Great Scot - The Scotch Family Magazine - Issue 151 September 2017 GreatScot_Internal_Sept_2017_FA | Page 28

Features
A ‘true giant of Scotch
College’ retires
MICHAEL ROBINSON WITH ARTIST RAELENE SHARP AND JUDITH ROBINSON (RIGHT) AT THE UNVEILING OF THE MICHAEL ROBINSON PORTRAIT IN 2007.
Former Scotch Principal, Dr Gordon
Donaldson AM, pronounced Michael Robinson
AO (’55) a ‘true giant of Scotch College’.
Thirty-six years of truly exceptional service
to Scotch will formally end in November, when
Michael Robinson retires as President of the
Scotch College Foundation.
Michael holds the unique distinction not
only of having served twice as President of the
Foundation – 1993-96 and 2008-17 – but also of
having fulfilled roles as President of OSCA (1989),
Chairman of the School Council (1996-2006),
and mostly recently overseeing, as Chairman of
the Capital Campaign for the Sir Zelman Cowen
Centre for Science, the most successful capital
campaign of its type and scale ever seen in
Australia. He is perhaps Scotch’s own ‘man for
all seasons’, accepting without flinching all the
challenges that these roles have demanded of
him.
Michael’s connections with Scotch date back
to 1879: in his family, ‘Scotch has always been a
passion.’ He come to Scotch in 1945 initially as
a day boy, but from the age of seven, after his
parents bought a property at Kyneton, McMeckan
House became his first Scotch ‘home’ until Year
10. Thereafter he resided in [Sir] Arthur Robinson
House . This boarding house was named for
Michael’s grandfather, who also served with
distinction as Chairman of Council for 11 years
and was instrumental in the decision-making that
resulted in the school securing the magnificent
Hawthorn site it now occupies.
By any measure, Michael’s capacity to carve
out a stellar legal and corporate career, and juggle
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this with his extraordinary commitment to Scotch,
is astonishing.
His curriculum vitae is, of itself, exceptional,
and variously includes being Managing Partner,
and later Chairman, of Allens Arthur Robinson,
Chair of the Melbourne University Law School
Foundation, and of Tabcorp; Director of the
Seven Network and the Bank of Singapore; and
President of the Law Institute of Victoria, the
Bionic Ear Institute, and the Institute of Public
Affairs. Michael’s contribution to all these facets of
public and professional life were recognised when
he became an Officer of the Order of Australia
(AO) in 2002.
It is hard to imagine a key decision taken
by the school in the last four decades in which
Michael has not proved to be a trusted and wise
counsel, all with a view to ensuring Scotch retains
its pre-eminence ‘for the next 500 years’.
On his watch, all the following came into being:
• Junior School extension (1990)
• Lithgow Staff Centre (1993, 1997)
• Cardinal Pavilion (1994)
• Language and Cultural Centre (1995)
• Boarding House link (1999)
• Randall Building (2000)
• James Forbes Academy (2003, 2005)
• Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Science (2016)
• Centre for Design and Technology (2017)
Always interested in ‘institutions of
continuity’ and possessing a ‘restless desire for
improvement’, Michael’s focus has always been
on achieving the very best outcome for Scotch
and its boys.
This is the hallmark also of Michael’s special
brand of leadership: his determination that there
must be ‘continual refreshment’. As he said while
speaking at the Junior School Speech Night in
2002, although successive generations have
left us a ‘magnificent heritage’, the focus must
be on the future, and ‘the past should be our
inspiration to enable Scotch to grow from strength
to strength’.
In particular, he cites the role played by our
forebears in providing all the funds for building
Memorial Hall and the Quadrangle as a token of
respect. In his view, ‘this set the scene for all of
the future development at Scotch College.’ (Great
Scot, James Forbes Academy opening, 2005).
It is a recurring theme in the many speeches
he has been called on to deliver:
‘Each generation has played its part in
providing us with what we have today. They have
defined Scotch. They have also left us debt free.’
(Junior School Speech Night, 2005)
‘Maintain the momentum – that is the only way
we can show properly our gratitude to those who
have preceded us, and who have provided for us
the facilities which we enjoy today. It is the only
way we can honour our responsibility to the boys
of today and to the families and boys of those
who come after us.’ (Junior School Speech Night,
2002)
‘Don’t be afraid of failure. It is simply a
temporary setback on the way to achieving your
goals.’ (Senior School Speech Night, 2006)
‘If boys from Scotch don’t set the example or
don’t display proper leadership in Australia, how
can we expect others to do so?’ (Junior School
Speech Night, 1997)
Michael’s mark as President of the Foundation
reached its pinnacle recently with the highly
successful Capital Campaign for the Sir Zelman
Cowen Centre for Science. With Michael at the
Great Scot Number 151 – September 2017