Reunion reports - 2008

• 1963 graduates celebrate 45 year reunion, December 2008
• 1998 graduates celebrate 10 year reunion, November 2008
• 1948 graduates celebrate 60 year reunion, November 2008
• 1978 graduates celebrate 30 year reunion, November 2008
• 1960 mini reunion, October 2008
• 1973 graduates celebrate 25 year reunion, September 2008
• 1988 graduates celebrate 20 year reunion, June 2008
• 1946 graduates celebrate 62 year reunion, April 2008
• 1968 graduates celebrate 40 year reunion, March 2008
• 1997 graduates celebrate 10 year reunion, February 2008
• 1978 graduates celebrate 30 year reunion, February 2008
• 1958 graduates celebrate 50 year reunion, February 2008

1963 graduates celebrate 45 year reunion, December 2008

On the evening of Friday 5th December, the graduates of 1963 celebrated 45 years as medicos when 45 doctors and 15 partners attended the Harold Park Harness Paceway. This location could be described as unconventional and for that I have to take the blame. The night started out with a little confusion due to difficulties with parking, which is located in the centre of the trotting track, as well as needing to queue for the meal ticket. Eventually, everyone found a place to be seated and enjoyed the seafood buffet. There was the opportunity to talk to our classmates and recall our past experiences. Unfortunately, many were unable to attend and some are no longer with us. I hope the photographs taken by my daughter Giselle will provide happy memories. I would like to thank Dr Richard and Dr Mikki Jones for helping me organise this reunion. My thanks also to Dr Roger Bartrop for the loan of the 1963 Year Book and Dr Henry Briggs for assisting me in locating some of my classmates. Class of 1963 keep well. I hope we will meet in five years for the big 50 year “get together.” Please keep in touch. My email is .

Harry Haber

1998 graduates celebrate 10 year reunion, November 2008

The 10 year reunion of the class of ‘98 was celebrated with great enthusiasm and a sense of nostalgia in the Great Hall, at the University of Sydney. The highly successful event was attended by 120 alumni and their partners. With cocktails on The Quad kicking off at 7pm, the perfect spring evening was not over till after midnight. Alumni travelled from as far as London and Singapore to make it to the reunion. We would like to thank Professor Bruce Robinson (Dean) for his encouraging speech on expanding our horizons, as well as our sponsor, Mr. Ned Ticic from Pentagon Group. We would also like to thank Lay Kun for the heartfelt eulogy for one of our alumni, Bee Hooi Tan.

A quick trivia quiz reviving memories of the ‘90s kept everyone abuzz and bottles of wine were awarded to the winning table. A show of hands revealed that the class of ‘98 in the majority went on to careers in General Practice or Anaesthesia. In all, the much anticipated reunion exceeded everyone’s expectations and five hours didn’t seem enough time to catch up with old friends. Here’s looking forward to the next reunion in 2018.

Naren Gunja

1948 graduates celebrate 60 year reunion, November 2008

On the 8th of November 2008 at the open day for all graduates of years ending in “8”, we were invited to morning tea in the MacLaurin Hall to meet the Vice-Chancellor Dr Michael Spence. Dr Spence welcomed us back to the University and encouraged us to be ambassadors for the University. He also valued our suggestions and criticism, and promised to reply himself to issues which we thought important.

We then proceeded to the Holme Building where a party of fifty 1948 medical graduates and their guests met for drinks on the verandah, before sitting down to an excellent lunch of roast duck followed by crème brulée with wines.

Peter Harvey reminded us that we had met before in 1978, 1998, 2003, 2005, and 2007. Although our numbers are now smaller, there is a wish to continue.

Our guest was the Dean, Professor Bruce Robinson, who was introduced by Tom Nash. Professor Robinson engaged us all with the development of the curriculum and the opportunities for the wide range of off–campus experiences for undergraduates and the outreach associations that the Faculty has expanded in Asia. He invited us to offer our expertise in the role of mentors to students and teachers. In thanking the Dean, Herc Rose assured Professor Robinson of our interest and support. Names were offered at the end of lunch.

The toast of the year was proposed by John Hickie and G D Tracy (who finished the address cut short by a fire alarm in 2007). Colin McLachlan responded. Themes were the surprise and delight in year 1 at seeing women at lectures (after, for most of us, years in all male schools), our satisfaction in acquiring professional and practical skills as residents, the problems facing us now as doctors and patients, and the challenges of medical life outside larger centres.

At the end of the day, I recalled that an earlier Vice- Chancellor, observing the present Faculty and students, said “We were all young”. In youth there is always time, and the promise of endless possibilities for our energies. At 60 years on, we can look back on careers in teaching, research, practice and community service with some satisfaction.

