ANU Emeritus Faculty Oral History Project

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://dspace-test.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/12544

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"The energy of grace alone can make a soul strong in age." - John Henry Newman Purpose and method of the project Because of its access to and relationship with elders of the ANU, Emeritus Faculty is in a unique position to gather accounts of the origins and development of the ANU, aspects of which might be little known. Such stories potentially provide an opportunity for the pioneers to identify and record their place and role in the life and development of the university since its founding 60 years ago, and for them to make comment on what was happening around them. Emeritus Faculty's Oral History Program aims to provide an opportunity, through audio interviews carried out under comfortable, informal conditions, conducive of recall and elaboration by interviewees. The venue is usually the Emeritus Faculty office, though it may be the subject's home or office. The interviews are minimally structured, with the aim of letting the interview unfold as it will. Interviewees are encouraged to be as candid and speculative as they wish. Two collections of recordings and transcripts The interviews have two different origins. ANU Emeritus Faculty began its Oral History Project in 2008, and by year's end had accumulated the interviews listed in the catalogue. Emeritus Faculty intends to continue conducting interviews on a regular basis during coming years, adding these to the catalogue as they are completed. Abstracts are available for these interviews, and audio MP3 recordings. Transcripts will be generated at a later date. ANU Archives has a collection of approximately 50 interviews produced in the 1980s and 1990s, when ANU had its own Oral History Program, discontinued some time ago. These are mostly tape recordings, and not easily accessible. Transcripts were made of about half of these, and copies of the transcripts can be accessed through Emeritus Faculty. Emeritus Faculty intends soon to copy the original tape recordings, in digital format (audio MP3). These will then be more readily accessible, through the Faculty, more or less under similar conditions as its own collection. Use the links below to access these two catalogues, then direct inquiries to the project coordinators for further help in accessing the audio recordings, interview abstracts and biographies, and (where they exist) transcripts.

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Now showing 1 - 20 of 51

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Pat White
(1991-06) White, Pat; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Miss Pat White commenced her administrative career with the university in 1962 when she was appointed as a Graduate Assistant on the staff of the Registrar of the School of General Studies. In 1965 she was appointed as Sub-Dean of the Faculty of Arts, a position that had previously been occupied by a member of the academic staff. As Sub-Dean she was primarily concerned with student administration. Her move to central administration came in 1973 when she was appointed Acting Assistant Registrar, Academic staff matters. This was followed shortly after by a promotion to Assistant Registrar, Student Administration. In 1983 she transferred to the position of Assistant Registrar, Council and remained in this position until her retirement in May 1991. In addition to her service to university administration, she served on the boards of a number of residential colleges and is currently a member of the Ursula College board.
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Gerald Patrick Walsh
(1994-04-26) Walsh, Gerald Patrick; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Gerry Walsh enrolled in the Geography Department of the Research School of Pacific Studies in 1961 to do a PhD. Prior to coming to the ANU he studied at the University of Sydney where he completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1956, a Diploma of Education in 1957 and a Master of Arts in 1960. Later he was appointed to the History Department of the Australian Defence Force Academy and has been a prolific contributor to the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
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Geoffrey Sawer - Emeritus Professor
(1990) Sawer, Geoffrey; Connell, Daniel; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor Sawer was born in Burma in 1910 and his family moved to Australia in 1913 where he attended State Schools and Scotch College. He studied law at Melbourne University and on graduation with his LL.M. in 1934 he was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Victoria and of the High Court. His academic career began in 1934 when he was a resident tutor in law at Ormond College. During World War II Professor Sawer was the officer in charge of short-wave broadcasts from Australia to Japan and Japanese occupied territories. In 1946 he returned to Melbourne University as a senior lecturer in law and was then appointed associate professor in 1948. Professor Sawer has held many positions at the Australian National University. In 1950 he was appointed the first Professor of Law in the Research School of Social Sciences (RSSS). Between 1951 and 1956 he was Dean of RSSS and during 1973 and 1974 he was appointed Acting Director. During the twenty-five years he spent in RSSS he was appointed to various ANU positions, including Chairman of the Board of the Institute of Advanced Studies (1970) and Chairman of the Advisers on Legislation. In 1975 he accepted the position of Pro Vice-Chancellor and retired from this position at the end of that year. During his academic career Sawer received a number of national and international honours and appointments in recognition of his position as one of the foremost legal scholars in Australia. The title of Emeritus Professor was conferred on him on his retirement and he accepted the offer of a Visiting Fellowship in the Faculty of Law at ANU to teach constitutional law.
