newsletter · 2019-11-04 · / abn 55610 664 963 / iarn a0023234b / 3 gu collegiate / gu newsletter...

NEWSLETTERNOVEMBER 2019

THE GRADUATE UNION

2 / www.graduatehouse.com.au / ABN 55610 664 963 / IARN A0023234B

ContentsContents / GU Newsletter

GU COLLEGIATE

4 November Monthly LuncheonDr Ross McMullin

5 Chairperson's Cocktail Party The Hon Gaetano (Tony) Pagone

6 Members' Christmas Party

PROMOTIONS

7 Festive Jams

8 Christmas Function Menu

33 John Cain Foundation November Luncheon

FEATURES

10 ‘There is a problem’Dr Alan Finkel AO

12 42nd Session of Human Rights Council Graduate Women International

REVIEW

15 October Monthly LuncheonDr Deborah Towns OAM and Dr John Andrews

18 Donor Thank You DayDr Elizabeth Finkel AMMs Maggie WangMr Shubham RawalMr Andrew Abercrombie

22 September Women's Forum Who is responsible for the cladding mess?

GRADUATE HOUSE NEWS

22 Parkville Station Site Tour

23 ARC Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing

24 Annual Meeting of the International Association of Judges, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan

Dinner with the Consul General of India and the Honorary Consul of Malawi

25 Australian Asian Association Language Awards 2019

26 Rotary Club of Carlton’s Meeting with Ian Riseley OAM

28 Formula 1 Business Forum in Japan

29 Random Acts of Kindness Day

SEEN AT GRADUATE HOUSE

30 Department of Social MDHS

John Drennan and friends

Marg Nicoll and friends

MEMBERS CONTRIBUTION

31 Vulnerableby Life Member, Mr Louis A Coutts

ACADEMIC and PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MEETINGS

36 September 2019 Listings

OTHER

32 Feedback

34 Extracurricular Your guide to grass pollen exposure

35 Innovation Gold does grow on trees

38 Diamond Jubilee Campaign Contribution form

www.graduatehouse.com.au / ABN 55610 664 963 / IARN A0023234B / 3

GU Collegiate / GU Newsletter

GU Collegiate

Bridge Nights

Join in a game or learn to play the card game Bridge.

Enjoy biscuits, tea and coffee.

Members $2 non-members $6

6:50pm for 7:00pm start Wed, 6th, 13th, 20th, 27th November

Special Morning Breakfast

Non-resident Members are welcome to join Resident Members for a hearty

breakfast at Graduate House.

Free for Resident Members non-resident Members $8

7:30am to 8:30am Tue, 12th November

Women's Forum

Come along to discuss 'Is democracy in trouble?'

The Forum is free. All are welcome. Lunch is at Member and

non-member prices

10:00am for 10:30am start Wed, 20th November

Italian Conversation Dinner

Dine while learning to speak Italian with an experienced teacher.

Members $17non-members $25

6:00pm Tue, 19th November

BOOK NOWvia our website:

www.graduatehouse.com.au

by phone: (03) 9347 3428

by email: [email protected]

or at Reception.

Monthly Luncheon

Dr Ross McMullinwill speak about

" Will Dyson, Australia's Radical Genius"

Resident Members $10non-resident Members $30

concession $35 general public $40

12:00pm for 12:30pm start Wed, 13th November

Members' Christmas party

Join Members and their guests for a traditional Christmas dinner and

entertainment.

Resident Members $20.00non-Resident Members $58.50

non-members $69.00concession $60.50

6:00pm for 6:30pm start Fri, 13th December

Chairperson's Cocktail partyChairperson of the Council

of The Graduate Union invites all members to celebrate

another wonderful year.

This event is free for Members.By invitation only to non-members

5:30pm to 7:00pm Fri, 29th November


Ross McMullin is an award-winning historian and biographer.

His most recent book is Pompey Elliott at War: In His Own Words, his second book about Australia’s most famous general in World War I.

Ross’s previous biography, Pompey Elliott , was awarded the Christi na Stead Award for biography and the Melbourne University Press Award for literature.

His multi -biography Farewell, Dear People: Biographies of Australia’s Lost Generati on was awarded the Prime Minister’s Prize for Australian History and the Nati onal Cultural Award.

Wednesday, 13th November 201912:00NOON arrival for a 12:30PM startGraduate House220 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC, 3053

ABN: 55 610 664 963 | IARN: A0023234B

With guest speaker Dr Ross McMullin

Monthly Luncheon

BookingsTel: (03) 9347 3428Email: [email protected]: graduatehouse.com.au/coming-eventsCost$10 Resident Members $30 non-resident Members$35 concession$40 general public

‘Will Dyson, Australia’s Radical Genius’



The Hon Gaetano (Tony) Pagone

Chairperson of the Council of The Graduate Unionof The University of Melbourne Inc.

invites Members to the Chairperson’s Cocktail Party

Chairperson’s Cocktail Party

Graduate House220 Leicester Street, Carlton

RVSP by Monday, 25th November 2019email: [email protected] or phone: (03) 9347 3428

THE GRADUATE UNION of The University of Melbourne Inc.

This is a Member event and otherwise by invitati on only

Friday, 29th November 20195:30pm to 7:00pm | Dress: Aft er Five

ABN 55 610 664 963 | IARN A0023234B



GU Promotion / GU Newsletter

Festive Season JamSTRAWBERRY JAM AND PINEAPPLE LIME JAM

Our jams are made from carefully selected premium ingredients and contain no added preservati ves.

$ 6.50each

Available for a limited ti me. Order before Friday, 13th December 2019 or unti l sold out.

Online orders must be picked up at Graduate House, 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC 3053.

If you wish for your order to be delivered to you, please telephone our offi ces on +61 3 9347 3428 and we will advise you of the delivery costs.



Function Menu

SET MENU FOR LUNCH OR DINNER

Available from 1st July until 18th December 2019

EntréeThai prawn with tamarind sauce (df) (gf)

Herb crusted chicken breast served with a brandy cream sauceSpinach and ricotta ravioli with roasted pumpkin sage sauce and

shaved parmesan cheese (v)

Main CourseSeasoned turkey breast with apple and citrus stuffi ng served with gravy (gf)

Seared salmon with saffron dill cream and a touch of champagne (gf)Vegetarian stuffed zucchini (v+) (gf)

DessertPlum Pudding with custard and brandy sauce (v)

Cold set lime cheesecakeSummer fruit salad (v+) (gf)

For each course, choose two options Table service is 50/50 drop

Traditional Christmas

Two courses $58.50 per personThree courses $69.00 per person

Minimum 15 Guests(df) dairy free (gf) gluten free (v) vegetarian (v+) vegan



Function Menu

SET MENU FOR LUNCH OR DINNER

Available from 1st July until 18th December 2019

Main Course

Porterhouse steak (gf) (df)

Lamb chops (gf) (df), Gourmet sausages Tikka chicken thighs (gf)

Vegetarian burgers (v) Grilled summer vegetable platter (v+) (gf)

Onions (v+) (gf) and a selection of summer salads (v) (gf)

Dessert

Blueberry pavlova (v) (gf), Fruit salad and cream (v) (gf)

IN THE GRADUATE HOUSE COURTYARD

Christmas Summer BBQ

$59.50 per person

Minimum 15 Guests(df) dairy free (gf) gluten free (v) vegetarian (v+) vegan


Feature / GU Newsletter

On 12th September, Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Alan Finkel AO, gave a speech at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity to mark its fifth anniversary. The following is an edited version of this presentation published in The Conversation.

In the main, Australia produces high-quality research that is rigorous and reproducible, and makes a significant contribution towards scientific progress. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it better.

In the case of the research sector here and abroad, we need to acknowledge that as good as the research system is, there is a problem.

There are a significant number of papers that are of poor quality, and should never have made it through to publication. In considering why this might be the case, I have found myself reflecting on the role of incentives in the research system. Because incentives matter, as we have seen through the findings of the Royal Commission into the banking sector led by Kenneth Hayne.

The commission shone a light on how the sector incentivises its employees. And there are some incentives in the research community that, in my view, need to be looked at.

We may be inadvertently encouraging poor behaviour. And to ensure research remains high-quality and trustworthy, we need to get the incentives right.

Lessons from the banking Royal CommissionThe commission showed that over the past decade or two, the banking sector moved from salary-based to bonus-based remuneration. But those bonuses have been mapping to the wrong values: to sales and profit instead of compliance with the law and net benefit to customers.

Similarly in the research sector, we can’t ignore that there are many incentives pushing some to cut corners and lower their standards.

The competition for funding is fierce and is increasing every day. The temptation to judge a researcher’s performance through simple metrics, such as the number of published research papers, is strong. These metrics are incentives that drive behaviour – not all of it good.

We all know of instances of poor research practice, for example:• selective publication of results to support a hypothesis;• HARKing: hypothesising after results are known; and• manipulating data and research methods to achieve

statistical significance.

If we can focus on improving the quality of research in general, we can achieve broad and long-lasting benefits - and I think the best way to do this is to look at the incentives.

