Death of New England Writer Eric Rolls (1923-2015)

I was saddened to see that Eric Rolls had died on Wednesday 31 October 2015 after a short illness.

I first read Eric Rolls' A Million Wild Acres many years ago. Published in 1981, the book is the epic story of what is now known as the Pilliga Scrub. This area, once open because of Aboriginal burning, became dense scrub/forest following the arrival of the Europeans and the withdrawal of fire.

I so loved the story that I gave it to my Uncle Ron for his birthday. Ron was no reader, but he too loved it because he loved the land and knew the area. The material that follows is drawn from Tom Burton's obituary in the Sydney Morning Herald, 7 November 2015.

Tome described Eric Charles Rolls as a farmer, poet, cook, fisherman and a supreme writer about the history and nature of his own country. "He lived with vigour and manifest joy and leaves Australians a remarkable legacy of words and insights. His voice has become part of this land and has forever changed the way we live here."

Eric Rolls was born at Grenfell into a western NSW farming family. Apparently his promise as a storyteller emerged earl,y at kindergarten. In Tom's words, he "found a way of telling stories that made listeners feel they were sitting on his knee. He carried a rare combination of authority and intimacy. With short sentences, vivid verbs, sensual imagery and a necessary swagger, this poet-turned-prose writer wove a kind of magic."

From Grenfell, Eric won selection to Fort Street High ( a selective high school), before serving in New Guinea in World War II. From 1946 he farmed his own land in the north-west of New England on the edges of the Pilliga Scrub.

In 1969 he published his first non-fiction book, They All Ran Wild, a history of pests in Australia, especially rabbits. However, of all his 20 books it was A Million Wild Acres that made him famous.

Its central story is the growing of a forest. "Australia was not a timbered land that has been cleared," Rolls argued. In much of Australia, Aborigines kept the forests open with their light, regular burning. The prolific germination that always follows fire was kept in check by the plentiful wallabies, possums, bandicoots and rat kangaroos, which ate the seedlings.

Now this was an argument that struck a real chord with me, for it was one of the lessons I drew from my studies in Australian pre-history. If, as Rolls argued, the Australian environment was human created, what did this say of our desire to "preserve"? Wasn't this just another human modification of the landscape?

Rolls the farmer found "wild" nature to be feral, mongrel and hybrid, nature enlivened by human intervention. He concluded that many of today's forests are different and new - exaggerated communities of plants and animals, volatile and vulnerable.

This view drew him into conflict with some of the "purists" in the environmental movement, yet it is (I think) clearly correct. Without Aboriginal fire management, wildfires do erupt, creating conflict and dispute including around the Pilliga itself, the first European made forest to be declared a national park .

As well as a pioneering environmental history, A Million Wild Acres is (in Tom Burton's words) a regional history like no other, where birds, animals and plants share the stage with humans. One hero is the white cypress pine. Through his democratic recognition of all life, Rolls enchants the forest, presenting a country raucous with sound and nervous with creative energy. Australian poet Les Murray read it "with all the delight of one who knows he has at last got hold of a book that is in no way alien to him".

Rolls was also an outstanding historian of the Chinese in Australia, demonstrated by his two-volume Flowers and the Wide Sea (Sojourners in 1992 and Citizens in 1996). Other books included poetry (Sheaf Tosser, The Green Mosaic, Selected Poems), children's books, memoirs, A Celebration of Food and Wine, and other histories, From Forest to Sea, Visions of Australia, and Australia: A Biography.

At 60, Eric Rolls decided to give away the land and focus just on writing. He and his second wife, Elaine van Kempen, moved to Camden Haven on the New England Mid-North coast.

Eric Rolls had two long and happy marriages, first with Joan (Stephenson), who died in 1985, then with Elaine, who survives him with his children Kim, Kerry and Mitchell, Elaine's children Nick, Sue, Simon and Adam, and his sister Dellas.

Upon his move to Camden Haven he helped found and was patron of the Watermark Literary Society, which organises a biennial "muster" of environmental and natural history writers in Camden Haven.

Vale to Eric Rolls.

Death of Peter Monley - a personal memoir

This is a very belated and personal post in memory of Peter Monley. Denise and I did not know that Peter had died last December (2006) until just last week. We were both upset.