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John Passmore - Emeritus Professor
(1991-05-17) Passmore, John; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor Passmore was born in Manly, NSW, on 9 September 1914. He graduated from the University of Sydney in 1934 with first class honours in Philosophy and English Literature. In 1941 he took his MA in Philosophy with first class honours and the university medal. Between 1935 and 1949 he held a number of academic posts in the Philosophy department at Sydney University and then became Professor of Philosophy in the University of Otago, New Zealand in 1950. In 1955 he resigned from this professorship to become Reader and then Professor of Philosophy in the Research School of Social Sciences. After his retirement in 1980 he was appointed University Fellow in the History of Ideas Unit and was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor.
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Sir Leslie Galfreid Melville
(1990-04-14) Melville, Leslie Galfried; Connell, Daniel; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Sir Leslie Melville was born at Marsfield, Sydney in 1902. He was educated at the Sydney CEGS and St Pauls College, University of Sydney. From 1953 to 1960 he was Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University. Before taking up this appointment he had held distinguished positions in the public service, the University of Adelaide and the Commonwealth Bank. His career as an economist began with appointment to the position of Public Actuary of South Australia, which he held from 1924 to 1928. Sir Leslie was then appointed as the first Professor of Economics in the University of Adelaide. In 1931 he was invited to be the first Economic Adviser to the Commonwealth Bank and remained in this position until 1950 when he was appointed Assistant Governor of the Bank, in charge of central banking. Sir Leslie was awarded his knighthood in 1957. He left the ANU to take up the position of Chairman of the Australian Tariff Board. After completing his term on the Tariff Board he was appointed as a Member of the Reserve Bank Board and Chairman of the Commonwealth Grants Commission.
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Russell Lloyd Mathews - Emeritus Professor
(1991-07) Mathews, Russell Lloyd; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor Russell Mathews was born in 1921 in Geelong, Victoria and was educated at Haileybury College and the University of Melbourne. His first appointment at the Australian National University was as an assistant to the university's first vice-chancellor, Sir Douglas Copland. He occupied this position from 1949 until 1951 when he went to London as the ANU's Administrative Officer. In 1953 he was appointed to a Readership in Commercial Studies at the University of Adelaide. In 1958 he was offered the Chair of Commerce and he remained at Adelaide University until 1964. He returned to the ANU to take up a Chair in the newly created Department of Accounting and Public Finance. His research interests in public accounting and fiscal federalism led to his appointment as the Director of the Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations when it was established in 1972. He worked half-time in the Centre and half-time in the Department. He relinquished his Chair in the Department of Accounting and Public Finance in 1978 when he was appointed to the Commonwealth Grants Commission. Until his retirement in May 1986 he continued to direct the Centre and work half time for the Grants Commission. In addition to his academic appointments, he served on a number of government commissions and inquiries, and advised international governments on taxation reforms. He was awarded an Emeritus Professorship on his retirement.
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Robin Allenby Gollan - Professor
(1993-05) Gollan, Robin Allenby; Fosster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor Bob Gollan was born in 1917. He studied at the University of Sydney, completing a B.A. (1st class honours) in 1939 and an M.A. (1st class honours) in 1948. He was awarded University Medals for both degrees. After war service with the R.A.A.F. he lectured in history at the Sydney Teachers' College. Apart from a period spent at the London School of Economics on an ANU scholarship, he remained with the College until 1952. In London he was supervised by Professor Laski for his PhD and the degree was awarded in 1951. In 1953 he began a long and distinguished career in the Department of History in the Research School of Social Sciences. In 1957 he was promoted to Fellow, in 1960 to Senior Fellow and in 1970 to Professorial Fellow. He left the department at the end of 1975 to take up a Chair in the History Department of the School of General Studies. This chair was subsequently called the Manning Clark Professor of Australian History. Professor Gollan retired from the university in December 1981 and was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor.
