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continued on page 2 By Lindy Brophy Claire McGlew began memorising music from about the age of six. But this isn’t a story about a child genius. It was a skill that was a necessity as Claire, who began playing the piano at five, was born with just 10 per cent vision. She will graduate from UWA next month as a music teacher, the first blind person to do so. “The politically correct term is ‘vision impaired’ but, as my sight has deteriorated and I now have only five per cent, I’m OK with being described as blind,” Claire said. It has taken seven years for the girl from Dandaragan, assisted by her guide dog Swanee for the past five years, to successfully complete a Bachelor of Music Education. “And I have the fantastic staff at the School of Music, the UniAccess people and the other students to thank for their wonderful support,” she said. Claire began her studies in performance as a classical singer. “But when I went to the National Braille Music Camp when I was in second year, I got to teach some children and I realised then that I wanted to teach. I understand that kids don’t like sitting down and being quiet … because I’m the same!” Claire can play the piano and the viola, had a go last year at the saxophone and received a bass guitar for Christmas. And of course, she can sing. Nicholas Bannan, Associate Professor in Music Education, took on the role of Claire’s teacher, supervisor and mentor after meeting her at her audition and welcoming her into the inaugural Winthrop Singers, of which he is director. “I had never had a student with Claire’s needs before, so all of us – Claire, me, the other Music staff and the UniAccess staff – were all working in ways that were new to us,” Professor Bannan said. Claire sees a future in music Claire McGlew completed her degree with the help of Nicholas Bannan and her Guide Dog Swanee. Photo: Matt Galligan March 2014 | Volume 33 | Number 1 UWA news The University of Western Australia UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 | 1

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Page 1: UWA · that kids don’t like sitting down and ... to the streets of Perth last weekend, walking 60 kilometres over two days, to raise funds for research into women’s cancers by

continued on page 2

By Lindy Brophy

Claire McGlew began memorising music from about the age of six.

But this isn’t a story about a child genius. It was a skill that was a necessity as Claire, who began playing the piano at five, was born with just 10 per cent vision.

She will graduate from UWA next month as a music teacher, the first blind person to do so.

“The politically correct term is ‘vision impaired’ but, as my sight has deteriorated and I now have only five per cent, I’m OK with being described as blind,” Claire said.

It has taken seven years for the girl from Dandaragan, assisted by her guide dog Swanee for the past five years, to successfully complete a Bachelor of Music Education.

“And I have the fantastic staff at the School of Music, the UniAccess people and the other students to thank for their wonderful support,” she said.

Claire began her studies in performance as a classical singer.

“But when I went to the National Braille Music Camp when I was in second year, I got to teach some children and I realised then that I wanted to teach. I understand that kids don’t like sitting down and being quiet … because I’m the same!”

Claire can play the piano and the viola, had a go last year at the saxophone and received a bass guitar for Christmas. And of course, she can sing.

Nicholas Bannan, Associate Professor in Music Education, took on the role of Claire’s teacher, supervisor and mentor after meeting her at her audition and welcoming her into the inaugural Winthrop Singers, of which he is director.

“I had never had a student with Claire’s needs before, so all of us – Claire, me, the other Music staff and the UniAccess staff – were all working in ways that were new to us,” Professor Bannan said.

Claire sees a future in music

Claire McGlew completed her degree with the help of Nicholas Bannan and her Guide Dog Swanee. Photo: Matt Galligan

March 2014 | Volume 33 | Number 1

UWAnews

The University of Western Australia UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 | 1

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Claire sees a future in music continued from page 1

“We had to work out methods of teaching that would be fair to Claire and to the other students. Sight-reading, as you imagine, was a challenge. Claire had to have her music transcribed into Braille in Melbourne and the turn-around was a few weeks.”

UniAccess provided Claire with a scribe in her first years at UWA when she had to write music. Then technology took over.

“Software has developed so fast while Claire has been studying. She has had to keep on upskilling, which has been a big ask for her,” he said.

“I used to use a little Braille laptop and I had an MP3 player on which I recorded my music and listened to it over and over to memorise it. Then I moved on to better technology,” said Claire. “It was hard work: some units worked, some didn’t, which is one of the reasons it’s taken me so long to complete my degree. And I changed from performance to education and I didn’t do a full load until last year.”

One of the challenges that Professor Bannan and Claire both recall vividly was choral conducting.

If the energetic fund-raising, the training, the camaraderie, the support for cancer sufferers and survivors, and simply the enthusiasm could be bottled, the inaugural Weekend to End Women’s Cancers would have ensured the diseases were cured.

Thousands of women (and some men) were due to take to the streets of Perth last weekend, walking 60 kilometres over two days, to raise funds for research into women’s cancers by the Harry Perkins Institute (formerly WA Institute of Medical Research).

The Weekend is a fund-raising event for the Institute that partners the spring Ride to Cure Cancer, a two day cycle from Perth to Pinjarra and return (which attracts mostly men).

Several teams of UWA employees took part in the walk, the physical effort of covering 60 kilometres matched by their zealous fund-raising over the previous few months, which included high teas and sausage sizzles.

For Julie Summers, a student in the School of Animal Biology, it was an affirmation of the strength and courage with which she fought a winning battle against an aggressive breast cancer, diagnosed 18 months ago.

“Some people still think cancer is a death sentence,” Julie said. “But I met some wonderful people along the way and, like everyone else who has had their mortality challenged by a cancer diagnosis, I am grateful for every day I wake up. It clarifies your outlook: you recognise what is important and you don’t sweat the small stuff.”

Julie continued her active lifestyle as well as she could during treatment (a double mastectomy, chemotherapy, then

radiotherapy) including martial arts, swimming, yoga and touch rugby.

“What kept me going through chemo was that my rugby union club (ARKS, Armadale) announced that it was starting a women’s team and I wanted to be fit to play for them. I started my rugby pre-season training while I was still having radiotherapy.”

She gave up her job as a nurse but continued to study. “The University has been very supportive, giving me special consideration when I needed it,” Julie said.

“It’s taken me about 12 months to feel well again. But my study has been my focus, my constant. It was great having something like this to concentrate on.”

See UWANews online later this month for photos and details of UWA staff taking part and how much money was raised.

“You can’t use your hands to read the braille music and conduct at the same time, so I had to memorise the music,” Claire said.

“Usually a conductor needs some visual feedback from the singers, but of course this was not available to Claire,” Professor Bannan said. “I turned it around and used the situation as a learning tool for the other students in the class to understand the importance of feedback from the choir.”