Peter occupied a very special place in my life, so I thought that I should set down some memories.

Peter's dad had a men's wear store down the western end of Beardy Street. But while I knew who the Monleys were, I did not really know Peter until he came to The Armidale School (TAS) in 1961. This was my leaving certificate year and we became great mates. Among other things we were both day boys, played football together and talked a lot.

Towards the end of the year we agreed to go hitchiking together in Tasmania. To my great regret, Peter was not able to go in the end and I went on my own.

Peter finished that year, while I went back to school to repeat the Leaving because my parents felt that I would benefit from another year at school before going to university. Life now took us in different ways. Peter became a teacher, while I finished University and then went to Canberra to join the Commonwealth Public Service. Our contacts became fleeting.

In 1981 I returned to the University of New England to work on my PhD. In the meantime, Peter had purchased a small property just to the west of Armidale - something he had wanted to do - and had become a councillor with Dumaresq Shire.

At this point the Federal Government decided, in one of those unilateral acts that we have seen so often over the years, that the Armidale of College of Advanced Education and the University of New England should be forced to merge. I was opposed to this, and contacted Peter who agreed that we should organise a public protest.

We had to handle this carefully. I was a senior public servant on leave, while relations at the time between Armidale City Council and Dumaresq Shire were absolutely poisonous. This meant that any public involvement by Peter would be a kiss of death so far as the Armidale Council and mayor were concerned.

My job was to get University support. Here I sent a formal memo to Professor Gates as VC setting out what we proposed and why. He signed off on the approach, so we had formal top level University support. For Peter's part, he worked his contacts on Armidale Council, getting them to support a protest so that its organisation became Armidale City Council business. The resulting protest was a huge success, drawing a crowd of some four thousand and gaining national media coverage. The merger was put off, if only for the moment.

Peter was a doughty fighter for local causes.

One thing that you learn in regional Australia is that preservation of what you have requires constant vigilance. Peter knew this. When CSIRO decided to close its local research facility - a facility with a long history that owed its original existence to a local donation of land - Peter went into the fight. The facility was not only saved, but expanded.

Under Peter's leadership, Dumaresq Shire became an innovative Shire well supported by those living within it. Armidale's regional airport is one outcome. There were mistakes, there always are when you are trying to do new things, but the overall record was positive.

Things change. When Peter concluded that the interests of Shire residents would be best served by a merger with Armidale City Council, he steered the merger through in spite of opposition from some residents and councillors, becoming foundation mayor of the new Armidale-Dumaresq Council.

I see that the Armidale-Dumaresq Council is thinking about naming a road in his honour. I think that that would be a small but suitable tribute for a life of service.

Death of Armidale's Dr Harold Royle

My thanks to Gordon Smith for drawing my attention to the death of Dr Harold Royle who died on 21 March 2015 aged ninety.

I did not really know Dr Royle. I remember him as a good looking, almost patrician man, who built a large new house in a then new area of Armidale on South Hill overlooking the city. As is so often the case, his obituary in the The Armidale Express provided insights into Doctor Royle and his role that were simply unknown to me. The obituary also provides insights into the evolution of medical services in the post war period.

The story starts by noting that the much respected Dr Harold Royle who died last week would be remembered by Hunter New England Health staff as the man who started pathology services in Armidale and effectively promoted the medical library service.

Retired pathologist Dr Arthur Beresford said Dr Royle was regarded as a leader and senior doctor by his colleagues.

Dr Beresford recalls the efforts of Dr Royle in developing pathology services from scratch and his keen interest in library services and ongoing medical education.

“In the years of the late 1950s to mid-1970s he was emeritus pathologist, campaigning to have me appointed as a specialist pathologist in 1975.

“Dr Royle was heavily involved in medical education and actively promoted the development of a medical library service.

“A basic library was established but was without the presence of a qualified librarian until the 1980’s on a part time basis.” The library was named in Dr Royle's honour in 1987 in recognition of his services.

Carol Higginbottom, practice manager at Dr Royle’s old practice, in her research of Dr Royle, found he graduated from Sydney University in 1941, married Joan Zouch a theatre nurse in 1942 and signed up for the Army Medical Corps, serving in both New Guinea and Singapore.