Quality should trump quantityPublication is a principal criterion for career advancement in the research sector. And I don’t want to change that.

Dr Alan Finkel: a new publishing standard should be introduced to weed out unscrupulous research journals

‘There is a problem’Australia’s top scientist Dr Alan Finkel AO pushes to eradicate bad science



However, the institutionalisation of performance metrics has created incentives for researchers to publish as many papers as possible.

There shouldn’t be an incentive for a researcher to salami-slice their results into three or four separate publications, rather than one meaningful publication. If the purpose of publication is to share your results in a way that can be built on by other researchers, this kind of practice completely defeats that purpose.

One model that places the focus on quality over quantity is the “Rule of Five”. With this rule, a researcher’s performance for grant funding or promotion is judged on their best five publications over a five year period, accompanied by a description of its impact and the researcher’s individual contribution.

The exact number of publications or years isn’t important, as long as it is less than ten.

Of course, there are disciplinary differences that may need to be taken into account. But what matters is the emphasis on the significance of the research.

Researchers must undergo integrity trainingUnlike other professions, there are no national competencies and no national recognition of education and training in research integrity. While many institutions in Australia do provide training programs for their PhD students, these programs vary in quality, content and reach.

And, to the best of my knowledge, no Australian institutions have a training requirement for their existing research workforce. I strongly believe the overall quality of research in Australia would be strengthened by research integrity training for all researchers.

Training puts a spotlight on expectations for the whole community and encourages consistent behaviour. It also removes that old chestnut of plausible deniability: “Honest, officer, I didn’t know it was wrong!”

The training must be accredited, and must be high quality. It should not be a “tick the box” exercise. And if we circle back to incentives, the best way to encourage researchers to undertake the training is to make proof of training a requirement for obtaining a grant.

To those naysayers who say it will never happen, let me tell you that it already has. The Irish Health Research Board has recently implemented such a scheme.

‘Predatory, evil’ scholarly journalsFinally, I am concerned that the incentives in the research system are not just driving bad behaviour for researchers, but are also creating a market for criminals to enter scholarly publishing.

What is motivating the crooks is the pay-per-page system that has come with the introduction of open access

publishing.

Now, open access publishing has many benefits and I support the move towards it. However, I remain concerned that it has opened the door for predatory, evil, crooked journals.

It is just too easy to set up a journal and a website with a highfalutin title, and appropriate the biographies of leading researchers for the editorial board – without their knowledge or permission. Before you know it, huge numbers of papers are being published without any rigour.

And there are researchers who are knowingly paying to publish in journals that have no peer review, even though they claim to. Journals that have no ethics. Not even an editorial team to consider the submitted paper.

These researchers might just be naïve, but we have to acknowledge that the current incentives reward this behaviour.

While this is not a major problem in Australia, emerging research nations are really struggling with this.

In my conversations with senior research leaders around the world, they are looking for ways to improve performance metrics in a way that does not drive their researchers to these journals.

I propose a rigorous quality assurance system, designed to inform stakeholders that a particular journal’s processes for assessing a paper meets agreed publishing standards. I like to call it Publication Process Quality Assurance, or PPQA.

Compliance with PPQA would indicate to researchers, research institutions, libraries and granting agencies that the journal follows internationally accepted guidelines for the publication process.

Granting agencies are best placed to provide the incentive for researchers to only publish in PPQA-compliant journals by enforcing it through their grant application process.

Follow the moneyYou might have picked up by now a common thread; that in each of my three recommendations, I am looking to take the responsibility back to the granting agencies. It’s a concept referred to by others as “follow the money”.

If the granting agencies put in place these measures, they will ripple through into the research institutions and mitigate the ongoing risks of poor quality research.

It will change the culture and ensure that last century’s academic rigour continues for the 21st century research workforce and beyond.

For the full article see https://theconversation.com/there-is-a-problem-australias-top-scientist-alan-finkel-pushes-to-eradicate-

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From 9th to 27th September 2019, the 42nd Human Rights Council (HRC42) session took place at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The HRC is an inter-governmental body made up of 47 United Nations member states responsible for the promotion and protection of all human rights worldwide. As active participants in the mandate of the HRC, Graduate Women International (GWI) attended the opening session on 9th September, a number of side events and panel discussions and showcased the experience of two talented GWI interns who participated in this 42nd session of the HRC.

The following is a summary of GWI’s published report of the session and their contributions on the topics and issues discussed at this session.

Human Rights Council President, Coly Seck, Permanent Representative of Senegal, kicked off the opening session by asking for a minute of silence for the victims of Hurricane Dorian, which, in August 2019, caused extreme damage to the northern islands of the Bahamas and left 50 people dead and 2,500 people missing. The session then proceeded with an opening statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR), Michelle Bachelet, who warned of the effects of climate change affecting every region of the world. The High Commissioner described climate change as a threat to human rights that the world has never seen before.

This subject is of importance to GWI as women and girls are disproportionately affected by natural disasters and their consequences, which is a point that was also raised by the High Commissioner.

During this first week of the HRC42, Rosa Kornfeld-Matte, the Independent Expert (IE) on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons presented her latest report to the Council. This report on her activities included those within the third International Conference on the Human Rights of Older Persons which will

Graduate Women International at the 42nd Session of the Human Rights Council

The ceiling of the Human Rights Council Chamber, created by Spanish abstract artist Miquel Barceló. U.S. Mission Photo by Eric Bridiers

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, briefs the press in Geneva (4th September 2019)



convene in Vienna on 12th and 13th November 2019. The IE also examined the human rights protection of older persons in emergency situations, an issue that she considers of key importance when addressing existing protection gaps.

The report highlighted that older persons in situations of forced displacement, particularly older women, are at heightened risk of violence, exploitation and abuse. Violence may be encountered inside or outside the home. The IE concluded the report with her recommendations on how to facilitate the design and implementation of appropriate and effective frameworks to ensure the promotion and protection of the rights of older persons.

Around the world, access to proper WaSH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is a human right that 2.5 billion people do not have. One in three people do not have access to safe drinking water. The intensification of efforts to ensure that everyone, including women and girls, can fulfil their fundamental right to WaSH was another of the key topics of the first week of HRC42.

On the opening day of the session, Léo Heller, Special Rapporteur (SR) on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, presented his thematic report on “Human rights to water and sanitation in spheres of life beyond the household, with an emphasis on public spaces”.

This was followed the next day by a side event organised by the SR, during which GWI took the opportunity to draw the SR's attention to Menstrual Hygiene Insecurity (MHI) as a needless barrier to girls’ and women’s education worldwide. GWI also took the opportunity to exchange with Juliana Muller from Brazil, who in 2018, at just 17 years old, won the 2nd Human Rights Youth Challenge (HRYC). Organised by Heller, this second edition of the HRYC aimed to raise awareness of the human rights to WaSH and draw attention to people

who lack access to WaSH in spheres of life beyond the household. Juliana Muller showed a video, RIGHTLESS that allowed the audience to walk a mile in the shoes of a young girl in rural Brazil who understands the consequences of being left behind.

On the evening of 11th September, GWI continued showing support for water and sanitation rights by participating in the opening of an art exhibition on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation organised by the UN Office in Geneva and the Permanent Mission of Germany. The exhibition was opened in the presence of Michael Ungern-Sternberg, the German Ambassador, Léo Heller, SR on the human rights to water and sanitation and Tatiana Valovaya, Director General of the UN Office in Geneva.

On 17th September, GWI attended a side event at HRC42 sponsored, inter alia, by UNICEF, the International Rescue Committee and the African Union. The event focused on the vital partnership between civil society and government organisations to provide education to refugees and internally displaced people. 92 per cent of refugees are hosted by low-income countries with limited means, meaning that civil society organisations are often the only support on the ground. As Maria Agnese Giordano, Global Education Cluster Coordinator at UNICEF, put it, each type of organisation brings something to the table that no other organisation does. This is particularly true for civil society organisations, which are community-built, and it is crucial to coordinate their efforts as well as the ones of all other education stakeholders, including the refugees themselves. Since GWI promotes access to education for women and girls, this event was of particular importance because women and girls in humanitarian settings are disproportionally affected by the lack of access to education. The

opportunity to learn and to make a livelihood gives people dignity and hope.

On 10th September, GWI Intern, Ciara Rainsby, attended two HRC42 side events relating to the situation in Yemen. The first panel was concerned with the effects of the conflict on women and girls. The panellists discussed how women are not provided with proper services and therefore cannot

Presentation of the Report of the IE on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons

Clémence Mathiaud, GWI Junior Office Administrator (left)with Juliana Muller, Winner of

the 2nd HRYC


finish their studies or gain employment, which can deeply affect and/or destroy their future and that of their children. The second side event consisted of panellists speaking about child rights in Yemen. One of the speakers stated that 12,000 children are without proper education. This raises deep concerns, especially for young girls, and about how vulnerable they are as victims of war.

