Tribute book
During his term as Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Brown has met, worked with and influenced a large number of people. Farewell tributes are invited from the people he has worked with or influenced during this time.
Staff may submit a farewell tribute using the feedback form available from June 16-27.
Submitted tributes will be compiled into a bound volume to present to Professor Brown.
Some of these tributes are published below.
On behalf of the Academic Board, I would like to express our appreciation of your leadership of the University over the last twelve years. There are a number of aspects that have been crucial in this.
You preserved academic core values at a time when they were going out of style. In the mid 1990s, Sydney stuck to an academic/collegial structure at a time when others were taking more corporate approaches. This was, in retrospect, right and the benefits are already obvious.
The University is in much better shape than when you found it in almost every regard: research, international and national reputation, financial performance and student experience.
You created an environment where almost everyone in the University has a clear conception of its core mission. The slogan 1:5:40 perhaps lacks the subtlety characteristic of your writing, yet it has succeeded in getting across to all, the notion that our aspirations need to be global. We also appreciate that you invested in the university, first in people, in students and, finally, in buildings.
I would like to add my personal thanks for your encouragement, advice and support, without which a role that is merely continuously challenging would have been unworkable.
We wish you good health and good fortune for the future.
- Professor Bruce Sutton, Chair, Academic Board
Gavin Brown is an unashamed intellectual; a fact he both wears as a badge of pride and wields as a weapon with insouciant stealth. Camaraderie and care, indecision and sycophancy have all been dispensed with as shavings off the mature sculpture. Although not without considerable charm, or flashes of almost affection, one is left in little doubt that many winters have honed that seasoned general’s mind. Not quite a chess master planning seven-step forward plays without a care to the pawns’ ambitions, yet more a commander who anticipates his troops’ behaviour in advance, neither overtly a leader nor the led.
What have those eyes seen or mind experienced that have shaped the campaigner, or was it always to be so? Picture the young Gavin if you can; keen to impress, willing to defer and accept chastisement, hungry indeed to learn. Has he truly gone or been layered with calloused armoury to an extent that divides the inner from the outer as if two? The guard has changed; no lieutenant remains in post and a legacy is left that is both enduring and yet faintly echoey. It has, for us all, been a humbling experience to be tested, challenged, critiqued and deployed, yet I suspect none feel anything but the stronger for it.
So in your next step Gavin, you take our best wishes with you, our respect undiminished and our affection enhanced. We will look back with pride on this period and marvel again as the true intent of a move made long ago declares itself. Yes there were traumas, disputes and disagreements; yes there were frustrations, confusion and dissent. Yet none would feel it could have been done better in the whole, either at the time, or even in retrospect. As the player knows whose hand has been played to its fullest impact, there is no value in seeing out predictable tricks; better instead to plan the next manoeuvre whilst the turn ahead is still not visible to those behind. Was that a chink we saw, or just a glint in a wayward eye? I suspect we will never be quite sure.
- Professor Andrew Coats, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Community)
My first meeting with Gavin occurred when he interviewed me for my position as Dean of the Faculty of Education and Social Work. I recall entering the Vice Chancellor’s boardroom, still slightly jet-lagged after the flight from England, and being seated next to Gavin himself. He clearly liked to have a close look at candidates when he was chair of a selection panel. There must have been seven or eight others in the room – I hardly remember – but after each questioner had asked her or his rehearsed question and I had responded with my even more well-rehearsed answer, Gavin raised his head, looked in the direction of the person next to me and asked a question of unsettling incisiveness. Gavin sees not just through people but deeply into them and in doing so he can inspire the very best in them. It is a quality that I immediately admired about him (disquieting as it then was) and have grown to further admire and respect in working with him at Sydney. There is no sentimentality, but rather a sharp intellectual and moral conviction (not to be confused with the dogmatism of certainty, because Gavin is always ready to be persuaded by arguments). I have also come to recognize this as a very human quality in him. He once told me that the Education Faculty would never be the ‘jewel in the crown’ of the University; I said it might not be that, but it would always be the bedrock of success in higher education and for that reason, but not just for that reason, it matters. For Gavin it matters too and for that I am deeply appreciative. Gavin, it has been a pleasure and an honour to work with you. Thank you for the opportunity and all my good wishes go with you for the future.
- Professor Derrick Armstrong, Acting Deputy Provost (Learning & Teaching) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Professor Gavin Brown’s vision embraces the notion that participating culturally is an important part of engaging in University life, whether it is from ‘inside looking out’ or ‘outside looking in’. In fact, I don’t think his vision supports this subjective dichotomy as his notion seems to be more an integration of the two perspectives. His leadership demonstrates that participating culturally is something not only to be valued but also to be celebrated by the community in the widest sense.
