Page 26 - Luce 2020

Obituaries

Dr Leila Valerie (Val) Asche AM, DStJ (James 1952)
6 February 1927 – 27 August 2019

In March 2019 Her association with the College Chancellor of the Northern Territory
the Principal was continued and deepened during her University (later Charles Darwin
delighted to meet years of married life in Melbourne, University).
with College serving as President of the Janet Clarke
Fellow Dr Val Hall Society and its representative In 1985 Dr Asche was elected a Fellow
Asche AM, DStJ to Council from 1967 to 1986 when of Janet Clarke Hall, the highest honour
(1952 James) her move to the Northern Territory the College can bestow. In 1991 she
together with necessitated her resignation after twenty- was awarded a Distinguished Service
her husband and one years of dedicated service. Award by the Australian Society of
Trinity Fellow Hon. Austin Asche AC, Microbiology. In 1993, she was the
KStJ, QC (TC 1946) and their daughter, From her initial appointment in the first patron to be appointed a Dame of
Queensland University anthropologist NT as a senior research fellow at the the Order of St John of Jerusalem. In
Wendy Asche. At that gathering, Val Menzies School of Health research, Val 2000 she was named the Northern
committed to writing a piece for Luce was a pioneer in research into tropical Territory’s Senior Australian of the Year,
on her memories of her years in Janet health. From the time of her arrival in also receiving a Distinguished Service
Clarke Hall (1952-1958), during which the ‘Top End’ Val threw herself into Award. In 2001 she became a Member
time she completed her BSc and went voluntary service, and her efforts and of the Order of Australia for service to
on to complete a Masters in Science influence are to be found across an science and service to the community
and to commence her doctorate while extraordinary range of organisations. of the Northern Territory. In 2007 she
serving as a resident tutor. Often serving as President or Vice- received an honorary doctorate from
President, these roles ranged from the Charles Darwin University in recognition
Dr Asche had entered Janet Clarke Hall Young Women’s Christian Association to of her research and teaching in the field
after treatment for tuberculosis (TB), at the Australian Federation of University of microbiology.
that time not treatable by antibiotics, Women, and from the Australia-China
which included a significant stay as Friendship Society to the Australian The College joins her family, friends,
a resident patient in the Greenvale Council of Microbiology. During her and the people of the Northern Territory
Sanitorium (movingly recounted in her years in the Territory Val was also tireless in remembering a woman of tireless
memoir Walking My Baby Back Home). in her support for Austin in his role as service and remarkable energy and
Chief Administrator, Chief Justice, and achievement.

Val Asche recalls with the gender proscription); perhaps seated in the JCH pews on the left.
JCH in the 1950s the acceptance was an aftermath of This state of affairs of compulsory Chapel
world wars. In any case, I could now was abolished by the religious Miss
When I applied to manage a household budget and cook Dewey in the late 1950s as she thought
enter JCH, Miss a mean scone! individuals should go to Chapel of their
Joske was in her own volition. Of course, attendance at
final year (1952) In those early 1950s men were allowed Chapel decreased.
as Principal, and into the waiting room inside the front
I had finished door but not further into the College. Miss Bagnall, Principal from 1952-58,
most of a BSc, in One night when on Tutor Duty, I was opened the College to the outside world
and out of a sanatorium. My academic told there was a Trinity man upstairs in two ways – first to guests at High Table
success of first place and 1st class in the passage. I asked him to return and requiring students to talk to them
honours in Microbiology 1 did not downstairs immediately, but he grasped and secondly to have conferences in
impress her – until Dr James, the TB me and kissed me. I fined him £20 vacation, raising much-needed income.
specialist in Ballarat and father of a pounds on the spot for the Chapel. Our rooms were inspected regularly if
daughter in JCH, told her I was perfectly Winston Churchill was his grandfather. not daily and notes on pink slips of paper
well, non- infectious and safe to reside This student did not inform me of this were left in the room with comments
in the College! relationship, but it would not have such as ‘not clean’ and ‘untidy bed’. The
averted the fine; and I hope his manners preparation of our room for a conference
A generous (and much-needed) bequest improved later! guest was considered very important.
from W.T. Manifold in the 1920s
included the condition that before we It was compulsory to attend Chapel In the late 1950s I left JCH as a resident
commenced our JCH residence we three times each week and on Sunday. tutor to be married (to a Trinity man) and
had to obtain a diploma for cookery The JCH freshers had to endure the walk resumed my tutorials as a non-resident.
and domestic economy. It is curious from JCH to the Chapel through Trinity
that, from the 1920s to the 1950s, the territory where the men would tease Former students of JCH are proud that it
domecon was accepted (though students us ‘hostiles’, and then sit opposite us in is now an independent, co-ed College of
in the intervening years were incensed the Trinity pews on the right. We were the University of Melbourne.

26 LUCE Number 18 2019