Lumen Winter 2014 - Flipbook - Page 15
1960s
South Australia has long been known as the Festival State—a
proud label that is largely due to the efforts of John Bishop,
the Elder Professor of Music at the University of Adelaide for
nearly 20 years. Professor Bishop made a series of important
contributions to music and the arts in Australia and one of these
came late in his life when he helped establish the Adelaide
Festival of Arts, which included performances in Union Hall. He
was the Festival’s first Artistic Director and its success triggered
a great period for the arts at the University with the involvement
of students and staff in many national and international premiere
performances, and the establishment of the first electronic
music studio in Australia.
Creation of the Festival State
Union Hall was also the scene of much controversy over the
premiere production of Patrick White’s Ham Funeral, produced
by the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild following its
rejection by the Governors of the Festival of Arts.
Professor John Bishop
A passionate belief in justice
Fay Gale was a pioneer in many respects. Her passion for
social justice and equality of opportunity was inspirational.
Her research into Indigenous issues opened up new areas of
thought and research, the influence of which is still being felt
50 years on. She was the first honours graduate in geography
from the University of Adelaide, the first woman to hold a chair
at the University, and its only female professor for 10 years.
Professor Gale’s 1960 thesis studied assimilation and its
impact on Aboriginal Australians. This work has been influential
in current debates about Aboriginal issues including the stolen
generations, native title and health care for mothers and babies.
It became an anthropology text in numerous universities and
was influential in the move towards citizenship and land rights
for Indigenous people. It also helped lead to the introduction in
South Australia of the nation’s first anti-discrimination Act.
Union Hall
Massive bequest aids
agricultural research
Pastoralist John Stanley Davies spent his working life
improving strains of beef cattle—a passion that has
directly benefitted the University of Adelaide. He never
married and on his death in 1968 he bequeathed most
of his estate to the University and part to Prince Alfred
College. He asked that the trustees carry on farming on
his properties—Munduney at Spalding and Moralana
Station north of Hawker—for 20 years and to promote
research into cattle and beef production.
His bequest was one of the most significant in the
University’s long history. A $50-million endowment was
made possible through the sale of the properties in
1989 and another generous bequest from John Andrew
Tennant Mortlock who left his Martindale Farm to the
University. The money is being used for the largest
expansion of University-based research into animal and
crop health and production in Australian history.
Professor Fay Gale
|e University of Adelaide | Alumni Magazine 13