On 17th September, GWI participated in a UN Library Event called The UN Before the UN that opened an exhibit with documents and other archives from before 1945. GWI was resonated with one panellist, Fatima Sator, Communication Specialist at United Nations Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, who spoke about how gender equality was included in the preamble of the UN Charter. The inclusion of gender in such a document was ground-breaking. As the speaker stated, it was due to the influence of Latin American women, particularly by Brazilian diplomat, Bertha Lutz, whose presence at the San Francisco UN conference in 1945 and her ability to network, when only 3 per cent of the 160 delegates were women, allowed her the possibility to bring attention to the necessity of including the word “women” within the Charter. Especially worth noting is that GWI founding mother, Virginia Gildersleeve, also participated in the UN Charter conference in 1945. This history levelled the path towards discussions of gender today and the first step to how an organisation like GWI could work at the international level. Now, gender issues have become a priority of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

GWI participated in a panel discussion on Human Trafficking in the Pacific Region. This issue raises many concerns for women and girls in the area. Firstly, the keynote speaker of the panel, Urmila Bhoola,

UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, stated that 15 million people in the world are in forced marriages of whom the majority are girls. She also discussed the implications of modern slavery and enlightened the audience that 98 per cent of women and girls in slavery are exposed to sexual violence. These alarming statistics exposed us to the reality of the global situation.

Secondly, another panellist, Lynnie Roche, an associate of the Homes of Hope organisation in Fiji, informed the audience that women and girls in Fiji have been forced into sex slavery. For example, she had previously worked with a 14-year old girl that had been sold to her own father’s boss. Her organisation operates on the basis of community safety nets and trauma-informed, survivor-led care and their work has therefore allowed these female victims to have a sense of belonging after being shamed and silenced.

Thirdly, another speaker, Anne Pakoa, representative of the Vanuatu Human Rights Coalition, spoke about the biggest exposed case of human trafficking that the island of Vanuatu had experienced that involved the smuggling of 202 Bangladeshi men to the island from 2017 to 2018. She ended on the note that human trafficking cannot be handled by one state, it involves and affects everyone. This is what we must take away from this.

For the full version of GWI report, go to https://graduatewomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/GWI-UPDATE-HRC42-Special-Edition.pdf

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Side event on Child Rights in Yemen organised by Synergie Feminine Pour la Paix Et Le DevelopmentDurable



Review / GU Newsletter

October Monthly Luncheon ReviewWednesday, 2nd October 2019The writing of ‘A Secondary Education for All’?: A history of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria (2018)by Dr Deborah Towns OAM and Dr John Andrews

When Deborah Towns and John Andrews met in 2000, they had different career pathways but a shared interest and knowledge of Australian history and education history. A decade later, the History Council of Victoria commissioned them to write a history of state secondary education in Victoria. Initially planned to be a one-year project, the research for the book extended to seven years as more and more stories were revealed that needed to be recorded and celebrated. The book was published in 2018 and was launched by Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Blainey AO. In the same year, the book won the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and Public Record Office of Victoria’s Collaborative Community History Award.

At Graduate House's October Monthly Luncheon, Deborah and John talked about the writing of their book — what resources they used, who funded the project, what topics the book covers, as well as what it shows about the trajectory of secondary schooling in Victoria.

Deborah opened the presentation about the origins of the book by explaining: “We were commissioned by the History Council of Victoria to write a history of secondary education in Victoria. The book came about through funding from various organisations, including the Education Department, the Teacher’s Union, the ME Bank as it is known now — part of ME Bank began as a teacher’s bank back in the 1970s — the Victorian Institute of Teachers, and the Pratt Foundation.”

Deciding upon the content was relatively easy for two people familiar with schools and the education system and who tend to think globally. John said, “we worked on a list of contents we wanted to include but gradually we realised we needed to cover more, and the list became long. We had said that we are going to cover everything in 120 pages; as you can see, we failed dismally.”

The book has nine sections plus an introduction and conclusion.

Chapter 1, Before the Act (of 1910) covers the 1910 Act which established secondary education as a formal government responsibility. “It was already there,” John noted, “but the Act made it formal.”

Chapter 2, A Government Responsibility? asks whether secondary education is a government responsibility.

Chapter 3, Every Student Matters examines welfare issues and the impact of changing society on schools. “Thus the inclusion of issues like the growing range of welfare support, though the current practice of integration, multiculturalism, gender, indigenous students, school identity, social life in schools, getting to school, the place of uniforms, supporting those who cannot attend a regular school, distance education, etc.”

Chapter 4, The Changing and Responsive Curriculum was going to be six or eight pages and ended up being more than 40 pages. The chapter asks four important questions: 1) What are the aims and priorities of education and are they consistent over time? 2) What should be taught? 3) How can students best be taught? and 4) How can students best be assessed?

Chapter 5, The Teaching Profession investigates pre-service training and professional development, the role of subject associations, inspectors, gender, teacher shortages, principals, and teacher housing.

Dr Deborah Towns OAM and Dr John Andrews at Graduate House's October Monthly Luncheon



Chapter 6, Schools and Their Communities is an appreciation of the roles of fundraisers, volunteers, philanthropists, parent organisations and school councils in the life and development of schools.

Chapter 7, Milestones Across the Decades, followed by Chapter 8, Special Times. The latter chapter covers how schools reacted during war, the role of the royal family, and special events such as exhibitions, the bicentenary and centenary of Federation.

Finally, Chapter 9, Government Schools are Great Schools celebrates the contributions of government education and asks students to reflect on the future of schooling in the future and what they hope it will be.

“We also asked,” John said, “a number of people with special interest and expertise, such as Professor Kwong Lee Dow, to provide their reflections on the history of education or parts of it.”

About the title, John explained: “In the middle of the 1950s expansion when we had migration and baby boomers, we needed all these schools and the minister who was Alfred Shepherd in 1955 promised ‘a Secondary education for all’. So, in the book we ask if the promise has been fulfilled — if have we provided a good secondary education for all?”

One of the questions that Deborah and John had to answer was which schools are going to showcased in the book. “When we were selecting schools, we were selecting schools across time, we wanted schools across Victoria, and we also wanted different types of schools.”

One of the showcased schools is Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College. Deborah explained, “Matthew Flinders was first opened in a beautiful building in 1856. It was called Flinders School and it was a national school.

Before 1872, a lot of people are surprised to know that the Government had hundreds of schools and that these were called national schools — they were denominational schools. Now it is a girls school. So, it has gone through many incarnations and served the community very well and now has a waiting list. There was a talk in the 1970s about closing it, but a group of parents got together to make sure it was not closed, and now it has three campuses and is famous for all sorts of things like music.”

Another school which is showcased is Distance Education Centre Victoria (1909) which started as a teacher correspondence school where teachers could complete their qualifications. “For instance,” Deborah said, “when John and I completed our TPT, we were not fully qualified. We had to do an extra few years if we wanted to be a principal of subjects and you would do it through the Distance Education Centre. It now has about 1,000 students enrolled around Australia from independent and Catholic schools.”

In terms of resources used, John and Deborah drew not only on case studies, interviews and guest chapter writers, but also read more than 100 years' of Education Gazette and Teacher’s Aid, which was full of interesting articles, reports and photographs. By the time they were writing the book, they had a record of about 3,000 photographs, of which they selected 200 to include.

One of the photos that Deborah discussed was a photo of the Ballarat School of Mines (1869), showing students, board and staff in 1906. “Back in 1869,” Deborah noted, “technical schools had boards, and the photo shows a very multicultural board, reflective of the people who lived in Ballarat at the time. The School was mainly self-funded and was famous in its time for enabling students to get into university for subjects in which they were interested.”

Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary School Ballarat School of Mines Board and staff (1906)


Another photo that the speakers shared was the photo of an early rural school, probably from the 1880s or 1890s. “This photo,” Deborah said, “shows students from a wide range of ages. The word Batavia in the photo is an old term for Jakarta. The children are representing different countries around a map of Australia. From the principal’s reports in the Education Gazette, we know that about 50 per cent of teachers in rural schools were women. One of the things the photo shows is the extra effort those teachers must have gone through to prepare their school yard — days perhaps — for that lesson which could have been for half an hour.”

Another photo that the speakers shared, showing recent positive changes to secondary schooling, was the photo of young women in the TAFE section of Swinburne University, who could go to university and get a

qualification and take their children with them to the classroom. Deborah said, “What you may not know is that in Victoria about 1,000 girls between the age of 12 and 18 give birth to babies. We need to ask, ‘how does this affects the future of those women?’ Of course, some of them get married, but we need to cater for these young women to ensure they can go to school. This photo is an isolated example of an opportunity provided to these young women, but it also shows that attitudes have changed, and positive changes are happening.”

John talked about another positive change: the move from the concept of ‘New Australian’ to multiculturalism. “When most of us went to school, there were few students who were from a non-Anglo-Catholic background. You would only meet a handful of ‘New Australians’. Today schools are multicultural, and ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching centres offer six-month intensive courses where students from diverse backgrounds can learn English in order to go to regular schools. The curriculum has also changed from a very British-centred curriculum where students were learning only about British and European history to now having a curriculum that shows how people from a range of cultures have had impact on our society and culture.”

