Betty’s boat

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1950s, 1960s, funding, marine science

Marine biologist Betty Batham aboard the Munida with its crew in the late 1960s. Left to right – Les Tubman (crew, technician), Bill Tubman (skipper), Stan Deans (crew, cook), Dr Batham. Image courtesy of the Hocken Collections. From an album compiled by Bill Tubman, Department of Marine Science records, MS-3302/357, S14-512a.

“No new buildings were brought into use in 1966,” reads the University of Otago annual report of that year. It fails to mention, though, that a significant new resource – almost as good as a building – had been commissioned for use: the Research Vessel Munida. It is perhaps not surprising that the Otago authorities did not mention their new boat, as they may have felt rather uncomfortable about its arrival!

The project to obtain this marvellous new resource was the brainchild of the redoubtable Dr Betty Batham, Director of the Portobello Marine Biological Laboratory. She was a brilliant Otago science graduate of the 1940s who completed a doctorate at Cambridge. She returned to Otago in 1950 to work at the Portobello laboratory. It was originally founded in 1904 as a fish hatchery, at the instigation of George M. Thomson, naturalist and teacher of biology at the Otago Boys’ and Otago Girls’ High Schools. It was managed by the Portobello Marine Fish Hatchery Board and funded by the Marine Department. During the 1930s funding was cut and the station deteriorated and in 1951 it was handed over to the University of Otago.

The fish hatchery was in a very good location for carrying out research into marine science, but it was rather isolated. After ferry access slowly wound down in the early 1950s, and before the road from Portobello was opened in 1956, the easiest way to transport people and materials to the marine lab was to row across from Port Chalmers. The university initially renovated the old hatchery building, but replaced it with a new building in 1960, complete with public aquarium. A further new research building was completed in 1987.

A research vessel would clearly be a great asset for marine biologists, along with other university researchers, such as geologists. But it was a very expensive item, unlikely to be funded by the university. Legend has it that Betty Batham noticed an article in the Otago Daily Times about lottery funds one day in the early 1960s. The Golden Kiwi lottery, launched in 1961, was enormously popular and bringing in large funds to the government. In response to public concern that the profits were being allocated to “unworthy” causes, the government decided to open up grants to a scientific project, especially a large one unlikely to be funded through normal channels. By the end of the week Betty had put together an application for a grant, had it signed by the acting vice-chancellor (allegedly he didn’t read it), and sent it off to the Department of Internal Affairs.

The university authorities were surprised to learn that they had been awarded a lotteries grant to design and build a marine research vessel and staff it for five years! The grant was a very substantial one of £45,000, equivalent to close to $2 million in today’s money. Of course, this was a major responsibility for the university, which would be left to fund the project after the first five years. The 15-metre RV Munida was built in Lyttelton and fitted out in Dunedin, entering service in the middle of 1966. With its wide range of oceanographic equipment it was a real boon to the university’s research. To help make good use of this new resource the entrepreneurial Betty Batham applied to the Nuffield Foundation, which funded a 3-year post-doctoral fellowship in marine biology. That fellowship was awarded to John Jillett, who joined the permanent staff once the three years was up, eventually succeeding Batham as Director of the Marine Laboratory in 1974. Research into marine science continued to expand and in 1992 it became a full university department. As John Jillett comments, the oceanographic environment in southern New Zealand is unique, making it a wonderful location for scientists who come from around the world to research here.

Bill Tubman, who was skipper of the Munida from 1966 to 1985, was a talented photographer who put together some wonderful albums recording the boat’s various voyages and activities. These are now held with the Department of Marine Science archives in the Hocken Collections, and the lovely early photograph of Betty Batham with the crew comes from that source. The Munida got a new engine and a refit in 1988, and was eventually replaced with the RV Polaris II in 2007. Do you have any stories to share of the RV Munida?

