Page 6 - Luce 2021

I nterview

Reading Luce over the past few years, and Senior Common Rooms. How do issue in terms of social dynamics.
it has struck me the extent to which we keep everything going? Happily, Finally, the College is beautiful. It’s
JCH has been transformed under your from Janet, Lady Clarke onwards, almost peaceful. Whenever I set foot in the front
watch from the College I attended in the all our major building projects have foyer JCH is a haven, a community, and
mid-1960s when there was very little been funded by benefaction, including for our students a home. It will be all the
interaction between tutors and students. our most recent addition, Margaret more remarkable when people visit in,
Have other colleges moved in the same Henderson House. Over the summer, say, 400 years’ time.
direction or does size play a part? the courtyard garden will be enhanced
with wonderful native plantings and Luce reports annually on the absolutely
Everyone else seems to be getting landscaping, once again made possible outstanding results JCH students obtain
bigger! I’m not sure what the effects are, through the generosity of an alumna with whilst also taking part in a broad range
but for me it is critical to the culture of a love of bushland conservation. And of non-curricular activities. Has the
JCH that we remain, to quote our Chair we’ll also add more solar and batteries. cohort of applicants to the College
of Council, ‘proudly small’. In fact, we changed over the years?
aren’t small at all in historical terms; At JCH the politics of space speak to the
it’s just that everyone else has added politics of identity: it’s not just how many In some ways, yes. But I think the
students and buildings, out of what mix tutors or students there are, but how they ‘small’ thing has always been a factor
of cultural and fiscal urgings I can’t relate physically in the living, shared, in which kind of student looks at
say. I’m positive that smaller is better in and teaching spaces of the College. No JCH as a College of preference. We
terms of knowing about those in your one is going to build a college certainly have a lot more money to give
care. Our tutors aren’t remote figures; in nowadays – although they certainly to students seeking financial support
fact no one is remote, not least because should – which pays proper respect than we did when I arrived, which has
the physical spaces are so cleverly tied to common spaces. A self-contained helped with diversity. And we need to
together, with lines of sight and interplay ‘college’ room with a microwave and stay diverse. I would never want first
of rooms and spaces which bind the a private bathroom may be popular to year in College to be a ‘year thirteen’ of
building and grounds as a whole. I do students and developers who don’t know an elite high school, and we’ve always
know of one student who was quite better, but this kind of design atomises drawn students from an incredible range
shocked, on visiting a larger college the student experience and drains the of schools and backgrounds, but that
for dinner, that no one imagined she communal life of the college, whatever still doesn’t mean we should rest on our
was not resident in that college. In JCH anyone says to the contrary. This student laurels.
the idea that you could sit with people experience has already been atomised
over lunch at JCH and not know their by our addiction to electronic media and Sometimes I think we run the risk of
name, let alone if they were resident, is a social identity constructed, for many becoming a little narrow: College should
anathema. And that’s a very good thing. young folk, by the siren song of online be a place where you meet people
algorithms as much as the old vehicles who take you out of your comfort
You have always been very appreciative of human connection. If you’re going to zone and open you up to new ways of
of the period features of the JCH build community, you need communal thinking. For me, as a Melbourne boy,
building and have fought and have spaces that people actually spend time in. I met my wife Dieni in college and
sought strenuously to maintain its she opened up a whole new world of
fabric. How difficult has it been to At JCH, our building fights against this ‘blocking’ (primary production) and
find the resources to do so whilst also kind of disconnection. There aren’t too life in rural South Australia, but there
modernising where necessary? many places left at the University which were plenty of other friends I met from
are heritage listed and purpose built all over the world. Back then in my
Old, heritage listed buildings have which still retain their original function early twenties, the conversations we
particular issues, and I’ve never spent and form. Our College is remarkable had opened my eyes to the fact that not
as much time thinking about plumbing, in how well it carries the social everyone comes from Melbourne, or
roofing and wiring issues as I have in and intellectual strain of intentional particularly cares about the humanities!
the last two decades. But the flip side is community, including during the longest
that JCH also has incredible ambiance, COVID lockdown in the world. Apart I also think that good grades are
and our beautiful old building – or more from the Eden (Junior) Common Room, important, in that they indicate that folk
correctly the six buildings all built onto the entire building is characterised by are working to reach their academic
each other over the last hundred and rooms with small footprints and huge potential. But they’re not the ‘be all and
twenty odd years – carry the load with volume – giving a sense of space and end all’. For some students, I’m more
incredible architectural resilience and light which is in remarkable contrast concerned that we are a supportive
charm. to our proximity to the CBD and place in which they can grapple with
neighbouring colleges. a whole range of issues they may be
We’ve been lucky to be able to build bringing from home and school life. This
on the work that College architect Barry The fact that staff, students and guests may require a slower or slightly more
O’Connor achieved just as I was arriving can still all gather in a single sitting in wandering path to success. Everything
as Principal, which has brought light the Dining Hall is something that’s no is so hypercompetitive nowadays. More
from outside into the building, so that longer possible in many other colleges, than anything, young people need to
you can see from the front courtyard and certainly in none of the private feel accepted, supported and – dare I say
through to the rear garden to the tennis accommodation providers claiming it – loved. I think we strike the balance
court, with light flowing into the Junior ‘collegiate’ virtues. For me, that’s a big between ‘supportive’ and ‘intellectual’
6 LUCE Number 20 2021