A Wednesday wander - Ancient Thera, John Peter Russell, a video shoot and the Parramatta Lanes

I am tired tonight. Today has been a catch-up day after a busy few days. So I only feel like rambling.

I was struck by the Artdaily photo of the temple of Zeus among the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Cyrene, now Shahat, some two hundred kilometers from Benghazi, northeastern Libya. Cyrene was a colony of the Greeks of Thera (Santorini) and a principal city in the Hellenic world.

Back in 2010,  I spoke of my trip to Ancient Thera. When I first studied ancient history I took the period of colonisation, the establishment of colonies around the Mediterranean by various Greek city states, for granted. It wasn't until I visited Greek Islands that I realised just how small and dry they were. Then the colonisation process became more understandable, but also more remarkable.

Staying with things ancient, I really would like to visit the new exhibition at the National Museum of Australia, Rome: City and Empire, which showcases 200 pieces from the British Museum. By all accounts, it is a spectacular exhibition including pieces not displayed in London because of space limitations that cover Roman history from the establishment of the city to the end of the Eastern Empire. That's a very long period indeed. some 2,000 years.

I was going to leave this item till the end, but then I thought that you might like to listen to it as you read. I am not naturally a musical person, but I have taken to having classical music on softly in the background as I work. I especially like this piece, in part because of the combination of the music with the changing impressionist scenes of Paris.

The story of the Australian impressionist painter John Peter Russell is quite a remarkable if sometimes tragic one. He was, among other things, the only Australian artist at the centre of the Impressionist movement in France. His famous friendships forever changed the way the world sees colour. Now Russell's life features in a new documentary, Australia’s Lost Impressionist – John Russell, to be screened  on ABC TV, Tuesday, October 30 at 9.30pm.

I wasn't aware of the documentary until yesterday's short video shoot on the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the New England University College where the shoot was carried out by director Catherine Hunter and cameraman Bruce Inglis, the same people who produced Australia’s Lost Impressionist – John Russell. Catherine mentioned the documentary during the shoot, so I hastily looked it up today. I also found that Catherine and Bruce have a very considerable body of work.

There are New England connections in all this. Aren't there always? Armidale born artist Thea Proctor was John Russell's cousin who played a major role in later promoting his work in Australia, while one project that Catherine and Bruce are working in is a documentary on another New England born artist, sculptor Bronwyn Oliver.

I wasn't completely happy with my role in the shoot. I had done some preparation, but the filming was being done partly for archival purposes, partly to provide stand-alone grabs for a short video to mark the 60th anniversary of the College. These two can conflict, so Catherine had to get me to stop and start again  with a clear opening response that would allow the grab to stand independent of what I had said before.

I came home from the shoot mid-afternoon and then left immediately for Parramatta for an alumni function being held in conjunction with the first night of the Parramatta Lanes festival. This featured performances by New England connected artists including Blush Opera's 'How to Build a Billy' perhaps better subtitled "I hate Ikea".

I enjoyed the evening, but it was almost twelve before I got home after what had already been a tiring day. Still, I'm not complaining!

Saturday Morning Musings - memories of Klaus Loewald, a Dunera Boy

Historian and former diplomat Klaus Loewald (right), shown here with fellow Dunera internee Hans Marcus on the fiftieth anniversary of the vessel’s arrival. Rebecca Silk

There has been a real rush of new material on the now famous story of the Dunera Boys, the group of mainly German and Austrian Jewish refugees forcibly deported to Australia on the Dunera in July 1940. Upon arrival, they were interned at Hay. From that group came many who would become leading Australian intellectuals.  

On 19 June 2018, Nicholas Gruen posted A lucky boy from a golden age of economics, a summary of the speech he gave at the launch of economist Max Corden's memoirs, Lucky boy in the lucky country. Corden was a Dunera Boy as was Fred Gruen, Nicholas's father and another leading Australian economist. My attention was caught in part because I'm interested in the Dunera Boys, in part because of the discussion on the changing nature of economics.

Nicholas's reflections triggered  a part completed post drawing from his thoughts but also my own reflections on and experience with the changing nature of economics. I paused in writing because I realised how little I actually knew in some areas.

I will complete that post, but in the meantime my attention was caught by the publicity surrounding a new book by Ken Inglis, Seumas Spark and Jay Winter with Carol Bunyan, Dunera Lives: A Visual History. This included a radio discussion between the ABC's Phillip Adams and Jay Winter on the book. Then, digging around, I found this 12 December 2016 piece by Seumas Sparke in Inside Story,  "Ken Inglis and the Dunera: a seventy-year history", telling a little of the history of the book. My attention was caught by this paragraph:

Loewald’s story is remarkable. Born into a Jewish family in Berlin in 1920, he escaped the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938 by staying on the move, resting at night on trains rather than at home. In London he worked in a factory job before his arrest and deportation to Australia. Released from internment in 1942, he served in the 8th Employment Company of the Australian army alongside other former Dunera internees. He returned to London in 1945 and emigrated to the United States the following year; there, he took American citizenship and built an academic career. In 1962 he left Berkeley for Saigon to teach American politics and history at the university and to serve as American cultural attaché. He resigned from the US diplomatic service in 1970 in protest against the Vietnam war and Nixon’s presidency, moved to Australia with his wife, and joined the history department of the University of New England. He died in 2004 without having travelled to Hay with Ken, a trip Loewald had suggested they make.

In 1981 I returned to University of New England to work full time on my PhD. This was a happy time in my life. I was without real care, I had enough money for little luxuries, friends to do things with and I was back in an academic environment, able to dive down all sorts of rabbit holes not always directly connected with my main topic.

Over 1981 and 1982 I often sat next to Klaus in the tea room or at our various social functions. He was an kind and urbane man, an interesting man, who was interested in many of the things I was interested in. I had come back into an academic environment after 14 years in the public service, including several at senior level. I found that I did not have to explain things to him, that he understood.

We were then in the first or second stages of the specialisation and fragmentation that has come to mark so many disciplines.  I found that this had led to a narrowing of focus, a shallowing of thought, an increased unwillingness to discuss broader issues including the methods and philosophical underpinnings on which various disciplines rested.  Credentialism had also increased, something that I was coming to detest.

I suppose that I was especially conscious of these things because I was coming back into a university that I had known well, not just as a student but also from growing up in an academic household. So I was comparing a now with a past that, arguably,  had already become wrapped in a degree of golden nostalgia. Still, and more broadly, I do remember saying to Klaus in frustration one day after a seminar, how on earth can they seriously hope to research that if they have no idea how organisations or systems work?

Klaus and I talked a little about his past. I clearly remember his description of the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938 which he escaped by staying on the move, resting at night on trains rather than at home.I remember the descriptions of broken windows, of glass crunching under foot. However, I really had no idea of his background, his broader experience, and greatly regret now that I did not pursue further when I had the chance.