On his return he ran the dermatology ward at Hearne Bay Military Hospital in Sydney and moved to Armidale in 1946, where he worked primarily as a GP until poor health demanded his early retirement in 1988.

“Dr Royle started a pathology laboratory at the Armidale Hospital on August5 , 1946 with a bit of glassware acquired from Hearne Bay Hospital and his student microscope,” Mrs Higginbottom said.

“In November 1946 he gained a pathology assistant and eventually in 1953, a full time technician was appointed.

“He continued helping at the weekends with blood work and started the first blood donors’ club in Armidale, often having to drive to the blood donors’ homes to take blood.”

When I looked at this short obituary I was struck by two things.

The first was the presentation of a picture I have so often seen before, the way in which so many people improvised to get things done. This held not just in the immediate post war period, but in fact over most of Australian history. The second was the continuing role of the individual in achieving change.

My thoughts are with his wife Joan and his children Margaret, Anne, and David.

"the king" passes - Death of David Armstrong

Photo: Southern Lawns, Booloominbah, University of New England. David Armstrong requested that his ashes be scattered here or at the adjoining deer park.

The end of 2006 saw the death of David Armstrong, one of New England's more colourful characters whose life was marked by passion and controversy as well as great achievement. I did not really know David, so the story that follows is drawn especially from Roy Masters' obit in the SMH (11 January).

David Patrick Armstrong was born in Bingara in 1941, son of Gywdir and Joan and grew up there with his parents and younger brothers Dennis and Ron. Roy records that while Dad Gwydir was named after the river, he was better known by the nickname "Ceidle", the name of the Lebanese haberdasher who visited Bingara by horse drawn cart. Gwydir acquired this name because he used to chase after the cart and be rewarded with a biscuit.

David started at the University of New England as a student in 1959, probably one of the first students from Bingara, studying there until 1961. I have described the intensity of UNE campus life during the fifties and sixties in a number of posts on this and my personal blog - too many to list here. Certainly David enjoyed himself, acquiring the nickname "the king".

In 1962 David joined the University's Department of Continuing Education. Reflecting the interests of the University's founders as well as the passions of early staff, New England had established a strong track record in adult and continuing education.

David acquired this passion for adult education, a passion that was to continue for all his adult life. One of his innovations while at Armidale was the creation of a radio farm forum educating 600 Northern Tableland farmers through radio and weekly tutorials.

After five years at New England, David moved to Toronto in Canada to further his studies in adult education. Upon completion of his PhD, he was appointed in 1972 at age 30 as director of the Prahan College of Advanced Education in Melbourne.

He described Prahan as "run down" and claimed to have turned it around. Indeed he did, although Roy Masters refers somewhat tartly to David's "fondness for self-aggrandisement", his capacity for presenting himself as larger than life.

Some time during this earlier period David married Valmai and had two children, Mark and Sally. This marriage broke up. David remarried Virginia Henderson, who Roy notes became central to the most volatile periods in David's life.

Along with Don Chipp, Armstong and Henderson conceived the idea of the Australian Democrats, officially formed in 1977 at the Melbourne home of Sid Spindler. Virginia Henderson became the Party's first campaign director, while David Armstrong wrote Don Chpp's campaign speech and acted as his adviser.

In 1980 Virginia and David moved to Sydney as chief of the Australian Bicentennial Authority under the chairmanship of John Reid, also chair of James Hardy. This marked the start of a difficult period for David.

There were tensions between David and the Authority Board. In 1986 he was sacked by the Board; one reason given was that he spent to much time out of the country. Virginia and David's marriage broke up. Then in December 1987, twelve months after the couple separated, Virginia married John Reid. David was bitter, although he was overjoyed when he saw how much of his original program was retained in the Bicentenary program.

In 1987 David was appointed CEO of Community Aid Abroad, a position he held until 1992, more than quadrupling the organisation's annual budget. David then spent four years working for the University of Melbourne first as director of the University's International Office and then warden of its graduate centre, reversing the declining numbers of international students. This was followed by a period as CEO of St John of God Services Victoria and then a similar position with St Francis of Assisi Aged Care.

