Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak to this condolence motion, which pays tribute to the Rt Hon. Sir Zelman Cowen and the contribution that he made to the Australian community. On 8 December 2011, Australia lost one of its best Governor-Generals and one of the world's most respected and distinguished legal intellectuals. Sir Zelman's elevation to the role of Governor-General was a clear indication of the esteem in which he was held. It was also an acknowledgement of the growing multicultural fabric of Australia at the time, a process that continues today.

Born in Melbourne in 1919, he attended and was dux of Scotch College, then Melbourne University, topping his year in all of his subjects and taking an honours degree in arts and law before being awarded a Rhodes scholarship to further his legal studies at Oxford University, where he was dux of the 1947 Oxford postgraduate law school. He returned to Melbourne, where he held the positions of Dean of the Faculty of Law and Professor of Public Law, before being appointed vice-chancellor at the University of New England and then vice-chancellor of the University of Queensland.

As the member for Ryan, I want to make particular note of Sir Zelman's period of office at the University of Queensland. During the period between 1970 and 1977 as the third full-time vice-chancellor at the university 17 new buildings were completed on the campus, including Mayne Hall, now known as the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre. The university has named the building which houses the music and architecture faculties after Sir Zelman to honour his significant contributions to the arts. He oversaw the establishment of the Department of Fine Arts, the provision of a performance room with the then music department and the development of the Mayne Hall as a concert venue.

In 1970, like most leaders in the academic world, Sir Zelman was confronted with student protests and violent unrest on his campus. The anti-Vietnam War protests were in full swing and as a strong advocate of free speech the vice-chancellor gained something of a reputation for confronting the demonstrators head-on. Rather than avoid the protest, he would approach them and, having listened to their chanting, put forward an alternative view and make suggestions for them to consider. This behaviour apparently gained him the nickname of Super Zel among some of the more militant student groups. University of Queensland staff, past and present, comment on the way in which he treated all students at the university with dignity and respect, especially during periods of unrest.

Sir Zelman's role at the University of Queensland was a complex one. A rapidly growing student population, an incomplete and war-retarded campus, an urgent need to widen the range of the curriculum and a need for money for buildings and more staff were some of the challenges confronting him. An early task was to foster the formation of an alumni association so that graduates could maintain their links with their alma mater and grow into a supportive body. A connoisseur of the arts with a strong belief that the arts should bring equality and a dimension of richness and maturity to the life of a nation, he was determined to move the university's valuable art collection from its packing cases in the basement and set up an art gallery and an arts case in the Forgan Smith building.

The alumni association cooperated with a series of profitable social functions, and the tower of the Forgan Smith building was soon converted to include a gallery to house the university's large and valuable collection of art works and an art department under the direction of lecturer Nancy Underhill. Next, at Sir Zelman's request, the alumni association financed the creation of a teaching garden down by the river for the Faculty of Agricultural Science. A following big project was the erection of the Mayne Hall, named to recognise the university's largest benefactors, the Mayne family. It was a dual purpose building, primarily so that graduation ceremonies could at last be held on campus instead of at the Brisbane City Hall.

Part of Sir Zelman's wide-ranging thinking was to have an all-glass wall on the highest side of the hall so that the graduates on their important occasion could look from inside the hall across the lawn and see the university buildings in which they had received their education. He envisaged the rich tones of a pipe organ to usher graduands to their seats and to add dignity to the rendering of Gaudeamus Igitur. Here once again the alumni made the expense affordable. The cost of a special world-class pipe organ and the building of Mayne Hall were defrayed in part by the many successful concerts that attracted full houses for many years before the increase in student number necessitated further expansion. Under a later vice-chancellor, a larger graduation hall was built and Mayne Hall became the university art museum, housing the greatly expanded art collection. Both Sir Zelman and Lady Cowen were committed to the University of Queensland in a very wide sense. From the start of his appointment, Sir Zelman Cowen's involvement was wide ranging. A vice-chancellor's house was to be built, and he saw to it that it was planned with a view to saving the university money. As vice-chancellors have a certain amount of entertaining to do, their home included a strategically suitable area, handy to the kitchen for catering but separate from the privacy of their residence. It was most successful planning. Lady Cowen held monthly mornings for staff wives and thoughtfully produced a couple of mature aged students to babysit their children.

Sir Zelman had ideas for money-raising functions to bolster campus facilities. The public area of the house was ideal for classical concerts, with catering for 100 guests each time. They were organised by the alumni association but Sir Zelman personally paid for the grand piano to be tuned each time that it was moved between the music department and their home. The supper was all at their expense and his cooperative and very helpful wife, Lady Cowen, prepared it herself in their kitchen.

Given that this time last year the University of Queensland was engaged in the 2011 flood clean-up, it is worth noting another facet of Sir Zelman. After the terrible 1974 floods, when the lower areas of the University of Queensland campus were left a sea of rotting and stinking mud, the vice-chancellor and Lady Cowen were prominent among the volunteer workers clearing the debris from the grounds.

I would like to thank the current vice-chancellor, Professor Deborah Terry, and former vice-chancellor Professor Paul Greenfield, as well as other members of the University of Queensland community, who have expressed their appreciation for Sir Zelman's contribution to academia in Queensland. Professor Terry stated:

Students and staff at the University of Queensland continue to enjoy the legacy of Sir Zelman's outstanding leadership of this university. He led the University of Queensland during a period of significant growth and was influential in fortifying the university's strong cultural profile, which continues to flourish today.

I commend Sir Zelman for his contribution to the University of Queensland, the electorate of Ryan and the wider community in Australia. In short, Sir Zelman was a good man who achieved great things. As a nation, we are the beneficiaries of Sir Zelman's achievements and of his extraordinary life. On behalf of the electors of Ryan, I feel privileged to have had this opportunity to pay tribute to a great Australian.

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