News Archive

The comprehensive history of the past 50 years of UWA, published for the Centenary last year, was short-listed for a Premier's book prize recently.

Seeking Wisdom , from UWA Publishing , did not end up winning a prize, but the many authors and historians who contributed to this wonderful book are all winners, and they deserve to be publicly congratulated.

Winthrop Professor Jenny Gregory, Director of the Centre for Western Australian History , edited the 500-page book. While it is her name that has been associated with the successful publication, she is more than happy for the 23 writers, mainly staff members, former staff members and graduates, to be recognised too.

Seeking Wisdom concentrates on the years from 1963 to 2013 because, as Professor Gregory said, UWA historian Fred Alexander did such a good job covering the first 50 years in Campus at Crawley , that there was no point in going over the same ground again.

The book is in two sections, looking inwards and looking outwards.

Looking inwards begins with Creating a Landscape , which was written by Gillian Lilleyman , a graduate biochemist whose love of plants led her to co-authoring a history of the grounds of UWA several years ago.

Historian Robyn Taylor has a particular interest in WA's cultural heritage.  She was a team member of the Crawley Campus Conservation Management Plan, completed in 2008, and wrote the second chapter, Creating the campus: a century of building.

Norman Etherington is an Emeritus Professor of History at UWA and wrote the third chapter, Governing the University, and the fifth chapter, Research at UWA.

Teaching and learning at UWA was a logical choice for Jane Long , historian and former Pro Vice-Chancellor (Teaching and Learning) at UWA. Professor Long is now Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at La Trobe University.

Toby Burrows , who wrote chapter six, Collecting and informing: the University library , has a PhD from UWA, is the principal librarian in the Scholars' Centre in the Reid Library and is currently in the UK on a Marie Curie Fellowship.

Old Guild mates, Susie Byers (a former Guild president) and Andrew Thackrah (former Vice-President) both went on to do their PhDs at UWA and they contributed chapter seven, Constructing the student experience .

Striving for equity and diversity was written by Cecilia Leong-Salobir , another History PhD at UWA who worked with Professor Gregory in the Centre for Western Australian History.

Joseph Christensen's research focuses on WA history and Australian maritime history. He was the author of chapter nine, Enhancing intercultural awareness: the changing international student presence.

The final chapter that looks inwards, Sporting life , is from Anthony J Barker, a senior honorary research fellow at UWA, who has written several sporting history books.

Looking outwards begins with Broadening creative and cultural horizons: the arts at UWA, jointly written by PhD graduate Susannah Thompson , who now lectures in social science in Hobart, and Professor Gregory.

Long-time friends from UWA and the theatre, Bill Dunstone and Joan Pope put together University theatre, drama and the community .

Chapter 13, another collaborative effort by music PhDs John Meyer and Victoria Rogers , is Harmonising campus and community: University music.

Science Communications expert Nancy Longnecker , who has recently left UWA for the University of Central Otago, and Jane Davis , who tutors in the history program at Notre Dame University and co-ordinates short courses for study abroad students at UWA, together wrote Building the future: the sciences and engineering.

Caring and the community: psychology, dentistry, medicine, social work and health sciences, was contributed by Susan Broomhall , a Winthrop Professor of History whose specialist research includes the history of medicine and health.

Reg Appleyard , economist, Emeritus Professor and stalwart of the UWA Historical Society, wrote Influencing Society: business and law .

And the final chapter was a collaboration between husband and wife Richard and Michal Bosworth , Widening the University world . Richard is another Emeritus Professor of History at UWA and a senior research fellow at Jesus College, Oxford. Michal is a professional historian with an interest in food, cooking and nutrition and their place in history.

Jean Chetkovich was the editorial assistant for the publication. A former Director of the Centre for Western Australian History, she now works at the State Library.

Seeking Wisdom is available here from UWA Publishing. There is a discount for staff who use the promotional code UWASTAFF.