H for History

He definitely gave me my love of literature. Nerida Dyne (Class of 1991)

Many of us are reminded, later in life, of inspirational teachers and mentors from our childhood who left us with a deep appreciation of the subjects they taught. Some have even gone on to emulate these figures in their own chosen vocations. In their profiles on the Collegians’ pages, commentary on social media and through informal discussions with inquiring college historians, some names continue to crop up. One of those is Luc Rose, a staff member of the college between 1986 and 2005.

It is not only his students who have been inspired by him. The College recently received a generous donation from Susan Conrad, a teacher who worked with him at Radford in the 1980s.  The donation has been dedicated in his name to the Radford College Development Foundation Scholarship Fund. “It was an honour to know him and I thank him for his kindness,” Susan wrote. “Memories of Radford and Luc Rose remain as a time when an extraordinary educator and school influenced me to be a better teacher and human being.” She recalls Luc humbly putting staff and students first, “cheering them on to attain their fullest potential.”

I am struck by the circle of influence expanding here: how thirty years ago, a new teacher at a fledgling college was so inspired by her Head of Department, that three decades later she decided to send the school a monetary gift in recognition – which will, in turn, hopefully assist and similarly inspire a scholarship recipient, as they too commence an important stage in their own academic and life journey. As Susan recently shared with me, “In all of my years as a teacher, administrator, and professor in American and other countries’ systems, Luc Rose stands out as a model teacher and department chair, tireless, energetic and enthusiastic, intelligent and warm hearted, creative, possessor of many innovative teaching skills, an originator of a department family, a leader by example, exemplifier of high academic standards.” This recollection certainly provides so much validation of Maya Angelou’s words.

Last week, I met a relaxed and content Luc Rose, enjoying being a grandfather, travelling the world, studying Italian, following the recent football World Cup, running a Literature Group (currently focusing on the joys of under-valued poetry), and, of course, maintaining the ritual of a lengthy reading session in the afternoon sun with wife, Sylvie. When I was a beginning teacher at Radford College, Luc was my first Head of Department and I used to enjoy observing his classes and was immediately struck by his obvious and often ebullient passion for literature.

As he recalls, “One of the ways I looked at my job as a Head of Department was not just writing the courses – which I enjoyed doing – or the teaching, but also the nurturing of staff.” He goes on to explain that the donor mentioned above came to Radford inexperienced in teaching English in Australian Schools. “One of my greatest pleasures was to sit with her, helping her manoeuvre her way not just through the set texts, but the whole atmosphere and way of approaching literature. And she ended up being one of the best teachers I had at the time.”

I asked Luc which authors and courses he loved to teach the most. He revealed an enthusiasm for Australian poet, Les Murray, whom he feels has produced some of the best poems ever written. Luc is also tremendously proud of the “Literature Across Cultures” course he developed while at the College. “Radford at that stage was one of the only schools that had a unit like that. I know that over the years a number of the other colleges borrowed that unit from us.” He goes on to declare his love of the work of Indian, African and West Indian authors, as well people who wrote in other languages such as French, German and Spanish, all studied in translation. “What it gave students was a wider perspective of literature, and debunked that idea that the only writers worth reading are those who wrote in English, at a particular given time period, or in a particular area or country.”

Luc’s enthusiasm for literature and art from diverse cultures was also apparent in his co-curricular activities. Even his coaching of the First XI – a football team I inherited from him in the early 90s – saw his players frequently exhibit some European precision mixed with African and South American flair. In 1988 and 1989, Luc ambitiously directed the college’s first two ‘inspectorial’ dramatic productions, Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Inspector Hound” and Gogol’s “The Government Inspector”, extracting some stunning performances from students who had had minimal exposure to challenging 20^th Century theatrical masterworks.  In 2017, the Senior Dramatists continued the theme with JB Priestly’s “An Inspector Calls”.

We have had many strong English staff and students over the school’s 35-year history and I asked Luc why he thought that might be. “We’ve had top-notch English students at Radford and I think the reason why these students have been so successful is that we have always provided them with a challenge. We’ve never taken the easy way out. We’ve always let them deal with texts that were challenging, sometimes perhaps a little too ambitious. But certainly, our top students have always benefited from that.” He goes on to add “we always had highly qualified teachers, like Norma Cook and Maureen Kleeman, for example, who were dedicated and catered to the improvement of all student abilities”, particularly those who may have found the works of Malouf, Camus and Soyinka a little bewildering.

I asked Luc about other people from that era who left a lasting impact on him. “We’ve always had some very good people on staff. Certainly, Jock Mackinnon’s leadership in those first few years was quite amazing, as was his ability to get the very best of his teachers. This was probably the hallmark of Jack’s greatness. Graeme Wigg (then Deputy Principal) also was very good at this, as was Molly Brownbill (Director of Studies) in her quiet way.” He is also quick to point out the strong work ethic of the staff in those pioneering years: “I have never before experienced a staff that was determined to work as hard as that staff worked. A lot of people rose to the challenge, given some of the problems encountered at the foundation of the school – the sort of negative press from some members of the Canberra community to the birth of Radford. I think the staff took it upon themselves to prove everybody wrong, to build a foundation and produce a school to be reckoned with…”

To conclude with the words of his colleague, Susan Conrad, Radford in the late 80s “was on the cutting edge academically… and maintained effective rules, standards and activities that created strong and caring young men and women for the future. Radford demonstrated excellence in every aspect of educating the entire person.” In his contribution to the passionate study of literature, the pride in playing colourful football, and having the courage to attempt challenging theatrical classics, Luc Rose’s legacy in the building of that robust school cannot not be understated.

Donations of any amount are always welcomed by the Radford Foundation, which recently launched its 2018 appeal. Those wishing to be acknowledged as a Cornerstone Donor can do so by contributing $1,000 or more by the end of 2018, at which time the Cornerstone category will be closed.

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Could any former staff or collegians wishing to input to the new school history and/or claim their profile on the Collegians page, please contact George at: George.Huitker@Radford.act.edu.au or fill out the form.