Becoming part of Asia

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1950s, 1960s, 1970s, Africa, Arana, Asia, biochemistry, Colombo Plan, international students, mineral technology, mining, Pacific, physics

Oo Khaik Cheang, Philippa Wiggins and an unidentified person at a farewell morning tea for Oo in the Department of Biochemistry, c.1964. Photograph courtesy of the Hocken Collections, Department of Biochemistry records, MS-4113/009, S14.512b.

In the middle of the twentieth century Pakeha New Zealanders, who had for generations looked “home” to Britain, became increasingly conscious that they were part of the Asia-Pacific region. The arrival of Asian students on New Zealand university campuses as part of the Colombo Plan played no small part in this changing perspective of the world.

The Colombo Plan – named for the city where it was signed, Colombo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) – was a 1950 agreement between various Commonwealth countries to promote economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific. There were various aspects to the scheme: more developed nations sent money and technical expertise to countries in need of assistance, and they also provided education within their own tertiary institutions for promising students from developing nations. Around 3500 students came to New Zealand as part of the Colombo Plan during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. This country then withdrew from that aspect of the scheme, though the Colombo Plan survives today, considerably modified from its origins of over sixty years ago.

Otago’s first Colombo Plan students arrived in the early 1950s, with numbers gradually building up. In 1965 there were just over 160 international students on campus, more than half of them from Asian countries. Probably most, if not all, of the Asian students were here on the Colombo scheme. The largest group came from the countries which would later form Malaysia: 39 from Malaya, 11 from Sabah and 8 from Sarawak. Another 10 came from Thailand, 8 from Singapore, 8 from Hong Kong, 2 from Ceylon, 2 from Indonesia, 1 from Java and 1 from Burma. A quarter of these Asian students were women. Otago also had 28 international students from Africa and 26 from the Pacific Islands that year.

The Colombo Plan students completed courses in a wide range of disciplines. Most lived in residential colleges for at least part of their course, and in recognition of this the government provided funding for the university to expand its residential capability. The money was used to extend Arana Hall (now Arana College), with its new Colombo Wing opening in 1968. But authorities were keen for the Colombo Plan students to be integrated throughout the community, so they were spread around all the colleges, and also enjoyed the hospitality of New Zealand host families during holidays.

Arrival in Dunedin, with its less than tropical climate, could be something of a shock for students from Asia! Furthermore, especially in the early years of the scheme, many New Zealanders were unaccustomed to the presence of ‘foreigners’ and treated anybody speaking in another language with suspicion. Fortunately, other members of the community made a real effort to welcome the visitors and the students themselves appreciated the opportunity to learn about Kiwi culture. Some really threw themselves into student life. One outstanding example of this is Mazlan Othman, who arrived in Dunedin in the early 1970s as an undergraduate science student and went on to become the first woman to complete a PhD in physics at Otago. She enjoyed all the capping events, attended protest rallies, played in a band, worked in a restaurant, visited the mountains and enjoyed long discussions at the pub with other students. She learned to appreciate New Zealanders’ egalitarian outlook on life.

Some of these mining students are likely to have been at Otago on the Colombo Plan – they were clearly getting into the spirit of Otago student life! Freshers’ welcome 1964, Department of Mineral Technology album, MS-3843/005, S13-561b, Hocken Collections, University of Otago.

Like many other Colombo Plan graduates, Mazlan Othman went on to a successful career. She returned to Malaysia to teach, and later worked in the Prime Minister’s office to oversee development of Malaysia’s national planetarium. She then became Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. Many became university lecturers in their home countries. Oo Khaik Cheang, who features in the photograph above, became Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur). He completed a PhD on “The biosynthesis of bacterial cell wall constituents” at Otago, graduating in 1965. Others went on to signficant political careers. A well-known example is Sulaiman bin Haji Daud, who graduated in dentistry from Otago in 1962. Over many years in Malaysian politics he served as minister in various portfolios, including education and health. Soedjati Djiwandono, who studied education, politics and languages at Otago before completing post-graduate qualifications in London, became a distinguished political scientist in Indonesia.

