Lumen Winter 2014 - Flipbook - Page 12
1950s
Boom times as North
Terrace reaches
capacity
The 1950s signalled a period of sustained expansion unlike
anything the University had previously known. New buildings
were commissioned in North Terrace and Waite, and the long
process of modernisation began. The Colombo Plan saw
hundreds, and ultimately thousands, of students from across
South East Asia enrich the fabric of Australian society. In the
case of the University of Adelaide, strong links were forged
with the Asian region that continue to this day.
By the end of the 1950s, the North Terrace campus had
reached capacity and planning began for the establishment of
a second campus which eventually resulted in the founding of
Flinders University in the south of the city.
The University’s long-standing anthropological research
into Australia’s Indigenous peoples gained national and
international attention through the work of controversial
linguist Ted Strehlow and a succeeding generation of scholars.
1956 Medical graduates ball
A legacy in sculpture
As a sculptor, painter and writer, John Dowie made an extraordinary
contribution to the arts in Australia, especially in South Australia, in
a career that spanned a remarkable 80 years. His first studies in art
were in the mid-1920s at the South Australian School of Art. Then he
studied architecture at the University of Adelaide from 1936 to 1940
while working as a draughtsman and studying at night at the School
of Art. The outbreak of World War II abruptly stalled Mr Dowie’s career
and he served in Palestine, New Guinea and Tobruk. But it also
marked a turning point.
In 1954, he was commissioned to carve a stone sculpture of a
returned soldier for Michelmore’s War Memorial Chapel at Roseworthy
Agricultural College, and in 1957
he created another sculpture for
Michelmore’s Ross Smith Memorial
Pavilion at Adelaide Airport. These
two high-profile sculptures marked
a watershed in his career, and he
received an unbroken chain of public
and private commissions which
continued until only years before
his death. Many of his more than
50 public sculptures are truly iconic
South Australian art.
Left: John Dowie carving The Soldier (photo
from Tracy Lock-Weir’s book John Dowie:
A Life in the Round (Wakefield Press)
Dowie's Soldier sculpture at the
Memorial Chapel at Roseworthy
campus is in need of restoration
work. To support this Roseworthy
Old Collegians Association initiative,
please contact Dick Turnbull at
roca@alumni.adelaide.edu.au
10 Lumen | Winter 2014
Double honour for
distinguished historian
Professor Hugh Stretton is one of the most respected Australian
intellectuals of our time. A graduate of the universities of Melbourne
and Oxford, where he held a Rhodes Scholarship, he was appointed
Professor of the University of Adelaide’s Department of History in 1954.
He presided over the department’s rapid expansion in the 1950s and
1960s, and shaped its teaching and research focus by appointing
historians of international stature, as well as supporting younger scholars.
As a result, it became widely recognised as one of the most lively and
productive schools in the nation.
In 1968 Professor Stretton stepped down from the position to devote
more time to writing and turned to the study of economics in retirement.
He went on to hold the position of Visiting Research Fellow with
the University’s Department of Economics. After 35 years of service
Professor Stretton formally retired from the University in 1989. Because of
his exceptional and meritorious service, the University broke with tradition
and awarded him two honours—the title of Emeritus Professor of History
and Doctor of the University (honoris causa).
Today, the establishment of the Stretton Centre will build upon the
foundational work of Hugh Stretton and has been made possible by a
grant from the Suburban Jobs Program of the Australian Government
and involves a partnership between the City of Playford, the Australian
Workplace Innovation and Social Research Centre (WISeR) at the
University of Adelaide and the
South Australian Government
through Renewal SA.
Once established, the Stretton
Centre will be a regional
hub for integrated industry,
workforce and urban
development, addressing
challenges and pursuing
opportunities through research,
collaboration and innovation.
Professor Hugh Stretton