Deborah and John closed their presentation by sharing the photo of a government schooling celebration in 1922 marking 50 years of publicly funded education. The photo shows students marching down Swanston Street. In 2022 it will be 150 years since ‘free, secular and compulsory’ education was introduced in Victoria. “We wonder,” as the speakers said, “what celebrations will be held?”

We thank Deborah and John for an engaging and informative talk and all who attended, participated in the discussion and enjoyed the delicious lunch.


Early rural schooling, Years 1 to 8

Celebrating Government Schooling

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Donor Thank You DaySunday, 6th October 2019

Donor Thank You Day this year was held on Sunday, 6th

October, to recognise the generosity of our donors and benefactors and to express our gratitude to those who have supported us.

Since its establishment in 1911, The Graduate Union's Members have built the Association through their generous contribution of donations, gifts, funds, bequests, and sponsorships. This has created a culture of giving and an awareness of philanthropic causes.

Graduate House hosted an exquisite lunch with special guest speakers, Dr Elizabeth Finkel AM and Mr Andrew Abercrombie.

Much work went into the preparation leading up to the big day with great attention to detail. The combined Stella Langford Wing rooms were transformed into a banquet hall of fine dining with an atmosphere of grand splendour.

Upon arrival and registration, guests enjoyed catching up with one another over beverages and canapés served in the Phillip Law Members' Lounge.

Guests were promptly seated at 12:30PM and this was followed by a formal welcome and introductions by CEO/Head of College, Dr Kerry Bennett, who then introduced Council Member, Rhys Watson, who thanked the audience for their ongoing support and commitment to the Association.

Lunch was served thereafter — a main course of baked salmon with tiger prawns, dill and white wine and a dessert of pecan tart.

Dr Bennett then introduced our first guest speaker, Dr Elizabeth Finkel AM, who spoke about the ongoing research into gene therapy.

Dr Elizabeth Finkel AM

Dr Elizabeth Finkel AM is a former biochemist who switched to journalism. She co-founded Cosmos Magazine, serving as Editor in Chief from 2013 to 2018 and is now Editor at Large.

Dr Finkel has published two books: Stem Cells (2005), which won the Queensland Premier’s Literary award, and The Genome Generation (2012). Her work is regularly anthologised in Best Australian Science Writing.

The combined Stella Langford Wing looking splendid



Dr Finkel's journalism has earned her numerous awards, membership of the Order of Australia (AM) and, in 2019, a medal by the Australian Society for Medical Research.

Besides journalism, she now serves as a Vice Chancellor’s Fellow at La Trobe University and on advisory committees for La Trobe University Press, two centres of excellence (OzGrav and CABAH) and the Melbourne Zoo.

Dr Finkel opened by saying that given that it was a Sunday, she would talk on the topic of “revelation”, particularly her personal revelation that “blue sky research really does pay off ”. She did research into fruit flies 30 years ago, not knowing where this would lead. Her source of her revelation was Megan Donnell, who is not a scientist, but an IT specialist. Five years ago, Megan learnt that both of her children, Isla, now 9, and Jude, 7, were suffering from a terminal genetic illness known as Sanfilippo syndrome. Megan left her IT job to form the Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation to fund research, raised $1m, and discovered there was some hope in the form of gene therapy.

Gene therapy is a simple concept. If a person is born with a glitch in part of their DNA code or is missing that part altogether, correct that part — the gene — or add that part to fix the problem. “How do you get a gene back into the body? You make use of Nature’s own vehicles — viruses. Some viruses are not only are able to infect you; they get into your cells and they get into the very DNA of your cells, and if you can use them as ‘little spaceships’ and insert into the gene the foreign gene that you want them to carry, then you might be able to ferry that new gene into the cells of that patient. This is what we’ve been seeing in gene therapy.”

Dr Finkel covered the journey of Megan and, heartbreakingly, while there have been some positive advancements in the research for gene therapy treatment for Sanfilippo syndrome, it will come too late for Isla and Jude. For Megan, Dr Finkel said, “the children’s disease is simultaneously the greatest tragedy of her life and the greatest mission of her life. Even if she can’t help her children, she’s determined that other children won’t suffer”.

Dr Finkel's presentation was followed by Resident Member, Ms Maggie Wang.

Ms Maggie Wang, Resident MemberMaggie Wang is originally from Hong Kong via New Zealand and is currently a Master of Laws candidate at Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne with a focus on energy and resources law. She is also a member of the Governance and Nominations Subcommittee of Council. She chose Graduate House

to live as it was “a safe place”, for convenience (“it’s quite close to the Law School, within a two- to three-minute walk!”), close to the CBD and “getting a private room at a reasonable price”.

Maggie enjoys the community of other Resident Members, the extended network of “scholars and graduates who have a shared vision for diversity and lifelong learning” and the opportunities provided at Graduate House. She thanked all our donors and The Graduate Union Council for “adding value to the lives of graduates by fostering a warm, collegial and safe residential environment for graduate students to study and grow together”. Maggie ended by saying she had “no doubt that we will bring the best of the values of collegiality and lifelong learning with us to our future careers”.

The second Resident Member speaker, Mr Shubham Rawal, was introduced.

Mr Shubham Rawal, Resident MemberShubham Rawal is from India and has recently graduated with a Master of Engineering (Software) from the Melbourne School of Engineering, The University of Melbourne, and is currently working at The University of Melbourne in various roles: as a tutor, demonstrator and supervisor for various subjects at the School of Computing and Information Systems.

He has resided at Graduate House for three years and he enjoys the “culture that we have for everyone sitting together, having dinner, talking with each other, and has afforded me the opportunity to meet people from various skills and at different stages of their lives and to interact with them”. Shubham has made a lot of friends at Graduate House and “it does feel like home at this point”. He enjoys the “cultural inclusivity” at Graduate House, celebrating every festival (e.g., Christmas, Diwali, etc.).

Resident Member, Maggie Wang



Shubham was the recipient of the 2018 MV Anderson Award for his contribution to the collegiate experience at Graduate House but feels his greatest achievement at Graduate House was participating in the Graduate House Olympics “which lasted for a full hour”! He concluded by thanking all donors “for their continued support of Graduate House and its objectives… I sincerely hope that everyone who comes here (to live) after me gets to experience the same experience that I’ve had for the last few years and with all your support, hopefully, they can do that”.

Dr Bennett then introduced our second guest speaker, Mr Andrew Abercrombie.

Mr Andrew AbercrombieMr Abercrombie started by talking about the Menzies Research Centre (MRC), of which he is a director, named after a past honorary Secretary-Treasurer of The Graduate Union, and former Prime Minister of Australia, Sir Robert Menzies. The MRC is a think tank formed in 1994 in recognition of many of Menzies’ “principles of freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of individuals, minimal government intervention, all combined with a safety net for the needy”. Mr Abercrombie is also closely connected to another research-based think tank, the Institute for Public Affairs.

Mr Abercrombie studied law, practiced for seven years, but was more attracted to business, so he did an MBA in Switzerland. He landed a job on Wall Street, in the field of mergers and acquisitions, but didn’t last long as it was in the years after the 1987 stock market crash, and he lost his job along with “twelve hundred other people in the building”. In 1991, after “spinning his wheels” for a while, he became the founding CEO of FlexiGroup Limited (FXL) in Sydney and turned the company around from

an insolvent minnow in 1992 to a listing on the ASX in December 2006. The company remains in the top 200/300 today as a key player in the Fintech sector. He is the Chairman of FXL and continues to mentor and advise the chief executive officer and management team.

“All my degrees, with the possible exception of economics, have just been invaluable, and I doubt I could have achieved what I’ve achieved without them. So, for all you graduates in the room, I hope your tertiary education was as useful as mine.”

Mr Abercrombie has diversified his commercial interests into real estate and other investments including telecommunications and web-based businesses. His involvement with Young President’s Organisation (YPO) and World President’s Organisation (WPO) has been extensive. After a role as Melbourne Chapter Chair, he became regional Chairman of WPO and joined the international Board. Andrew continues to be involved with YPO at both a local and international level. For nine years, he led study groups at the annual YPO Seminar at Harvard Business School and led educational tours and seminars all over the world.

He nearly won preselection for the federal seat of Higgins, when vacated by the former federal Treasurer, Peter Costello (eventually won by Kelly O’Dwyer). For five years, Mr Abercrombie was the Treasurer of the Victorian Division of the Liberal Party. Andrew is a member of the Zoo Foundation, promotes the World Wildlife Fund in Victoria, and was a director and governor of the Florey Neurosciences Institute, an organisation made up of many of Australia’s and the world’s top neuroscientists researching treatments for diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), motor neurone disease (MND), Parkinson’s and many other brain disorders.

Mr Andrew Abercrombie

Resident Member, Shubham Rawal



He concluded by saying, “I hope I’ve scratched the surface of sharing how my life’s experiences — philosophic, commercial, philanthropic, et cetera — offer insight into my approach of how to make the world a better place. I don’t always succeed, but one should always try. There’s this thought to leave you with: ‘Bad things happen when good people do nothing’.”