Eighteen months ago David had a stroke, restricting his activities. However, he and Virginia were reunited after she and John Reid divorced, spending his last Christmas with she and son Luke.

In his final letter returning to his New England roots, David wrote: "At a convenient time, the ashes should be scattered on the southern lawn of 'Booloominbah" or in the deer park."

Looking at David's career as a whole, the boy had come a long way from his Bingara roots. As Roy notes, while David's most public post - CEO of the Bicentenial Authority - was a failure, his major contributions to adult education and education, to politics and the community sector went largely unseen.

More UNE Passings - death of Jo Woolmington

Photo; Jo Woolmington, Mary White College, 1979

I was browsing around looking for information on the current floods in the North when I cam across some sad news, the death of Jo Woolimington (23-4-1927 to 6-12-2015 ).

The material that follows is largely drawn from John Farrell's obituary in the Armidale Express (27 December 2015). However, I have added my personal recollections to flesh the story out. You see, Jo spans many of the things that I have been talking about on this and other blogs.

Born Jean Clara Cox at Essex, England, on April 23, 1927, Jo was a daughter of working class parents, Edward and Rose Cox, and a sister of Avis, Fred, Patsy and Celia.

Her secondary schooling was at Paddington and Maida Vale High School in London during World War II, when Jo experienced first hand the Blitz and other war time conditions, including rationing.

Possessing a strong social conscience, John records that Jo was greatly influenced by her robust Christianity which urged believers to go beyond personal moral reform to promoting social reform, and she was a prominent advocate for social justice while qualifying as a teacher at Whitelands College, London.

She graduated in 1947, and the following year married Eric Richard Woolmington, a geographer. As I remember Jo's stories, it was a whirlwind romance that essentially took place over one weekend!

In 1949 .the couple emigrated to Australia where Jo taught in Sydney at Abbotsleigh and Ascham. In 1956, Eric accepted a lecturing position in the Geography Department at the University of New England and the family moved to Armidale where Jo became an active member of the community.

She was active in the Armidale Association for the Assimilation of Aborigines and with the UNE Women’s Association which acted on their concerns about the social and economic conditions and discrimination experienced by Aboriginal people.

With like-minded people Jo was active in promoting education, employment, health and housing for Aborigines in Armidale.

She also used her dramatic talents, being a co-founder of the University Players which would produce two major productions each year in the Armidale Town Hall. Her production of East Lynn was the first to use the stage machinery at the UNE Arts Theatre. I also think that she was active first in the Armidale Theatre Club.

I must have met Jo soon after they arrived in Armidale, because she became friendly with my mother and used to drop in at home for coffee. I thought her a nice person, although I knew Eric better. At that point Jo was very much a compatriot of my mother's in my mind.

John Farrell notes that Jo enrolled at UNE, studying English in 1963 and History in 1964, while simultaneously teaching at NEGS from 1964 to 1967.

Now I think that John's dates are not quite right here, for Jo did History I with me in 1963. One of our first if not the first assignments was to prepare a summary of some work by Gordon Childe on prehistory - Jo did hers in poetry!

From then on I had a lot to do with Jo as she switched from Mum's to my friend. This was an interesting period to be at UNE in general, almost a golden time in the History Department.

The Department was very strong indeed. Mick Williams was one Professor, Russell Ward a second. Among others, Ted Tapp was pursuing his thoughts on the philosophy of history, Len Turner on military history, while Isabel McBryde had begun her pioneering work on the Australian Aborigines.

As a part time student with a family and a job, Jo could not join in all the things that we full time students did, including spending much time at our table in the Union arguing religion, politics, life and society. But she was there a fair bit of the time.

In 1965 Jo offered her house for seminars for the third year history honours group. There in the back room with its open fire, we held our seminars on the American Revolution, often side-tracking into other topics. In 1966 we all did honours together. Somewhere I have a photo of our table at the 1967 Graduation Ball, including Jo.

I mentioned that at first I knew Eric better.

On Sunday 23 February 1958, the Belshaw Block at UNE burnt down. Poor Eric. His PhD thesis was due to be submitted the following day. All copies were stored in the Belshaw Block and all were lost.

He started again. His new topic was an examination of the geographical scope of support for the New England New State Movement. This was finally finished in 1963 and the degree awarded.

