May 2006
As it celebrates its 10th anniversary, Monash University's youngest Australian campus looks set for a bright future.
Report: Diane Squires
Photography: Paul Philipson
In 1996, the first year of operation of Monash University's Berwick campus, local police contacted staff during Orientation Week to say cows had strayed from the campus onto the freeway nearby.
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Change of seasons: Monash fine arts graduate Ms Kristin McFarlane will create a series of glass panels reflecting the history of Berwick campus. |
At the time, the campus consisted of one building, 15 full-time staff and 427 students. The remainder of the 52-hectare site was used by local farmers for cow agistment.
"We couldn't get hold of the farmer," recalls Ms Jill McLachlan, Berwick Campus Manager from 1995 to 2000. "So the staff had to herd them off the road and back into the paddocks."
The Monash University Berwick campus has come a long way in the 10 years since. It now has more than 1900 students in three faculties -- Arts, Business and Economics, and Information Technology -- 84 staff and four buildings. Planning has begun on developing the site into a university village, including retail and food outlets, to improve student amenities in the area.
Berwick Academic Director Professor Phillip Steele says the campus is maintaining its community spirit as it grows with the local region.
"There is a friendly, supportive atmosphere among staff and students that leads to a friendly learning and scholarship community," he says.
"There is a real sense of future here. The campus is set in a young and rapidly developing region, and there is huge long-term potential for the decades ahead."
On 29 April, the campus hosted a celebration to mark its first 10 years and invited past and present staff and students to share their memories.
The campus began after the Victorian Government decided there was a need for a university in the south -- and the Federal Government agreed, Ms McLachlan says.
"The local Berwick community lobbied the government to build the university in their area so, in 1991, Monash began talks with the government, the local community and the Chisholm TAFE located at Berwick.
"During 1995, while our first campus building was under construction at the old Casey airfield in Clyde Road, combined courses taught by Chisholm and Monash staff started. Teaching was conducted at the TAFE, which was directly opposite our campus site," Ms McLachlan says.
"We had to build our campus from the ground up. We had to decide how we would teach, then what infrastructure we would need."
Student Services Coordinator Ms Jenny Dodds was one of Berwick's original staff members. She joined the campus after working at the university's Clayton campus for eight years.
"On a larger campus, things just work and you take it for granted that what you need will be there, but we had to start everything ourselves," she says.
"You also get to see things from a different perspective -- and you get to know the students. They used to come and chat to us and tell us about their boyfriends, show us their wedding pictures. When they had a break-up, you heard about that as well -- Loretta Hagan, one of my fellow Student Services officers, and I were like real agony aunts."
Ms Dodds says the campus, like the surrounding district, has changed markedly in the past 10 years.
"When we started, Clyde Road carried just two lanes of traffic, there were no traffic lights and you could see the green hills. Now Clyde Road is a major road, and new homes have been built all around."
Professor Steele says the anniversary is an important milestone in the life of the campus. "We have built a good foundation, and I hope we can continue to build on this success over the coming decade."
For more information contact Diane Squires on +61 3 9905 9315 or email diane.squires@adm.monash.edu.au.
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