Perhaps I should record at some point what I have now discovered as a short memoir. The time Klaus and his second wife Do Thi Uyen Nhu, herself a remarkable woman, spent in Armidale was only a small part of their very varied lives. It was, relatively, a bigger part of mine, sufficient that he remains fixed in my memory, saying hello as I come into the tearoom, waving at me to sit down with him.
 

Reflections on Clare’s graduation

Yesterday, Clare graduated from Macquarie University.

Milestones such as graduations always make me reflective.

It’s hard to remember back to all to all the events in my daughters’ lives.  Graduations in particular make me reflective.

Growing up  as an academic’s child in a university town,  graduations formed part of the warp and weft of my own life. They were part of the seasonal rhythms of the place, events that marked key periods in the yearly pattern.

Of all my friends, I know that Paul Barratt best remembers this pattern. Like mine, his father was an academic. He was also Esquire Bedell, carrying the University mace on formal occasions. Yesterday, the same type of mace was carried at Clare’s graduation. Michael Egan as Chancellor spoke of the traditions of a university.

Later, there came my own graduations, three in all, two at the University of New England, one at the Australian National University.  Then there were the other graduations of family and friends.

This shot shows my father being awarded to Doctor of Economics from the University of New England in 1979.

I value these university traditions, more so as I grew older. Young, they were just there and seemed solid, enduring. Now I wonder.

In a corporatised world, the scope for history and tradition is reduced. At best, they become a marketing device, At worst, they are forgotten or ignored.

As I wandered through the grounds of Macquarie, I marvelled at the sheer size of the place, a young university just celebrating fifty years. There was the new private hospital, there the advanced hearing centre. This is big business. 

I accept that I am old fashioned. In the case of my own university, I have long argued that it cannot compete by doing what others do. It’s just not possible in a world where size and proximity to other resources creates competitive barriers to expansion by those less well placed. Better to focus on the university’s key strength, the fact that it is still a university in a world where this is increasingly less true. Stay smaller, redraw the playing field, resist the dictates from Canberra, build for the longer term based on strengths.

Last week in the Australian, now departed Vice Chancellor Jim Barber, was reported in the Australian. Here I have taken the liberty of reporting the story in full:

Barber, having left the University of New England, has come back to small-town central Victoria, where destructive bushfires are still fresh in memory.

Ahead he sees a different kind of threat, a global challenge reaching into every region, and that’s largely why he quit early as vice-chancellor.

“I was increasingly conflicted between what I thought was best for the institution and where I thought higher education was actually going,” he says.

He believes many campuses will simply lose their customers — students and industry — if massive open online courses, or MOOCs, morph into a product that offers engaging online education at a cut price, and credentials accepted by employers.

And he sees Australia’s universities as captives of a risk-averse culture, looking the wrong way, fixated on the recruitment of ­locals for courses that offer little choice, despite the rhetoric of a system driven by student demand.

“This fierce domestic competition is occurring just as the international MOOC industry is taking off,” Barber says.

UNE, with its small-town campus and big online reach, is in a curious position.

Barber says he loved his time there, and feels pride in its rapid progress, but was torn between his duties as vice-chancellor and his revolutionary instincts.

“UNE was terrific, the council and others really tried to support initiatives, but I knew there was a limit to how far I could go,” he says.

“(In theory) you really could jettison UNE’s entire on-campus operation, get rid of enormous cost and run a fairly lucrative (online) operation.

“But the sort of damage that does to the (Armidale) region for the foreseeable future is unconscionable.”

He acknowledges that campus buildings — and the setting they provide for a school-leaver’s coming-of-age — may still be marketing magic for the “premium brand” universities of the Group of Eight, or at least for some of them.

But he believes many institutions may not survive without change to ingrained habits and attitudes, and as yet he sees little sign of a sector rising to the challenge.

“It’s more ‘the rabbit in the headlights’ that we’re seeing,” he says.

“The response tends to be ‘let’s go to (US-based MOOCs provider) Coursera and ask them if they wouldn’t mind including some of our courses on their platform’, but no genuine innovation because the extent that’s required is potentially too profound.”

It’s this state of the sector rather than anything specific to UNE that Barber invokes when explaining why he escaped the chancellery’s confines for the freedom of a digital gadfly.

“I’d like to remain in higher education somehow and I’d even be happy to assist universities meet the challenges ahead, but I want to do so free of the constraints that go with being a vice-chancellor,” he says.

“I want Australia to be part of the new digital era, so I’m basically looking around for like-minded individuals, and seeing if we can build something together.

“And if I can’t work it out, I’ve always had a hankering to make Italian sausages and red wine.”

Last week, too, the University of New England was ranked number two nationally after Bond on student satisfaction with the place. If Jim had had his way, UNE might have become a large commercially successful institution in the on-line space, but would it have remained a university, would it still rank high on student satisfaction? Would it still have that intellectual buzz that has marked the place.

In fairness to Jim, towards the end he articulated a strategy that attempted to reconcile the two, using money generated on-line to fund the less economic campus experience, but his focus remained on the new.

As I said, I am old fashioned.

I don’t like what’s happened at the Gang of Eight. I greatly dislike a system that imperils my old university because the performance indicators are defined in such a way that institutions have to deal with a state imposed uniformity that builds in barriers to real initiative outside the bounds dictated by those performance indicators. And, speaking very personally, I really dislike a system where, at the grass roots in academic areas that I love, academics are just so pressured in terms of doing that they no longer have time to think or to explore ideas for the love of those ideas. How do I talk to them?

At Clare’s graduation, I was talking to two former UNE staff members. I think that they met at UNE. Certainly, UNE formed a key part of their relationship. They came to Macquarie for career reasons. There they had a significant impact on students in their chosen discipline. But, and for a whole variety of reasons, they remember their UNE period as a golden time, a time now lost.

Well, perhaps time to finish this muse. There will be more graduations. But, for the moment, an era has ended.  

Hockey, two Clares & coincidence in a far city

It was already getting cold as Clare and I arrived at Moorebank for the hockey. I stood there with a pink champagne (a charity fund raiser was on at the same time) watching the girls get ready. By the time the game got underway, it was dark and quite cold.

I chatted to a dad from the other team, for I had overheard him mention Armidale.

"Where does your daughter play", I asked? "Goalie", he said. "So does mine," I responded. "Yes", he said, "Clare was born in Armidale when we were up there. I was teaching at Dem and completing my honours at the University of New England."  "Good lord", I said, "My Clare was born in Armidale too. How do you spell Clare?" "C L A R E" he said. "Same spelling," I said. "What did you do honours in?" "History", he said. "So did I", I replied.

We chatted on, two dads with the same degrees from the same place, watching two daughters with the same names born in the same city play against each other in the same positions in a city far distant. There was a certain symmetry to it all.       

The significance of the death of Lucy Donoghoe

I used to listen or watch cricket and especially the Ashes, but this seems to have been crowded out in a time poor world. Still, the current Ashes series and especially Ashton Agar's huge knock at number eleven has certainly caught my attention!

