Class Notes

When Dr David Griffin was appointed the first Master of the new Burgmann College, he was at Sydney University in the Faculty of Agriculture and had three PhD students: Eric (Ric) Cother, Jill Wilson (1971–1974) and Percy Wong. He offered us a place in the Forestry Department at the ANU, where he was granted a Chair, if we wished to join him in Canberra, and accommodation in Burgmann.

In January 1971, the College was still under construction, so newly-enrolled students were housed in Garran Hall for several weeks. When a couple of rooms were finished, Dr Griffin allocated me a room and a torch to serve as a watchman to keep curious people at bay.

Eventually, students were housed two to a room for many weeks as construction continued. A law student, Perry Whalley (1971–1973), as one of the first to move in, and together we started the Burgmann Residents Association (BRA).

Soon afterwards, we started the shop with restricted hours—in winter we opened again at 9pm to sell hot pies—and I remember the most expensive item was a Cornetto (drumstick) at 12 cents each.

Basil McCallum was the first Bursar and offered me a job at $3 an hour (good money then) to mow the lawns and empty the garbage bins daily on each level down into the mains bins at the delivery dock.

We purchased a ride-on mower (not common in those days) and all was set. Over the 1971–1972 summer break, Perry and I took over the Bonython Room to build a Canadian canoe while there were few residents around. Springbank Island was now accessible.

The Master’s residence was completed about this time and David and Margaret moved in (he was previously living on Liversidge Street). They attended many College barbecues with their Staffy dog, Rex, who loved fried onions. We delighted in feeding these to him surreptitiously when we realised they made Rex fart in excess, especially after he returned home!

In 1972, a third-year Zoology student, Norma Cantrill, moved into Burgmann from Bruce Hall. One Sunday morning while I was mowing the front lawn, this lass strode across the lawn and accosted me, saying that 9am was too early to be waking people up. ‘Bloody undergrads’, I thought.

The first BRA Ball was soon to be held in the Dining Room, and a floor plan with tables was displayed there. I saw that Norma Cantrill had reserved a table near the band—a location I thought was too good for someone who verbally abused me for doing my job. So I rubbed out her name, replaced it with mine, and relegated her further away.

The Ball came and went without incident, but in a feeling of remorse I knocked on her door the following Monday evening, apologised, and offered to take her out to dinner.

Nineteen days later we were engaged, though we delayed our wedding while Norma finished Zoology Honours and I completed my PhD. Last year we joyfully celebrated 50 years of marriage and recently caught up with Perry Whalley in Bangkok.

So you may see why Burgmann occupies a special place in my psyche.

I returned to America, graduated from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, worked in banking for 13 years in Philadelphia, New York and Zurich, met my husband, raised our family of six in Manhattan, and now travel and front our children (not necessarily in that order).