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C P Fitzgerald - Emeritus Professor
(1991-05-02) Fitzgerald, C P; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor FitzGerald was born in 1902 in London and was educated at Clifton College, Bristol. Family problems prevented him from accepting an offer to Lincoln College, Oxford and after a couple of years of office work in London he travelled to China. He lived in China for a number of years from 1923 until the outbreak of the second world war, working and researching. During this period he published his first three books on China. He tells the story of his early life in the book Why China?. In 1946 he returned to China as a representative of the British Council. The Australian National University invited him in 1950 to give a lecture tour in Australia and then asked him to accept the position of Reader in Oriental Studies. He arrived to take up this post in January 1951. The Readership was attached to the Department of Pacific History. He was offered a Professorship in 1953 and created the Department of Far Eastern History. After retiring from the university in 1967, he was awarded a D.Litt. based on examination of his published works and the title of Emeritus Professor. * This transcript has been edited by the interviewee.
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Helen Cumpston
(1991-01-09) Cumpston, Helen; Connell, Daniel; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik
Mrs Helen Cumpston was born in 1910 in Hobart and was educated in state schools and the University of Tasmania. She graduated with a law degree in 1930. She joined the Commonwealth Public Service in 1937 as a librarian with the Department of Commerce. Between 1946 and 1957 Mrs Cumpston accompanied her husband on postings to Chile, New Zealand and New Caledonia. In 1957 she returned to Canberra to take up her appointment at the Australian National University as a graduate assistant in the registrar's division. Her first contact with Canberra universities was in 1938 when she held a temporary lectureship in modern history at the Canberra University College. Mrs Cumpston worked in university administration for seventeen years. Her initial duties involved the provision of administrative support services for postgraduate students. She also dealt with legislative problems such as the Superannuation Statute. In 1963 she was appointed as Assistant Registrar. She retired from the university in 1975. After retirement Mrs Cumpston held the position of Assistant Secretary to the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee.
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Manning Clark - Emeritus Professor
(1990-11-13) Clark, Manning; Connell, Daniel; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor Manning Clark was born in 1915 and was educated at Mont Albert Central School, Melbourne Grammar School, the University of Melbourne and Oxford. He began teaching history at schools in England and Australia before accepting a lectureship at Melbourne University in 1944 in Political Science. In 1946 he was appointed lecturer and then senior lecturer in Australasian History and Modern History. In 1949 the Canberra University College (later The Faculties, ANU) established its first foundation chairs and Professor Clark was offered the Chair of History. He continued his historical writings and in 1962 published the first volume of A History of Australia. He resigned from the position of Head of Department in 1972 to concentrate on this work and was appointed to the first Chair of Australian History. Professor Clark also taught Australian history at Duke University and Harvard. He was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor in 1975 after retiring from the Australian National University. His association with the University continued with his appointment as Library Fellow (1975-81) and as a Visiting Fellow from 1982. Professor Clark has received numerous awards and medals for his writings on Australian history and was named Australian of the Year for 1980.
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David Catcheside - Emeritus Professor
(1991-08-08) Catcheside, David; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor David Catcheside was born in 1907 and was educated at the Strand School and the University of London. From 1928 until 1944 he held teaching appointments in the universities of Glasgow and London, before going to Cambridge as a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1950 he was appointed to a readership in Cytogenetics. He was the Professor of Genetics in the University of Adelaide from 1952 until 1955. He then returned to England in 1956 to take up the appointment of Professor of Microbiology at the University of Birmingham. The Australian National University established a Chair and Department of Genetics within the John Curtin School of Medical Research in 1963 and Professor Catcheside became the first occupant of the new Chair. Later that year he was invited by the university to become an Adviser on the development of biological research in the Institute of Advanced Studies. When the Research School of Biological Sciences was founded in 1967 he became its first Head. His Department of Genetics in the John Curtin School transferred to Biological Sciences at this time. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1951 for his outstanding research work. In 1954 he became a Foundation Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and was later elected a Foreign Associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. When he retired from the university in 1973 he was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor.