I was trying to think how to explain the game to a friend who knows little about it. Difficult, actually!

News yesterday of the death of Lucy Donoghoe nee Johnstone. Lucy was the last surviving member of the class of 1938, the first student intake at the newly established New England University College and, consequently, the first university student intake in Northern NSW, the broader New England that I write about so often.

More, she was the last surviving member of the first university student intake anyway in Australia outside the then six capital city universities. It would be a number of years before university education became available elsewhere across the broad mass of the Australian continent.

This photo from Paul Barratt shows Paul Barratt Snr presenting UNE Chancellor Sir Earle Page with the University's first mace.

Margot Watkins, a friend of Lucy's, contacted me via the Armidale Express (thanks Cindy and Lydia) because she thought that I would want to know and might write something about it. I did want to know and am already doing so. I have also contacted the University of New England via its Facebook page to see if I can get something done there,

One of the difficulties with modern organisation structures with their constant pattern of change is that they lose their history. This has practical management implications, the folk memory of what we do and why we do it, is actually very important to effective functioning. More broadly, the very history of organisations and areas becomes attenuated.

Many areas of Australia have had to fight for education. Lucy's death is significant not just for New England or for UNE. It is also a small memorial of the first success of a broader change, the movement to make university education available to all Australians no matter where they live. I think that's kind of important.        

Saturday Morning Musings - Wanderers, Eels and the story of a university

The sound of the drums drew me. I swung off Argyle Street under the railway towards the town square where I could see the flags waving. It was a bright, warm day and the crowd was celebrating the near victory of The Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian A-League soccer competition. I know that I am meant to call it football, but there are other football codes!

There was something tribal about the scene. Standing there under a tree, I watched the fans go through their ritual dance, waving flags and rhythmically shaking their arm in the air or clapping their hands above their heads. Nobody had expected the club to make the grand final in its first season, so there was reason to celebrate. 

The formal street parade had yet to begin, so I wandered down Church Street past the University of New England's recently opened Future Campus in the old Parramatta post office. This had been officially opened a few days before with a street party supported by another football code, in this case the Parramatta Eels Rugby League team.

In welcoming the opening, Lord Mayor John Chedid had said in a statement that the city was fortunate to now have two leading universities, referring to the Parramatta campus of the University of Western Sydney.. The Mayor went on; “The establishment of the UNE Future Campus is an opportunity for everyone to experience a new generation of distance learning through the use of cutting-edge technology”.

  The University is one of the Eels' main sponsors. Parramatta Eels Help Launch UNE Future Campus proclaimed the team web site. Players were at the opening to provide support and to be photographed with their young fans.

I had reservations about the University's move to sponsor a major Rugby League team far from the home campus, but it's turned out to be a quite effective regional marketing strategy, The University now has over 2,000 students in Western Sydney, including a number of Eels' players. The Future Campus itself, don't you love the modern jargon?, has received a fair bit of national press coverage because its actually a demonstration site for the application of new technology.

Looking around me that lunchtime, I realised that I had solved a problem. I have been struggling to write a 3,600 personal memoir of my memories of UNE to go into book that may be published later in the year. My earliest memories of the University, it was then a university college, are as a very young child. I sort of grew up in the place and still have connection today. I had been struggling to work out just how to compress all this, to explain, to tell a story. I now realised I had my answer. 

I would start the piece in Parramatta with the opening of the Future Campus, then jump back in time to where I already had some words in draft.

"Early in February 1938, a young looking thirty year old lecturer in history and economics arrived to take up his appointment at the newly created New England University College. It would be some weeks before thenext academic staff member arrived. There were just two students enrolled; Jean Dyce, the Warden’s secretary, promptly tried to enrol him as the third and was disappointed to find that he was only a staff member.

The story had begun some six months before. On the journey back to New Zealand from England after completing his PhD at Manchester, the ship had called at Sydney. The young man left the ship to inquire about job prospects at the University and the banks. It was in the Economics Department at the Bank of New South Wales that he heard vague rumours about a proposed university college to be established in a remote part of the state. Those he talked to were not impressed.

Around December, the first five academic positions at the New England University College were advertised. Without much enthusiasm and with decided reservations, he decided to apply, beating thirty five other applicants for the position.

His reservations did not disappear with his arrival in Armidale, nor was his enthusiasm aroused. The town seemed small; it was dry, brown and dusty, a huge contrast to New Zealand’s green. It seemed to be asleep a great part of the time, or at least very drowsy."

So that gives me by bookends if you like, a personal touch to today and that distant past. Mind you, I wasn't personally present in 1938! Come on, I'm not that old, but certainly I wouldn't exist without that arrival in Armidale.

With my problem solved, I wandered slowly back through the Wanderers' fans. I really had to get back to the office and get some work done.  

Thank you Richard Torbay

Note to readers: While this post was first published on 20 March, I have continued adding links at the end on the unfolding story. By clicking on those links, you can follow the story as it unfolds.  

The news broke in the twitterverse last night, Tuesday 19 March: Richard Torbay, the independent member for the Northern Tablelands seat in the NSW Parliament and the National Party candidate for the Federal seat of New England had been dumped as candidate and had resigned from the Party.

The Armidale Express went live with the story at 8.27 pm. The paper reported that NSW Nationals chairman Niall Blair said in a statement that the party had asked Mr Torbay to withdraw his candidacy.

“The party has received information over the past 24 hours of which we were not previously aware regarding Mr Torbay,” Mr Blair said. “The matters in question pre-date Mr Torbay’s membership of The Nationals.

“The party has asked Mr Torbay to withdraw his candidacy for New England and to resign from the NSW National Party, which he has done."

The NSW Nationals is seeking legal advice on the information received, Mr Niall said.

The story had begun the day before with a story in the Australian Financial Review. According to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Labor strategist Shane Easson told The Australian Financial Review he had received a call from Mr Obeid in late 1998.

''I've got Richard Torbay with me and he wants to know whether he should run for Northern Tablelands as either a Labor candidate or as an independent. I'll put him on','' Mr Easson said he was told by Mr Obeid. Mr Easson said he advised Mr Torbay, then a Labor Party member, to tear up his party membership to run as an independent as he stood a better chance of winning.

Richard entered the NSW Parliament the following year as an independent in Northern Tablelands, defeating the Nationals' Ray Chappell. In May 2007 he was appointed independent speaker of the NSW Parliament by then premier Morris Iemma.

The news that Richard had been an ALP member and received support from that Party would not have come as a surprise to anyone Armidale. It was widely known. However, the reference to Eddie Obeid gave it a particular sizzle given Mr Obeid's present public prominence. Further, there were apparently other references to Richard in Mr Obeid's diaries.

Richard told the Financial Review that he had had dealings with Mr Obeid because Mr Obeid was the duty officer in the NSW Legislative Council for the Northern Tablelands, but it left open the question as to what other discussions might have taken place. Indeed, such discussions would not have been surprising. Eddie Obeid was born in Lebanon, Richard's parents came from Lebanon, so you had a common Lebanese inheritance. Further, both men had a common drive for success and a capacity for hard work. Richard's support from the Lebanese community was also widely discussed in Armidale.