Claire travelled to Beijing and around WA with the Winthrop Singers and has enormous gratitude for the choir members and for all her friends in the School of Music for the hours they spent going over music with her and helping her as much as they could.

She is one of more than 3,800 graduands who will receive their degrees in 11 ceremonies in Winthrop Hall over the next few weeks. The autumn graduation season begins tomorrow night (18 March) and continues into early April.

The graduands include 100 who will receive a PhD or doctoratal degree.

Women walk so their sisters can be well

New Director of Harry Perkins, Professor Peter Leedman and his son Nick and wife Dr Sarah Paton who, with their daughter,

Cate, took part in the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers

2 | UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 The University of Western Australia

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You can’t get much more remote, in WA, than One Arm Point.

The little Aboriginal community, home of the Bardi and Jawi saltwater people, is at the tip of a peninsula that juts out into the Indian Ocean between Broome and Derby.

But it’s the perfect place for a PhD scholar who is studying Indigenous perspectives of water management.

Michelle Walker is an external student, whose supervisors are in Perth (School of Earth and Environment), Albany and Kununurra (Centre of Excellence in Natural Resource Management).

There are more people working in the School of Earth and Environment than living in One Arm Point.

But thanks to computer technology and social media, Michelle has everything she needs. As all of UWA’s 89 external postgraduate scholars need to be, she is a self-starter and very disciplined.

She grew up in Donnybrook and was always interested in the bush. After her undergraduate degree in environmental science in Perth, she was ready for smaller places and a quieter life.

Five years of working in the public service included three years in Alice Springs

working on water conservation projects with local Indigenous communities.

“That sparked my interest, so, after moving to One Arm Point two years ago with my partner, Damon Pyke, who is a ranger co-ordinator, I knew that was the area I wanted to research.”

Michelle and Damon hope one day to work with Indigenous people on environmental management in the south west.

“The ranger programs up in the north are fantastic. The rangers are very active with scientists, including researchers from UWA. We hope to learn from this program in the north and later work in that field down south.”

Michelle’s main connection with the academic world is via Twitter.

“I love that tweets are so short, so I can scan my list and quickly choose useful messages and links,” she said. “One of my favourites is The Thesis Whisperer at the ANU. She is always posting useful support information for students.”

When she is not gathering data, Michelle volunteers at a women’s group which screen prints fabric with images of local marine and bush species.

“I’ve learnt to sew and I help the women to make the fabric into tea towels and

curtains which are sold to the locals and tourists. I also bake cakes to take to the women’s group. I just love having a cup of tea with all these different women and learning what they are passionate about.”

She recently spent five days in Albany at a UWA writers’ retreat, when she also had time to meet with one of her supervisors, Assistant Professor Paul Close from CENRM.

Her other supervisors are Assistant Professor Julian Clifton (Earth and Environment) and Adjunct Professor Sandy Toussaint (CENRM) in Perth, and Research Assistant Professor Rebecca Dobbs (CENRM) in Kununurra. External graduate students must spend at least 13 weeks at UWA with their supervisors, during their candidature.

“I feel lucky to be having this experience,” Michelle said. “Settling in here was challenging but now, when I’m away, I can’t wait to get back. I love the lifestyle: studying, fishing, camping, sewing and baking.

“I really appreciate my supervisors who are very flexible and encouraging. The Graduate Research School also offers fantastic support. For example, the Albany Writers Retreat, which was organised by the GRS, has re-set my writing techniques and left me feeling ready to take on the year ahead.”

Michelle Walker (third from right) spending time with Bardi Jawi women

Self-starters can take study out to the bush

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I always look forward to the start of a new academic year.

The campus, so quiet over the summer, erupts with enthusiasm as we welcome thousands of students for the start of a new teaching year. It was great to see them streaming onto campus, many for the first time, exuding a mix of excitement and anticipation.

Among them are more than 4,000 first year students who will help write the next chapter of UWA’s history by being our second century’s first cohort of students.

The students are our raison d’etre, along with our world class research.

They have chosen to come to UWA to receive a world class education.

I want to extend my thanks to many students and staff from across the University, in particular the teams in Student Administration and Student Services, who made all our new students welcome.

I had the pleasure of meeting many new students as part of Orientation week activities. They have come from across the state, the nation, and the world, and from a wide variety of backgrounds. While each has a dream and a goal for the future, what they share is a desire to make themselves better through knowledge and education, and to contribute to our University’s vision for a better world.

Welcome to the first semester of our second century

Paul JohnsonVice-Chancellor

Our staff, both academic and professional, can help them to achieve that.

When I formally welcomed the freshers to the University I urged them to make the most of their UWA experience, and to ensure that they, like the more than 120,000 graduates before them, will look back on these years as some of the best of their lives.

I counselled them not just to excel in studies, but to become better people and citizens by expanding their thinking and attitudes, challenging the norm, forming new friendships, and becoming involved in the University community through clubs, societies and other on-campus activities – for during its first century, our University became known for the social breadth and intellectual rigour of its thriving student clubs.

The Student Guild, which celebrated its Centenary along with the University last year, plays an important role in nurturing the non-academic side of these ‘best days of their lives.’

We wish all our students, new and returning, local and international, the very best for their studies this year.

Bob Hawke qualifies for cheap coffee on campus

In a final nod to the Centenary, the Student Guild honoured one of its most famous presidents with Life Membership.

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke was presented with his certificate late last year by both the outgoing and the incoming Guild Presidents, Cam Barnes and Tom Henderson.

“Some of the happiest days of my life were here at the Guild and UWA,” Mr Hawke said. “I owe a gratitude to the many people I met here, as they helped to shape me as a person. It is a wonderful experience to have shared.”

Bob Hawke was Guild President in 1952, a year which culminated in him winning a Rhodes Scholarship.

At Oxford, he studied philosophy, politics and economics, then transferred to a Bachelor of Letters with a thesis on wage-fixing in Australia, signalling his later leadership of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

When he returned to Australia from Oxford, he took on doctoral studies in arbitration law at the Australian National University in Canberra. In the early 1960s, he was the student delegate on the ANU council, continuing his interest and active participation in representing students, which began at UWA.

While still a student at UWA, he established the first International Club, affiliated with the Student Guild. “I believed it was important to bring together the many international students into the wider UWA community,” he said.

Later this year, the Guild will announce a new Guild Alumni to bring together all those who were actively involved in the Guild during their student days at UWA.

Cam Barnes and Tom Henderson with Bob Hawke

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The magnificent Centenary sundial has been enhanced with a sculpture garden at its feet.