The Colombo Plan offered the opportunity for students to complete qualifications not yet available in their home countries, and to bring the benefits of that learning to their home communities. But the plan also had great benefits for the host countries. It brought a new diversity to the student body and introduced New Zealanders to new cultures. Lifelong friendships were forged in Otago’s residential colleges, lecture theatres, labs and the student union. The scheme brought some especially bright minds to Otago, for competition for the scholarships was fierce. The connections made through the Colombo Plan would have a very long impact on the university, as the goodwill built up encouraged further generations of international students to enrol here. It is no accident that the largest group of international students at this university in more recent decades has been from Malaysia, which was also the home of the largest group of Otago Colombo Plan students.

Did you attend Otago under the Colombo Plan? If so, do you have any memories to share? Can you help identify anybody in the photographs? I have published the image of the mining students on this blog previously, but I’m yet to identify any of the people, or the location!

Update – 27 March 2014: Many thanks to Alison Finigan of the Alumni Office who found a mining graduate at an alumni function in Kuala Lumpur who identified some of the people in the mystery photograph! Among the men standing are Boon Meer Prasart (left), Vivoon Petpaichit (3rd from left), Chai ? (wearing dark glasses) and Paichit Patasorn (right). All four were from Thailand. Can you add any more details?

Another update – 16 December 2014: A big thank you to Nic MacArthur who identified Ray Soper as the man standing second from left in the photograph of mining students at their freshers’ do. Ray graduated with a BSc in 1967, a couple of years ahead of Nic, who graduated with a BSc (Hons) in mineral technology in 1969. A check of the graduation programmes also reveals what are hopefully the correct names of three of the Thai mining students. Viroon Petpaisit graduated BSc in December 1965, while Paichit Pathnopas and Sunan Boonmeeprasert were awarded Bachelors of Engineering in December 1966. I’m still wondering what the venue is – anybody out there know?

More information – 26 July 2016: My thanks to Jean Kennedy, who identified the man in dark glasses in the mining student photograph as Riew Kongsangchai, who graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in December 1965. Jean became friends with the Thai mining students through the International Club in 1963 and remembers them as ‘the best cooks among the Asian students’; they shared a flat in Clyde Street.

New blood in the 1980s

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1980s, 1990s, computer science, dentistry, gender studies, Maori, medicine, psychology, women's studies

In the late 1980s, the powers that be decided it was time to inject a little new blood into the university – some new young scholars working in emerging fields. The general stability of the existing academic staff meant there were few opportunities to appoint new people and the increasing age of staff was a matter of concern. In 1988 the Academic Staffing Committee, which controlled all academic appointments, decided to appoint three “new blood” lecturers, inspired by an Oxbridge model. The posts would be funded from a special Development Fund rather than usual faculty budgets for a three year period. The committee invited the various faculties to propose areas of scholarship for the new blood posts. Priority was to be given to new areas of scholarship or areas seen to be of strategic importance, to the appointment of “women and any other groups under-represented on the academic staff” and to outstanding young scholars for whom there was no current post.

After a few weeks of campaigning and investigation, the three posts were awarded to the fields of artificial intelligence, Maori health and women’s studies. Others which came close to making the cut were bio-organic chemistry and family policy. Intriguingly, all of these fields had a strong interdisciplinary component. That was particularly the case for women’s studies, whose working party attracted support from staff in English, history, classics, Maori studies, German, theology, religious studies, law, education, drama, social and preventive medicine, surgery, psychology, physical education and consumer and applied science. As the proposal pointed out, Otago would soon be the only New Zealand university without a women’s studies programme, and risked losing students to other institutions, including a new extramural course from Massey.

Anna Smith, Otago’s first lecturer in women’s studies. From the University of Otago Newsletter, August 1989.