I must emphasise here that this is not guilt by association. I am telling a story, trying to understand. 

In responding the Financial Review queries, Tony Windsor called on Richard to explain himself following the reports Mr Obeid had helped him kickstart his political career. While there are differences between them, both men had been colleagues, fellow New England independents, who crystallised the independent cause as a new New England political movement. Now they were in serious rivalry with Richard joining the Nationals and becoming their candidate for Tony's seat. 

In Canberra, National Party Leader Warren Truss called members of his Party to his office about 7pm. News of the shock decision had been delivered to some Federal Nationals MPs via a text message. Mr Truss had strongly backed Richard's nomination and had campaigned for him. Now he announced the resignation; no details were provided.

“I was shocked, totally shocked,“ Fairfax reports New England based Senator John Williams as saying.

After returning to his office and speaking to his staff about the resignation, Senator Williams received a text message from NSW Nationals director Ben Franklin telling him Mr Torbay had resigned and there would be no further comment on the matter. The senator immediately sent a message to Mr Franklin asking for more information, but received no response.

At 11:18 on the Tuesday night , Mr Torbay released this short statement. As reported in the Express:

A number of claims have been made today by the Labor Party and Tony Windsor’s office," Mr Torbay said.

"I have decided in the interests of the people of the New England electorate and the National Party to withdraw my candidacy for the forthcoming federal election."

"Given the current toxic political environment I do not want to put my family, the community or myself through an ongoing smear campaign."

"In relation to this speculation I have taken legal advice and shall be acting on that advice."

This morning, Wednesday 20 March, Richard resigned from the NSW Parliament with immediate effect. He also resigned as Chancellor of the University of New England. In a message to staff, Vice Chancellor Jim Barber wrote:

Colleagues,

Chancellor Richard Torbay has announced he is standing down from his position,  effective immediately.

Earlier this year the Chancellor announced he would step down on the 19th of April, 2013, but he has decided to bring that date forward.

I am grateful for his efforts as Chancellor over the past four and a half years and I know many of you have had favorable dealings with him during his time at UNE, which dates back to 1980.

I want to thank Richard for his counsel during my time as Vice-Chancellor and for his strong leadership of Council, which has guided UNE into the healthy financial position it which it finds itself today.

Richard has served on the UNE Council with distinction since 1996 before being elected Chancellor in 2008.

UNE Council will vote on the next Chancellor at their meeting on the 18th April, 2013.

I wish Richard all the best in his  future endeavors.

Regards

Jim Barber

This afternoon, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the information that led to Richard Torbay's dumping as a federal Nationals candidate and his resignation from the NSW Parliament over links to the Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid has been referred to the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The NSW Nationals confirmed on Wednesday afternoon they had provided the information to ICAC on a confidential basis but would make no further comment.

I have no idea what will come from here. I will discuss the political and historical significance of all this in a post at another place. Here I want to make a purely personal comment.

I have known Richard for many years. As Richard himself knows, I am not a died in the wool Torbay supporter. I did not support his first run, and also indicated my reservations about his proposed move into Federal politics in Why I support Tony Windsor. All that said, I want to make few personal observations on Richard before it all gets submerged.

He was a remarkably good local member. I followed him on Twitter, and he followed my grandfather's practice (he was another local member for the same area); say that you are going, say that you are there, say that you have left! But it wasn't just that he was indefatigable, he had a genuine interest and delivered at a personal level. I don't think that there is a local organisation on the Northern Tablelands that would deny this. That's why his personal vote was so high, the highest in NSW.

He also had considerable skills as a negotiator and facilitator. When my old university. the University of New England, was being torn by another round of internecine strife, Richard became Chancellor and stabilised the position.

I am sure that Richard could point to other public achievements. But for these two alone, he has my thanks and gratitude. I wanted to place this thanks on the record now for he and his family. It's a pretty good record. Richard, we will miss you!

Postscript

In crafting this post, I did so in haste and with the conscious intent of doing so before everything got submerged in the aftermath. I was also very careful about just what I said. My reasons for doing so I amply illustrated by this piece by Kate McClymont and Sean Nicholls in this morning's Sydney Morning Herald, Revealed: Torbay's close links to Obeid.

Before going on, this photo from the Armidale Express shows Tony Windsor and Richard in happier days. 

I now want to dissect the SMH piece. It begins:

Dumped Nationals' candidate Richard Torbay has family and political links to the former Labor powerbroker Eddie Obeid and an extensive property portfolio, some of which does not appear on his pecuniary interest declarations to the NSW Parliament.

Mr Torbay resigned from the NSW Parliament on Wednesday in dramatic circumstances after being forced to quit as the Nationals' candidate for New England to take on independent MP Tony Windsor.

While the precise reason for Mr Torbay's resignation from Parliament remains unclear, it is serious enough to have been referred by the Nationals to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.

All this is fair enough, although I will come back to the property register question in a moment. The piece continues:

It is understood the decision of the Nationals to remove Mr Torbay as their candidate is related to Labor funding of Mr Torbay's campaigns against their candidates.

Fairfax Media can reveal that one of the largest property developers in the Northern Tablelands, Phil Hanna, is a first cousin of Mr Obeid's wife, Judy.

Mr Hanna was previously Mr Torbay's campaign manager and, leading up to the 2007 state election, Mr Hanna and his wife were the largest donors to Mr Torbay's campaign, giving more than $6200.

When Mr Hanna was charged with the attempted murder of his business partner in 2007, he was represented - successfully - by Sydney barrister Steven Stanton.

Mr Stanton has previously appeared for associates of the Obeid family, the most recent being for Strathfield real estate agent Joey Georges at the recent ICAC inquiry, which is investigating the $30 million windfall the Obeid family made from an allegedly corrupt government coal tender.

What can we say from this? Well, the story states:

1. That a key in the National Party decision to remove Mr Torbay related to Labor funding of Mr Torbay's election campaigns.
2. That one of the largest property developers on the Northern Tablelands is linked by marriage to Mr Obeid.
3. Mr Hanna was previously Mr Torbay's campaign manager and, with his wife , were the largest donators to Richard's 2007 election campaign.
4. Mr Hanna was accused of murder. The barrister that defended him also appeared for associates of the Obeid family.

The first point is simply factual; only the NSW Nationals could confirm or deny this. The next three are a smear by association where the poison lies in the combination. The story continues.   

In 2010 Mr Torbay received a $100,000 donation from a Sydney family only two months after then planning minister Tony Kelly dropped a heritage listing on this family's north shore home.

Greens MP John Kaye said: ''In the corruption hothouse of the dying days of the NSW Labor government, a $100,000 donation from a surprising source raises serious concerns.''

Apart from his links to Mr Obeid, Mr Torbay has interests in a raft of property development companies. He also has an extensive property portfolio, including commercial buildings in Armidale, which he has failed to disclose in his pecuniary interest declarations.