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Noel Butlin - Emeritus Professor
(1990-12-17) Butlin, Noel; Foster, Stephen; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Professor Noel Butlin was born in 1921 and was educated at Maitland Boys' High School and the University of Sydney, where he graduated with first class honours and the University Medal. He was a Commonwealth public servant from 1942 to 1946 occupying the positions of Assistant Economic Adviser to the Australian High Commissioner in London and Assistant to the Interim Chairman of the Food and Agricultural Organisation in Washington, D.C. It was during this period with the public service that Professor Butlin became involved with the proposed Australian National University as secretary to the committee in the Department of Post-War Reconstruction that was preparing for its establishment. Professor Butlin resigned from the public service to take up a lectureship in economic history at Sydney University in 1946 and taught both pass and honours courses until 1949 when he was awarded an ANU travelling scholarship together with a Rockefeller Fellowship to study at Harvard University. The university then offered him a senior research fellowship in the Department of Economics. He worked in this department until 1962 when he was appointed as Professor and Head of the newly created Department of Economic History. He held this position until his retirement in 1986. During his period at the university, Professor Butlin held various committee positions and directed the Botany Bay Project during 1974 and 1975. During study leave periods he occupied academic positions overseas, including the Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University in 1979/80.
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Mary (Mollie) Bouquet
(1990-09-11) Bouquet, Mary; Connell, Daniel; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik; Nelson, Diana
Miss Mary ('Mollie')Bouquet was born in 1920 and was educated at state schools in New South Wales and the University of Sydney. She was a high school teacher from 1942 to 1951 and then travelled overseas for five years working at various occupations including farming and teaching. On her return to Australia in 1956 Miss Bouquet applied for the position of Administrative Assistant at the Canberra University College. Her duties both before and after amalgamation of the College involved the servicing of the academic board and the administration of academic staffing. She was promoted to Senior Graduate Assistant in 1963 and then to Assistant Registrar in 1965. Miss Bouquet retired from the university in 1985.
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Wilfred David (Mick) Borrie - Emeritus Professor
(1982-11-05) Borrie, Wilfred David; Golan, Robin; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik
Professor Mick Borrie was born in Waimate, New Zealand on 2 September 1913. He was educated at Waitaki Boys' High School and the Universities of Otago (New Zealand) and Cambridge. Professor Borrie has been connected with the Australian National University since its earliest years. In 1947 he accepted one of the first four Social Science Research Fellowships to undertake research into population trends at the London School of Economics. While at LSE he was invited by Keith Hancock to take up a position as a demographer in the about-to-be-formed Research School of Social Sciences. He became Reader and head of the Department of Demography after its establishment in 1952. In 1957 he became Professor. From 1965 to 1968 he was also Acting Head of the Department of Sociology. From 1968 to 1973 Professor Borrie was Director of the Research School of Social Sciences. He retired from the university in 1978 and was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor. Professor Borrie served on a number of national and international commissions, including Chairman of the United Nations Population Commission 1965-68, Director of the Australian Population Inquiry 1970-78, Member of the Australian Population and Immigration Planning Council 1974-81 and Executive Director of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia 1979-85.
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Heinz Wolfgang Arndt - Emeritus Professor
(1990-10-16) Arndt, Heinz Wolfgang; Connell, Daniel; Stewart, Peter; Fominas, Nik
Professor Heinz Arndt was born in Germany in 1915 and was educated in German schools, Oxford University and the London School of Economics. He was appointed as a research assistant at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London in 1941 and then took up his first academic appointment at Manchester University in 1943. In 1946 Professor Arndt was offered the position of senior lecturer in economics at Sydney University. He then became the foundation professor in economics at the Canberra University College in 1951. By 1963 Professor Arndt's interest in development economics led him to accept a chair in the Department of Economics, Research School of Pacific Studies. He was Professor and Head of the Department of Economics until his retirement in 1980. After retirement he was awarded the title of Emeritus Professor and offered a Visiting Fellowship in the Development Studies Centre (later called the National Centre for Development Studies). Professor Arndt also worked as a consultant to various United Nations organisations.