The three new lecturers were appointed in 1989. Anna Smith, a doctoral student in English at Canterbury and critical editor of Landfall, became Otago’s first lecturer in women’s studies. She established a Stage 2 paper in feminist theory and coordinated an interdisciplinary Stage 2 programme in women’s studies. The programme slowly built up and in 1994 it became possible to major in women’s studies for a BA. By then Smith had left (she now teaches English at Canterbury). Annabel Cooper, an Otago English PhD graduate who had been tutoring in women’s studies from the beginning, became a lecturer in women’s studies in 1993, together with American scholar Sarah Williams. The Otago programme may have been slow off the starting blocks, but it proved to have more staying power than others and is today the strongest in New Zealand. It gradually evolved from “women’s studies” into “gender studies”. After being part of various administrative structures, including the Department of English, the School of Liberal Arts and the Department of Anthropology, it now forms part of the Department of Sociology, Gender and Social Work.

The other new blood lecturers remain at Otago to this day, and both are now professors. John Broughton, of Ngati Kahungunu and Kai Tahu, became lecturer in Maori health in 1989. He was an Otago dental graduate who had been working in private practice, as well as teaching part time at the dental and medical schools for some years. He was also a well-known playwright and chair of Dunedin’s Te Araiteuru Marae. Thanks to funding from the National Heart Foundation, Otago was also able to appoint Paparangi Reid as a half-time lecturer in Maori Health at the Wellington School of Medicine in the same year (she now teaches at Auckland). Not all 1990s medical students shared the University of Otago’s growing concern for Maori health issues, especially when a dentist rather than a doctor was doing the teaching, but Broughton became a respected educator in the field. In dentistry, he developed an innovative and popular programme of clinics run by students for Maori communities, both in the Dunedin school and far afield. This proved significant in developing the university’s links with various iwi, several of which now have formal memoranda of understanding with Otago; it was also a highly signficant experience for the students. Thanks to his links with mana whenua, Broughton has been frequently called on to consult and advise on things Maori for the university, particularly before the Office of Maori Development was established in 2007. He has been a professor since 2012 and his inaugural professorial lecture, “A Bro-fessor in the Whare,” can be viewed on iTunesU.

John Broughton (right) with Greg Seymour, Dean of Dentistry (left) and John Ward, University of Otago Chancellor, at Waitangi after signing a Memorandum of Agreement with Ngati Hine Health in 2011. Photograph courtesy of John Broughton.

The new blood post in artificial intelligence went to Anthony Robins, a Canterbury psychology graduate who had recently completed a doctorate in cognitive science at the University of Sussex, where he studied computational models of categorical structure. His appointment meant Otago could expand into the rapidly emerging field of cognitive science, offering this as a MSc programme from 1990. Robins’ appointment was a joint one between the Departments of Computer Science and Psychology for his first three years; after that he was based in computer science. This was a real interdisciplinary project and the cognitive science course also had papers from philosophy, anatomy, anthropology and information science. It was New Zealand’s first foray into this field. Robins, who was promoted to professor in 2013, continues to teach and research in the field of cognitive science, where his particular interest is in neural networks as a tool for modeling aspects of memory and forgetting. But he also teaches introductory computer programming and has developed a special interest in researching computer science education. He has been involved in the wonderful Robocup and other robotics programmes which introduce school pupils to the exciting world of robots, helping recruit the next generation of programmers. His inaugural professorial lecture – “Teaching, Learning and the Music of Memory” – is available on iTunesU.

Anthony Robins teaching in the robotics lab in 2012 with Otago student Louis Lepper (left) and Philip Anderson of Kings’ High School (right). They are training for the Robocup soccer event. Photograph courtesy of Anthony Robins.

The three new lectureships were clearly very successful in bringing “new blood” to Otago and their impact has been long-lasting. They allowed Otago to catch up in the emerging fields of Maori health and women’s studies, and to become the New Zealand pioneer of cognitive science. Not least, they brought some fine young scholars to the university, with two of them remaining for many years to become leading researchers and teachers who are also notable for their community engagement. All credit to the Academic Staffing Committee of 1988!

Naming flats

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1930s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, flatting, music, orientation

The Mouse House, photographed in 1991. Image courtesy of Sarah Gallagher.

