GENERATIONS AT UTAS - Alumni & Friends - University of Tasmania

still volunteering at 100:
Nancy Weaver
Nancy Weaver recently celebrated her
100th birthday at the Red Cross Book
Shop in hobart, where she’d worked as
a volunteer for more than 20 years.
“Nancy walked to the shop on her own
until she was well in to her 90s,” the
newspapers reported. The truth is that
Nancy has completed many astonishing
walks over the years.
Nancy, whose maiden name was Shaw, was
born in February 1910, and gained a BA
from UTAS in 1932 (she also enrolled in a
Bachelor of Commerce between 1943-44).
She remembers the University premises at
the Domain with much affection, calling it
“the lovely old house”.
After graduation, Nancy taught briefly in
schools, but didn’t enjoy it. Instead, she
opted for an office job.
Nancy is a life member of the hobart
Walking Club. She said it is one of the
reasons she has remained very fit.
In the 1940s, Nancy did many adventurous
treks in the Tasmanian wilderness, such as
Federation Peak – which is not the highest
mountain in Tasmania, but is an extremely
difficult climb that, for decades, resisted
every challenger. A climbing party from
the Geelong College exploration Society
finally reached the summit in 1949, but the
party used the ropes and information from
an attempt two years earlier by Nancy,
Leo Luckman (Jessie’s husband) and Bill
Jackson. Bad weather had turned them
back 60 metres from the summit.
Nancy has a daughter and two
granddaughters. As her maiden name hints,
she’s also the second cousin of the famous
playwright, George Bernard Shaw.
Mother nature:
Jessie Luckman
Jessie Luckman was one of Tasmania’s first
‘bushwalking conservationists’, although noone
really used terms like that at the time.
“We were the lucky ones,” she said. “We had
a sense of exploration and we were able to
go places to open them up – although these
days I wonder if we perhaps opened them
up too much.”
Born Jessie Wakefield in 1910, she was
enrolled in the UTAS Faculty of Arts from
1935-39, where she successfully studied 12
music subjects. Jessie went on to become
a noted concert pianist with the Tasmanian
Symphony orchestra – a career that also
rekindled her love for the bush.
“I realised that if I was going to sit at the
piano all day,” she said, “I also needed some
outdoor activity.”
Jessie joined the hobart Walking Club in
1936 and within three years was tackling
harder walks, such as climbing Mt Anne (a
trip led by her husband Leo). one morning,
during that trip, the party awoke to find
Tasmanian tiger paw prints in the mud near
their campsite – two years after the death of
the last known thylacine in the hobart Zoo.
But it was in the field of conservation that
Jessie led the community: in 1946 Jessie
and her friends opposed legislation to
alienate part of Mt Field National Park as
a forest concession area; in the ‘50s Jessie
helped prevent the resumption of sealing
at Macquarie Island; and, in the late ‘60s,
she joined the battle to save Lake Pedder.
The highlight for Jessie was the 1983
protection of the Franklin River in a World
heritage Area.
In 1996, Jessie received an order of
Australia medal.
GeNeRATIoNS
1930s – The Great Depression
Tasmanian population in 1930: 219,983 Prime Minister: Joseph Lyons (1932-39) UTAS students in 1930: 392 (265 males and 127 females)
At UTAS: Professor Morris Miller CBe appointed vice-Chancellor; Togatus replaces Platypus as the student magazine.
Mrs Nancy Weaver: A life of service to the
community.
Mrs Jessie Luckman: One of the first
bushwalking conservationists.
Ms Eve Masterman: Inducted on the
Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women in 2009.
A champion of peace:
eve Masterman
“You can talk to me a little about my life – but
not a lot, because I’m not very interesting,”
teased evelyn (eve) Masterman, 103, who
last year was inducted on the Tasmanian
honour Roll of Women.
eve completed her Bachelor of Arts
at UTAS in 1933 and, after graduating,
taught French and history in england and
Germany. She returned to Tasmania at the
outbreak of WWII.
But it’s in the field of human rights that eve
found her passion. She joined the Women’s
International League for Peace and Freedom
(WILPF) in the 1940s and was the Australian
branch delegate to Geneva for international
conferences in 1968 and 1973.
“The idea of peace has always appealed to
me,” eve said.
“I travelled a lot and I saw the dreadful
effects of war – the devastation for families.”
eve has received a number of awards,
including the Australian Peace Prize in
1986 for her work with WILPF, and a United
Nations Award in 2001 for her lifelong
dedication to the cause.
eve had five siblings, three of whom were
also UTAS graduates: Kay (BA 1917);
osmond (Beng 1927); and Leslie (LLB 1930).
A younger sister, named Nan, was an author
of children’s books and published 14 novels
under the name Nan Chauncy.
“At the time that I attended Uni, it was on
the hill, by the railway station. That little hill
did us all good, I think.
“I hope today’s students are as happy as
I was.”
aLUmni neWs | DECEMBER 2010 • Issue 38 | 5