ÒWhere
did she come from?Ó, I ask a friend. It is 1968 and my 21 year old male gaze is
fixed on this spunky 19 year old girl, just the right shape, tight brown
leather mini-skirt, brown stockings, flowing brown hair, green-brown sparkling
eyes - stepping
across the Monash University Union small caf. It is Sue Rowley
– a second year sociology student, already taking up social activism
around the Walk Against Want for Biafra.
Sue is
invited down to the Pub by a friend. I invite myself down with them –
causing my friend to blink. I get SueÕs
phone number from a former boyfriend of hers. Soon after I return from a trip to
Vietnam I ring her. On 22 February 1969 I take her out to what might barely
pass as a dinner at Mama Mia Piza
in Tooronga. Then off to War and
Peace Part I at the Camberwell Cinema. That night, though we donÕt
know it, the Norns – the three spinners of fate that the ancient Vikings
believe sit at the foot of the tree of life - twist two threads together. Our
47 years as life partners has begun.
From
that day Sue and I grow together. Sue is warm, clever, funny, inciteful and not infrequently uncomfortably honest, and
assertively direct.
She is a
terrible tease. Later she will treble her capacity to
tease me by adding our two teasy children Anna and
Michael who she absolutely adores.
As they will testify, Sue proves to be a wonderful mum – caring,
warm and keen to give advice, which whilst not always wanted, is always very
good.
Sue and
I are too Monash 60s, too cool and too radical to
marry. But over 47 years of committed non-marriage we accumulate a family home,
two cars, two kids, two dogs, one grandchild and till
death do us part!
Of
course, the character of the young Sue had derived in good measure from the
qualities of her loving parents. Despite limited financial resources they had
done everything they could to ensure that she and her sister Lesley had a good
education.
SueÕs
mum was in accounts at Monash and her Dad - Frank -
was a builder with wonderful practical skills, but with a less practical
business mind in a treacherous economy.
Frank helped us rebuild a ruined house we bought at Heathcote.
He was both proud and appalled that it was Sue who sat highest on the roof as
we nailed it down. Sue was so
practical and she just went for it.
As I
soon discovered. Sue had
her own artisanal skills. In particular she was a very skilful and creative dress maker. Most of her clothes, including that cute little leather mini skirt,
had been made by her.
Our
entwined lives developed together. Sue took a job in 1973 as a school teacher, and then Richmond Tech, then Parahan CAE. In
1980, we set of for Wollongong with Anna - our two week old
daughter - where I was to take up a lectureship. Sue managed to wangle tutoring in WomenÕs Studies. How from that little acorn (and her
dress making) an oak tree grew!
We came to Wollongong for 3 years, and
stayed for 20. When we set of on my
first Study Leave. In England Sue decided that I was likely to be moving around
between universities in my career. She reckoned that
artists can move around. So, since she could work cloth
beautifully she thought - maybe she could become a fibre artist.
She
bought a little cloth printing stencil kit, and later a quilting hoop that we
had to carry back on the plane, with rather too many critical comments from me.
Later Frank Rowley would build her first a spinning wheel and then a weaving
loom.
Back in
Wollongong it occurred to Sue that maybe she should learn something about
art. And so she did a Bachelor of
Creative Arts at the University. It
was a new degree based around fusion of the arts, and it suited SueÕs mixture of social theory
and artisanal skill. So she began
to tutor in art history and theory, and later in 1988 with the support of Peter
Shepherd (who will speak later) she got her first lectureship. Prof Barry Conyngham
took over as the new Dean of the Faculty. A notable composer, Barry this week
composed the cello music for Sue, which you have already heard. As Barry Conyngham has written he has Ônot so
jokinglyÕ often referred to Sue as Ômy greatest academic achievementÕ.
Back at
Wollongong Barry proved to be an enormously skilful and supportive leader and
mentor. As he said to Sue ÒDo anything you like
Sue. YouÕre my success story and everything you do brings credit to me.Ó
That,
entwined with SueÕs decisiveness, clarity of strategic thought, and empathy were
to become the foundation of her growing skills as a manager. As Sue told Anna ÔThat was my mantra provided I've encouraged and supported
you and donÕt undermine youÓÕ.
One of
the things about intertwined lives is that you grow together. Sue and I would pass things we wrote to
each other. Usually we would just
edit in track changes. Then as our joke went, we would pass it back where the
recipient would press ÒAccept AllÓ.
As a
practical maker, and increasingly sophisticated art theoretician, Sue was
unhappy with the way Craft was always assigned a very peripheral role in
relation to Art. In 1992 Sue used
the threads of her developing interests to begin an exploration of that habit.
By the time she was through she had elevated the understanding of craft to a
richer and more coherent level.
Sue completed a PhD on 'bush' mythology in the history
of Australian art in 1993. That provided to her the springboard to a quick
promotion to senior lecturer in Creative Arts.