From the “Bach” of the 1930s to “Gran’s Place” of the 2010s, Otago students have developed quite a tradition of naming their flats. For the past ten years or so, Sarah Gallagher has been recording and researching this phenomenon, and has a book about it planned. Sarah, who is a librarian at the Health Sciences Library in her other life, runs a blog, a facebook page and a twitter account about the Dunedin Flat Names Project, and you can read much more about it there.

Sarah says that the naming of flats, though not peculiar to Dunedin, doesn’t occur on such a large scale anywhere else in New Zealand. Perhaps it is a self-perpetuating phenomenon! Some names have persisted for decades, while others come and go and their origins have been lost.

The Bach, at 208 Leith Street, was established by a group of bachelor divinity students in the 1930s. Flatting was rare in that period, and students from out of town who couldn’t afford to live in a residential college generally lived in some sort of boarding situation, often a cheap room provided by a local landlady. The Bach provided a home to some university students alongside men studying at the Presbyterian Theological Hall, Knox College. It was a well organised community, but it was pretty crowded, with a dozen or so people squashed in three to a bedroom. It had a name plate, and also a crest and Greek motto, which translates to “because of poverty”.

As flatting became more common in the 1950s and 1960s, new flat names appeared on the scene. As remains the case today, some of these reflected the standard of the accommodation or the lifestyle of the residents. The Shambles was a well-known 1950s and 1960s party flat on the corner of St David and Great King Streets, where Scribes Bookshop is today. Among the many named flats of the 1970s were the Hobbit’s Hovel, the Slagg Heep (158 Dundas Street) and the Spanish Slum (16-18 London Street). In the 1990s Sarah herself lived in the Mouse House (888 Cumberland Street), a rundown flat so named because of all its vermin. The Shit House Chateau (47 London Street) was voted the worst flat in Dunedin in the students’ association’s 2012 awards. In an innovative project, the Chateau (as the Otago Daily Times politely names it), was rented by a group of students belonging to environmental group Generation Zero in 2013. Their goal was to tidy up the house and turn it into a healthy home as an inspiration to both landlords and students.

The DSIR in 2000. Image courtesy of Sarah Gallagher.

The Pink Flat, after its door was repainted in 2004. Image courtesy of Sarah Gallagher.

Of course, not all Dunedin student flats are rundown dives and there are many modern or renovated places on the rental market. But it is the older “character” buildings that tend to attract names. Many include subtle, or not so subtle, sexual references, such as the Cock and Swallow, while some refer to drinking exploits, such as the DSIR (Department of Student Inebriation Research). Others are more cultural or esoteric in origin. Pink Flat The Door at 3 Clyde Street, named in 1988 by a group of students including broadcaster Wallace Chapman, was a “freedom flat” inspired by Skinner’s philosophy of a free society. The door design refers to Pink Floyd’s classic album The Wall. Some names reflect the history of the building. From the late 1990s comes Bruce’s Beenjamin’ Butchery, located at 15 Ethel Benjamin Place and clearly visible from State Highway 1. The house used to be a butcher’s shop, and Bruce was the landlord. Others reflect the identity of the flatmates. The house at 40 Dundas Street, once upon a time known as the Greasy Beaver Lodge, has recently become the Embassy, complete with Samoan flag.

The Greasy Beaver Lodge in 2000. Image courtesy of Sarah Gallagher.

Ironically, one of today’s most famous Otago flats has no name. In 2006 a group of friends from Unicol moved into a flat at 660 Castle Street and became known as “the boys from 660”. When the band they formed made its first recording and needed a name, they selected Six60. The band has since gone on to great success, and recently returned to Otago to perform at 2014 orientation, attracting what is claimed as the biggest crowd in O-week history.

Sarah’s project is clearly shedding new light on the fascinating cultural history of Otago student life. Have you got any stories of named flats to share, either with her or here?