A year after the mosaic sundial on the west wall of the University Club was presented to UWA during Centenary celebrations, the project is complete, with a cluster of mosaicked organic shapes and espaliéd mandarin trees nestling in beds of white stones and gravel.

UWA graduate and Oscar-winning artist Shaun Tan designed the installation in collaboration with long-time friend and supporter Susan Marie, Director of UWA Extension, and Helen Whitbread, landscape architect and Manager, Sustainable Initiatives.

“After Shaun completely revised the design, as artists do, it was over to mosaic artisan Iain Middleton again for the very difficult job of covering rounded surfaces with the glass tiles.”

Shaun wrote that the design was a response to the fairly spare and angular sandstone forms of the site, in which he wanted elements to break the tension of those lines with simple curved organic forms.

“The design also needed to relate to the large sundial above … the vertical image carries a sense of air, light and celestial objects; something on the ground needed to be about the earth, solid mass and gravity,” he wrote.

He said the gold egg had a suggestion of wisdom, which related to the University setting.

Sundial garden is Happiness Central* at Crawley

The freeform shapes at one end evoke big smooth welcoming river stones, all three superbly cloaked in the same blue and gold Venetian glass tiles that make up the sundial. A gleaming golden egg sits alone at the other end of the small courtyard.

Susan said Shaun had never done any landscape designs so she and Helen came up with some ideas that would look as though the colour had dripped from the sundial onto the ground.

“We also wanted the installation to be friendly and accessible, so people feel comfortable to touch them and sit on them,” Susan said. “I hope people will have wedding photos taken here.”

“The extrusion of three-dimensional forms out of a two-dimensional image, as if having fallen out, is interesting and playful. I do hope that it’s a space that invites active casual use and also acts as a campus landmark.

“Hopefully people will say ‘meet you at the gold egg’,” he wrote.

The whole project was funded by corporate sponsor, Hawaiian, as well as Convocation, Combined Friends and Friends of LWAG, and Susan is delighted with the outcome.

* “I think we should create a Gross National Happiness index like the Bhutanese, and rate things that just make us happy. This would certainly be one of them,” she said.

The University of Western Australia UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 | 5

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The iconic Reflection Pond has had its biggest make-over since it was dug by students in 1932.

It will be cleaner, and safer for its resident ducks.

As a team from Grounds (Facilities Management) drained the mud and sludge from the bottom of the 80-year-old pond, Horticulture Supervisor Jamie Coopes said it had been about 20 years since it had last been drained.

“The ducks are loving it – finding all sorts of treats in the mud,” he said. “We found a few dollars too, from people throwing in a coin and making a wish.”

Staff and visitors who wished for better facilities for the ducks and geese who live in and around the pond have had their wishes come true.

Cracks in the floor of the pond meant the water level was constantly dropping and new-born ducklings sometimes found it impossible to jump high enough to get out of the water and onto dry land.

The main purpose of the make-over was to fix the cracks and reseal the pond for the first time in its history.

There are also duck ramps installed in each corner of the pond to help the ducklings (and any other small animals that might fall in) get out of the water.

Some half soakwells have been installed to provide refuge from bird predators for the large fish that will be stocked in the pond.

An aerator will help to keep the water clean and healthy.

“We don’t want to interfere with the pond’s reflective qualities so the aerator will only be used at night,” Jamie said.

The pond is home to a flock of Mane Geese and sometimes to families of Canadian Mountain Ducks (the ones with white collars) as well as the local ducks whose ducklings are always a big attraction in late winter and spring.

When the sludge was cleaned from the bottom of the pond, a name appeared. Grounds staff could make out HARROLD. UWA historian Jenny Gregory said the name was probably carved by one of the students who dug the pond.

“Engineering students did most of the work,” said Winthrop Professor Gregory,

Clean water, happy ducks and a mystery as pond is rejuvenated

from the Centre for Western Australian History. “So it is likely to be one of them.”

But staff in the University’s Office of Development and Alumni Relations could find no graduate with that name from any faculty in the 1930s, with the name of Harrold as either a first or family name.

Professor Gregory said the University’s first seven graduates in Dentistry, in 1951, included a K I Harrold. But that was nearly 30 years after the pond was dug, so it was unlikely to be him.

If anybody has a clue to the name at the bottom of the pond, please contact us at UWAnews: [email protected]

A duck supervises as UWA grounds staff clean the pond

New ramps should improve duckling survival rate

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The Gross Domestic Product of a country can be a grossly deceptive measure.

While it describes the financial growth of a country, it doesn’t take into account how its natural resources are managed – even though they underpin much of an economy’s performance and have a major effect on people’s well-being and quality of life.

Ian Bateman, Professor of Environmental Economics at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment in East Anglia University and an adjunct professor in the School of Agriculture and Resource Economics, has come up with a scheme to work towards a more sustainable UK with a higher quality of life which will cost the Government … nothing.

The ideas are part of the UK National Ecosystem Assessment. This is a collaboration of more than 600 researchers with Professor Bateman leading the economic team. The work examined, in part, the reallocation of government subsidies to primary producers to reward them for focusing on a broader concept of economic values than simply market prices.

Professor Bateman spoke at UWA recently, as the inaugural Henry Schapper Fellow, about potential improvements in land use that would generate social gains. These include producers setting aside relatively small amounts of farm land for open access recreation space.

“Such spaces could not only improve the health and social life of local people, but provide better habitats for biodiversity

and lower greenhouse gas emissions, as these areas would be not be cultivated,” he said.

“Agriculture accounts for almost three quarters of the land use in the UK and payments to farmers in subsidies exceed three billion pounds a year. We are not advocating cutting subsidies, rather asking the Government to ensure those subsidies are spent in better ways,” he said.

“We are also working with the Government to influence the private sector. For example, the water companies must spend a lot of money to fix problems caused by nutrients and fertilisers. We helped them realise that it was cheaper to take action to prevent these pollutants getting into the rivers in the first place, than to get them out.

“You see, it doesn’t have to cost money to improve the environment, the sustainability of our resources and the wellbeing of the community – just different use of the same money. And Governments and the private sector both love that!”

He said it was difficult to make sweeping changes in the UK because the European Union controled its agricultural policies.

“But Brussels has already allowed the UK to shift up to 15 per cent of their farming

subsidies in the right direction, to return something they want (sustainability, biodiversity, a cleaner environment) to the taxpayer.”

The Schapper fellowship, funded by the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, is named in honour of Dr Henry Schapper, who made a major contribution to agricultural economics in WA.

