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Wilson Hall, The University of Melbourne
28 August 2004
Graduation Address to Arts and Music graduates
By Professor Malcolm Gillies
Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), The
Australian National University
Deputy Chancellor, Colleagues, Friends, Graduates!
It is an honour to address you, both as one of today’s graduating
students and as a former member of staff of this University. I know
The University of Melbourne to be a great university. Its educational
standards are exacting; its degrees are much sought after.
I am grateful for my time here at The University of Melbourne and its
affiliate, the Victorian College of the Arts. Here I started my teaching
career in music and musicology, and here I conceived the two projects,
on Béla Bartók and Percy Grainger, that have resulted
in the research for which this Doctor of Music degree has been awarded.
One particular source of inspiration for me, now for over twenty years,
has been the collections of the Grainger Museum on Royal Parade. This
is an unrivalled collection of material, both professional and personal,
of one of the twentieth century’s most colorful figures. It is
a treasure trove of the weird and wonderful, of things both brilliant
and eccentric, of this marvellous musician and of his generation. I
hope that Grainger scholars of coming decades can experience that same
generosity of access afforded to me, in whatever new format the University
may decide for Grainger’s extraordinary legacy.
Graduation speeches once were given by some grey-haired individual,
who offered advice to youngsters going out into work and life. But I
noticed–as you came across the stage–that many of you already
have grey hair. And I know from student surveys that nearly all of you
have had jobs for years. One of our recent ANU surveys showed that five
per cent of full-time students were also in full-time work. Now, students
work and workers study. Indeed, some come to study after retirement
from "work", to pursue passions and enthusiasms harboured
over a lifetime.
For the majority of you who are taking out a first degree this graduation
will not be the end of study. You may join the two hundred thousand
Australians currently studying for graduate coursework qualifications,
or the forty thousands studying towards a research higher degree. Even
those of you taking out your PhD may go on, like me, to a further doctorate,
or to attain other supplementary qualifications.
We are all part of life-long learning, whether formally or informally
undertaken. Personal careers now tend to embrace many jobs, periodically
needing new skills and new knowledge. These jobs may be scattered across
different countries; increasingly frequently you will hold down multiple
jobs at the one time.
What I hope you will not forget in the coming years are the skills,
methods and knowledge that you have gained through studying humanities,
social-social and creative-arts subjects, for these subjects are the
bulwark of a civil society, of a diverse, tolerant and entertaining
nation, and of that personal richness of experience which furthers your
understanding of your place in the world.
Of course, Arts study does not guarantee your love of humanity–Hitler
studied the visual arts, and Stalin theology–but liberal study
should lead, at least, to a heightened awareness of moral choices, and
of good and less good ways of doing things. I would hope that an Arts
degree is of help in working out your response to such difficult issues
as:
- the ethics of the recent intervention in Iraq, which is splitting
countries from Australia to Spain, not to mention Iraq itself;
- the moralities of same-sex marriage, which is not splitting the
two main Australian political parties, but creates tensions between
the US President and Vice-President;
- or, the Kyoto accord on what we might call "the rights of the
environment", where Australia holds out against the international
majority over greenhouse gas emission targets.
A training in humanities, arts and social sciences is needed as never
before. We are increasingly a knowledge-based society, with a wealth
more broadly based than of old, when Australia rode on the back of its
sheep. Now, Australia equally needs:
- skills that produce new products, new inventions, new strains of
crops; these skills generate new wealth;
- skills that lead to better ways of targetting services, in health,
in education, in social security; these skills often help us to save
or to spread services more equitably;
- skills that nurture a diverse and tolerant society through, for
instance, public broadcasting or cultural institutions; these skills
encourage an innovative society, as soil nurtures a growing plant.
Without that soil, the plant eventually withers and dies.
Here is a current example of where we need all our talents to work
together. When, in 2002, the Australian Government adopted four national
research priorities, one of them was called "Safeguarding Australia".
This was initially focussed upon better defence equipment, better eavesdropping
and better border and disease protection. But, after Bali and Iraq,
such a technologically oriented approach had to be seen as inadequate,
and a more social and humanistic approach to "Safeguarding Australia"
has been admitted. Your Dean of Arts, Stuart Macintyre, last year eloquently
expressed the need for this broadening of approach:
The humanities and social sciences provide us with the means of
understanding the regional and global strategic environment. To
understand developments in the Asia-Pacific region we need a depth
of expertise in languages and cultures. It is not enough to possess
translation skills in the languages of the region; we need an understanding
of the histories, the religious and cultural traditions, the institutions
and social practices . . . Safeguarding Australia relies heavily
on the capacity of Australians to affirm and maintain their sense
of themselves, and to negotiate the issues that arise out of our
status as a democratic, open, liberal, pluralist nation-state. [The
Humanities and Australia’s National Research Priorities
(Canberra: Australian Academy of the Humanities, 2003), pp. 31,
32]
I think there are good signs that we are moving towards a more
comprehensive approach to knowledge, to education and research, and
to building a prosperous and innovative Australia–towards a diverse
and creative nation in which the skills reflected in your Arts and Music
degrees will be as useful as any, and be seen to be as useful as any.
The former Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, led the way
in 2002, in recognizing that it was not science and technology as much
as "human talent, ingenuity and creativity" that are "the
cornerstone of innovation". That Canadian report on innovation
placed particular emphasis on skills acquired through studies of the
arts and sciences, such as communication and problem-solving skills,
but also on "international knowledge" and "cross-cultural
awareness and adaptability".
Our Federal Minister of Education, Brendan Nelson, made a similar point
in 2002 in acknowledging that many important issues confront science
and technology, but the really big issues confronting humanity
had to look to the humanities and social sciences for enduring solutions.
It seems to me that the benefits of study of the humanities, arts and
social sciences can be great, provided you look to the future, not as
a "wage slave" (as Percy Grainger would have said), but as
the entrepreneur of your own life–as a self-made, all-rounded person,
well adapted to meet the challenges that the coming decades will throw
up for the world, our society, your loved ones and for you, yourself.
Arts and Music graduates of 2004: I hope you feel as proud as I do
today to be a new graduate of The University of Melbourne. May the benefits
of our study here only accrue in the years to come.
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