Otago beyond Otago

Tags

1920s, 1930s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, Auckland, Christchurch, clinical education, executive programme, Invercargill, medicine, public health, radiation therapy, teacher education, university extension, Wellington

In the late twentieth century changing government education policies allowed universities to become very entrepreneurial and expand into the territories of other institutions. Massey University opened a new campus in Albany, not far from the University of Auckland, in 1993 and merged with Wellington Polytechnic, not far from Victoria University of Wellington, in 1999. Otago’s first expansion into other territories came decades earlier, when New Zealand’s universities were under much stricter central control and direct competition was discouraged. The expansion resulted from a desire to provide improved clinical education for senior medical students, at a time when Otago had New Zealand’s only medical school.

In 1923 the undergraduate medical degree was expanded from five years to six, with the last year to concentrate entirely on clinical work. Finding sufficient clinical experience in Dunedin for the lengthened course proved difficult. Dunedin was New Zealand’s largest urban centre when the medical school began teaching in 1875, but by the 1920s Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch were all home to larger populations. The medical school began sending some of its sixth-year students to hospitals in the other main centres and in 1938 these were formally established as the Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch Branch Faculties of the Otago Faculty of Medicine. The Auckland Branch closed in 1972, as the first students of the new University of Auckland Medical School reached senior level (the Auckland course began in 1968).

An aerial view of Wellington Hospital in 1971, soon before its Branch Faculty of the Otago School of Medicine became a full Clinical School. Image courtesy of the Alexander Turnbull Library, negatives of the Evening Post newspaper, reference EP/1971/0946-F.

Meanwhile, big changes were afoot in Wellington and Christchurch. A major 1968 review of the Otago Medical School, undertaken by Professor Ronald Christie (Medical Dean at McGill University, Montreal), recommended big changes to the Otago programme. Noting the inadequate experience then available in Dunedin, Christie advised that, unless the medical school was to be downsized, it needed to expand its Christchurch or Wellington facilities into full clinical schools. After considerable political negotiation (with considerable resistance from advocates for the alternative of the University of Canterbury or Victoria University of Wellington opening their own medical schools) both Christchurch and Wellington became full clinical schools of the University of Otago, in 1971 and 1973 respectively. After the first three years of education, medical classes were divided into three groups, destined to spend the final three years of their education in either Dunedin, Christchurch or Wellington.

Since the 1970s the Christchurch and Wellington campuses, originally known as the Christchurch/Wellington Clinical Schools, have had name changes which reflect their expansion beyond the teaching of undergraduate medical students into other courses, and their significant roles in research and postgraduate education. In 1984 they were renamed the Christchurch/Wellington Schools of Medicine and in 2007 the University of Otago, Christchurch/Wellington. The Wellington campus now has nine academic departments, including radiation therapy, for which it is the sole national provider of undergraduate and postgraduate education. Its Department of Public Health also provides an undergraduate Certificate in Health Promotion by distance education. Wellington researchers, especially public health professors Philippa Howden-Chapman and Michael Baker, frequently appear in the national news. The Christchurch campus today has eleven academic departments, together with a Centre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies and Maori Indigenous Health Unit. Its postgraduate students have outnumbered its undergraduate medical students since the late 1980s.

The University of Otago’s activities beyond Dunedin have not been confined to the health sciences. In the late 1990s it moved into the competitive Auckland education market, offering an executive MBA and opening its Auckland Centre. That centre evolved into an information and liaison facility for Otago in the north, but still offers some Summer School papers and postgraduate distance courses. Closer to home, the university has run numerous courses around Otago and Southland over the years as part of the former Department of University Extension. Its adult education programme was very active in Invercargill and the Faculty of Commerce, among others, also offered various distance papers there for its degrees. The university opened an administrative centre in Invercargill in the 1970s, located in the Southland Polytechnic grounds – a sign of the cooperation between the two institutions in that period. The merger with the Dunedin College of Education in 2007 brought a new relationship between the University of Otago and Invercargill, because the college also had a Southland campus. The university now offers various teacher education programmes in Invercargill, including a degree specialising in primary bilingual education.

When people think of the University of Otago they often think of its iconic Dunedin campus, but it is clearly much more than that! Do you have any stories to share of the northern, and southern, campuses?