8. Opening Speech

Professor Ian Young

Vice-Chancellor, ANU

I have great pleasure in welcoming you to The Australian National University, and to University House. In doing so, I would like to ‘acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet and whose cultures we celebrate, as among the oldest continuing cultures in human history’.

University House is a very special part of the ANU. It was the first building completed and occupied on campus, having been designed as a residence for the research students and professors of the University, much along the lines of an Oxford or Cambridge college. It now has a much broader function, including as a venue where the University celebrates. It has hosted many significant events in the life of the University; Nelson Mandela dined here when he received an honorary degree from the University and Prince Frederick and Princess Mary of Denmark had their first official Australian engagement here in the Hall, where tomorrow night’s gala dinner is to be held.

Even before the House opened in 1954, a wine committee had been formed, and the first Master, Professor Dale Trendall, ran the First University House Wine Symposium in 1956! John Lovering, who is here with us today, was a member of the committee for that important event when he was in the Research School of Earth Sciences. Richard Barwick, who is also here, was on the organising committees for several of our symposia. Importantly, he chose as the logo for the Third Symposium an image of the Greek cup kept in the House; that logo was adopted by the third Master, Professor Ralph Elliott, also with us, as the symbol for, and which is synonymous with, the House. Dr Barwick also designed the logo for this symposium.

Social historian Jill Waterhouse wrote the Jubilee History of University House in 2004, on the occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. In its opening chapters, she paints the interplay of the development of Canberra, the ANU and the House. The House has always been an institution in and of Canberra. It is fitting, therefore, in this year in which we recognise the fortieth anniversary of the plantings of vines that were the vanguard of the reborn wine industry in the Canberra District, that the House has focused this Seventh Wine Symposium on the Canberra and district wineries and wines—now widely recognised and highly regarded nationally.

The organisers have planned an integrated program of lectures, tastings, tours and a gala dinner, to highlight the district’s best. Those who will be speaking to you today are leaders in the fields of viticulture, oenology, climate change and related areas. We are especially pleased to have with us for the whole symposium James Halliday, the foremost wine writer and critic in Australia. Mr Halliday is the guest speaker at dinner tomorrow night.

The ANU prides itself on excellence. Whether it be in philosophy, mathematics, Asian studies, public policy or many other academic endeavours, the University is a national leader and among a handful of leading universities in these fields internationally. Recognising the extraordinary quality of the district’s wines, it pleases me greatly that the ANU can lead the fortieth anniversary celebrations of an industry not well recognised two decades ago but which has now come of age. Its transition to maturity is wonderfully captured in Brian Johnston and Janet Johnson’s book, which is to be launched by the ACT Minister for Tourism in about 45 minutes, and of which you have been given a copy as part of your registration for the symposium.

It is my role formally to open the symposium. I have great delight in doing so and in wishing you well in your deliberations over the next two days. I will join you for dinner tomorrow night and look forward to the opportunity of meeting some of you and, as a recently arrived Canberra resident, discovering some of the best wines that the district has to offer.

Thank you.