Most people will face a career crisis somewhere along
the line. Barry Conyngham departed to become
Vice-Chancellor of Southern Cross University and Sue found herself confronted with
an unsupportive new Dean and the prospect of ÒgoÓ or be constantly undermined. Determined to jump out, she overshot as she
bounded up the career staircase and headed for the stars!
At UNSW,
the Department of Art History and Theory at the College of Fine Arts was
looking for a Head who would bring a divided department together.
The job
was advertised as a Foundation Professor in Australian Art History. When Sue became the preferred candidate,
some on the committee proved reluctant to appoint someone recently appointed to Senior
Lecturer to such a stella
appointment. The Committee agonised
and eventually let the VC make up his mind. He consulted Barry Conyngham
who advised – she is going to be a Professor soon. If you move now you
get her!
The VC
decided to interview Sue. She did
not tell him she had run into the cat on the way to the interview. He decided to take the plunge. With her mixture of social and
management skills, and sharp intellect, Sue proved to be a great success.
That
more prominent position provided a base for her positioning on the ARC
committees, and a growing national and international profile.
In 2009 I accepted a job as DVC at Victoria
University in Melbourne , and we together on weekends.
A little later Sue accepted a position as Executive Director for the Humanities
and Creative Arts at the Australian Research Council. There Sue found
herself in a most exciting intellectually rigorous leadership team with wide
ranging responsibilities, serious public exposure, and determined, demanding,
brilliant leadership by the ARC CEO – Vicki Sara. And there Sue
grew further and flourished.
ÒEveryone including the most difficult and
grumpyÉ loved and respected Sue and how she, in her special and wonderful way,
would convince all of us that what she wanted was the only way!! Éshe made a very significant contribution to research ..it was Sue who got creative arts recognised as a legitimate
area...Ó
SueÕs
professional career reached its apex in the next five years which
she spent as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at UTS. There all her qualities and experience
– intellect, mother-mentor, research experience, research leadership,
empathy, collaborativeness, fearelessness,
standing and strategic insight, intertwined. Sue proved to be a highly talented
academic leader.
Sue made such a huge impact at UTS. She
is remembered for her clear-sightedness, warmth and humour. She
transformed our research strategy and did an outstanding job at raising the
UniversityÕs profile. She was brilliant at developing and mentoring our
researchers.
When Sue
returned to Melbourne full-time she was hunted by
universities to assist in reviews, research mentoring, and much more.
Sue and
I thought we would be looking forward to perhaps 25 years more of rich and
interesting life together. But 16
months ago, in April 2015, a nagging pain in SueÕs pelvis revealed itself to be
a secondary tumour resulting from a symptomless tumour in her lung.
So began
the final collaboration between us as we sought to wrest as much living as we
could from a dire prognosis that might on average have her dead before the end
of the year.
I do not
need to say much about that time except to say that oddly, despite all the
awful treatments and their debilitating side effects, we had, as Sue put it,
Òoverall a surprisingly happy timeÓ.
Never out of love, we fell more deeply and simply in love all over again
as we struggled to deal with each challenge.
Sue
could no longer do many of the things she felt natural to her, like cooking or
shopping. Yet we planned holidays
and went – most notably on a cruise to Noumea
with our dear friends Peter Shepherd and Lindsay Duncan
But in
the last two months the challenges became greater as the cancer spread through
her body.
Last
Friday I rescued Sue from a two day stint in hospital
and took her home where Anna brought SueÕs granddaughter ÒJessieÓ to play with
her ÒNannyÓ.
Later I
took Sue up to our bush property.
As she pushed her walking frame across the carport she pointed to the
wall of camellia bushes she had planted years ago. They were in full flower along one side.
ÒLookÓ she said. ÒIt is beautiful
isnÕt it darlingÓ, I replied
Later
that night we went to bed as normal, with our usual ÒI love youÓ exchanged and
went to sleep. The decline began
later that night, and at 4.50 am, now in hospital, she died as I held her hand.
Yesterday
son Michael, his partner Tay and I went up to the bush property. The camellias which
the children and their partners placed on the coffin earlier were picked
from those that delighted Sue that night.
There is
not much more to say. SueÕs life and achievements make their own story woven
into what is now a more completed tapestry. But for this wonderful talented
dressmaker, though sadly gone, her story is not complete.
Yes the
loss of Sue leaves an un-fillable void. Like the pattern cut from a dress
makerÕs template, there is an outside to that void – the things that Sue
did that have shaped the growth or changed the lives of so many people for the
better.
She did
it for me. The many emails I have received this week, and the breadth of people
who have come here today – from the ACT and all states of Australia, and
across Victoria – testify that she did it for many others. So the threads that came together
– from her loving parents, and her many experiences, collaborations and
friendships, and her considerable personal strengths – form a picture of
what she achieved. It is a
beautiful one – which in summary is to have led a life
which widely improved the lot of family, friends, colleagues, and many others.
I thank
you all for being here to join me as once more I bid this wonderful partner
whose life I have been privileged to share, a grateful and loving goodbye.
Jim Falk
9 September 2016