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Derek Wrigley - architect and solar energy activist
(2012-02) Wrigley, Derek; Stewart, Peter
Derek Wrigley was born in 1924 in Oldham near Manchester, UK in 1924. He excelled in architecture and design at the Manchester School of Art and Science then enrolled for postgraduate study in structural engineering and town planning at Manchester School of Science and Technology, and Manchester University. With little opportunity for architects in post-war England, Derek bought a boat ticket to Australia in 1947 to explore the greater options he had heard about from contacts there. After practicing and building in Sydney, he returned briefly to England to visit his sick father and on the way back took a ‘study tour’ in the USA and Japan to explore the new architecture movements in those countries, including visits to Bauhaus exponents such as Walter Gropius in Harvard and Mies van der Rohe in Chicago. Back in Sydney in 1951 he was appointed to Sydney Technical College to teach design and construction. STC became the University of Technology and then the University of NSW in the time Derek spent teaching there. In 1957, Derek was invited by ANU Architect Fred Ward (founder of the Society for Designers in Industry) to join ANU’s Design Unit (the UDU). Derek succeeded Fred Ward as head of UDU on Ward’s retirement in 1961 and was appointed ANU Architect. As head of UDU Derek was responsible for all aspects of design within the campus – site planning, architecture, interior design, furniture, landscape, graphics and signage. In its time the Design Unit was unique in having responsibility for all aspects of university design. Disillusioned by the inclination of senior administrators to meddle in structure and design, Derek resigned from ANU in 1977 and returned to private practice. Since then he has built and retrofitted a number of private houses with an emphasis on design aimed at conserving energy, material and water use. He has written a number of books and pamphlets as technical guides in house building for owners and builders. Most recently he has designed and is supervising the building of an EcoSolar housein Chifley ACT which will provide a model for testing best practice in domestic housing. Derek is also writing a biography of his mentor, the late Fred Ward.
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Malcolm Whyte - clinical scientist and community health activist
(2012-08) Whyte, Malcolm; Stewart, Peter
Henry Malcolm Whyte was born in India in 1920, of Australian Protestant missionaries. He went to school in Sydney and Ipswich, Queensland, then studied medicine and science at the University of Queensland. He graduated top of his year in 1944, with a university medal for outstanding academic performance and a Rhodes Scholarship. After war service with the Army in Borneo and the Celebes, he was appointed Senior Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Queensland, then in 1947 took his Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University, where he gained a DPhil, won membership of the Royal College of Physicians, and added a second child to his family. He returned to Australia in 1952 as Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the Kanematsu Institute at Sydney Hospital, and undertook comparative studies of heart disease in Australia, where the disease was rife, and the Highlands of Papua and Guinea, where it was not. In 1966, he was appointed Foundation Chair of Clinical Science in the John Curtin School of Medical Research at ANU, combining hospital medicine and basic research. Soon after, he helped in the planning for an undergraduate medical school at ANU, but a decade later that project was pigeon-holed. In 1977, he switched to social and behavioural aspects of medicine and was appointed coordinator of the community-based Alcohol and Drug Dependence Unit within the ACT Health Commission, working closely with such field agencies as the Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul Society, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Alanon. From there he became Consultant in Community Health in the Northern Territory Department of Health in 1984, mentoring and training community health workers. Returning to Canberra from the Northern Territory a year later, the 65-year old Malcolm became active in the Red Cross Blood Bank, the Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service, the Canberra Marriage Counselling Service, Lifeline Canberra, and the Ethics Committee of the Australian Institute of Health. He coordinated a review of Health Services in South Australia, and was appointed Commissioner of Complaints for the NHMRC. Malcolm was elected an Emeritus Professor of the ANU in 1980, awarded an Honorary MD in the University of Queensland in 1986, and appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia in 1991. He has published widely on his medical, scientific, and community interests. He is now 91 years old and retains a keen and active interest in a number of fields of science and medicine.
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Peter Stewart - microbiologist and biotechnologist
(2010-10-05) Stewart, Peter; Stewart, Peter; Bygrave, Fyfe
Peter Stewart joined ANU in 1969 and was Reader in Biochemistry and Microbiology in the Faculty of Science at ANU from 1976 to 1993, when he took early retirement to become a volunteer scientist with a biotechnology program in the UN Food and Agriculture Program in Hanoi, Vietnam. For a number of years subsequently he worked as an independent volunteer with the Vietnamese Agricultural Genetics Institute, and the Department of Genetics at Hanoi University. In the past decade Peter has worked throughout Australia with the organization Indigenous Community Volunteers, as an adviser in Aboriginal community development and training. He intersperses this with a coordinating role in ANU Emeritus Faculty’s Oral History Program.