We were reminded by the Vice-Chancellor of the uniqueness of the University in its foundation and charter as a leading university in the English speaking world, and one of the oldest after Oxford and Cambridge. Returning, we feel a sense of belonging here and in the Faculty. We voted this one of our most successful reunions and hope to meet again soon. Et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

Harding Burns

Click here to view the reunion photos

1978 graduates celebrate 30 year reunion, November 2008

Sydney University’s magnificent Quadrangle filled with camaraderie on the evening of 1 November 2008 as the Class of October 1978 – the slightly accelerated last cohort of the old six year medical course – gathered where they had graduated 30 years earlier. After renewing old friendships and acquaintances over drinks and nibbles outside, we moved into the wonderful Great Hall for a fantastic evening that was all over far too quickly.

Coming from far and wide, all over Australia and some scattered around the world, about half the class was able to join in the fun with many others sending messages as well as their apologies. Although most of our friends were instantly recognisable, name badges were for some reason more often referred to, for reassurance, than at the 10 and 20 year reunions. Then there was the extra challenge of the colleague who came, literally, in a penguin suit!

Some had clearly done their homework, swatting for the event with the old red Year Book, source of so much trivia and dirt, as well as the photos that were being projected throughout the night, bringing to life the Editor’s stated aim “to provide a reference in the future for indulging our nostalgia”.

Led by Lyn March, as the chair of the organising committee, and with Steve Williams as MC, the nostalgia was fuelled as Roger Garsia, David Mawter, Gavan Mackey, Roger Boyd, Allan Passmore and Greg Lewin recalled the personalities, antics and escapades that enhanced our time as undergraduates both on campus and at our clinical schools. Sadly, we remembered our five “absent” friends.

Although there was an excellent band playing during the night, leading to many having a whirl on the dance floor, there was another musical treat as The Papillomatas, relics of a Med Revue a long time ago, reformed for one more brilliant performance!

All this, with an excellent meal and a constant buzz of animated conversation, left no doubt that this was a successful and enjoyable celebration of our time together. There was general agreement that we should do it all again in five years, rather than waiting another decade.

Particular thanks must go to the Medical Alumni Association, who gave much appreciated assistance and made organising this much simpler than our past efforts. Remember to keep them up to date with your contact details so you don’t miss out next time!

Roger Boyd

1960 mini reunion, October 2008

Celebrating a mini reunion at Peppers Hunter in October 2008 were Bob North, Gordon Stokes, Malcolm Tester and Ron Scott who graduated in 1960 before embarking on diverse career paths of surgery, medicine, ophthalmology and general practice. Gordon Stokes alone remained in Sydney while Bob went to Dubbo, Malcolm to Lismore and Ron to Young. The formerly close friends, who rarely get together in recent times, were joined by wives Jane, Toni, Yvonne and Jocelyn to spend three leisurely days visiting vineyards, drinking coffee and enjoying long lunches while reminiscing about their student days at Sydney Hospital in the late fifties and bringing each other up to date with anecdotes about their professional and extracurricular activities since graduating. Inevitably the ladies spent more time recounting Sydney Hospital Younger Set nights, Medical Balls, cocktail parties and the exploits of, now middle aged, children and talented, perfect grandchildren. It was a very enjoyable interlude and the four couples, who have been married for a combined total of 180 years, are planning to make this an annual event while looking forward to the prospect of a 50 year reunion dinner in 2010.

Malcolm Tester

1973 graduates celebrate 25 year reunion, September 2008

Fifty 1973 Graduates (‘72 Finalyear) and 30 partners enjoyed a weekend reunion at Mudgee in September. We managed to infuse an active program amidst lots of reminiscing. Highlights included a bus trip to several vineyards, a spectacular lunch at Rosby Estate and Tai chi each morning. Many felt that it was one of the best reunions yet and all pledged to do their best to be present in the Great Hall in 5 years time.

Carol Timmins (Clifford) and Phil Cocks

1988 graduates celebrate 20 year reunion, April 2008

1988 was a big year. With Bob Hawke in Canberra and Barrie Unsworth in NSW, the Bicentenary, the Olympics, the first episode of Home and Away and the proclamation of acacia pycnantha as Australia’s national floral emblem, many overlooked the arrival of the Class of 1988 on to the theatre of medical practice.

Twenty years later, however, 133 guilty and innocent parties reconvened in the Refectory at Sydney University to rekindle the past, discuss the present, and dream about the future. Larger than life projections of photos from our Yearbook were testimony to the benefits of digital photography, ably assisted by vignettes from a number of colleagues unable to attend.