Dr Michael Burton, from UWA’s School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, said Professor Bateman met with early career researchers and postgraduate students, to give them his perspective on how to publish well, and how to ensure research makes a contribution to policy.

“They found it inspiring to meet with someone who is having an impact on environmental policy at such a high level,” Dr Burton said.

Wellbeing should be part of economic policies

Ian Bateman

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The theatrical character of Iago and the emotions he expresses and evokes were laid bare in the Callaway Auditorium last month.

The anti-hero of the stage is a central character in both Shakespeare’s play, Othello, and the Verdi/Boito opera Otello.

The WA Opera Company’s production of Otello for the Perth International Arts Festival prompted the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions (CHE) to stage this event to complement the production.

An engaged and lively audience of academics, students and theatre and opera buffs was fascinated by the unfurling discussion on the emotions depicted and experienced in the play and the opera.

Professor Bob White, a distinguished Shakespeare expert from CHE, put the emotional experiences under scrutiny by exploring the etymology of the words ‘dread’ and ‘dreadful’ and looked at how applicable they were to the presentation of the narrative, the characters – in particular Iago – and the feelings evoked in Shakespeare’s play and which elements of these emotions are taken up by Verdi and Boito in their opera.

Winthrop Professor Jane Davidson, Callaway/Tunley Chair of Music and Deputy Director of CHE, described the musical and textual analysis of Iago by the Artistic Director of WA Opera, Joseph Colaneri, as brilliant.

“Baritone James Clayton (who played Iago in the West Australian Opera’s co-production for PIAF) then joined Colaneri who played an orchestral reduction on the piano to perform (Iago’s) Credo to astonishing impact,” Professor Davidson said.

“Clayton’s bodily and vocally penetrating performance offered palpable physical, visual and emotional impact – shocking, brilliantly expressed contained emotion.”

World-acclaimed voice coach and theatre director Professor Kristin Linklater from Columbia University then offered her insights into the use of the spoken voice to capture and convey the essence of Shakespeare’s subtle text.

Professor Linklater is currently a distinguished visiting fellow at CHE, co-sponsored in an arts industry partnership with Black Swan State Theatre Company. “Linklater worked with actors Humphrey Bower (as Iago) and Kenneth Ransom (as Othello) to show how micro-variations in metre, pitch, and timbre can generate extraordinary impact, giving nuanced emphasis and so depth of meaning to Shakespeare’s potent text,” Professor Davidson said.

“This event was testimony to the rich exchange that can take place between arts academics and arts industry partners, and clearly demonstrated how emotions and understanding of them are vital to advance understanding and experience of the arts and our own histories.”

Even before UWA opened its doors to students in March 1913, the first UWA staff organisation – the Professorial Board – was established.

Chaired by Professor Hubert Whitfeld, the Professorial Board comprised the University’s eight Foundation Professors: Whitfeld, Wilsmore, Paterson, Dakin, Murdoch, Woolnough, Ross and Shann.

Throughout last year’s Centenary, the UWA Academic Staff Association (UWAASA) held its own celebrations including the launch of a commissioned book on the history of the Staff Association, Power and Persuasion – A History of the University of Western Australia Academic Staff Association and its Predecessors 1913 – 2013.

The author, WA historian Ian Duckham, worked closely with UWAASA’s committee and the University’s archivists to record the role of academia on campus.

To celebrate 100 years of academic service by its academics and alumni to the University, the community and the world at large, UWAASA also inaugurated the Centenary Awards.

They were presented by the Vice-Chancellor in November and, in two categories, there were dual recipients due to outstanding nominations.

Academics celebrate

100 memorable yearsUnderstanding the man

audiences love to hate

A typical Iago expression from James Clayton, with Joseph Colaneri accompanying him

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Some drivers feel anxious about getting to their destination on time; some are nervous about the other drivers on the roads.

A new category for drivers is ‘range anxiety’.

It is what stops a lot of people from committing to an electric car says UWA’s Thomas Braunl and his colleague, Dr Jonathan Whale at Murdoch University.

“Even if people are only driving short distances, say 10 or 20 kilometres to work and back, they tend to be anxious that they will run out of power a long way from a charging station,” Professor Braunl said.

He and his cross-town colleagues have been road testing the newest – and the first luxury – Electric Vehicle (EV) on the Australian market, the $60,000 Holden Volt.

It is also the first long-range (and hybrid) EV in Australia as it includes a small petrol engine that will seamlessly kick in and take over from the electric motor if it runs out of power mid-journey.

“The Volt can go for 70 kilometres on a fully-charged battery, then the petrol engine can take it for another 400 km, which should ease the driver’s anxiety,” Professor Braunl said.

Presentations were made to: Dr Charlie Fox (for an academic still working at UWA); Dr Jack Cannon and Professor Christine McMenamin (for an academic retired from UWA); and honouring Dr Brenton Knott and Dr Terry Quickenden (posthumous awards).

Dr Cannon’s daughter Jan Ladhams flew in from a remote school (where she is principal) 300kms from Fitzroy Crossing, to accept the award on her father’s behalf. Also travelling from afar to receive an award was Professor McMenamin who flew in from Melbourne, with her husband Professor Paul McMenamin.

At the same event on 8 November, Professorial Fellow Stuart Bunt, Acting President of UWAASA, presented the first copy of Power and Persuasion to the Vice-Chancellor. Congratulating Dr Duckham, Professor Bunt also thanked and acknowledged the great many people who contributed to the work.

The book provides a ‘warts and all’ history of the association and its predecessors. While inevitably it is, in part, about politics, it provides an insight into a myriad of issues, including the struggle for gender equity. Perhaps most importantly it shows the many academics who have, through historical, political and societal changes, sought ‘to do the right thing by The University of Western Australia’.

It is available from UWAASA. Email [email protected]

Academics celebrate

100 memorable years

How far can electric cars go?

He hopes the results of the summer-long road test will help drivers to understand how to maximise their battery efficiency and get the best out of their EVs.

“We have been looking at the effects of road conditions, traffic congestion, driver behaviour, air conditioning, passenger numbers and anything else that might affect the energy consumption,” he said.

“Efficiency is of fundamental concern as it directly influences the already limited driving range. We hope to be able to extend that range with this research, as ‘range anxiety’ is seen as a major problem in the widespread acceptance of EVs.”

The loan of the luxury Volt by Shacks Holden Fremantle marked the start of the second phase of EV research by Professor Braunl and his team in the School of Electrical Electronic and Computer Engineering. This phase will concentrate on charging and energy management.