In 1961 I did geography honours for the Leaving Certificate, getting into the top group in the state. As part of this, I had to do a local study. Eric helped me here. But as a strong New England New Stater, I was also interested in his geographic analysis of the movement.

Eric's central thesis was that New England was a marchland area, an area of economic competition between Sydney and Brisbane. Using a variety of techniques, he attempted to measure the natural economic boundary and then compared this to the actual boundary. The natural economic boundary lay far to the south of the actual boundat. He suggested that this area of overlap, contested territory, represented the natural heart of the movement.

He then looked at a whole variety of measurements to test movement support, relating this to his original thesis. In doing so, he painted a very accurate picture of the voting patterns that were to happen four years later in the 1967 New State Plebescite.

Eric's thinking was very influential on my own work.

In my 1966 honours thesis on the economic basis of Aboriginal life in Northern NSW. I used his model to postulate that the Northern Tablelands were a marchland area between the powerful and expanding Kamilaroi to the west and the strong Northern Coast tribes.

Later, his work formed an integral element in my own analysis of New Engalnd history. It remains powerful today when I look at the economic fragmentation and decline of Northern New South Wales, despite its apparent natural advantages.

Eric was not a new state supporter. He thought the dream unachievable, some of the logic flawed. But as he said in 1967, nobody in their right mind should vote no because it was the only thing that forced Governments to consider New England interests in any integrated way. I fear that he was right.

At the time that I am writing about, Erica and Jo's marriage was breaking up and Eric would leave Armidale, dieing in 1995.

In 1968 Jo successfully applied for appointment as tutor in the History Department. By then, I was living in Canberra. However, on most of my regular visits back to Armidale I took time to visit her, sometimes meeting with others like Brian Harrison. In fact, the last time I saw Brian was at Jo's house.

In 1972 Jo took up an active role in the Women’s Electoral Lobby. I remember this well, because I ran for Country Party pre-selection for Armidale in that year. Jo therefore interviewed me in my new role as pre-selection candidate.

I actually supported WEL, but I also knew that Jo's support for the Labor Party verged on the theological.

After talking for a bit, I said: "Jo, no matter what I say in answer to your questions, am I right in thinking it doesn't matter so far as your vote is concerned?" She laughed and said "James, I think that's right." We proceeded on that basis.

In 1973 Jo became acting principal of Mary White College at UNE , and was the principal from 1978 to 1982. Here I came in contact with her again while back in Armidale as a postgraduate student.

Jo's sensitivity to the Aboriginal cause, and its ambivalent relationship with Christianity, focused her research for two decades on the Aboriginal situation and the state of religion in the first half of the 19th century.

In 1973 Jo published a book of collected documents, Aborigines in Colonial Society, 1788-1850, still an excellent resource for anyone studying in the field. Her PhD thesis, ‘Early Christian Missions to the Australian Aborigine: a study in failure’ was completed in 1979.

In 1985 Jo was appointed a lecturer, then senior lecturer. She tells her own story up to 1987 in a chapter in a book titled The New England Experience, edited by Margaret Ann Franklin.

Jo joined with Dr Bruce Mitchell in 1988 – the bicentennial of white settlement in Australia – to present the first course on the history of Aborigines and their interaction with whites.

In this last period I was back in Armidale yet again, this time running a consulting business. Busy with business and family, I saw far far less of her than I had in the past.

After retiring from UNE Jo remained in Armidale. The last time I saw her was by accident in the main street on a fleeting trip.

She is survived by her two children, Jonathan and Nicola, as well as some members of her own family. I will remember her.

Postcript

Gordon Smith kindly sent me a link to the obit on Jo on the UNE site. This presents the same picture, but provides more information on her role in Mary White College.

UNE Passings - deaths of Dr David Evans, Professor Rod Gerber

Photo: Dr David Evans, 1979

Browsing the UNE web site I realised that I had missed the deaths of two people who will be well known to different UNE generations. The material that follows is largely drawn from the UNE web site.

David Evans who died on 21 September 2015 will be well known to UNE students from the 1950s through to the 1990s. He was certainly a familiar figure to me as both an undergraduate and later postgraduate student, although I did not do English.