As the stragglers were escorted from the venue, calls for another evening in five, rather than the usual ten years were heard. With the internet, email, and the truly exceptional assistance from the Medical Alumni Association, this just might happen.

Profits from the evening will be donated to the scholarship fund of the Faculty to assist today’s medical students.

David Barton, Mark Nicholls and Choong Siew Yong

“At 40 (the new 30) a man should know himself like the palm of his hand, know the exact number of his defects and qualities, know how far he can go, foretell his failures - be what he is. And, above all, accept these things.” Albert Camus

1946 graduates celebrate 62 year reunion, April 2008

The day dawned cloudy with showers but this did not dampen the enthusiastic gathering of 31 graduates and 12 partners for our reunion in the Shellcove Room of the Squadron. The room was soon buzzing with talk and laughter as we sipped our pre luncheon drinks. At midday, the Master of Ceremonies, Jack Blackman, introduced Professor Bruce Robinson, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Sydney who outlined the new medical curriculum, improved teaching methods and the many and diverse opportunities now available after graduation. The speech and mention of the return to some of the basic topics that we undertook many years ago was received with enthusiastic acclamation. Bruce was warmly welcomed and spoke with many of us before he left to attend another commitment.

The group photograph was taken after which we leisurely took our places for a delicious lunch accompanied by fine wines. Jack then welcomed all our guests, many from country areas and interstate. He drew attention to the notice boards listing the survivors, our departed friends, and another with apologies and some with interesting anecdotes and letters. 71 members are still alive, 80 are deceased and 2 cannot be traced.

He thanked the Medical Graduates Association for their great help and generosity in the organisation of the reunion, for the University of Sydney tie-pins and fridge magnets given to each of us on arrival and for providing the excellent and very patient photographer, Clive Jeffery. Victor Bear, Roger Davidson and Alan Young were thanked for the many hours spent in preparing for the big day.

It was noted that nine of our classmates had died since the last reunion in 2006. Babette Stephens and Lew Abbott, who had made a great contribution in helping to organise these reunions over many years, were especially mentioned. Alan Young conveyed greetings from Gaston Bauer and read out a letter from his wife, Phyllis. He also showed a newspaper clipping of Gaston recently receiving the title of Emeritus Director of the North Shore Heart Research Foundation – a fundraising body he helped to set up 20 years ago.

Roger Davidson gave us the names of the technical staff at Sydney University whose photo was in our Yearbook and this was greatly appreciated. John Allsop, John Austin, Grosvenor Burfitt-William, Bill Gilmour, Steve Richardson, Peter Rogers and Kevin White contributed anecdotes and information. Steve also conveyed apologies from Neville Newman who had expected to be with us but had to cancel at the last moment. Ewen Sussman reminded us of Cath Hamlin (Nicholson) and her ongoing medical mission in Ethiopia.

After sweets, coffee and chocolates, the gathering came to a happy conclusion. There seemed to be a desire to have further meetings and the committee is considering the possibility of having a yearly, less formal, luncheon in the future and maybe, later on, the 65th.

John Greenwell

1968 graduates celebrate 40 year reunion, March 2008

A group of 5 graduates from the year of 1968 organised our 40th reunion, which took place, despite dire warnings, on the ides of March – 15th 2008. We were helped considerably by the Medical Alumni Association and administrative personnel associated with the committee members, who helped us track down our colleagues and were generous with their time, advice and assistance with mail outs. The main focus was a dinner at MacLaurin Hall, preceded by drinks in the Anderson Stuart Courtyard – a most beautiful location since a major renovation. Professor Marie Bashir, Chancellor of the University and NSW Governor attended the drinks and gave a warm welcoming speech. Some additional events were organised for the Friday before – a golf day and BBQ- a harbour cruise on the Saturday and a lunch for those interested on the Sunday.

We had a series of meetings to organise and discuss aspects of the event. Of those whom we were able to track down -240, 101 accepted , some with partners, which made a total of 175. Collecting email addresses was an important task. On the Saturday night we had some entertainment, consisting of a comedy duo who trawled the year book and composed a musical sketch of the famous and infamous. Professor Andrew Coats, former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and currently Deputy Vice Chancellor (Community) acted as MC and said a few words. Another popular feature was the scanned photos from the year book provided by the Medical Alumni Association, which ran on a screen on a continuous loop for the evening, much to everyone’s fascination. All agreed that it was a most successful evening and that the sense of collegiality and a desire to keep in touch in the future was strong.