The first phase began in 2008 and staff and students in the Renewable Energy Vehicle (REV) project designed and built road-licensed EVs including an electric Hyundai Getz and an electric Lotus Elise, at a time when there were no commercially-built EVs on the Australian market.

James Cope ensures Thomas Braunl and Jonathan Whale are comfortable in the Holden Volt

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Christo the alpaca was one of the heroes of the bushfire that destroyed more than half of the University’s 52-hectare research station at Shenton Park on a Saturday in January.

He is known as a ‘guardian alpaca’ and looks after a precious flock of research sheep, keeping foxes and dogs away so his flock can peacefully graze.

Christo led his flock to safety when staff from the Biomedical Research Facility (BRF) arrived and rushed to move the sheep.

It was not just a calm and authoritative alpaca who saved the day: Firefighters, University staff, good planning and

Fire at UWA’s Shenton Park research station

All safe, thanks to Shona, Christo and Jon

efficient fire suppressant systems plus, as Malcolm Lawson, Director of Animal Care Services, put it, “the planets aligned to keep us and the animals safe.”

First, the fire at Shenton Park was the day before the bigger, more disastrous fire at Parkerville in the Perth hills. If the fire on University property had been that day, the 70 firefighting crew and three helicopters which were deployed to contain the blaze to just 30 hectares would not have been available.

Fire crews came from Daglish, Claremont and Perth and worked with a UWA emergency response team and staff from the BRF. Director of Research Services, Dr Campbell Thomson, said one of

the fire officers in command was Jon Broomhall, a brother of Professor Susan Broomhall in the Faculty of Arts, so he understood the importance of saving the research station.

Dr Lawson also has a connection with Jon.

“Every year, we induct firefighters from the local Daglish station, so they are familiar with the research facility,” he said. “I was on site when he recognised me. He was one of the men we had inducted several years ago. He had left the Daglish station and been promoted to a commander but he still remembered the facility and knew what was at stake. Importantly, he also knew me and let

Local film maker Aiden Edwards’s aerial photo shows the burnt out bush and how close the fire came to the native animal facility (at top)

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me in to help co-ordinate the rescue of the animals.”

“We had to turn off the air-conditioning so smoke was not sucked into the animal houses, which meant we had to monitor the small animals closely because it was very hot,” Dr Lawson said.

“We also had to move two flocks of sheep which were in danger, both valuable groups of animals involved in long-term important research, long-term investments for the University. Christo had already herded his flock away from the approaching flames.

“Luckily, some of the bigger animals were not on site. It was another stroke of luck that they had been agisted out during the summer when research staff were on holiday and we hadn’t yet loaded up for the start of the academic year.”

Dr Lawson and his staff also turned on the perimeter sprinkler system that runs along the fence line. “We worked very hard to get that system in place and it helped to save the facility and the animals,” he said.

While the staff were taking care of the animals, power lines fell across the road out of the facility.

“The firefighters escorted us through a clump of burning trees to get off the property,” Dr Lawson said. “They did a fantastic job.”

Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robyn Owens said the research community was “incredibly grateful for the professional and skilled work of our UWA Emergency Response team and the Fire Services units.

“Not only was there no damage to any buildings, people or animals, but long-standing important research projects were protected.

“The loss of any of our research animals or facilities could have impacted on PhD theses, grant projects, and research of global significance, such as our work on pre-term births, mesothelioma, muscular dystrophy, animal grazing and climate change, and any of a number of projects relating to our native fauna.

“To replace these animals would have taken many years, and we would have seen a significant drop in our research.”

The University thanked the firefighters and the UWA emergency response team with a small function at the BRF a few weeks after the fire.

Dr Thomson said the emergency response team, which included Gaye McMath, Bob Farrelly, Grant Wallace, Garry Jones, George Anderson, Dr Lawson and others, assembled within an hour of the fire starting.

“Our security staff kept the public away and let the UWA people into the property and everybody acted very professionally, dropping what they were doing to help save the property and the animals,” he said.

“Thankfully, Shona Cools, who was working that day on the UWA property at Dreamfit (a UWA-based initiative to design and create recreational equipment for people with disabilities) raised the alarm.

“All our research was threatened,” Dr Thomson said.

“If the facility had gone, it might have taken between three and five years to get research back on track, at an estimated cost of more than $150 million.”

And more good news: a couple of weeks after the fire, the green shoots were already coming through.

Christo saved his flock from the flames

The native grass trees are already shooting green

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If breastfeeding a newborn is not going well, the first focus is usually on the mother.

But lactation researchers have found that an ancient problem with some babies’ tongues is still interfering with successful breastfeeding.

Inspired by the overwhelming benefits of breast milk, the scientists at UWA’s Hartman Human Lactation Research Group (HHLRG) have long focused on identifying problems with breastfeeding and how they can be solved. Tongue tie in infants is one such problem, and while the condition has been documented since biblical times, its diagnosis and treatment is controversial.

Ongoing research by HHLR is focused on providing evidence for the benefits of correcting tongue tie in infants, based on their breast milk intake.

Tongue tie, known medically as ankyloglossia, is when a baby doesn’t have full movement of the tongue. Donna Geddes, Head of the HHLR explains: “There is a fine membrane underneath your tongue that holds it

to the floor of your mouth, called the frenulum. For babies with tongue tie, the frenulum is very short and acts like the anchor of a ship, restricting movement. The tongue is so closely anchored to the floor of the mouth, that it cannot function efficiently or effectively, especially when breastfeeding.

“The concern is that when babies cannot breastfeed properly they are missing out on the myriad of benefits afforded by breastfeeding that include increased immunity from infection, reduced risk of obesity, and reduced chance of all obesity-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. There are also negative health implications for mothers who do not breastfeed such as increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer as well as slower weight loss after birth.”

The current treatment for tongue tie involves snipping the frenulum beneath the tongue, in a procedure known as a frenotomy, in which there are rarely any complications.

But there is significant controversy surrounding the snip.

“Some conservative clinicians question whether it is really necessary to release the frenulum. There are no universal guidelines to determine when the procedure is required,” Dr Geddes said.

While bottle feeding was popular, tongue tie was rarely diagnosed as the condition didn’t interfere with sucking from a bottle.

“Now, with more mothers breastfeeding again, we need a more definitive answer to the question of the snip – that can be used diagnostically by clinicians,” she said.

Dr Geddes and her colleagues have measured the 24-hour milk intake of tongue tied babies before and after frenotomy. The results proved how successful the procedure was in allowing a baby to breastfeed.