Born in Goulburn in 1937, he came to UNE as an undergraduate in 1954 – the year the University obtained its autonomy from the University of Sydney.

He went on to gain a UNE Arts degree with First Class Honours in English, and then a Diploma of Education from Armidale Teachers' College, finishing Dux of the Teachers' College in 1959.

After several years of teaching at Maitland Boys' High School he joined the staff of UNE's English Department and quickly rose to the level of Senior Lecturer, gaining his PhD from UNE in 1967. His passion for Early English literature took him to the UK for several periods of sabbatical study, while, back in the UNE lecture room, he was able to share that passion – particularly his love of Chaucer – with his students, becoming life-long friends with many of them.

Typical of his engagement with the University and Armidale communities was his voluntarily-assumed role as mentor and friend of Indonesian students and their families. Starting from a desire to alleviate the difficulties of living within an unfamiliar culture, this role led him to become fluent in Indonesian and to spend his evenings at the residential colleges helping Indonesian and other overseas students with their written work. He is remembered as having transformed the lives of these students and their families over two generations.

UNE's continuing reputation as a welcoming place for students from other cultures and countries rests on the continuing work of people like David.

Always a believer in the value of strong social networks within the University community, he was, as a student, a founding (non-residential) member of Wright College, UNE's original residential college, and was appointed a Non-resident Fellow of Earle Page College in 1968.

Even as a schoolboy David had drawn and painted. He developed this talent in adulthood, producing an impressive body of work that includes paintings and drawings in a variety of styles and with a wide range of subject-matter, as well as illuminated manuscripts inspired by medieval art.

Over four years in the 1980s he worked on what is perhaps his artistic masterpiece – a hand-written and illustrated text of the Old English epic Beowulf. That unique book is on display – along with many other works of his – in the Uralla gallery ("Chaucer on Bridge Street") that he opened in 2000 and managed until his death on the 21st of September 2015.

His belief in the vital role of art in the community led him to become a driving force behind the establishment of the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM) in Armidale. As well as his vision and enthusiasm, he lent his creative talents to the project: for example, by donating the proceeds from the sale of one of his published books of poems to the NERAM fund.

David Evans is survived by his wife Helen, their three children Michael, Peter and Jenny, and three grandchildren.

Photo: From left, Catherine and Michelle Gerber with UNE's Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Services), Eve Woodberry. The portrait of Professor Gerber by Don Gentle shown in the photo is to hang in a meeting room on the top floor of UNE's Education Building to be officially named "The Rod Gerber Meeting Room".

Rod Gerber, the distinguished geographer, teacher, and academic administrator died on 22 August 2015.

Professor Gerber was Dean of the Faculty of Education, Health and Professional Studies at UNE from 1995 to 2002. His colleagues and students remember him as a leader who was at once inspiring and compassionate – a "people person" whose generosity of spirit informed his work as both mentor and administrator.

He was recognised internationally as a leader in the field of geography education, and had more than 200 publications (including books, journal articles and reports) to his credit. However, in the words of Associate Professor John Lidstone from Queensland University of Technology, perhaps his greatest achievements were in "his support and help for others to achieve great things". "The academic world is often a hard one in which to maintain a cool head – much less a sense of compassion," Dr Lidstone said, "but Rod built a solid reputation around the world for being considerate and supportive of others."

At UNE, Professor Gerber was heavily involved in financial management, staff development, research leadership through the development of research centres, academic leadership of a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, community development projects, international partnerships, and international professional organisation leadership.

He also managed the Oorala Aboriginal Centre and the UNE Heritage Centre, and was a leader in international partnerships that successfully delivered UNE courses in Vietnam, Hong Kong, Canada, the United States, China, New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and Indonesia. Professor Gerber's work helps explain why UNE continues to rank in the top group of Australian Universities for indigenous access.

The adjectives "generous" and "inspiring" are common to many of the tributes to Rod Gerber that former colleagues and students have penned since his death. One of these characterises him as "a person who turned loose networks of people into small families". Another speaks of his "unfailingly encouraging words". And another reads: "Rod will always be remembered as a dear friend and co-researcher, knowledgeable but humble, and able to work closely to produce results."