The QuizThe Graduate Union Quiz was up next, with emphasis on our history and our future, including the question “In which year after the Second World War did the Graduate Section of the University Union break away to become an independent body known as The Graduate Union of The University of Melbourne?”

Answer: 1953 – yes, 66 years ago!

The winning table was Table 2, which had 13 correct answers out of 14.

Honorary Life Membership awards were then presented to Mr Paul Barnett and Mr Clive Brookes (in absentia).

Proceedings ended with Dr Bennett thanking all our generous donors and invited guests for attending and acknowledged those who were unable to attend on this occasion. The Graduate Union is grateful to all for their kind donations and demonstrations of ongoing support for what we do to enrich the lives of all our Members and the larger world.

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Read Dr Finkel’s article Chasing the miracle of gene therapy in The Bulletin, March 2019, http://bit.ly/2Be2hAP.

From left: Kim Lee, Emily Tang, Lady Josie Blyton and Adrian Holst

Natalie Gray (right) with Mr Paul Barnett and his Honorary Life Membership award

Guests mingling and catching up at pre-drinks.

Guests working out the answers to the quiz.

Neil Taylor (right) with his daughter, Carole Hinchcliff.


The next Women’s Forum is on Wednesday, 20th November 2019 with the topic:Is democracy in trouble?

10:00AM for 10:30AM start. The forum is free. Lunch is at Member and non-member prices.

1. In 1994, the government decided that building and development would be self-regulated. This is the major cause of the problem.

2. Another problem is the seven-year limit on claims for people who are affected, with companies going bankrupt and then set up as phantom companies.

3. The problem then goes to the important regulations regarding the importation of sub-standard cladding. At this stage, the Commonwealth feels that it has discharged its responsibility.

4. Potential house owners who are “buying off the plan” have exposed purchases to much that is sub-standard because the original advertisement may refer to

a well-known architect, but the work is then sub-contracted, often several times, to a company which will do the work as cheaply as possible.

5. Cladding is only one of the problems of a deregulated industry, with inaccurate quotes and incompetent inspections.

6. The cost of repairing the many problems is enormous and it is inevitable that the tax-payer will have to pay. We need to be vigilant whenever there is a discussion of loosening regulations and reducing supervision and inspections.

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Women's Forum Review Wednesday, 18th September 2019 Who is responsible for the cladding mess?

Below are some salient points from the forum:

Review / Graduate House News / GU Newsletter

Parkville Station Site Tour

Front from left: Priya Rajoo, Zaneta Subrata, Sobia Masood, Attiya Malik.

Back from left: Victor Das, Muhammad Mossavir Ahmed, Merium Kazmi, Sally Hull and Hang Yu.

Graduate House received an invitation from Cross Yarra Partnership (CYP), construction partner for the Metro Tunnel Project, for a free tour of the Parkville Station site on Friday, 20th September.

CYP provided all tour participants with personal protective equipment (PPE) — hard hat, gloves, glasses and steel cap boots.

A group of Graduate House Resident Members and staff enjoyed the tour of the Parkville Station site. It was a fascinating and informative tour of a warm and noisy underground with a lot of stairs to climb!


Graduate House News / GU Newsletter

Research and Development Forum, 3rd OctoberOn the 3rd October, the Advancements in Modern Prefabricated and Modular Buildings — Research and Development Forum, an initiative of the Australian Research Council Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (ARC - CAMPH), was held at Graduate House.

The main objective of this research and development (R&D) forum was to provide a platform to present the latest developments in research and practice in advanced modern construction technologies, with a focus on modular integrated construction and prefabrication technologies, and to promote further collaboration with other universities and industry partners. The presentations were from key academics, researchers and industry leaders.

The forum was exceptionally well attended with more than 100 university and business stakeholders in prefabricated and modular building construction, as well as numerous postgraduate students in this discipline.

The forum was augmented with a live webinar with audiences from around the globe.

CAMPH Annual Forum, 4th October This year’s ARC - CAMPH forum was a gathering of all stakeholders involved with the ARC Centre for Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing (ARC - CAMPH) - academic and industry partners, research fellows and postgraduate students - to discuss forward-thinking ideas to unlock further the potential growth of Australia’s prefabricated building industry.

Talking about the forums at Graduate House, Communications and Outreach Manager for ARC - CAMPH, Keanne Stephenson said, “It was the most seamless and hassle-free experience in all my 20 odd years of event management dealing with the excellent staff at Graduate House! Special mention to the Hospitality Manager, Rosie Ellul who was very accommodating and helped make our two-day event all the more successful with most of our delegates happy with the venue and the catering. In fact, most of the staff that we dealt with, such as Bill and Marwa, were accommodating and professional which adds to our overall satisfaction with Graduate House. We will be back for sure, a big thanks!”

We are looking forward to ARC - CAMPH returning to Graduate House soon!

ARC Centre for Advanced Manufacturing of Prefabricated Housing at Graduate House

ARC - CAMPH forum delegates at Graduate House

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For the first time in world history, from the 15th to the 17th September, 2019, at the invitation of Kazakhstan, plenary meetings of two influential international organisations were held in Nur-Sultan — the 62nd plenary meeting of the International Association of Judges (IAJ) and the 14th plenary meeting of the International Association for Court Administration.

At the same time, a regular meeting of the European Association of Judges was convened.

On the 16th September, the Opening Ceremony of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the International Association

of Judges took place and President of the International Association of Judges - and the Chairperson of The Graduate Union’s Council - His Hon Gaetano (Tony) Pagone, delivered the opening speech.

During the meetings, wide-ranging discussions were held on the independence of courts and judges in member states, the effectiveness of the implementation of justice and many other global matters. Reports from different countries were also presented.

Annual Meeting of the International Association of Judges

His Hon Gaetano (Tony) Pagone, Chairperson of Council and President of IAJ, delivering the opening speech

His Hon Tony Pagone (right) and Ramin Gurbanov, President of

the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice of the Council of

Europe (CEPEJ)

The Deputy Consul General of India, Mrs Anuradha Sundaramurthi (standing in for the Consul General Mr Raj Kumar), the Vice-Consul, Mr Nadeem Ahmad Khan, and the Honorary Consul of Malawi and the Secretary of the Consular Corps, Mr Trent Smyth, visited Graduate House on Thursday, 19th September for a dinner in the Main Dining Room / Phillip Law Members Lounge.

The President of The Graduate Union, The Hon Diana Bryant AO QC; CEO/Head of College, Dr Kerry Bennett; and Members of Council, Dr Max Stephens and Ms Molina Swarup Asthana also attended together with staff and Resident Members.

Ms Molina Swarup Asthana said, “Consul General Raj Kumar is very keen to connect with the Indian students in Melbourne to understand their issues. He is urging all Indian students (and I urge them too) to register with the Indian Consulate so that they can assist them in times of need.”

The event was an informal occasion and a great opportunity for face-to-face conversations between all who attended and our guest dignitaries.

Dinner with the Consul General of India and the Honorary Consul of Malawi

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The Australian Asian Association (AAA) Language Awards 2019 were held at Graduate House on Monday, 23rd September.

Since 1956, AAA has played an important role building bonds between Australians and Asians, through the exchange of information and discussion, supporting international students, encouraging Asian language skills and as a welcome support to new settlers from Asia.

The evening commenced with a welcome speech by the AAA President (and Graduate Union Council Member),

Mary Kelleher, followed by presentations by Dr Max Stephens (also a Council Member) and Mrs Heather Hanstein.

Awards were then presented to the winners for the following Asian languages: Chinese (three winners), Indonesian (two), Japanese (four) and Korean (one).

Dr Max Stephens’ concluding comments to the awardees were: “To our awardees, we want you all to be global citizens and to move confidently beyond Australia into the world. You already have the capacity to operate in contexts where English is unfamiliar or not even spoken at all. By contrast, our many (Aussie) monolingual speakers should recognise, if they have not already, that they will need to improve their communication skills and broaden their

intercultural understanding if they are to survive and do well beyond our comfortable shores.”

After the formal closing of the Awards ceremony, guests moved to the external foyer to mix and mingle while enjoying drinks and savouries.

Congratulations to all the Award winners and to AAA for their continued good work fostering good relations between Australians and Asians.

Australian Asian Association Language Awards 2019

Slide from Dr Max Stephens’ presentation showing him celebrating Chinese New Year in 2019.

From left: Mr Nadeem Ahmad Khan, Mr Trent Smyth, Mr Niraj Bohra, Mr Dileep Sankar, Ms Molina Swarup Asthana, Ms Rebecca Abraham, Mrs Anuradha Sundaramurthi (seated), Dr Kerry Bennett, Dr Max Stephens, The Hon Diana Bryant AO QC (seated), Ms Aparna Satheesan


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Rotary Club of Carlton’s Meeting with Ian Riseley OAM


Rotary Club of Carlton held its inaugural Global Leadership Program, with Guest Speaker Ian Riseley, President of Rotary International 2017-2018, at Graduate House on Monday 7th October.