In their most recent study, soon to be published in Pediatrics, a specific level of milk intake is proposed as a tool for determining when a frenotomy should be performed.

Anchors away for tongue tied babies

Up to 10 per cent of the population suffer tongue tie, and of these, at least half will have difficulty feeding as babies.

As well as these difficulties, untreated tongue tie can cause nipple pain and potential infection for the mother, and long term implications for the child, including altered development of the oral cavity and compromised dental hygiene. “There is less chance of speech difficulties for babies who have had a frenotomy, and there are social impacts, such as the ability to lick a lollypop, and to French kiss!” Dr Geddes said.

HHLRG plans to develop universal guidelines for milk intake and hope that clinicians will use them to diagnose and treat tongue tie.

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A group of women, incarcerated in a psychiatric institution in Sydney in the 1940s, are some of the unwitting stars of Shadow Land at the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery.

Anne Ferran, a Sydney artist, described by LWAG curator Felicity Johnston as a ‘museum artist’, has honoured the memories of 38 women whose photographs still exist, but whose names and all other details of their lives were unrecorded.

Shadow Land investigates Australia’s colonial past, particularly women and children in prisons and asylums. Photomedia artist Anne Ferran works with archival material from museums, creating unusual and often moving works. They include photographs, videos, textiles, text and installations.

She has cropped the black and white photographs of the 38 women so we don’t see their faces but we do see their hands, which create powerful images. In another work, Chorus, the artist has photographed 38 other women, again faceless and anonymous, who look like they are trying on outsize dresses, but are really hiding behind blankets.

Following the story of a colonial women’s workhouse in Ross, Tasmania, the artist found no trace of the buildings, but created a work with photographs

of the area. Many of the women in the workhouse were pregnant and these photographs are also used behind a digital installation that has the names, birth dates and death dates (a very high rate of infant mortality) of the children born there.

But it is not all gloomy. There are some stunning glowing images of babies’ christening gowns (right). You would swear the gowns themselves are behind the glass in the frames. Felicity explained that Anne was not allowed to photograph the gowns (and other women’s clothing that features in the exhibition) in the museum where she found them. So she captured them with a 19th century technique called photogramming, where the gowns are laid on photographic paper and exposed to the light. They are at once shadowy and ghostly but somehow beautiful and bright.

The artist has donated to the University an installation: a cabinet with light boxes in the drawers, with more images of women’s and babies’ clothing, related to childbirth.

Huge super-real photographs of institutionalised women (above), based on classical poses, are another representation of femininity.

As a departure from the theme of women, are a video, a book and images

Above: Anne Ferran, Untitled (christening gown 1978/3043/2), 2001, gelatin silver photogramMain image: Anne Ferran, Scene I and Scene II, from Scenes on the death of nature, 1986, gelatin silver photograph

Shadows of the past illuminate the Gallery

of historical sites and waterways in east London.

Anne Ferran was in residence at the Fremantle Arts Centre last year and compiled The Prison Library, a book of images of the disbanded library at the nearby Fremantle Prison.

Anne Ferran: Shadow Land is at the gallery until 19 April. It makes an excellent lunchtime excursion on a warm day.

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By Jake Dennis

How do you save $8 million dollars and still provide students with a world class teaching experience?

This is the quandary that faced the Head of School of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (PaLM) Wendy Erber.

One of UWA’s biggest Schools needed a solution to tackle the flood of students from New Courses 2012 and overcome the dilemma of increased class sizes.

E-learning was the only answer.

Renovating the QEII M Block teaching facilities to provide bigger wet laboratories was not economically

Browne from Sydney University, and Administrative Officer Jake Dennis comprise the team.

“In just over a year we have built a multitude of e-learning resources, including online practical modules with automated feedback and marking, multimedia-rich online databases, learner-centred in-class activities and interactive instructional videos,” Professor Roehrig said.

“We have smashed expectations of what we thought we could achieve for this School but the biggest change has been in the attitude of our academic staff towards e-learning.”

The jewel of PaLM’s educational revolution is the multi-coloured Wi-Fi fitted 174 seat e-learning suite, with 29 desks, for groups of six students, each fitted with two Mac mini computers, two high-definition video screens and enough ports for everyone to connect HDMI portable devices.

Clinical Senior Lecturer Dr Ee Mun Lim was pleasantly surprised after teaching her first class in PaLM’s new e-learning suite.

“At first I felt trepidation about this new style of teaching but e-modules are better than lectures where students are bored. Here, students are more engaged and self-sufficient,” Dr Lim said.

The new system provides active engagement with teachers and demonstrators.

“It’s daunting being put on the spot and asked questions in front of a whole class,” said one of a group of students who sit and learn together in the Blue Room each Friday.

“But in these classes, we work as a group to solve the problems ourselves.”

“This room is AWESOME,” wrote another student on the whiteboard in the Red Room.

Professor Erber is proud of her School’s achievement. Despite resource constraints and exponential growth in enrolments, the M Block e-learning facility and the School’s new approaches to teaching, have given staff and students a reason to look forward to a bright future.

Game changer: the NATT team

feasible so a change in curriculum delivery supported by technologically enhanced classrooms and a team of educational experts was her answer.

“We needed to change the way we taught,” Winthrop Professor Erber said.

This strategy slashed the projected costs of refurbishments from $14 million to less than $6 million.

The New Approaches to Teaching (NATT) team was established as the driving force behind the pedagogical shift from traditional cost-heavy ‘wet’ lab classes to modern student-centred e-learning.

Associate Professor Kimberley Roehrig from PaLM, Education Officer Peter

Associate Professor Kimberley Roehrig, Administrator Jake Dennis and Education Officer Peter Browne in one of the e-Learning suites

The students enjoy learning collaboratively

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The new number 950 bus from Morley means that UWA is now directly connected to all Perth train lines.

The new service is a continuous route from Morley busport via Beaufort Street and the city, to QEII and UWA. It is the result of consultation between the University, the Department of Transport and Transperth.

Manager of Parking and Transport, David Tyrrell-Clark, said UWA commuters could now get services in and out of the Esplanade Busport, and Perth Central and Perth Underground Stations via the 950’s stops on Wellington Street. “One of the big benefits of this new route is its frequency,” he said. “It runs every few minutes, and every one or two minutes in peak times.”

UWA employee Jake Dennis who works at the QEII site, has changed from driving every day to taking the bus every day.