Rod Gerber is survived by his wife Michelle and their children Andrew, Elizabeth and Catherine. Michelle Gerber, with her daughter Catherine, have donated a portrait of Professor Gerber by local artist Don Gentle to the University, and made an endowment that will allow the University to honour her husband's name by the annual provision of a scholarship – the "Rod Gerber Memorial Scholarship for a Higher Degree Research Student in the Faculty of The Professions".

The portrait of Professor Gerber is to hang in a meeting room on the top floor of UNE's Education Building to be officially named "The Rod Gerber Meeting Room" at an opening ceremony on Monday 18 February 2015. Rod Gerber's son Andrew, and UNE VC Professor Alan Pettigrew, will speak at this event.

Death of David Wright

As my mother grew older, she used to say "it's getting very draughty, dear." By this she simply meant the number of people she knew who had died. I have a strong fellow feeling for her.

In an earlier post I reported the death of Alex Buzo. Now I have to report the death of David Wright at the age of 73. I did not know David so well. For reasons I will explain in a moment, there was a strong family connection. But David was much older than me and we mainly met at meetings, functions or at the airport. Often at the airport, because he was always travelling and so was I.

Judith Wright, David's sister, described the early days of the Wyndham and Wright families in Generations of Men. I spoke of the part played by George Wyndham in establishing the Australian wine industry in my posts on wine in the Hunter and on the New England Tablelands.

The Wrights were one of the pastoral dynasties that played a major role in New England history. Unlike Victoria where, I think, the pastoral dynasties were simply absorbed into the Melbourne establishment, New England families like the Wrights saw their public role in local and regional terms.

David's dad, Philip (PA) Wright, was born on 20 July 1889. As he grew older and took over control of Wallamumbi he extended the pastoral interests established by his mother Charlotte May. But his focus extended well beyond the properties, playing an active role in the evolution of the vision of a broader New England. Among other things, PA:

• played the key role in the establishment of the New England National Park, I think the second National Park in NSW
• played a major role in the establishment of wool selling at Newcastle in the face of determined opposition from the Sydney wool brokers
• played an active role from the twenties in the New England New State Movement
• actively supported Don Shand in the establishment of East-West Airlines.
• was a major benefactor to the University of New England from its establishment as a College of Sydney University in 1938 and was a member of the College's advisory committee and then of Council, succeeding Earle Page as Chancellor in 1960. Wright College was named after him.

My grandfather David Drummond came to Armidale as a farm labourer in 1907. He and PA became friends after Fah entered State Parliament in 1920. They shared a common vision for New England including separation and each helped the other. As I remember it, and I cannot easily check this following the death of my aunts, David Wright was in fact named after my grandfather who was also his god-father.

It is no easy task growing up in a well-known family, seeking to carve out your own position. David had a passion for the development of the beef industry, a belief in the importance of the underpinning role of science, a passion he shared with other Wright family members. He built up the V2V herd and brand, looking for new ways of selling including objective measurement.

According to Professor Bernie Bindon, David was one of the pioneers of the scientific research which underpins today's beef industry.

"I can't think of a beef industry person who's made a bigger contribution to not only the growth of the beef industry but the science that underpins the beef business," Professor Bindon said.

David also pursued broader business interests , but with much less success. Finally, and after a long-running and bitter legal battle with the banks, his cattle empire was dismantled with debts of $50 million. The blow was enormous.

Foreglen, the property that my grandfather had finally purchased in pursuit of his own dream of a place of his own but then had to sell because he could not manage it and his parliamentary career, had later become one of David's properties, was the home of David's son and was lost with the rest.

In 2002, the ABC Dynasties TV program looked at the Wright family story including the loss of Wallamumbi.

David soldiered on, maintaining his local involvements. The last time I saw him, quite recently and by accident, was on television attending an Armidale dinner. Our thoughts are with the family.

Death of Alex Buzo

In my post on New England Australia - Writers I spoke of Alex Buzo.

I learned today that he had died. My sense of loss can be nothing compared to that of Adrian, Merelyn and the family, but I thought that I should record my feelings. Added force is given to this because my wife has just left to take daughter Clare to school for the opening of the Wizard of Oz, a performance that Alex's youngest daughter is taking part in.