Last week Fairfax Media revealed that Mr Torbay featured extensively in the 2007-09 parliamentary diaries of Mr Obeid. In one 2009 entry Mr Obeid made reference to Mr Torbay and a new mobile phone.

This again is smear by association. Let's deconstruct it:

1. The significance of that $100,000 donation, if correct, has to be established on the facts, not by innuendo. Who was the Sydney family? What form did the donation take? Was there any link between the donation and Mr Kelly's decision.
2. "Apart from his links to Mr Obeid" establishes an apparent link between Mr Obeid and Mr Torbay's property interests. Richard's property interests are well known; he bought his first house in Armidale when he was young. There is some local dispute about this. But the critical issue, the one that has to be tested, is whether or not he failed to disclose when he should have.
3. I have no idea of the meaning of the apparently significant frequent references to Richard in Mr Obeid's diaries.

The story continues:

Mr Torbay held the seat of Northern Tablelands with a margin of more than 39 per cent. It was this popularity which led the state director of the NSW Nationals, Ben Franklin, to orchestrate Mr Torbay's candidacy for the Nationals, largely in a bid to block the ambitions of Barnaby Joyce.

Senator Joyce is viewed as a threat to the Nationals leader Warren Truss if he moves to the House of Representatives.

But some Nationals questioned Mr Franklin's judgment in drafting Mr Torbay, arguing his links to Mr Obeid were well known.

The MP for Coffs Harbour, Andrew Fraser, a senior party figure, said his warnings were ignored.

''I advised them about how close he was to Eddie and [Labor powerbroker] Joe Tripodi and was ignored,'' he said. ''I was the lone voice. I think the judgment of a number of people was poor. Their 'clever' tactics have now failed.''

I have no idea whether or not that was Mr Franklin's motive, nor was I aware of any specific connection with Mr Obeid; I was aware of the Lebanese connection. I was surprised when the Nationals jumped at Richard.  His previous Labor connections were well known, and his nomination divided the local Nationals who had stayed loyal to the Party.

I am thinking here especially of my old friends Peter and Jenny Bailey. Peter ran for the Nationals in hopeless circumstances in 2003, scoring just 15.4% of the primary vote. Jenny, a former organiser for the Young County Party (the Nationals) resigned from the Party in protest. To give you a very local feel here, I want to quote from a post I wrote back in August of last year, Saturday Morning Musings - UNE alumni dinner.

I mentioned that Richard was challenging Tony Windsor for the New England seat. I have written before about the New England independents who for a time threatened to destroy the once dominant hold that the National Party held across Northern New South Wales outside the Labor dominated Lower Hunter. The decision by Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott to back the Gillard Government and that Government's  subsequent problems polarised local opinion; one result was a resurgent National Party; a second was the decision by Richard Torbay to join the National Party and seek preselection for New England. Richard was quite up front about his motives: the independents were on the nose because of their decision to support the Gillard Government; if he wanted to do things nationally, the Nationals were the logical choice.

For his part, Tony Windsor is not backing down from his choices. In all the talk about the problems of minority Government, it is easy to forget that Tony has been absolutely straight in his position, providing the Government with consistent but not uncritical support. Labor's problems have been of its own making to the point that Tony has in fact been the most stable figure of all!

Tony is not going out without a fight. The day of the dinner in a debate on the Coalition's 64th attempt to suspend standing orders he rained on Opposition Leader Abbott's party in no uncertain fashion. Watch this ABC 24 video and you will see what I mean.

At one level, I can't help taking a very malicious pleasure in all this. As someone committed to the New England dream who writes a lot about New England issues, as someone who focuses on the complexity of Australian life with a particular regional focus, I found that my writing created a degree of amusement. I was dismissed as a quaint irrelevancy in the public conversation. Then when New England issues moved back towards that centre stage position they had once occupied, suddenly the chattering classes of which I am a member struggled to understand and interpret. Yet while I do take a malicious pleasure. I am also saddened.

In the words that follow you have to remember that, despite its size and population, Australia is made up of a series of very small gold fish bowls.  The fish in those bowls know each other. Sometimes when one bowl or a combination of related bowls achieve dominance, an apparent national or state pattern is created. Yet the individual bowls are still there. When you drop down to that level, everything is personal.

Chatting to those at the dinner who had come down from Armidale I was saddened by the nature of the personal divides. When speaking about people, I don't want to use names, just initials. Obviously anybody who knows the area or is prepared to dig will find out who I am talking about. It's not that I'm saying anything bad, just that I am providing some small veil of privacy.

RL, a National Party stalwart whose husband beat me in preselection and became member for Armidale, was distressed by the divides. "JB has resigned from the Party", she said. "The strong independents also won't support the switch. But it's the best thing to do."

RL was clearly very uncomfortable, for she has been campaigning against Richard for a long time. So far as JB is concerned, she was a Young Country Party (the previous name for the Nationals) organiser. I recruited her husband to the Country Party when she I was campaigning for preselection for Eden Monaro, and then introduced them. After marriage, they went to Tamworth and then to Armidale. Later, husband PB put up his hand to run against Richard even though he knew that his chances of winning were small. I became involved in the campaign in a small way. By then, PB was involved in campaigning for a particular regional development initiative and had recruited me!

On the other side of the fence, I know of one strong independent Torbay supporter whose dislike of the National Party is such that he is planning to vote Labor or almost anything to avoid voting for Richard. The public opinion polls suggest at this point that Richard will win by a huge margin. For my part, I set out my position in April in  Why I support Tony Windsor. This holds even though I know that Richard has been an outstanding local member.

I apologise for quoting at such length, but it actually (I think) illustrates some of the personal complexities involved. The point is that there were risks with Richard.

The story finishes:

Mr Torbay is known for assisting independents to run against Liberal and Nationals candidates.

The Lake Macquarie MP, Greg Piper, is close to Mr Torbay, but he is also understood to have assisted the former Dubbo MP, Dawn Fardell and Peter Draper, the former member for Tamworth.

Before the 2011 election Mr Torbay is believed to have aided the former Liberal mayor of Hornsby, Nick Berman, in his unsuccessful bid against Liberal Matt Kean.

Mr Tripodi was spotted having coffee with Mr Berman during the campaign.

Well, bloody hell, what a surprise and what does it mean? As I have written, the New England independents formed a different political movement. And yes, in this role they did support other independents in an organised way. That's not a secret. But it has absolutely nothing to do with the main theme of the story beyond adding to doubts about the wisdom of Richard's endorsement.

Now I want to return to the main theme of my original post. There I wanted to record two things.

The first was Richard's record as a local member. Here I want to quote in full from an Armidale Express story today:   

New England Local Area Command police Superintendent Bruce Lyons contacted Fairfax Regional Digital today and wished to express his support and thanks to former Northern Tablelands MP Richard Torbay for what he had done for the region.