“Parking was getting too expensive at QEII, but it was a drag having to get two buses, and waiting around between them. Now I hop on, listen to music or read. It doesn’t even matter if I fall asleep at the end of a busy day. There’s no changing buses and the service is so frequent that, if I’m running late and miss one, there’ll be another one in a few minutes. I can’t use the excuse that I missed the bus if I’m late to work!”

Jake said he also felt good about leaving his car at home and not adding to his carbon footprint.

For two-wheel commuters, the annual Bike Breakfast is this week.

The State Minister for Sport and Recreation, Terry Waldron, will use the UWA Bike Week event at the University Club to launch the government’s new CycleWest cycling strategy.

As always, breakfast will be provided from 7am to 9.30am for staff, students and Nedlands residents who have cycled to the Crawley campus.

Buses, bikes and sustainable choices

The Bike Doctor will be in his ‘surgery’ and there will be prizes for lucky cyclists.

Cyclists wishing to attend the 2014 UWA Bike Breakfast are required to register at transport.uwa.edu.au/events

Trish Howard, Communications Officer for Sustainable Initiatives, said the 2013 UWA Commuter Survey found that health and wellbeing was the main reason cited for cycling, rating higher than reducing the carbon footprint.

“We have developed a calculator for cycling to work. Assuming a staff member rides 12 kms to UWA three days per week over 50 weeks, this is equivalent to 11kgs of body fat, $2,268 in driving expenses, $460 in parking expenses and 720kgs of carbon emissions, which is equivalent to leaving a light bulb on for 500 days,” she said.

Sustainable Initiatives together with the student Guild is also running EnviroFest again on the Oak Lawn from 11.30am to 2pm on Tuesday 1 April. It is a sustainability festival, designed to empower staff and students with the information and inclination to make sustainable choices, on and off campus.

The focus of this year’s event will be an ‘upcycling’ workshop. Staff and students will be shown how to use interesting industry offcuts to create works of art.

“The new products will be flowers, bugs and birds, and we’ll create an upcycled garden around the base and in the branches of one of the big oak trees,” Trish said. “The tree will become an art installation for the rest of the week.”

The workshop will be run by REmida, recycling and upcycling specialists.

EnviroFest will also have a native animal zoo with a koala, a dingo, a wedge tailed eagle and other birds of prey, and UWA’s bee research group, CIBER.

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Not every Englishman is mourning his country’s poor showing in the cricket season in Australia this summer.

For Stephen Parry, one of the young coaches at the UWA-based Cricket Academy, it meant a call-up to the England T20 World Cup team.

And, in his debut again the West Indies in Antigua this month, Stephen took three wickets and was named Man of the Match. England beat the Windies in the second One Day International by three wickets.

Stephen, a left-arm spin bowler originally from Manchester, has been at the Academy (which operates under the auspices of the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health) for two years. In summer he plays for Midland-Guildford and in (our) winter, he goes home to play for Lancashire.

A professional cricketer for nine years, he has already seen a lot of the world through his sport. He has been in the Lions (equivalent to Australia A) system for several years.

“I’ve played one-day cricket for England in the Caribbean, Dubai, India, Bangladesh. And I’ve seen a lot of Australia too, playing for four years in Melbourne and one in Sydney before coming to Perth,” he said.

“I like the one-day format. T20 is especially crazy. It’s fun and it gets the crowds in.”

left around the same time, it took a few years for them to regroup and make it to the top again. I just hope it doesn’t take England that long.”

His job with the Cricket Academy is to coach young up-and-coming English players who pay handsomely to spend a season in Perth, living at University Hall, training on James Oval every morning and learning other skills in the afternoons.

Ian Thacker started the academy 12 years ago as his own business, paying the University for the use of James Oval, considered second only to the WACA for cricket in WA.

“Then three years ago, the School of Sport Science offered to take me in and make the academy part of the School and the University,” Ian said.

“We have 12 lads at a time and they know they are privileged to have full-time coaching here. The facilities are fantastic. After cricket training each morning, they do other fitness training in the afternoon,

International cricketers are honed on James Oval

and work with Sandy Gordon, the School’s sports psychologist, who is a legend in international cricket circles

“They would never be able to work with somebody like him back in England.

“The lads also work with the School’s Thrive program (for children recovering from cancer) and work with patients in the chemotherapy gym.”

It was Ian Thacker who arranged for the English test team to visit UWA in December and play a demonstration match on James Oval.

“They couldn’t believe how good this place was,” he said. “Andy Flower (England’s coach) said I had the best job in the world and we talked about the England team coming here, to the Academy at UWA, every Australian summer to train.”

But that now seems unlikely to happen, as the future of the Cricket Academy is uncertain in the current tertiary education economic climate.

Stephen Parry in the nets on James Oval: The bowlers use dog ball throwers so they don’t hurt their arms while giving the batsmen practice

He said he was very happy to see Brad Hogg and Brad Hodge chosen in the Australian T20 World Cup team. “Hoggie’s 43 and Hodge is 39. It makes me hopeful that I can keep playing to that age too!”

Stephen said he thought England was a better side than their performance this summer indicated. “Like the Australian team when Warnie and all the others

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Red is the internationally recognised colour for HIV/AIDS – and it’s also a great colour for parties.

The WA Medical Students’ Society founded the Red Party to raise money for Oxfam Australia’s HIV and AIDS program in South Africa and their red parties have made nearly $200,000.

This year the students are hosting a ball and asking the University community, especially health professionals, to join them on 16 May at Frasers State Reception Centre for the 2014 Audi Red Aware Gala Ball.

Entertainment, a charity auction, a three-course dinner designed by Chris Taylor and wines from Howard Park will complement what organisers describe as ‘an irresistible dance floor’.

For more information and tickets, please visit redparty.org/galaball

You kindly ran my essay on the amazing UWA computer programmer Brian Horan in your December issue of UWAnews.

I wrote that he told computing centre director Dennis Moore: “You are a poor programmer saved by my intelligence.” But Horan was more subtle than that. What he actually said was: “You are a poor programmer, saved by YOUR intelligence.”

It was a Horan compliment to his boss, and I would be grateful if you would correct my error.

Ron Davidson

The Lions Eye Institute (LEI) is investigating the effects of sun exposure on eye health through this study.

While exposure to sunlight helps us make Vitamin D, important for bone strength, that same sunlight or ultraviolet light puts us at risk of skin cancer.

Similarly, a degree of outdoor exposure protects adolescents from developing short-sightedness, but too much exposure increases the risk of UV damage to the eye causing pterygium or cataract.

Finding a balance is important.