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John Sandeman - Emeritus Professor, physicist and climate change activist
(2009-06) John, Sandeman; Stewart, Peter
This interview, with Professor John Sandeman, is part of the Emeritus Faculty's Oral History Program, involving retired staff members of ANU who were part of the university in the early decades of its life. The Oral History Program was initiated and developed by ANU Emeritus Faculty as a contribution to university and community understanding of the beginnings and development of ANU over the past six decades. Emeritus Faculty has a special interest in this era, since the Faculty's membership includes many of the people who helped shape ANU in its early days, to make it the pre-eminent university it is today. John Sandeman was born in Adelaide 1928 and graduated BSc in physics from Adelaide University in 1950. After working at the Long Range Weapons Establishment and the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in transonic wind tunnel research, he completed an MSc at Melbourne University in 1960 and a PhD at Cambridge University in 1960. In 1966, John was appointed senior lecturer in the Physics Department in the School of General Studies at the Australian National University. In 1987 he was appointed to a personal research chair, and was head of department 1983-93. He retired in 1993, but has since remained in the university as Emeritus Professor and Visiting Fellow, and until 2008 was a committee member of ANU Emeritus Faculty. John's research interests encompass optical, interferometric and laser diagnostics of gases in shock tunnels, the physics of ultra-high speed shock waves in gases, laboratory measurements of atomic spectroscopic constants important in astrophysics, and laser spectroscopy. Around the time of his retirement, his interests turned to quantum mechanical applications of interferometric measurements of gravitational waves. John has held Visiting Professor appointments at Harvard College Observatory and at the Astronomy Institute of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. From 1993 to 2000 John was Chairman of the Australian Consortium for Interferometric Gravitational Wave Astronomy, made up of gravitational wave researchers at ANU, Adelaide and Monash Universities, and University of WA. He was Australian representative on the Gravitational Wave International Committee. Beyond his research, John has been an activist in the cause of better teaching of science in Australia. From 1983 to 1998 he was ANU representative on the Council of the National Science Summer School, held each year in the ACT. This event brought together more than 200 beginning year 12 students to Canberra for an intensive two-week interaction with scientists and engineers in the region. In 2004, John was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for his contributions to science education. From 2002, John's professional interests moved to the science and impacts of climate change, and processes and design issues related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He has since written and commented widely on energy, water, environmental, and architectural matters related to the adoption of solar and other clean energy sources.
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Peter Scardoni - business manager and accountant
(2009-12-02) Scardoni, Peter; Stewart, Peter
This interview, with Peter Scardoni, is part of the Emeritus Faculty's Oral History Program, involving retired staff members of ANU who were part of the university in the early decades of its life. The Oral History Program was initiated and developed by ANU Emeritus Faculty as a contribution to university and community understanding of the beginnings and development of ANU over the past six decades. Emeritus Faculty has a special interest in this era, since the Faculty's membership includes many of the people who helped shape ANU in its early days, to make it the pre-eminent university it is today. Peter Alexander Scardoni was born in Berry, NSW in 1944. Peter's father, then a school teacher in the NSW state education system, moved to Canberra in the 1950s to teach in the newly emergent state school system there. Peter was one of the first students of St Edmund's College in Canberra, and graduated from there in 1962. He found employment with ANU in the Accounts Section as a school leaver in 1963, and worked the rest of his professional life in financial and management positions until retirement from the university in 1999. Since retirement Peter has remained active in the tertiary education sector, providing financial expertise on the national secretariats of the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) and the Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA). He also provides management and financial help on a volunteer basis to a number of charitable organizations, including Pegasus (Riding for the Disabled, ACT) and the National Brain Injury Foundation. Peter is the Treasurer on the ANU Emeritus Faculty, a position he has held since its establishment in 1999. Peter lives in Flynn ACT, with his partner Bari Hall, and includes amongst his activities fishing, gardening, exploring the outback, cooking, wine, and music. He has two daughters and a son, plus five ? grandchildren.

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