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Launch of UQ history book: ‘The University of Queensland 1910–1960: An essay towards a history’

Speech delivered by Professor Deborah Terry at the launch of the UQ history book ‘The University of Queensland 1910–1960: An essay towards a history’, The Atrium, UQ Brisbane City

Date: 18 November 2024


Thank you, Mikaeli. 

I, too, acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet and pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.

I would also like to acknowledge Dr Bob Bryan AM and the Bryan family – with a very special welcome to Ms Jenny Lock, daughter of the late Harrison and Florence Bryan, who has travelled from Tasmania for this event – and, of course, other distinguished guests and my UQ colleagues.

Welcome, one and all, to an event that has truly been 64 years in the making. Because today we’re celebrating the belated publication of an important book, a history of The University of Queensland that has a fascinating history of its own.

Written by the late Harrison Bryan AO, this book was originally commissioned to commemorate UQ’s Golden Jubilee, or 50th anniversary, back in 1960.

However, the book was not published at the time, and a copy of the original manuscript was lodged with the UQ Library, where it has been quietly resting for the past six decades.[1]

Thankfully, Harrison’s sister-in-law, Kay Bryan, ‘re-discovered’ the other copy of the manuscript last year.  She then passed it to Bob, who we’ll hear from shortly, and that was the significant moment that led us here to today’s event.

To give you some background on the author, Harrison Bryan was appointed as UQ’s University Librarian in 1950, before going on to become University Librarian at the University of Sydney and Director-General of the National Library in Canberra.

His appointment coincided with the library’s significant move from UQ’s original campus at Garden’s Point to the newly established St Lucia campus.  At that time, the UQ Library had just 10 staff and there were fewer than 100,000 volumes in its collection.

Over the next 13 years, Harrison would go on to triple the size of the collection, improve funding, hire more staff, and revolutionise library services at UQ.  

So, his impact on the UQ Library was transformational – and our staff and students continue to benefit from that today.

In the decades since Harrison produced his account of the University’s early history, there have been several noteworthy UQ history books published.

Most significantly, there was Malcolm Thomis’s book, A Place of Light and Learning, which was published in 1985. This account of UQ’s first 75 years was followed with a number of more focused volumes that were published to help celebrate UQ’s centenary in 2010.

But Harrison’s work adds importantly to these other publications.

By working through the details of how the University was first established and its early years, he helps us to understand not only our past but how we should be positioning ourselves for future success and impact.

Harrison eloquently captures this focus in the sub-title of this book, “An essay towards a history”, and in his engaging overview of the machinations that led up to Queensland being almost the last of the Australian states to establish a university.

He notes that the junior member who had the right of reply to the Governor’s speech that finally introduced the University Bill to Parliament was somewhat wrong-footed by the fact that this historic moment was immediately followed by a parliamentary discussion on the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Bill.

In his reply, the junior member said:

The University they hoped to establish may be only a seed – it may be only a germ – it may not make much difference immediately to Queensland, but it will lay the foundations of one of the greatest assets we can have as a state.

These are, of course, wonderfully prescient words about the fine institution that UQ would become.

However, as Harrison astutely observed, the junior member then felt compelled to conclude his inspirational speech with the rather anti-climactic comment: “I also refer to the Metropolitan Water and Sewerage Bill”!

I guess that says something of the more pressing needs of Queenslanders during that period! But I digress.

As I indicated earlier, I am delighted that, after 64 years as an unpublished manuscript, Harrison Bryan’s account of UQ’s establishment and early years has finally been published.

We don’t know exactly why the book was left unpublished by the University back in the 1960s.

However, some five years later, in 1966, Harrison deposited his manuscript with the UQ Library because in his own words: “after the sweat of writing … it seems foolish to throw away the only record … of the University’s first half-century.”

Harrison’s words in the Preface of his book also convey a sense of deep personal connection to the University. In that Preface, Harrison dedicated the book to the memory of his father, Emeritus Professor Walter Heywood Bryan – or “WH”, as he was known.

WH is a towering figure in the history of our university. He was among the very first intake of 83 students who enrolled at UQ in the university’s foundation year, in 1911.

He went on to be a highly decorated soldier on the battlefields of Gallipoli and the Western Front in the Great War; before returning to his alma mater in 1921 to take up a position as a lecturer in the UQ Geology Department.

Over the next four decades, WH served UQ as a widely admired teacher, researcher, and academic leader of that Department. And he was ultimately appointed an Emeritus Professor of the University, following his retirement in 1959.

But WH’s impact and legacy at UQ does not end there. Because all four of his children studied at our university. And two of them in particular – Harrison and Bob – would go on to deepen the family’s connections to UQ.

I’m delighted to say that Bob has joined us here today to help launch his brother’s book.

I’m sure there’s little need to introduce Bob to this gathering – but, nevertheless, please indulge me for one moment.

Dr Bob Bryan AM is a highly successful geologist, businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Among his many awards, Bob was inducted into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame, as part of the inaugural group of inductees in 2009.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate by UQ in 2010. And he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2013 “for services to the mining industry and philanthropy”.

Always a generous philanthropist, Bob provided the seed funding to establish the WH Bryan Mining Geology Research Centre, at UQ, in 1991. That Centre, of course, is named in honour of his late father.

Bob, it is a great joy to be partnering with you – and the Bryan family – in the long overdue publication of your brother’s book. Thank you for bringing Harrison’s manuscript to our attention.

So, it is with great pleasure that I officially launch: The University of Qld 1910 to 1960: An Essay Towards a History, authored by Harrison Bryan AO.

This book provides a unique window into UQ’s early years – and it really speaks to the founding vision of our university as an institution that exists, fundamentally, to serve the public good.

My sincere hope is that Harrison’s book will inspire future generations to carry forward our legacy of discovery, learning, and community service.

On that note, it’s my great privilege to invite Bob to say a few words on behalf of the Bryan family. Thank you.


[1] Copy of the book’s manuscript held by the Fryer Library at UQ.