Ian Riseley, who has been a Rotarian since 1978 and has served Rotary International and the Rotary Foundation in various capacities, spoke on the topic of How Can I make the World a Better Place?: The Power of Volunteerism.

Ian said that one of the questions we all need to ask ourselves is: “How important is it to make a difference in the world?” If making a difference in the lives of others matters to you, then Rotary provides an opportunity for you to volunteer to help others, but it also creates a space for volunteers to develop their self-esteem. Addressing the subject that younger people do not care about volunteering and giving back to community, Ian said that younger people are just as interested in volunteering as older generations. However what young people will not do is waste their time. Rotary, therefore, is looking at ways for younger people to get involved in Service Projects (another word for volunteering). In discussing the importance of volunteering, Ian also addressed another question often posed: “What is in it for me?” Responding to this question, Ian listed four reasons for joining Rotary: 1) friendship with good people from diverse backgrounds; 2) personal development; 3) professional development; and 4) making a difference. About the last point, Ian said that Rotary’s global achievements and impact have been possible because of the fellowship of millions of Rotarians who come together to do good in the world. “If I wanted to eradicate polio by myself, it would have been impossible. But together with 1.2 million Rotarians, we have been able to almost eradicate polio.”

Following Ian’s presentation, members of the panel were seated for a Q & A with the guests. On the panel was Dr Kerry Bennett (CEO/Head of College at Graduate House), Ludovic Grosjean (Rotaractor and Principal Consultant at OceanX), Dale Hoy (District Governor Nominee for Rotary District 9800 in 2021-22), Ian Riseley, Dr Parisa Shiran (Friend of Rotary Club of Carlton and Content Writer at Graduate House) and Dr Murray Verso (twice President of Rotary Club Williamstown and District Governor 2014-15). The panel discussion was moderated by Keith Ryall (Rotary Club of Carlton and Governor of Rotary International District 9800 in 2011-12) and Father Michael Elligate AM (Rotary Club of Carlton).

The panel discussed a wide range of issues and questions including: the importance of volunteer work in the world,

especially that done by Rotarians, the challenges of attracting new members to Rotary, the pressure of younger peoples’ study schedules and time constraints for volunteering, global challenges facing member-based organisations like Rotary, how to market Rotary and the crucial impact it has had to make world better, the positive effects of volunteering and helping others on one’s physical and mental health, how to communicate the severity of global challenges which is happening elsewhere in the world — such as millions of children dying due to disease and war — to potential volunteers, the need for more flexibility for Rotary membership, and the benefits of investing in technological advances of our time for wider Rotary outreach.

At the end of the panel discussion, panellists were awarded a Certificate of Appreciation for their contribution on the panel, which states that the Rotary Club of Carlton has donated a Mosquito net as part of the Club’s commitment to Rotarians Against Malaria Project.

President of Rotary Club of Carlton, Professor Tony Jorm thanked Mr Casey J. Tan (Rotary Club of Carlton) for the great organisation of the evening and for inviting Ian to speak to Rotarians. Casey then announced a $20,000 donation from the Australian Community Foundation to Rotary’s End Polio Project.

Following the event, Parisa who has recently completed her PhD at The University of Melbourne in comparative literature, said there is a poem by Maya Angelou (1928-2014), American poet and civil rights activist, that captures Rotary’s commitment to honor and goodwill towards all men:

From left: Dr Kerry Bennett, Ludovic Grosjean, Dale Hoy, Ian Riseley OAM, Dr Parisa Shiran and Dr Murray Verso



Human Family I note the obvious differencesin the human family.Some of us are serious,some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are livedas true profundity,and others claim they really livethe real reality.

The variety of our skin tonescan confuse, bemuse, delight,brown and pink and beige and purple,tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seasand stopped in every land,I've seen the wonders of the worldnot yet one common man.

I know ten thousand womencalled Jane and Mary Jane,but I've not seen any twowho really were the same.

Mirror twins are differentalthough their features jibe,and lovers think quite different thoughtswhile lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,we weep on England's moors,and laugh and moan in Guinea,and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,are born and die in Maine.In minor ways we differ,in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differencesbetween each sort and type,but we are more alike, my friends,than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,than we are unalike.

Rotary, Parisa said, gathers all the differences (different humans, different professions, different talents and skills, different cultures and languages) for the common purpose of serving the human family — because we are more alike than we are unlike. Rotary is the human family.

Past District Governor Keith Ryall shared the thought that Rotary’s power comes from gathering people of all professions in the service to society, citing the following poem by the American essayist and poet, Ralph

Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) which was quoted in the autobiography of late Fred Hollows AC (1929-1993):

“To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

This certainly is what Fred Hollows achieved through his remarkable eye surgery procedures which restored eyesight for thousands of people in Australia and many other countries; and it is what Rotary Volunteers are trying to do all around the world.

At the end, as Paul Harris, the Founder of Rotary said in 1933, Rotary gathers representatives of all walks of life, all countries and professions, “trying to make the words of Robert Burns (18th century Scottish poet and lyricist) come true: ‘The time will come for all of us where man to man shall Brother be for a'that.’”

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From left: Mrs Carolyn Tan, Mr Ian Riseley OAMand Dr Murray Verso

Mr Ian Riseley (left) and Father Michael Elligate AM addressing the attendees



Formula 1 Business Forum in JapanOn Friday, 11th October, former Resident Member, Ms Chihiro Yamakawa attended the Formula 1 Business Forum in Suzuka, Japan. The forum was organised by The University of Melbourne, the Sports Diplomacy Foundation and Formula 1, and explored the dynamics of high performing teams in pressure environments.

On the panel were special guests Mr Trent Smyth, Founder of the Sports Diplomacy Foundation; Mr Andrew Westacott, CEO Australian Grand Prix Corporation; and Mr Andrew Hunter, General Manager — China Engagement, Port Adelaide Football Club.

We were honoured to be asked by Trent to invite any of our former Resident Members residing in Japan to attend the forum and the Formula 1 Emirates Japanese Grand Prix, held on 11th to 13th October. Trent is also the Consul General for Malawi and Secretary of the Consular Corps and he attended a special dinner at Graduate House on 19th September also attended by the Consulate General of India (see page 24).

Chihiro was thrilled to be invited and said, “Thank you very much for your invitation and kind assistance. I

had a great time and was able to meet members from Melbourne University, and now know that there is a community of people from Melbourne University in Japan.” Thank you again to Trent and Graduate House for the kind invitation to attend this auspicious event.

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Jason O’Leary, Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne and Chihiro Yamakawa at the Formula 1 Business Forum


On Thursday, 10th October, the 2019 Student Impact Committee at The University of Melbourne held their second Random Acts of Kindness Day. Their mission is “to keep the philanthropic spirit alive on campus by highlighting the impact made possible by alumni and the University community”.

Many students participated including Resident Member Miss Saakshi Gandhi and her colleague, Diandra, who were one of the many Impact Ambassadors carrying out a series of good deeds and fun activities around the Parkville campus.

Activities on the day included:

• Free Giveaways — giving free fruit and snacks to people walking around on campus;

• Kindness library — inspiring kindness by writing down good deeds to do on campus and contribute to the Acts of Kindness library;

• You are a-glaze-ing — telling someone just how amazing they are by grabbing a doughnut and writing a Thank You card to someone who has positively impacted your University experience, whether it be a friend, staff member or alumnus;

• Wheel of Kindness — spinning the Wheel of Kindness for a chance to score some yummy treats and prizes;

• Let’s Ketchup — catching up with friends while munching on a delicious plant-based BBQ hosted by Melbourne Arts Student Society and Folding Our Futures;

• Sweeter than sweet — Habitat for Humanity hosting a cotton candy sale and donating their proceeds to a worthy cause on campus;

• Muffin compares with you — Impact Ambassadors handing out free cupcakes at surprise locations across campus;

• Pay it forward — inviting people to donate to Immediate Assistance for Students in Financial Need, a fund aimed to help current students to overcome unexpected financial difficulties and gain the stability needed to excel in their studies.

Kindness begets kindness, so perform a random act of kindness for someone today!

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From left: Saakshi and Diandra on Random Acts of Kindness Day

Chihiro Yamakawa at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Suzuka, Japan

Random Acts of Kindness Day

From left: Trent Smyth, Chase Carey (Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of the Formula One

Group) and Andrew Hunter



Seen at Graduate House / GU Newsletter

Seen at Graduate HouseDepartment of Social MDHS Staff from the Department of Social MDHS (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences) came together for lunch on 10th October in the dining room.

Staff at Graduate House learnt it was Janet Farrow's birthday and surprised her with a birthday cake and song. Janet recently joined as a Member of our Association.

From left: Lis De Vries, Jen Davidson, Dr Kath Sellick, Associate Professor Ralph Hambson, Dr David Rose, Professor Louise Harms and Janet Farrow OAM.

Happy Birthday Marg Nicoll!Marg Nicoll celebrated her birthday on 10th October in the dining room with friends. Marg and her husband, Life Member, Mac Nicoll are regular patrons of the Graduate House dining room.