ABC radio today has carried initial tributes to Alex as a writer. I cannot add to these without reflection. Many people knew Alex better than me. They will tell their own stories. But Alex has been part of my life since I was very young. So this is a personal reflection on Alex, his family and me.

I mentioned in my writer's post that Zihni, Alex's dad, had come to Armidale for the building of the Oakey Hydro Scheme. As an aside, I spelt Zinhi's name wrongly, failing to add the h. But then, I have always said the name, rarely spelt it!

Zihni Buzo OAM was an Albanian. He used to tell me now he had been in the Boy Scouts with Enver Hoxha who later become communist dictator. Apparently Hoxha was a nasty piece of work even then.

After completing his elementary education in Albania, Zihni studied in Istanbul and the US before returning to Albania to work for the Rockefeller Foundation on a malaria control project. I know that Zihni immigrated to Australia at the outbreak of the Second World War although I am not sure of the exact date. However, Italian troops entered Albania in April 1939 forcing the King into exile, so it was presumably around this time.

Following the war Zihni worked as a lecturer in Civil Engineering at Sydney University before moving wife Elaine and family to Armidale where he established his own practice. Here he designed and supervised the construction of the Oakey Hydro Electric Scheme.

Zihni quickly absorbed the New England ethos and became an active proponent of development schemes for New England water. However, he also continued to work globally especially for UN agencies, working in more than 40 countries.

I do not remember when I first met Alex. His parents and my parents were friends, so he was just around. Because he was a little older than me and in a higher class, we were not close. I do remember that at his parent's request he tried to look after me on my first day at The Armidale School (TAS), a difficult task because I was shy.

Later, and this bears upon his competitive spirit, I also remember playing football against him. I made a break, he ran me down and tackled me just near the try line. What neither of us knew was that the referee had already blown his whistle!

Alex and I had much more contact after we left TAS, again because of the links between our parents.

Alex had acquired a love of English at school. He found Armidale constricting and escaped to Sydney where he worked first in mens wear at David Jones. A keen observer, he collected accents, words and scenes. I am not sure when he actually started writing, but he did I think have a first play workshopped in 1967, with a full production of Norm and Ahmed in 1968.

While Alex had left Armidale he retained his links. Wife Merelyn was an Armidale girl, a good hockey player, so he had family links with the town on both sides. I, too, retained my links with Armidale while working in Canberra.

Up until my father's death, mum and dad used to have open house on Xmas Eve. The Buzos were regular attendees, so that's where Alex, I and later Adrian often met when we were all in town. Alex liked tennis, so during these visits we also played tennis just down the road at Roy and Afra Smith's. For a period Adrian and I also coincided in Canberra.

During the Canberra period I collected Alex's plays as they came out. Then he stopped writing plays, instead pursuing other writing directions. I felt that this was a pity, and asked him why many years later. I think that it was just that he had broad interests and in some ways saw writing as a means to an end.

After my parents died, there was a gap in contact. Then Genny and Clare, our respective youngest daughters, ended up in the same class at St Catherine's at Waverley. They were also in the same hockey team, so I again saw a fair bit of Alex and Merelyn at school functions and standing on the sidelines at hockey.

Talking is easy when you have known someone for so long and have so many shared experiences. In this last period Alex like to talk about shared things, about the days at TAS, about his earlier experiences. He retained his dry wit and positive outlook.

This was a difficult period for the family. Alex was battling cancer, achieving remissions. First Elaine died and then in July this year Zihni died aged 94. I felt with Zihni's death that this was the loss of another of the links with New England's past. But there were compensations among the troubles for Alex and the family.

I was especially pleased that Alex was receiving some recognition for his long career and writing achievements.

There were interviews, Currency Press put on a private reading of two of his plays that I was lucky enough to be able to attend with daughter Helen. The first play on the escape from a country town was clearly autobiographical. Alex expected me to recognise the allusions, and indeed I did. Alex also received an honorary doctorate from his old university, the University of New South Wales.

I knew that Alex was again very sick. But I still hoped that his fighting spirit would carry him through as it had done before, so the news of his death came as a shock.

I was not as close to Alex as some of his friends and I know that there are many more stories. I just wanted to provide a very personal perspective on someone who has been there to greater or lesser extent my whole life. My thoughts are with the family.