Download PDF - The University of Sydney
Download PDF - The University of Sydney
Download PDF - The University of Sydney
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
feature<br />
Most <strong>of</strong> my old mates from<br />
university want to put me<br />
in a headlock on a lot <strong>of</strong> my<br />
policy or political positions.<br />
If you knew them, you<br />
would understand why –<br />
Rob Oakeshott<br />
I found both the Left and the<br />
extreme right at <strong>University</strong><br />
pretty <strong>of</strong>f putting. My natural<br />
home was in the sensible, liberal<br />
centre – Malcolm Turnbull<br />
combet See previous.<br />
leigh <strong>Sydney</strong> <strong>University</strong> was a great<br />
chance to learn to speak and write.<br />
Looking back, I feel fortunate to have<br />
been an undergraduate in the political<br />
atmosphere <strong>of</strong> the Keating Government<br />
(I was at <strong>Sydney</strong> Uni from 1991 to 1996),<br />
when topics <strong>of</strong> reconciliation, economic<br />
reform and engagement with Asia were<br />
at the fore. It was probably also a strength<br />
that fewer students had full-time paid jobs<br />
then than is now the case.<br />
oakEshoTt This is probably not the<br />
right thing to say, but I found the social<br />
side <strong>of</strong> university life so engaging that<br />
it was this more than anything that kept<br />
me coming back, and therefore it was<br />
this social side that kept me engaged<br />
in learning and completing a degree,<br />
<strong>of</strong>ten despite myself. I had the sort <strong>of</strong><br />
personality that could have seen me drop<br />
out <strong>of</strong> university but the whole fun-park<br />
<strong>of</strong> university life kept me engaged in<br />
learning, and this was then invaluable<br />
knowledge later on when I finally decided<br />
I better get serious about life.<br />
Are you still in touch with the<br />
friends you made at university?<br />
How important have the contacts<br />
you made at university been in<br />
later life?<br />
abbott Yes. Over summer I was on<br />
holidays on the South Coast with friends<br />
from school and university and their<br />
families. <strong>The</strong> people you have shared<br />
formative experiences with tend to be<br />
those with whom you have the closest<br />
bonds. <strong>The</strong>y’re the people you get on with<br />
because <strong>of</strong> the person you are rather than<br />
the job you do.<br />
turnbull Yes, a number <strong>of</strong> my very best<br />
male friends were at university with me.<br />
bishop We recently had our reunion,<br />
which comes every five years, and we<br />
had 60 people turn up. <strong>The</strong>y are still real<br />
friends, I bump into them all over the place<br />
and you immediately pick up as if the<br />
years have not passed by at all.<br />
(Note: I took a straight law degree at<br />
<strong>Sydney</strong> <strong>University</strong> which lasted for five<br />
years. In my fifth year I got engaged to<br />
(and subsequently married) Alan Bishop<br />
and did not finish my degree. I had three<br />
subjects to complete to be admitted so<br />
rather than take the whole year again<br />
I gained my pr<strong>of</strong>essional qualification<br />
through the Solicitors’ Admission Board.)<br />
combet Yes, sometimes, and when<br />
I see anyone from that time it gives me<br />
great pleasure.<br />
leigh I have remained close with some,<br />
and enjoy reminiscing with others when<br />
our paths cross.<br />
OAKESHOTT I do stay in touch with<br />
many people, both personal friends, but<br />
also people I only casually knew at the<br />
time and now live in the same regional<br />
town with them, or work with them in<br />
politics. <strong>The</strong>re is some sort <strong>of</strong> unspoken<br />
bond about it all, which is kind <strong>of</strong> nice.<br />
SAM mar 2013 27