Joining in the celebrations are, from left, Marg's brother John Price, her sister-in-law Judy Price, Marg, Dr Kerry Bennett, Joan Pollock and Mac Nicoll.

Happy 85th Birthday John!Life member John Drennan celebrated his birthday with friends on 9th October. From left are Tran Thu Ha, John Drennan (seated left), cousin Grant Taylor, Tran Van Dung and Laura Houghton (seated right).

John obtained his first degree in 1953 and BA (Hons) in 1956 in Philosophy and History from The University of Melbourne. John's vast academic pathway story will be featured in the December 2019 Melbourne Graduate.


Members Contribution / GU Newsletter

The other day I was on a tram passing one of Melbourne’s huge construction sites for the extension of the underground train system. As though it was yesterday, memories flooded back of an experience I had years ago on a construction site. I was reviewing a concreting company and interviewing the workers on a construction site in a dingy portable shed littered with dirty cups, last week’s newspapers, pictures torn from “men’s” magazines hanging loosely from the walls and dirty windows, reluctantly permitting the depressing winter light to fall sadly on the few tattered pieces of furniture that served the purpose of tables and chairs. I had just completed an interview with a guy who had a catalogue of complaints about his boss and the world in general and I thought to myself “what am I doing here?”

Then the next guy came in to be interviewed. I looked up at this huge guy with a hard hat, yellow vest, loose-fitting shorts covered with splashes of concrete and wearing enormous boots. I suspected that he might have been of Maori origin. I pulled myself together and introduced myself and was met with the firmest handshake I can remember. While he took my hand, he looked straight into my eyes and I wondered if I was imagining it. His eyes seemed to be conveying to me a message of innocence. There was something pure and incorruptible about his eyes as though they were smiling at me. There was something incredibly peaceful about that momentary introduction.

So, we sat down and I rattled off my spiel about what I was doing on the site and when I was finished, I asked the guy if he would mind telling me something about himself. The story that he commenced sharing with me was depressing. He had left school quite early and had fallen in with a group of dropouts. Then the story was one of drug addiction and engagement with the police. I just wondered where this was going but I had asked the guy to tell me something about himself and so I just sat back and listened. There was something incongruous about that innocent introduction and the dark story that was unfolding in this unfriendly construction shed. The mood changed and he then said to me “You know mate, one day when I hadn’t touched the stuff, I was looking at my mates and I thought ‘Am I like that?’. I realised that I hated myself and to ease the pain of self-hatred I was doing this stupid stuff that was wrecking my life. I was pretending to be someone that I wasn’t. I was hiding from myself. Anyway, to cut a long story short, and it was a long journey, I quit the drug scene. It was hard at first, but do you know what really made it easier and easier?” I had to admit that I had no idea. “Mate, I made myself vulnerable.”

There was almost a sacred silence in the room, and I felt that I had been introduced to something of profound importance. But the guy continued. “Mate, at some stage I realised that not only did I hate myself, but I hated just about everyone else on this earth. I had heard people say that you can’t love other people unless you love yourself. And then the penny dropped. I had to stop hating myself. I had to learn to love myself not like thinking that you are God Almighty but just liking who I am. That is when I realised that I had to become vulnerable and let people see me for who I really am; not someone hiding behind drugs or whatever. I began to change. My mates kept heaping muck on me but that was OK because I believed in myself and the new direction of my life. I realised that I wasn’t ashamed to show myself. I had a girlfriend who was really nice and as we got to know one another she started to complain about the way I dressed. You know, clothes really didn’t mean much to me, but they did to her and we finally split. Then it occurred to me that there must be so many people who hide themselves as I did. Not with drugs but by putting on a uniform that helps them fit into life. They live their lives trying to be someone that they aren’t. I wondered how many people must suffer the pain that I did by not loving themselves. So, mate, being vulnerable saved me and now, you know, it might sound stupid, but I look at people and I am able to love them even if I don’t know them. Anyway, I am sure that is not what you want to talk about. But that’s me mate.”

And so, in this dingy depressing room on a windswept and rain-drenched construction site, I had come face to face with beauty.

The tram moved on and I looked around at the other passengers in all their differences, many of them tethered to their phones and oblivious of their surroundings and wondered to what extent we are hiding from ourselves for fear of being vulnerable.

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Vulnerableby Life Member, Mr Louis A Coutts


Feedback

Feedback / GU Newsletter

All Dining Room Feedback Forms will be in the Monthly Draw and in the running for the

Year-End Prize of a $500 Coles Myer Gift Voucher drawn at the Members Christmas Party on Friday,

13th December 2019.

Tell us how we did. Your feedback is important.

The lucky feedback winner for September is Life Member Ms Pauline Henthorn who won a bottle of De Bortoli Sacred Hill Brut Cuvée

The combined Ian Potter and Stillwell room and spaces were very suitable for our event. The quality of food was very good and generous in quantity. Both were greatly appreciated. The Graduate Union staff were very helpful in the lead up and during our event. Thank you for the service, the setting, the attention from the staff!

- Betty Kitchener, Rotary Club of Carlton

A great place to stay! I teach at a remote boarding school and find it serves as a great city-base near the university when on days-off or holidays. I've thoroughly enjoyed the events, accommodation and meeting interesting people. I'm a French and History teacher at Geelong Grammar School's remote Timbertop campus. My interests include education, the French exploration of Australia, hiking, public speaking and attempting to learn Latin!

- Resident Member, Matthew Allanby

The chocolate pudding was so delicious — chocolaty and not too sweet! - Pauline Henthorn, Life Member

You cannot improve on excellence! Bill, Rosie and all the staff add to the enjoyment of dining at Graduate House. I enjoy the Monthly Luncheons as well as the company of the Women's Forum ladies. Congratulations to the chef and all. - Margaret Mayers, Life Member

Snippets of Feedback for Donor Thank You Day, 6th October 2019 -

“My deepest gratitude is extended to you all — it really is a whole staff team effort with much work beforehand and on the day and much still to come as we write the reviews and begin preparations for next year. The result of all of this hard work was so evident on Sunday. It was a huge success with great speakers and a very happy audience. The right people were there, the room was clean and beautifully set up, the catering and service of food and beverages were world class, the quiz was brilliant and all of the promotional material was excellent!”

“Another successful event at Graduate House! The Menu had my favourite dish — salmon!”

“Thank you for a very enjoyable lunch and excellent guest speakers.”

“I would also like to congratulate Kerry and her Graduate House team for another outstanding job; the organisation was, as always, highly efficient and professional but still with genuine warmth.”

“Congratulations also on the idea of The Quiz; what a great way to educate our Members and guests on the power of The Graduate Union and the unique characteristics of Graduate House!”

“Thank you for a very enjoyable lunch and excellent guest speakers.”

“Congratulations on yesterday’s Donor Thank You Day function. I know how much planning goes into making something like this the success that it was.”


Promotion / GU Newsletter

The Big Business to Victoria of Postgraduate University Students

Of the 380K enrolments at Victoria’s universiti es in 2017, 43% (116K) were for postgraduate studies. In this presentati on, Dr Bennett will speak to this ‘graduate market’ – its compositi on, the economic benefi ts it brings to the State and the global competi ti on – as well as the implicati ons (culturally, academically and fi nancially) for universiti es and the signifi cant challenges faced by educati onal practi ti oners and educati on policy makers in protecti ng the welfare of graduate students and ensuring that all gain maximum benefi t from their experience.

Dr Kerry Bennett is the CEO of The Graduate Union of The University of Melbourne, and the Head of College of Graduate House, a residenti al college for about 800 postgraduates each year. Dr Bennett holds a doctorate in neuroscience from Cambridge University (UK) and worked in the US and Europe before returning to Australia to work at Monash, La Trobe and Melbourne Universiti es. She was CEO of the Ian Pott er Foundati on and the George Alexander Foundati on, and worked with the Defence Science and Technology Organisati on.

WHEN: 12.30PM, Wednesday 20th November 2019WHERE: Graduate House, 220 Leicester Street, CarltonCOST: $40; concession $30BOOK HERE: www.trybooking.com/BGLGL


Nearly one in five Australians are affected by hay fever. If you’re one of the unlucky ones, you know how troublesome the symptoms can be.

Grass pollen is the major outdoor trigger of hay fever and allergic asthma. Pollen grains contain a variety of allergens that can trigger allergic reactions in people who are sensitised to pollen.

People who are genetically prone to develop allergies may become sensitised to pollen.

Sensitisation involves development of specific antibodies (called Immunoglobulin E) that can bind to the triggering allergen. Repeated exposure to the triggering allergen leads to the activation of inflammatory cells, causing the release of histamine and other mediators. That’s when the symptoms kick in.

An allergic reaction to pollen can lead to hay fever symptoms affecting the upper airways, including itchy, watery eyes; an itchy, inflamed throat; a runny or blocked nose; and sneezing.

Pollen allergy can also lead to what we call allergic asthma; if the allergen components enter deeper into the lungs, this can cause inflammation and symptoms of asthma, like shortness of breath.

