WERB news 4 Nov - Publications Unit - The University of Western ...

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10 UWAnewsFood, flowers,Finland &Francis FordCoppolaAcomedy to open the season, a sumptuousfood film for Christmas week, and a movie setin the freezing Arctic wilderness for the firstblistering week of February – the Somerville filmseason is perfectly planned.The Lotteries Film Season is always the first part of thePerth International Arts Festival to get up and running – andthe last to finish, with the final film screening at the SomervilleAuditorium from March 31 to April 6.The final offering is a documentary featuring 11 of theworld’s leading filmmakers and their 11-minute viewpoints ofSeptember 11.The first film, Greenfingers (December 2 to 8) gives newmeaning to ‘flower power’ as the Hampton Court PalaceFlower Show is hotly contested. Helen Mirren is an eccentricand flamboyant gardening guru in the mould of Joyce Grenfell.For completely different female characters, wait for thesecond film, The Business of Strangers (December 9 to 15),which has been described as maliciously funny and with morebite and wit than the mainstream can provide. Twobusinesswomen are stranded in an airport and theirrelationship becomes a psychological thriller.Dinner Rush (December 23 to 29) is set in a trendyManhattan eatery with the themes of food, fun and family.This year’s Cannes Film Festival winner of the Grand Prixand best actor awards went to a Finnish film, The Man Without APast (January 6 to 12). It’s the quirky and uplifting tale of a manwhose life and memory are taken away from him, a story aboutpeople living it tough on the fringes of society who still knowhow to be gentle.The first feature film made in the Inuktitut language,Atanarjuat — the Fast Runner (January 27 to February 2), is set inthe eastern Arctic wilderness, sure to cool you down on a hotsummer night.A new view of piano teachers, a new life for a Tunisianwidow and a new print of Francis Ford Coppola’s Palme d’Orwinning film of 1974, The Conversation (March 5 to 8) are allincluded in the season. An Italian political satire, an Iranian‘work of art from a visual poet’ and the touching story of twoelderly French sisters, one with an intellectual disability, provideplenty of variety.Tickets for the Somerville season are available from BOCSor at the door. Standard tickets are $13, Friends of the Festival$11, pensioners, students, seniors, backpackers andunemployed, $8. Gates open for picnickers from 6pm and thefilms begin at 8pm.ExtendingservicestoMotorolaBy the time you read this, those staff and students who walk past thegeography, geology and physics buildings each day, will probably be ableto do so as easily as they used to.For several weeks, the path outside those buildings has been dug up as contractorsand some staff from the Office of Facilities Management have upgraded undergroundservices.Project officer Bob Davies explained that the main purpose of the work was toextend the chilled water services to the new Motorola building on Fairway.“While we were at it, we decided to update the irrigation mains. The old irrigationmains now carry optical fibres to the Motorola building,” he said.The work has extended to the back of this precinct, alongside the computer sciencebuilding and to the south of the art gallery.Gas mains have also been extended. Mr Davies explained that after the old stormwater system was replaced in front of geography/geology, the drains needed to be backfilledand the soil around and above them compacted before the gas mains could be laid.“It might have looked to the uninitiated as though we had filled in everything, thensuddenly remembered the gas mains and dug it all up again, but this is how it had to bedone,” he said.There are seven sites on campus where services are being progressively upgraded.THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 4 NOVEMBER 2002
UWAnews 11A tribute tothe first DVCThe man who created theposition of Deputy Vice-Chancellor at UWA died in theUK last month.Current Deputy Vice-Chancellor,Professor Alan Robson, paid tribute toProfessor Charles John Birkett Clews,who became the first DV-C in 1962.Professor Robson said that prior to1962, the University’s executivestructure had not included the positionof Deputy Vice-Chancellor.“From 1962 until late 1972,Professor Clews helped steer UWAthrough a vital decade of development,as deputy to Sir Stanley Prescott, andlater, Professor Robert Wheelan.”Born in London in 1912, ProfessorClews studied physics extensively inboth the UK and Europe, and from1940 supported the British war effort asa scientific adviser with direct links tothe War Cabinet Office.In 1952, he accepted the position ofProfessor of Physics and Head of theDepartment of Physics at UWA. Twoyears later he was appointed Dean ofthe Faculty of Science, and was also amember of the University governingbody, the Senate, and Chair of UWA’sProfessorial Board from 1956-57.In the early 1960s he was aconsultant to the Australian Institute ofNuclear Science and Engineering, andfor many years a member of the Statecommittee of the CSIRO.What adifferencea daymakesAboriginal school children inthe Albany area have startedthinking about aiming for auniversity education.Two groups of Noongar children, adozen from local primary schools andanother similar group from regional highschools, each spent a day at UWA’sAlbany Centre recently, under theVocational and Educational Guidance forAboriginals Scheme (VEGAS).UWA Albany’s development officer,Randall Jasper, talked to the childrenabout UWA, the Albany connection andtertiary study in general.The students then spent time withone of the Albany tutors, GrahamMcKeich, who teaches geography. Heand Mr Jasper co-ordinated hands-onactivities, mapping and usingstereoscopes.“They loved finding Noongar placenames on maps,” Mr Jasper said.With the help of Marilyn Strotherfrom the School of Indigenous Studies,the students then did some field workwith biologist Kirsty Alexander from theCLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Kirsty Alexanderexplains about the marine life found in theriver; using stereoscopes for mapping;concentrating …Waters and Rivers Commission. Theytook mud samples from Oyster Harbourand analysed them. The children wereamazed at the different marine animalsthey found living in the mud.They also inspected fish traps andtalked with Sam Williams, a localNoongar elder, and his daughter SamMerritt about them.The older children did some work inthe areas of archaeology and philosophy.“But it was more of an educationalday than work experience. We wantedthe students to have fun learningsomething new and to understand thatthis is what university can be like,” MrJasper said.“At the end of the day, we gave themall lollies but, before they could havethem, they had to promise that they’dcome back here and enrol at Universitywhen they left school!” he said.C A M P U SsecretsThis enticing little path disappearsinto the shrubbery on the south sideof the administration building.Follow it and it takes you down tosome equally enticing looking stone stepsto a basement door. It actually leads to atea room and the staff from nearbyFinancial Services call it the dungeon.It’s been there for as long as anybodycan remember but only recently some ofthe bushes around it were cleared awayand the secret path was revealed to others.If you have a secret spot on campus,a favourite feature or a little-knownfact to share, please send it to us:lindy.brophy@uwa.edu.auor phone extension 2436, fax 1192.THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • 4 NOVEMBERS 2002
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