We publish his comments below in full:

"I know I can speak on behalf of many people in the community across the New England region when I say that it is sad that Richard Torbay will no longer be our state member for Northern Tablelands.

"It’s important I make no public comment about any ongoing issue that may or may not have had any anything to do with Richard's resignation.

It would be unfair to the process and unfair to Richard.

As a senior police officer of many years I’ve worked with many community leaders who do their best for their community. However I regard Richard Torbay as rare.

"I have met no other person who has won the heart and souls of the great majority of community members. His integrity and compassion to those who he has served I believe is unparalleled.

"I have been touched on many occasions by when I have witnessed Richard Torbay helped those in communities who are doing it tough.

"So many of these dealings with these people would never be publicly known, but I know that by helping these people it was Richard's greatest gift from him being a member of parliament.

"I recall some years ago when it became apparent that Armidale was to lose its rail line and I saw Richard Torbay at his best, he saved our rail line against all odds it was a wonderful lesson to many community leaders to see the determination in him in succeeding to keep the Armidale train.

"I know there are countless legacies left behind by Richard I know that the people of the northern tablelands will continue to be thankful for his hard work and dedication for many years to come.

"We have indeed lost a special man to public life."

The second point I made was Richard's contribution to the University of New England. This attracted some flack in comments. I had in mind here a very particular place and time. Because this update has taken me so long to write, I am going to have to leave it here.

None of what I said relates to the very specific questions of Richard's relations with Mr Obeid. Those matters will need to be explored. But I do think that his contribution should be recognised.

Postscript 2

Today The Armidale Express carried a story that confirmed what I had heard but couldn't source properly. I usually just quote excerpts, but in this case I will quote the story in a full:

The former state MP Richard Torbay disclosed information to the NSW Nationals that the party has referred to corruption authorities after learning Labor was preparing to leak it to help Tony Windsor defeat him in the federal election.

It is understood Mr Torbay contacted the state director of the NSW Nationals, Ben Franklin, to request an urgent meeting after learning about Labor's plans.

During the meeting Mr Torbay, who was the independent state MP for Northern Tablelands, outlined the allegations, which are understood to relate to Labor funding Mr Torbay's past election campaigns.

Mr Torbay is believed to have made the disclosure as a ''heads up'' to the Nationals, who had selected him to run for them against Mr Windsor in New England in September.

But Mr Franklin regarded them as serious enough to demand Mr Torbay resign as the Nationals candidate for New England and from the party.

The NSW Nationals referred the information to the Independent Commission Against Corruption last week before Mr Torbay announced his shock resignation from State Parliament.

Mr Franklin has refused to disclose the nature of the information, based on legal advice.

Then earlier, on 22 March, Express editor Lydia Roberts reported and again I quote in full:

FRESH claims have emerged over a $100,000 cheque donated to Richard Torbay’s election campaign.

The Armidale Express first reported on the donation, the second biggest in NSW given in the lead up to the 2011 election, in November last year.

Then, Cameron McCullagh, who lives with his wife Georgina in Sydney,  told The Express he donated the one-off cheque to Mr Torbay because “Richard is the sort of man I want in politics. He is effective.”

Ms McCullagh owns the private investment company GEGM Investments, a private company investing in firms such as White Outsourcing, an accounting and investment service and Employers Mutual.

Yesterday, Fairfax Media reported Mr Torbay received the donation just two months after then NSW planning minister Tony Kelly “dropped a heritage listing on this family’s north shore home’’.

The donation pushed Mr Torbay’s election campaign war-chest to $114,415 from July 2010 to June 2011.

Comparatively,  over the same period fellow NSW independents Peter Besseling and Peter Draper declared just $14,602 and $33,000 respectively.

At the time, Mr Torbay said the donation was “much appreciated”.

He reported to the Election Funding Authority that he used $64,633 to promote his election campaign.

He spent a total of $41,103 on television advertisements, $1489 on catering for a meeting in November 2010 and $5839 on “food, refreshments, decorations and gifts”.

Mr Torbay was dumped as NSW Nationals candidate for the federal seat of New England earlier this week. He subsequently resigned as State MP for Northern Tablelands and brought forward by one month his resignation as Chancellor of the University of New England.

Late yesterday, the NSW Nationals confirmed they had referred Mr Torbay to the Independent Commission Against Corruption

ICAC is currently hearing claims made against former powerbroker Eddie Obeid, whose wife is a cousin of Armidale property developer Phil Hanna.

Fairfax Media reported Mr Hanna was Mr Torbay’s campaign manager in the lead up to the 2007 state election. Mr Hanna and his wife Jenny were also the largest donors to Mr Torbay’s 2007 campaign, donating more than $6200 between them.

Mr Hanna told The Express on Wednesday he had not heard from Mr Torbay.

He said he had tried to phone him on his mobile, however, Mr Torbay did not return his calls.

Meanwhile, Fairfax Media reported yesterday Mr Torbay had assisted independents in the Parliament to run against Liberal and National MPs.

I am  not going to comment at this point. There has been too much comment and innuendo. I will just report as news crosses my horizon.

Follow Up

From this point, I am just recording stories for later use.

• 27 March 2013. Sydney Morning Herald reports that ICAC officials have searched Richard's house and electoral office. Photo Armidale Express.
• 28 March 2013. Armidale Express reports on National Party MLC Melinda Pavey's I told you so, referring to a 2006 Parliamentary debate.
• Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March 2013 The secret life of Richard Torbay
• Dubbo Liberal, 30 March 2013, Tripodi 'in secret campaign to help Torbay's party plan
• Sydney Morning Herald, 4 April 2013,'Torbay had a clean record': Stoner justifies preselection
• Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 2013. The MP, the jail visit and the dole deals 
• ABC News 8 April 2013,UNE backs Cushway as Torbay investigations continue
• Inverell Times 9 April 2013, Torbay breaks his silence
• Armidale Express 10 April, EXCLUSIVE: UNE chief, Torbay speak out
• 7 News 10 April 2013, CLAIMS OF $50K 'POLITICAL DONATION' TO TORBAY
• SBS World News 10 April 2013, 'Federal anti-corruption body needed
• Daily Telegraph 11 April 2013, Eddie Obeid's angry denials of $50,000 for Richard Torbay
• Sydney Morning Herald 12 April 2013, Revealed: 'Obeid's grand plan' for Torbay as premier
• Armidale Express 12 April 2013, Cushway at centre of union talks
• Daily Telegraph 12 April 2013, Blaming Bob Carr for Richard Torbay decision 
• Daily Telegraphy 12 April 2013, Patricia Giles claims Eddie Obeid tried independent push
• Daily Telegraph, 15 April 2013, ICAC probe on Torbay donations to MPs
• Daily Telegraph, 20 April 2013, Wife's kiss for her man under fire
• Armidale Express, 26 April 2013, Watkins plans to bridge town gown divide
• Daily Telegraph, 1 May 2013, Secret Richard Torbay $150,000 cash claim denied
• Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May 2013, Man accused of bribe attempt backed Torbay to push out Windsor
• Sydney Morning Herald, 9 May 2013, The developer, the $100k gift and the 'highly effective' MP
• Armidale Express, 10 May 2013, ICAC probes donation of $100,000. There was an editorial as well, but it's not on line
• 7 News Sydney, Why Richard Torbay quit

A PhD student, 1983

Once again, Denis Wright managed to bring a smile to my face with his two post story. The Melbourne Cup and Mr Gudekunst 1, The Melbourne Cup and Mr Gudekunst 2. It was just so Australian.