LEI is looking for participants for the study who are aged 12 years and over, who play outdoor sports or take part in regular outdoor activities. A free comprehensive eye examination is all that is involved.

If you or your children are interested in participating or would like more information, please contact Lisa Booth at LEI at [email protected] or on 9381 0707.

Isabelle Lake was born Nicholas and spent 18 years fighting unresolved issues in her life. After leaving school, she sought the resolution which confirmed she was transgender and she transitioned with complete support from her family and friends.

She then began studying at UWA, all the while helping others who were in a similar situation.

Isabelle died in 2012 at the age of 22 from leukaemia and, in her memory, the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) set up this lecture.

The second annual Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Perth transgender man Aram Hosie who worked with the Federal Government on their guidelines for Recognition of Sex and Gender and also on developing a new passport policy for trans and intersex applicants.

The lecture, Making History: All the places we’ve been and are still yet to go in the fight for Transgender and Intersex Rights, is on Wednesday 26 March from 6pm to 8pm in the Wesfarmers Lecture Theatre, UWA Business School.

Entry and refreshments (from 5.30pm) are free but please register your attendance at trybooking.com or with Marc Newhouse on 9216 3944 by 20 March.

Equity and Diversity UWA presents the lecture in conjunction with the EOC.

Isabelle Lake Memorial Lecture

Have a ball to help wipe out AIDS

The Western Australian Eye Protection Study

Letter to the Editor

Brian Horan, photographed for Pelican

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Whatever you need to print, UniPrint can print it. From business cards to newsletters, flyers to annual reports.

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18 | UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 The University of Western Australia

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In a campus emergency dial 2222

Security staff will call the emergency services, direct them to you and come to help you while waiting for their arrival.

What would you teach?

From early childhood literacy to high school science, UWA’s teaching graduates are sharing their expertise in classrooms across the country.

Wherever you want to make a difference, the Master of Teaching course at UWA will help you get there. This two-year program is available in both Perth and Albany, in full-time and part-time mode.

For more information call 6488 2388 or visit education.uwa.edu.au.

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UWA Convocation 2014 First Ordinary Meeting

The Warden of Convocation invites al l graduates from The University of Western Australia, and other members of Convocation, to attend its First Ordinary Meeting.

UWA Professor Carmen Lawrence will speak on An Avalanche of Change: will universities as we know them survive the onslaught?

Vice-Chancel lor Professor Paul Johnson, Warden of Convocation Adjunct Professor Warren Kerr AM and Guild President Tom Henderson will report on UWA’s progress in achieving its goal of being one of the world’s top 50 universities by 2050.

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UWA Professor Carmen Lawrence

Date: Friday 21 March 2014

Time: 6pm

Venue: Banquet Hall, The University Club of WA, The University of Western Australia

RSVP: 6488 3006 or [email protected] convocation.uwa.edu.au

The University of Western Australia UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 | 19

UWAnews classified

Need a photographer?Prize nights, book launches, significant visitors and events.

The University does not have an official photographer, but Public Affairs can provide advice and recommend a range of professional photographers.

Contact UWA Public Affairs for more information: Jeantine on 6488 8000.

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the last word …

Gary Sigley on the Great Wall of China

By Dr Gary Sigley Asian Studies, School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts

Those of you of a certain vintage may remember the days when ‘afternoon tea’ actually meant stopping what you were doing, and with family, friends or colleagues, enjoying a pot of freshly brewed tea.

Tea in ‘those days’ was the loose leaf variety and the rule of thumb was ‘one teaspoon for each guest and one for the pot’. How things change. In the 1960s tea bags made up less than three per cent of the British tea market. Now in the second decade of the 21st century tea bags account for a whopping 90 per cent. We can safely say that Australia has followed this tea bag trend.

In this age of constantly looming deadlines and the pressures of multitasking who has the time to engage in the luxury of an afternoon tea? The tea bag, along with the rise and rise of fast foods, epitomises our descent into the mire of convenience. Yes, tea bags certainly are convenient. But what have we lost along the way?

Think about it like this. What does the tea bag represent beyond convenience? It is the material representation of the atomisation of the workplace in which individuals no longer have time to partake in what was once an important national pastime (did you know that on average Australians consume more tea than they do in China?). Go to kitchen. Put tea bag in cup. Add hot water, milk and sugar (in whatever order you so desire). Return to work station.

Dear tea drinkers, where is the sociability?

I’ve been researching Chinese tea culture for years. I’ve come to the firm conclusion that amongst the many treasures that Chinese civilisation has given to humanity, tea has to rank up there alongside the compass, gunpowder, papermaking, and printing.

Tea has literally changed the course of world history. Its popularisation during the 19th Century in many rapidly urbanising Western societies is credited with increased life expectancies due to the simple act of boiling water which in turn reduced the impact of water-borne diseases such as cholera.

Any society that has encountered the humble leaf of the camellia sinensis plant soon succumbs to its intoxicating alchemy. In short, they get hooked and just can’t get enough! Chinese dynastic governments realised this early on and attempted to use the tea trade as a way of ‘controlling the barbarians’.

This worked for many centuries until they encountered the British, a different kind of barbarian. The old bag of tricks didn’t work. The British East India Company got its tea through the nefarious trade in opium. And when it lost its monopoly on trade with China it literally stole tea plants and tea production knowledge to set up the first industrial scale tea plantations in India. The Chinese tea monopoly was broken and has never fully recovered.

Part of my research involves working with a cohort of Chinese tea scholars and entrepreneurs who have set up a Revise China Through Tea movement, a new branch – excuse the pun – of Chinese tea nationalism.

I think it’s about time we all rediscovered tea, and not just the limited range in the Australian repertoire, but some of the thousand or so varieties you find in China (falling into seven major tea types).

We should all make ‘slow tea’ a part of our daily routine. Indeed research on the health benefits of green tea, for example, conducted at UWA, seem to implore us to do so.

Most importantly I believe that tea is one of the best windows into Chinese culture and sociability. To this end I would be delighted to share my insights over a cup or two of exquisite tea with colleagues throughout the University. If you would like to follow up on this please send me an email: [email protected]

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For all the Tea in China: The Slow Tea Movement

20 | UWAnews | Number 1 | March 2014 The University of Western Australia

UWAnewsEditor/Writer: Lindy Brophy, Public AffairsTel: 6488 2436 Fax: 6488 1020Email: [email protected] Foundation Building, M360

A/Director of Public Affairs: David HarrisonTel: 6488 5563 Fax: 6488 1020Designed and printed by UniPrint, UWAUWAnews online: news.uwa.edu.au/uwa-news