Judith Black, Kristin Kerr, Craig Mellis, Iven Young, Tom Wenkart

With grateful thanks to Diana Lovegrove, JoAnne Page, Jocelyn Compacion and Wendy Collins

www.40threunion.net - for photos

1997 graduates celebrate 10 year reunion, February 2008

On February 23rd the 10 year reunion for the graduating year of 1997 was held at The Great Hall – however it was actually 11 years! We were fortunate to have more than 80 members from our year present to celebrate the occasion. Of those absent, many are working overseas in fabulous destinations such as Geneva and Paris, whilst others are passionately involved in Aboriginal medicine throughout Australia. Interestingly we managed to establish that anaesthetics is the career of choice for a large percentage of the year of 1997.

The night was a great success, enjoyed by all present, and the Great Hall was a fantastic venue to catch up with old friends. Many thanks to all those who contributed to ‘1991-96 in review’ – Divya, Angela, Matilda- and to Stephanie Mcinnes for her words of wisdom. Special thanks to the Dean of Medicine Professor Bruce Robinson for attending our reunion.

Finally, the night would never have happened without the organisation and motivation of Diana Lovegrove and Kavita Varshney. Can’t wait to see everyone at the 20 year reunion – hopefully this reunion will be on time!

Danielle Unwin

1978 graduates celebrate 30 year reunion, February 2008

Our 30 year reunion was held on Saturday 23 February 2008 in the MacLaurin Hall, Sydney University. It appears to have been a great success, judging by the many effusive emails I have received since. We had a minimum of formality, with only one speech by Steve Jurd. He kept to time and subject admirably, speaking about our imminent maturity, increasing girth, unwanted hairs, unwanted bald patches, forgetfulness, grandchildren (5 or so in the year so far and one 6 years old!!) and other joys of old age.

The food and wine from European Caterers were very good and the evening did not end until after midnight. There wasn’t much heavy boozing and nobody became disorderly to my knowledge! As we had no entrée but a long canapé session downstairs on the parapet/lawn, after lots of mingling, it was a relief to sit down and just have a couple of people to speak to at a time.
There was a 10 year reunion opposite in the Great Hall at the same time. They all looked so young!!

Andrew Bryne

www.redfernclinic.com/reunion2008 - for photos

1958 graduates celebrate 50 year reunion, February 2008

A toast to the graduating year 1958 in Medicine at the University of Sydney

So it’s 50 years since we emerged as raw recruits to fight disease. Since then some have moved to the front line in emergency medicine, others to the back line like head, neck, ear, nose and throat surgeons, others have become advisors like the academics, and still others have had to fight the bureaucrats in Canberra on our behalf and I think of the likes of Bruce Shepherd as president of the AMA.

But where would we have got to but for our teachers? Vern Barling taught us that we could not have sex for two weeks before an anatomy exam if we wanted to pass, Bill Hensley told us that cholesterol had just been discovered as the cause of atherosclerosis and so the fried eggs from the PA kitchen were to be avoided, and the wee mon Charles Lambie instilled the fine points of percussion, palpation, whistles, rhonci and rales that would have helped us if we had settled into practise in Menangatang, or Chinkopook, or Quambatook without facilities.

But we have fought the good fight without palm pilots to hold the whole textbook of medicine at our fingertips, we have made it through without a computer to tell us likely diagnoses, we have made it without being able to practise endoscopic procedures on the pig’s kidney in a surgical skills laboratory, and we have made diagnoses without an instant readout of a blood sample on a silicon chip. For all these reasons we are to be congratulated.

Let us not forget our friends and colleagues who have fallen along the journey and have not made the 50 years. They are just as important a part of the impact made by a group of young enthusiastic medical graduates that cool summer afternoon at the great hall at the University of Sydney in 1958. I would also like to express thanks to Brian Parker for rounding us all up and organising this special occasion in his usual inimical way.

May I ask you all the charge your glasses, be upstanding and drink a toast to all our year, past and present, and to Brian for organising this occasion.

Graeme Clark

Our lunch was able to run at a profit and we were very pleased to donate $4,274.20 to the Sheila Nicholas Fund which will enable financial support to be given to a needy Medical student. The Medical Graduates Association helps about 7 needy students each year....these are students who may be having difficulty in paying their rent etc. In 2007, the Association was able to help about 5 such students with an average amount of $ 5000 each. Sheila Nicholas was always our Guest of Honour at our reunions where she entertained us with her wonderful memory for names.

At the lunch, we raised $ 1200 in 5 minutes for the Sheila Nicholas Fund and the raffle prize of 2 tickets to the musical " BILLY ELLIOTT " was won by Charles and Gloria Chow.

On a sad note, we have lost 40 of our year out of 160.

I would like to thank Jann Porges for helping me with organising the lunch, and, of course, the American Club for looking after us so well.

From the organiser – Brian Parker