Great Scot - The Scotch Family Magazine - Issue 149 December 2016 Great Scot - The Scotch Family magazine issue 149 | Page 4

Chairman

The Hon Dr David Kemp – School Council Chairman

THE HON DR DAVID KEMP
CHAIRMAN OF THE
SCOTCH COLLEGE COUNCIL

ABOVE: LADY ANNA COWEN, THE HON DR DAVID KEMP, NICHOLAS EVANS, LACHLAN STRATHMORE, MR TOM BATTY

Science is part of our
Scottish heritage
Science is part of everyone’s heritage, isn’t it?
Well, not quite. Even today, Australia as a country
is engaged in conflict with forces that reject
modern science, and see it as incompatible with
their beliefs.
Yet as a country we know that a scientific
understanding of the world is essential to
addressing poverty and prejudice, and creating the
wealth and the opportunities that ensure a decent
life for all.
And we also know that science is not
incompatible with faith. Indeed, although this is not
commonly recognised, perhaps, our commitment
to science ultimately rests on the faith that science,
and the exercise of reason that underpins it, will be
good for humankind. We can certainly and readily
see all the good things science can do, such as
curing disease, enhancing life, and protecting
the natural environment. But we also know that
science has discovered things that can destroy us,
such as nuclear weapons.
An awareness of this tension was very much
in the mind of our school’s founder, the Reverend

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James Forbes, when he wrote in Melbourne in
1842:
‘… any system of instruction which merely
conveys knowledge is grievously defective.
“Knowledge” it has been said, “is power”; but
knowledge without principles only makes man
more powerful for evil … Let it be engraven on the
heart of every parent, of every philanthropist, and
of every statesman, that the education of man’s
moral part is the only education that can make him
useful in his particular situation in life: upright in his
conduct; in short, a good citizen and a good man'.
Forbes’ vision for Scotch was of a school that
would teach knowledge and principle, reason
and ethics, science and faith. Forbes was not
only a foremost defender of religious liberty, but
was also one of the most influential voices of the
Scottish Enlightenment in early Australia, and of
the importance of combining reason and morality,
which his Christian faith brought together. It was
a conclusion reinforced by his education at Kings
College, Aberdeen University – an experience

he would share with two of our early Principals,
Alexander Morrison and William Still Littlejohn.
It is a vision Scotch today still takes very much
to heart. The teaching of science at Scotch, and
now in Australia generally, is embedded in an
ethical culture, of which Scotch teachers have
been foremost advocates and educators. Boys
at Scotch have the opportunity to gain, as Forbes
wished, both knowledge and moral principle.
In 1873 Scotch became the first Australian
school to offer a purpose-built science facility
with laboratories for both physics and chemistry.
When the school moved to its present site just
after World War I, science laboratories and a
lecture theatre were essential parts of its design.
The science building being replaced by the Sir
Zelman Cowen Centre for Science was opened
as the Advanced Science and Mathematics Block
in 1976.
We are immensely proud at Scotch of what I
may call ‘our’ scientists: they include Sir Harold
Dew (1908) who founded neurosurgery at Sydney
University, Sir Neil Fairley (1908) whose pioneering

work in tropical medicine helped turn the tide
in the Pacific War, Dr John Cade (‘28), the
discoverer of lithium as a treatment for manic
psychiatric patients, Sir Benjamin Rank (‘28),
the father of plastic surgery, Prof Hugh Taylor
(‘64) who worked with Fred Hollows and is a
world-renowned ophthalmologist, Prof Colin
Norman (‘65), an astrophysicist who directed the
Hubble Fellow Program overseeing the Hubble
telescope, Prof Andrew Kaye (‘67), a worldrenowned neurosurgeon, and Prof Andrew
Holmes (‘61), a member of our School Council, a
leader of international research into light emitting
polymers, recipient of the Royal Medal, and now
President of the Australian Academy of Science.
Our new Centre for Science contains a unique
OSCA Gallery of Eminent Scientists, where
these and many others are acknowledged, and
which we hope will be an inspiration to the boys
of today and tomorrow. Clad in red Scottish
sandstone, the new building reminds us of our
remarkable heritage. We were honoured by the

Great Scot Number 149 – December 2016

presence at the building’s opening of Australia’s
Chief Scientist, Dr Alan Finkel, and the Minister
for the Environment and Energy, the Hon Josh
Frydenberg.
The fundraising campaign to build the Centre
was led by Chairman of the Council’s Fundraising
Committee, former Council Chairman and
President of the Foundation, Michael Robinson
(‘55), and organised through the Development
Office, led by Tim Shearer (‘85) This building
would not have been possible had it not been
for the donations of over 1000 members of the
Scotch Family and friends. I specifically want to
mention the transformational gifts of Charles (‘56)
and Cornelia Goode, John (‘41) and Wendy Hilton
Wood, and Dr Peter Henderson (‘57).
Special tribute is due to the members of
the Scotch College Council; to our Property
Committee led by Michael Sim (‘78), to our
Finance Committee led by Hamish Tadgell (‘85),
and to the College’s business office and Property

Control Group, led by Bursar Ross Congleton
(‘76).
I congratulate the designers of our Centre
for Science, Cox Architects, led by Alastair
Richardson and supported throughout by Andy
Hayes and their team. And of course, Scotch
considers it has been very fortunate to have
attracted Kane Constructions, led on site by Old
Boy and project manager, Sam Birdseye (‘03).
Kane has done the hard and immensely skilful
work that has provided this exceptional building
for future generations.
I have no doubt that the Sir Zelman Cowen
Centre for Science, under our Principal Tom
Batty’s outstanding leadership, and with a
Science staff led by our new Head of Science, Dr
Marta Cassidy, will further raise the quality of the
teaching and learning of science at Scotch.
ABOVE: MR TOM BATTY AND SCHOOL COUNCIL MEMBERS IN
FRONT OF THE SIR ZELMAN COWEN CENTRE FOR SCIENCE.
FRONT ROW: MR TOM BATTY, MRS FIONA PEARSE, MR MICHAEL
SIM, MRS ALISON LEGGE, THE HON DR DAVID KEMP,
REV DR JOHN WILSON, MR BRIAN BAYSTON OAM.
BACK ROW: ASSOC PROF DOUG LORDING, MR RICHARD
LOVERIDGE, MR DUNCAN MCGREGOR, MR JONATHAN BUCKLEY,
MR ROB PHILLPOT, PROF ANDREW HOLMES AM, MR PETER
FINDLAY, REV IVAN BARKER.

www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot

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