Tell us your story
Do you have a story you would like to share about your time at Monash University? It can be a tale of your days as a student, or about your time as a staff member. Perhaps you are studying at present and would like to tell others about your current experiences at Monash.
Stories can be humorous, tell something of historical significance, or simply be a description of a different era in the University's history.
Please ensure that your submission is no longer than 150 words, and that if your story is about something of historical significance, you include the date of the event.
Submissions may be edited prior to publication on the website.
Please send submissions to 50years@adm.monash.edu.au
Standing the test of time
Trevor Wilson Manager, Electrical Services
I am in my 39th year at Clayton Campus and now manage the electrical services in Facilities and Services, but in the early days (around the late 60s I think) when I was employed as a maintenance electrician I wired the Louis Matheson Pipe Organ which is located on the stage of the Robert Blackwood Concert Hall.
Jurgan Ahrend (the German builder of the organ) was so impressed that we had chosen to wire the organ in a product known as Pyrotenax (now known as MIMS - Mineral Insulated Metal Sheathed) a fire rated, copper sheathed cable, that he invited me to go back with him to Germany and work with him. I was flattered but declined the invitation.
The motor is stored in a cupboard over the steps which lead to the basement of the Robert Blackwood Concert Hall and rather a difficult area to access. When I asked Jurgan how we were expected to service / maintain the motor in such a location, he replied "Vy (why) do you need to service the motor? It is a German motor"!!!!!!! The same motor is still running and running well.
Livin' in the 70s
Peter Brown, BEc 1978
As an EcoPol student in the 70s only a few things still stick out in my mind - the rest must be ingrained. Hobbes, Locke and Russo - the names rather than the theories. An aversion to Financial Accounting and sitting in the aisles of a packed lecture theatre in the Rotunda to endure it. Being impressed that I knew the difference between macroeconomics and microeconomics. John Maynard Keynes. Demand creates supply. Monetary policy. Actually enjoying International Economics. Big caff and small caff. Having a bank book. Playing Bridge and feeling superior, even when I was dummy. Drinking in the beer garden at the Nott with the free range chickens. Microfiche. Photocopying for 2c. My burnt orange 1973 Corolla and the free parking it enjoyed. Balls (did we dance?) at St Kilda Town Hall. Skyhooks on rotation at a party in someone's parent's house in Mt Waverley.
My time at Monash
Maureen Anne Kutner, BA Hons 1983, MA 1998
I first became a staff member at Monash in early 1975, when I worked part-time in the (then) Main Library, typing (yes, typing!) catalogue cards. What a tedious job - one that young people today would regard as a relic of the nineteenth century, which it probably was. No computers in the 70s! The words 'internet' and 'on-line' hadn't even been invented.
In 1975, Gough Whitlam and the Labor Government abolished university fees, which meant that at the mature age of 32, to the bewilderment of my non-academic family and friends, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts degree at Monash. What an eye-opener that was! It was only many years later that I realised why, after drinking coffee and talking for a few hours in the Small Caf, I would emerge particularly flushed and quite euphoric. Even then I realised that the conversation hadn't been all that stimulating and it couldn't have been the alcohol, because there was none to be had.
After three full-time years as a mature-age student I commenced Honours part-time, while working in the general office of the (then) Department of Genetics, under the careful eye of Professor Bruce Holloway. What an exciting time it was. 'Prof', his staff and PhD students were, among many other research activities, undertaking ground-breaking work mapping genes and studying the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
After graduating with first class honours I took up the position of Administrative Officer Postgraduate in the Faculty of (then) Economics and Politics, where I stayed for five years. In the early nineties I defected to the University of Melbourne for two years, but soon returned to Monash, this time to conduct an audit of International student support services at Monash on behalf of the Pro Vice Chancellor International, Professor Leo West.
In 1995 I was appointed Deputy Registrar in the Faculty of Science, where I remained for two years. Throughout the following six years I moved around quite a bit within Monash. My many and varied roles included Acting Deputy Director of the Monash Research Graduate School, Co-ordinator of honours selection in the Department of Physiology and, later, Senior Curriculum Project Officer in the Centre for Medical and Health Science Education. I also completed a Master of Arts in History part-time and contributed many articles (usually about Monash and Monash people) to the Education Supplement of The Age.
In 2002 I 'retired', but since then have continued my connection with the University, working on various projects within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences, mainly involving writing and editing.
Sometimes, as I drive the familiar route along Blackburn Road , dodging trucks and inexperienced P-plate drivers, it seems as if I would only need to point my car towards Monash and it would drive there by itself. Over the past 33 years I have probably spent more hours at the University than I have in my own home. I'm not eligible for a silver 25 years service medal because I've come and gone and moved around a lot, but this doesn't bother me. For all the changes I have had to come to terms with, all the hard work and worry and not a few sleepless nights, I've never for a minute regretted not accepting an offer, all those years ago, to become a candidate for the BA at 'that other place'.