Hay fever can be a serious chronic disease associated with other problems such as sinusitis, sleep disturbance because of nasal blockage, and asthma, leading to fatigue and poor performance at work or school.

On high pollen days, or after thunderstorms in spring, people who are allergic to pollen should stay inside with windows closed when possible. They should also drive with the car windows closed and the air on a setting where it’s circulating, rather than coming in from outside.

Other actions people can take to reduce allergen exposure are to hang washing inside or use a tumble dryer on high pollen days, avoid activities such as mowing the lawn, wear sunglasses outdoors, and shower after activities likely to involve pollen exposure.

For people with hay fever, knowing when the pollen count is likely to be high can be helpful in managing exposure. There are an increasing number of mobile apps you can use to monitor the pollen count in your area in real time.

In addition to mobile apps, the National Health and Medical Research Council funded the AusPollen

Partnership, which has now seen the establishment of a national standardised pollen monitoring network — for instance AirRater in Tasmania and VicTAPS in Victoria. In a pilot study, it was found that people access pollen information to plan their daily activities, to minimise pollen exposure and to optimise medication use.

While minimising exposure to pollen may help reduce symptoms when pollen levels are high, the cornerstone to symptom management and safety during the pollen season is preventative medication like steroid nasal sprays and antihistamines. These can reduce the underlying allergic inflammation and alleviate symptoms of hay fever.

Before the onset of the pollen season, people who are allergic to pollen and suffer from troublesome symptoms should start using medications daily. Control of underlying allergic inflammation in the upper airways is best achieved with nasal sprays containing a topically active steroid. Non-sedating antihistamine tablets and eye drops provide symptom relief (but don’t alter the underlying inflammation).

Make sure you seek medical attention if you experience lower airway symptoms during the grass pollen season such as a cough, a tight chest feeling, breathlessness or a wheeze.

Read the full length article at The Conversations: https://theconversation.com/how-to-manage-grass-pollen-exposure-this-hay-fever-season-an-expert-guide-12327

vvv

Extracurricular / GU Newsletter

Extracurricular Your Guide to Grass Pollen Exposure This Hay Fever Season

Spring has sprung, which means it’s hay fever season. Photo from shutterstock.com


Innovation / GU Newsletter

Well, maybe it would be more correct to say that trees grow in gold. Forget your metal detector, the leaves have it!

That’s the concept behind a mineral discovery technique which is now being used successfully by gold exploration and mining companies.

Marmota Limited, a gold mining company working out of South Australia, recently reported that they had identified new gold targets using biogeochemical sampling at their Aurora Tank prospect.

Biogeochemical sampling involves taking samples of vegetation, such as leaves from trees and shrubs, and testing the material for the presence of gold or other chemicals that often associate with gold, so-called pathfinder elements.

Using this form of sampling, Marmota Limited have found traces of gold in tree leaves, and used this information to guide their drill program, showing that gold can in fact grow on trees!

An original work carried out in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia demonstrated how gum trees, growing above known areas of gold mineralisation, had detectable gold particles in their leaves and branches. The trees' deep root systems act like hydraulic pumps to bring tiny traces of metals from orebodies deep underground. The metal particles taken up by the roots travel into the plant tissues of the shoots and leaves.

Even leaves that are shed still hold trace amounts of the metal.

Collecting and analysing the leaf material can reveal which areas of land contain deeper regions of gold mineralisation.

Following initial trials in Kalgoorlie, researchers completed Australia’s biggest biogeochemical survey, creating a modern-day treasure map, sampling hundreds of eucalypts and mulga trees in the Northern Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia.

The Yilgarn Craton makes up most of the Western Australian land mass and is one of the oldest ancient landscapes preserved on earth. The Eastern Yilgarn is renowned for gold and nickel deposits, yet the Northern area remains largely unexplored for new mineral discoveries.

Researchers mapped 130,000 square kilometres of Australian bushland in the Northern Yilgarn — an area the size of Greece — looking for information about possible deposits of gold and a range of other economically valuable mineral commodities. They found positive results for specific metals and pathfinder elements which can now be used to pinpoint areas to explore.

Along with recently reported successes by industry, they further validated the method using convergent data from their groundwater surveys.

The biogeochemical survey in the Northern Yilgarn overlapped an area that had previously been surveyed using groundwater sampling and showed matching results.

Researchers found that areas where gold was detected in groundwater samples coincided with areas where they detected gold in the vegetation samples.

Greenfield exploration (i.e., in areas with minimal or no previous exploration) is expensive and risky.

This geochemical sampling technique is helping mineral exploration companies hone in on new targets for the next big discoveries.

Edited article from CSIRO: https://blog.csiro.au/gold-does-grow-on-trees/ vvv

Innovation Gold Does Grow on Trees

Gum leaf samples showing traces of manganese


Academic and Professional Development Meetings / GU Newsletter

Centre for Health Policy

Committee of Convocation

Department of Infrastructure Engineering

Staff Meeting

Melbourne School of Psychological Services

NARI Workshop

2nd September25 attendees

18th September8 attendees

3rd September40 attendees


Melbourne School of Professional and Continuing EducationPalliative Care, Clinical Research

Research, Innovation & Commercialisation

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, 18th September341 attendees


The following groups from The University of Melbourne have convened meetings, workshops and events at Graduate House

during the month of September 2019.

Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)

Education

Arts Access Victoria (AAV)

ADAPT Day 1

Australian Society of Music Education (ASME)

Victorian Chapter

Australian Academy of Technology and

Engineering (ATSE)

5th, 19th September16 attendees




Australian Asian Association

(AAA)

Australian Calabrese Cultural Association

(ACCA)

Australian School of Applied Management

(ASAM)

Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM)

Victoria

9th, 23rd September53 attendees


4th, 13th September50 attendees


The patronage of organisation Members in charitable, not-for-profit, government and professional development sectors is acknowledged, as is that of our many Members

who hold their functions at Graduate House.


Academic and Professional Development Meetings / GU Newsletter

Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV) John Cain Foundation Monthly Luncheon

Melba GroupLunch Meeting

16th, 20th, 25th, 26th September45 attendees



Michael QuinEx PAV Group

MosaicLab Order of St John St Vincent de Paul Parkville Conference



2nd, 16th September16 attendees


Probus CarltonParkville Club Inc

Retired Veterinarian Luncheon

Rotary Club of Carlton Lunch, Board and Heritage Cluster Meetings



4th, 10th, 17th, 18th, 24th September91 attendees

Rod Watson Luncheon Social Education

Victoria (SEV) MeetingThe Institution of Engineering and

Technology (IET)




The Graduate Union Collegiate Events and Governance Meetings

The Peter Doherty Institute

Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre

2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 13th, 17th,18th, 19th, 23rd September

300 attendees




WE NOW HAVE 50,000 POSTGRADUATES IN THIS PRECINCTIn 10 years, there has been a 93% increase in post-graduate enrolments in this precinct (The University of Melbourne and RMIT).

In five years, the increase has been 42%.

Between 2016 and 2017 alone, there was an 8% increase.

WE MUST INCREASE OPPORTUNITIES FOR COLLEGIATE LIVINGThe growth in the number of postgraduate students means an increased demand for housing and student services.

With proper funding, Graduate House will be able to continue to meet this demand and provide affordable housing and services for postgraduate students.

In the heart of the education and Graduate Precinct, Graduate House offers graduates from all over the world a direct link to their higher educational needs. Our redevelopment will provide graduates with a safe, friendly and culturally-rich education experience.

Diamond Jubilee Campaign / GU Newsletter

100% OF YOUR DONATION

GOES TO THE BUILDING

Victoria

RMIT and University of Melbourne

43% OF VICTORIA’S GRADUATE-ENROLLED STUDENTS ARE IN THIS PRECINCT

120K

20170

40K

80K

120K

80K

40K

2001

The Redevelopment of Graduate House


$100

$5,000

$200 $300 $400

$1,500 $2,000

$500 $1,000

Other, please specify: $

Turn page for details

ABN 55610 664 963 | IAR No. A0023234B

Graduate House, as the only dedicated postgraduate residential college of The University of Melbourne, commemorated our 60th anniversary in 2017 by opening the next chapter in the

life of our historic building. Our Diamond Jubilee Campaign will see us construct a new, 11-storey residential building to continue to provide quality accommodation and a vibrant

collegiate environment for our Resident Members.

Please help us realise this exciting plan by lending support now.

Diamond Jubilee CampaignContribution Form

Your Details

Title First Name

Last Name

Postal Address

Postcode 00000000

Contact Number

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I wish to be named as a supporter Yes No

All contributions above $2 are tax deductible



Directed to: The Graduate Union of The University of Melbourne Inc.

Account Name: Diamond Jubilee CampaignBank: ING Bank (Australia) LimitedBSB: 923 100Account Number: 6079 1331Swift Code: INGBAU2SDescription: Surname_Firstname_2018

Authorisation forms will be sent to you

Method of Payment

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newsletter · 2019-11-04 · / abn 55610 664 963 / iarn a0023234b / 3 gu collegiate / gu newsletter...

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