I needed a smile.

In an earlier post I mentioned shifting boxes associated with a move to a smaller storage shed. Further sorting, including photos, continues. It is all part of my attempt to clear out elements of my past life, to consolidate, to try to move forward.

The process gave me a bad back. As I said, I simply can't lift heavy book boxes with the gay abandon I once could. Gay abandon is the wrong phrase, of course. There is nothing gay about shifting more than one hundred boxes! Still, at least those who do it for a living don't have to worry about the subsequent sorting!

Sorting in this way brings back elements of my past. I guess that you can expect to get a bit of that past as the process continues. 

This photo is from mid 1983. Comments follow the photo.

I spent 1981 and 1982 in Armidale on leave working on my PhD thesis. I met Denis there; we saw each other daily in the staff room that History shared with English and Drama.

At the start of 1983 I resumed work in Canberra as an SES (Senior Executive Service) officer in the Department of Industry and Commerce.

Initially I worked with Noel Benjamin on a special project for the Bureau of Industry Economics on the economic feasibility of a Pacific Free Trade area, an idea being pushed by Doug Anthony, then Minister for Trade and Deputy PM. Somewhat to my surprise, we concluded that the idea would benefit Australia, although the barriers to implementation were enormous.

After a brief period back as head of my old Economic Analysis Branch, I took over the Electrical and Metal Products Branch. This was my first full exposure too the crazy patchwork quilt of assistance measures protecting Australian industry and I did not like it.

I had already developed ideas as to what I thought was wrong with industry policy. Now I firmed them up through exposure to the minutiae of industry assistance. My new role was to be short lived, for I had been appointed to create a new branch focused on Australia's high technology industries, the Electronics, Aerospace and Information Industries Branch.  This reflected the Department's view that too many resources were tied up in smokestack industries.  

I spun off the main branch, and started building a new branch focused on one section concerned with computer hardware. In doing this all this, I essentially had to build from scratch.    

While working, I still had to complete the PhD. To do this, I worked from the back room at home (Ross Road) supported by Sue Rosly, my housemate, and her friend David.They were great. They proof read, vetted my arguments and focused on consistency, a major task in a large document.

This photo taken by Jim Somerville, someone who has appeared in various posts, shows me at work on the thesis. The books behind are some of those I used.

UNE's HINQ101 The Historian

I am still largely off-line. Yesterday I consolidated the material I had written on boxing, today I want to consolidate some of the material I have written on the study of history.

Part of the reason for the last is that I am now involved with a UNE history course in my role as an adjunct and a member of the Heritage Futures Research Centre. The course, HINQ101 The Historian, is summarised in this way:

Before you study the history, study the historian' (E H Carr) is a fundamental maxim of historical inquiry. This unit looks at the most important and influential historians from the time of Herodotus down to the present day. The unit emphasises the importance of the individual writer of history as a creator of knowledge about the past, and how the role of 'historian' has changed over time. The way in which an individual historian imagines and articulates the past is necessarily flavoured by their personal background and perspectives. The historian is also prejudiced by his/her political and cultural context, and the purposes for which a history is written. Students will analyse and compare the work of at least two historians in detail.

I am not teaching in the course, nor do I have a formal position. I am there as a resource and a practicing non-academic historian who is available to answer queries and participate in discussion with students via UNE's Moodle system.

It's actually slightly nerve wracking. I haven't used Moodle before, while I am also remote at this point from the detail of the student's direct experience in the course. I am conscious of the need to be helpful, not a distraction, given that I have quite evolved ideas developed outside the normal academic environment.

To my knowledge, the idea of involving adjuncts (I am not the only one) outside normal staff to try to enrich the student experience is somewhat novel. It's actually a very good one, I think, because it gives students access not just to a wider range of ideas and practical tips, but also to the broader university and professional community.

Moodle makes this possible because all those involved can post their own concerns and ideas. This is especially helpful for external students remote from campus and actually goes back to a core idea in UNE's original approach in pioneering this form of education - education as interaction between staff and students no matter where they may be physically located.

I had been intending to consolidate some of my writing on the writing of history, but I now have an additional reason for some of this may actually be useful!     

UNE passings - death of Alan Treloar

Jack Arnold advised in an email:

It is my melancholy duty to advise that Mr Alan Treloar, former UNE Reader in Classics, passed away on 220711.

Dick Passey advises that the notices was in the SMH on Saturday 230711.

Funeral arrangements are by Piddingtons Armidale telephone +61 2 6772 2288.

A grave side service will be held in the Anglican section of Armidale Cemetry at 1000 hours 29 July 2011.

Would you circulate to all relevant persons in your network.

I know that many Wright College men and the University community more broadly will have fond memories of Alan. It is another passing from  what many think of as UNE's golden age. I am sure that there will be full obituaries in due course. I will link to these in a post on my New England blog.

Postscript

I am getting a fair number of hits on this post, and still haven't seen am obituary for Alan. In the meantime, I have found this career summary on the Carey Grammar web site. 

Alan Treloar, T. D., M. A. (Oxon & Melb.), D. Litt. (U.N.E.)

Dr Alan Treloar is one of Australia's greatest living philologists and classical scholars. He has established an enviable universal reputation as an academic who combines the qualities of meticulous and exhaustive research with a profound understanding of the formal principles of language. He is in international demand for expert advice on a vast number of ancient languages - Hittite, Sanskrit, Akkadian, Sumerian, Ugaritic, Eblaite and many others - and his interests extend to modern languages as well. He is too modest to put an exact figure on the languages with which he is familiar, but he admits to a 'nodding acquaintance' with approximately eighty. He has published and lectured in many countries and is regarded with esteem and respect by scholars world-wide.

Alan Treloar attended Carey from February, 1929 until December, 1936. He was Dux of School in both 1935 and 1936. He then studied classics at the University of Melbourne and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to New College, Oxford, in 1940. The outbreak of World War II prevented his taking up the scholarship immediately. He saw distinguished service in the Middle East and was awarded the Territorial Distinction in 1957, subsequently confirmed by two clasps, in 1963 and 1969.

Alan had a distinguished career at Oxford and returned to Australia to lecture in classics in the University of Melbourne, in which position he remained from 1945 until 1948. Then followed Assistant Lecturer in Ancient History in the University of Nottingham (1949-50), Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Humanity, University of Glasgow (1950-59), Warden of Hytten Hall and Reader in Classics, University of Tasmania (1959-60), Master of Wright College (1960-66), Reader in Comparative Philology, University of New England (1966-84). Though officially 'retired', Alan still takes students and advises on a host of academic matters as well as maintaining his reading and research.

