s the same with ANU and me.”
Paul Thomas, PhD student in Computer Science: “I’m enjoying the free food. I rarely meet staff and students outside my own department, but it’s a fairly social place. I may well try to see some of the hidden treasures today, but I’ve got to get a lot of work done too.”
Stephanie Hawke, Undergraduate student in Psychology: “The cupcakes are great. I plan to take in all the different locations open today, after I watch the soccer, I’ll visit the piano marathon and later the opera.”
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