It’s been 50 years since an outpost of the University of NSW in a little town called Wollongong stepped into its own. Photo: UOW.
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Fifty years ago an idea hatched that would turn Wollongong from a hard-bitten industrial town into an internationally recognised centre of innovation.
Initially an outpost of the University of NSW, Wollongong University (as it was known then) was incorporated in 1975.
It consistently outranks the University of Newcastle, despite their similar origin story – so similar in fact that when the then-satellite of UNSW was opened in 1960, the NSW Governor told the crowd “how good it is to be in Newcastle”.
It’s turned out alumni from popularly beloved scientist Dr Karl Kruszelnicki to horse racing and rugby league administrator Peter V’Landys and writer Van Badham.
Dr Karl and Mr V’landys grew up in Wollongong, first-generation Australians who grabbed the opportunities the uni offered with both hands.
Josie Castle is a historian and former senior fellow in the School of History and Politics at the University of Wollongong.
She joined the university shortly before it was incorporated, in 1969, and in 1991 wrote a history of the institution, and remained a member of staff until the 2000s.
Ms Castle credited passionate staff and strong leadership with the initial success of the university.
“There was a very good esprit de corps and staff were very committed to the uni,” she said.
“In 1991 it was a story worth telling, of the most succesful regional university.
“We were lucky in our vice-chancellors. Lindsey (Michael) Birt gave the university credibility as a research scientist of some standing in those first years of independence.
“Then we got the exceptionally talented Ken McKinnon. He was truly brilliant. He didn’t like that we said Wollongong University – he said University of Wollongong sounded more dignified.
“He gave us a bit of a shock; he was exacting, but he did a terrific job and Gerrard Sutton consolidated it.
“All those VCs were totally committed to the university and lifting it out of its provincial roots.”
Ms Castle said she thought there was an extra something special about UOW that allowed big personalities to thrive.
One of Australia’s biggest personalities, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, began studying physics at his local uni when he was 16.
Despite doing poorly in his undergraduate studies, Dr Karl said he got another kind of essential education at UOW.
“UOW was liberating – I had grown up in a boys school and then there were all these creatures I knew I lusted after but didn’t know how to talk to them,” he said.
“I was trying to get some social training so I hung around in coffee lounges having exotic things like coffee from an espresso machine and cheese on toast.
“I was also getting a world view. I protested against nuclear weapons at 16, and protested in favour of Indigenous people being counted in the Census.
“In 1969 or 1970 from the campus I saw the entire face of Mt Keira catch aflame over a 15-minute period. It started at the top of the left and spread to the right, and became all flame and smoke.
“It was astonishing to see.
“I combined all that with doing very badly in my studies.
“I did well in school because the brothers (at the Christian Brothers School) would hit you if you didn’t.
“When I arrived at uni no one was there to push me and my marks plummeted.”
Dr Karl graduated with a degree in physics, and after a stint at the steelworks, and subsequent parallel careers as a taxi driver, T-shirt maker, mechanic and roadie for Slim Dusty, he made his way back to academia.
The uni continued to grow in different directions, too.
A nursing faculty was established, and IT courses were offered.
In the 1980s international students began to provide the uni with a welcome economic boost which helped to fund domestic and international expansion.
World-leading research into superconductivity in the late 90s and early 2000s showed the institution was a force to be reckoned with.
Campuses popped up in Dubai, Malaysia, Hong Kong and even more exotic locations such as Liverpool, the Shoalhaven, Bega, Moss Vale and Batemans Bay, alongside partnerships with the broader community such as the Innovation Caumpus and the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute.
In more recent years the university has made headlines for significant job cuts to staff as global and local economic pressures bite.
Ms Castle said over the past half century the uni brought more than education to Wollongong – it brought employment, culture, and a renewed sense of identity.
Original Article published by Zoe Cartwright on Region Illawarra.