The catholicity of his cultural tastes can be gauged from his major publications: Horace the minstrel (1969), The importance of music (1967), An Anzac diary (1993), Electronic antiquity (1993) and Lyra (1994). He married Bronnie (dec. 1991), herself a distinguished academic, in 1945, and they had three daughters, Ann, Megan (dec.) and Jean.

Alan Treloar has made an outstanding contribution to the academic and military life of our country.

Postscript

Trevor Evan's obit of Alan has now appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald.

National Archaeology Week at UNE

Regular readers will know that I am a member of the Heritage Futures Research Centre at the University of New England.

The Centre was founded in 2001 to consolidate the University's range of expertise and research relating to the natural and cultural history and heritage of regional Australia, and to facilitate the sharing of values, information and expertise among scholars, professionals and the broader community.

I fit in with the Centre because its multidisciplinary interests mesh with my own.

I am pleased to report that the Centre has joined with others including the Australian Archaeological Association, the School of Humanities, the Aspects of Antiquity lecture series and the Antiquities Museum at UNE to promote National Archaeology Week, 16-20 May.

The Armidale program looks very interesting. For that reason, I am including it in full.   

The UNE Museum of Antiquities (Building E11) will be open for visitors from 9- 4.30 PM throughout the week. Come and see what ancient and ethnographic treasures reside in the collection. The museum is also offering insight into UNE archaeology studies available in Semester 2, 2011, information on several scholarships available to UNE students, and a digital images of “UNE People and Archaeology” - Snapshots of UNE students and faculty (recent and long past) and their experiences in Australian archaeology.

I would love to see the last, given that I was a member of Isabel McBryde's pioneering Australian prehistory group. We were, I think, the first such honours group in Australia.

On Monday evening 16th May at 5.30 – 7 in Earl Page College Junior Common Room, Professor Tim Harrison, will present a lecture on ‘Temples, Tablets and Assyrian Imperialism at Tayinat on the Orontes’. Via its account of the Tayinat excavations in SE Turkey where the remains have been uncovered of a Late Assyrian settlement—including a governor’s residence, two temples and a cache of cuneiform tablets—the lecture throws light on an important shift which occurred in Assyrian imperial policy during the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC).

Now I bet you have never heard of Tiglath-pileser!

Professor Harrison is Professor of Archaeology at the University of Toronto, and President of
American School of Oriental Research. Since 1997 he has taught Near Eastern Archaeology in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, where he was promoted to full Professor in 2007.

Professor Harrison has participated in numerous other excavations and field expeditions in Israel, Jordan and Turkey. In 2007, he was elected President of the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). He is visiting UNE courtesy of a grant from the Ingram-Moore bequest administered by the Australian Institute of Archaeology.

Professor Harrison's paper is part of the regular ‘Aspects of Antiquity’ public lecture series presented by The School of Humanities in association with Earle Page College and The Armidale Chapter of the UNE Alumni
Association.

On Tuesday morning 17 May (9.30 – 10.30 AM), Professor Harrison will deliver a second paper in the Letters Room, Ground Floor of the Dixson Library as part of the School of Humanities Research seminar series. This is the seminar series in which I have delivered my own papers. 

This paper will be on ‘The Battle for Armageddon: David, Solomon and the Early Israelite Monarchy as viewed from Megiddo’.

Strategically situated at the entrance to a key pass, ancient Megiddo, the Armageddon of biblical Revelation, has long figured prominently in debates about the onset of the Iron Age (c. 1150-950 BC) that brought dramatic changes to the cultural and social landscape of the Biblical world, out of which emerged the Israelite Monarchy of David and Solomon. Yet until relatively recently very little was actually known about Megiddo in this period, whose archaeological remains give us a rare glimpse of this formative phase in the history of ancient Israel.

Look, I accept that I am a bit of a history tragic, but I really love this stuff!

On Thursday lunchtime 19 May at noon -1pm in Armidale Bowling Club upstairs function room Associate Professor Wendy Beck and Dr. Bob Haworth (Centre for Heritage Futures UNE) will give a public lecture on ‘Current Research in New England Archaeology’. This session is sponsored by the Heritage Futures
Research Centre. I really wish that I could go, for this is central to my present writing.

Then on Thursday afternoon from 4.30pm – 6.30pm in the Arts Building (E11), theatre A2, there will be a 20 min video entitled “Archaeology – Evidence of the Past” and a Careers Forum panel will share their career experiences with the audience. Refreshments will be served. Again sponsored by the Heritage Futures Research Centre, this session targets secondary and tertiary students interested in Archaeology and Heritage careers.

I will put up a fuller post on this one a little later on my New England Australia blog. 

If anybody would like to find out more information they should email Wendy Beck, wbeck@une.edu.au.

The beauty of Armidale & UNE

Back from Armidale after my paper. I left my accommodations bookings very late. This almost proved a disaster, for one of the graduations was on, and most accommodation was booked out. Still, with the help of the efficient Louise from the Armidale Visitor Information Centre I found accommodation at the Sandon B&B about fifteen minutes drive out of the city. I arrived after dark, so it took me a little while to find it.

I don't want to say too much about the B&B at this point nor about Tini & Gerard Oude Avenhuis who run it.  However, two photos just to whet your appetite.

The following photo is of me at breakfast. Look at the view from the window     

And this is one photo of my room.

  Not bad, eh? Totally self-contained. I know that I am biased, but dear Armidale is a civilised place! That bed was wonderful.

On Friday morning, I drove out to the university early to to brush up on the paper. It was already busy because of graduation. I know where the car parks are, so found a spot and walked up to the campus. From time to time on this blog I have spoken about the time when Winton Bates and I were co-editors of Neucleus, the student newspaper. 

This photo shows the building that was our office. It was originally the sub-lodge when what is now UNE was a grand country property. Now it's the headquarters of the  Overseas Students Association. Imagine what was like to have your own place on campus for parties!

 

I walked up to the Union Building. The tables in the old refec were closer to what they once were. Our table, second on the left, was back in roughly the same position. I bought a coffee and sat there doing hast last minute notes as I had so often done in the past. 

Graduation is big business now. Even though the ceremony was still some time away, there was already a stream of people picking up gowns or, as in this photo, arranging for their framed photos.

From the Union, the walkway runs down towards Bool.

  

I walked down to Booloominbah, the country homestead that became the initial centre of the newly established New England University College. This was quite some country homestead!

  

Since I still had time, I walked to the front of Bool overlooking Armidale, where the graduation was to be held. An opera singer was already performing, while early students like these took photos. The garbage bins, while necessary, don't add to the ambience!  

Walking back to the Arts building for the paper, I took one last shot back towards the graduation site. No-one can deny its a pretty campus. Pity the Commonwealth Government creates so many difficulties. It really is hard today for anyone who want to run a real university. But that's a story for another post.