Those of us coming from other universities (as students or staff) particularly appreciate the distinctive Sydney experience. Indeed, just about everyone I know, new to the University, comments about it. Specifically, Professor Brown’s guidance has allowed the University to thrive as an identity with a strong sense of kinship, in a mainstream, customised as well as what might be described as “off-the-beaten” track sense, all contributing to the cultural richness and diversity of life at the University of Sydney.
In my view, one key element of Gavin Brown’s legacy is simply this: the intellectual, social and capital investment that has emerged from enhancing, transforming and protecting cultural life, in its broadest realm. An inheritance that is felt and held dearly by the community at large and which doesn’t cease at City or State borders. We owe him considerable thanks and recognition for this gift to Sydney, and will continue to do so for some time.
- Professor Ann Brewer, Deputy Vice-Chancellor
I first encountered Professor Brown at a University of Sydney alumni dinner at The Australian Club in Melbourne in 1998. During a most memorable and enjoyable evening, he sought to persuade me that it was time for me ‘to come home’; to return to the University of Sydney as Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business. By the end of the night, he’d pretty much sold me on the idea!
Over the last decade, Professor Brown, I’ve observed you to take a punt or two, including when you hired me! Your score card – balanced or otherwise – shows you’ve won far more than you’ve lost, for it is incontestable that you are leaving the University of Sydney in far better shape than that in which you found it in 1996. But who would expect otherwise of a canny, calculating Scot?
Congratulations, Gavin, on your truly illustrious academic career. You’ve done and achieved it all! I trust your post Sydney Uni life will be thoroughly Satisfying, Convivial, Opulent, Trouble-free, Travel-safe, Invitation-rich, Successful and Healthy.
- Professor Peter Wolnizer, Dean, Faculty of Economics and Business
On behalf of the Faculty of Dentistry I pay tribute to your leadership of the University of Sydney. It has been a privilege to work with you, even if it was only during the last third of your tenure. A few days before I sat down to write this piece your farewell interview in the Australian HES was published with your usual range of sensible comments about how the country goes about dealing with its university sector. Of special significance to Dentistry both in our university and across the country was your comment about the deleterious consequences that disingenuous government policy (in this case the abolition of domestic fee-paying places) has on a small program like ours. Your ability to work at the highly strategic national and international level but also to be aware of and to integrate an example of the daily tribulations of a small unit of your institution will remain as the hallmark of your tenure.
The Faculty and the dental profession appreciate your understanding and support for maintaining an independent program in dentistry that has existed at the University for over 100 years. Being off-campus remains a constant challenge in our relationship with the University, and for us the out-of-sight-out-of-mind syndrome has to be addressed on an almost daily basis. However, we have never felt this to be a handicap for you. Your ongoing support and sympathy over the last couple of years has led to important infrastructure developments in our Faculty and may lead to the important consolidation of our Faculty in the near future, which will be of significance for the next 100 years development. For that you will long be remembered with gratitude.
We wish you a wonderful and successful path in your future endeavours.
- Professor Eli Schwarz KOD, Dean, Faculty of Dentistry
Professor Brown has provided invaluable guidance in the strategic development of the Law Faculty over the last 10 years or so. Most particularly, the Faculty and members of the practicing profession are grateful for Professor Brown’s vision in supporting investment by the University in a purpose built Law building. The new, world class teaching and research facilities will enable the Faculty to move to the main campus so that law students gain the benefits of inter-disciplinary scholarship and have access to a full university experience. Professor Brown’s foresight in providing for the more effective integration of the Law Faculty into the activities of the University will provide a lasting heritage for legal education in Australia.
On a more personal note, Professor Brown has had the wisdom to allow the Law Faculty to develop its ‘down town’ links with the profession, while also encouraging a strong research commitment to the law and law reform. His contribution to the Faculty has been both outstanding and long lasting.
- Professor Gillian Triggs, Dean, Faculty of Law
The Faculty of Pharmacy would like to pay tribute to Professor Gavin Brown, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, recognising his considerable achievements and support for the Faculty. Professor Brown was the driving force behind the formation of the Faculty, which was formally created in 2000. This gave Pharmacy education a higher visibility at the University. He established strong links with the leaders of the pharmacy profession and pharmaceutical industry and has helped to raise the status of the Faculty within these communities.
During his tenure the Vice-Chancellor’s has been an outstanding supporter of pharmacy education, helping to raise funds for the beautiful interior of the main corridor inside the Pharmacy Building, a feature of the University’s sites of heritage, and also the expansion of the Faculty into the Bank and Badham Buildings. This is helping us to create cutting-edge teaching and research facilities to attract the world’s best researchers and teachers. Pharmacy has been the beneficiary of the Vice-Chancellor’s foresight with academic issues being brought to the forefront when the Pharmacy Education Unit was established, an initiative supported by Professor Brown.
Professor Brown was instrumental in the stewardship of gifts from the Chinese community, helping to raise $100,000 for Cancer research with herbal medicines. The Vice-Chancellor has been a great ambassador for pharmacy Alumni, generously supporting activities and attending events.
The Faculty would like to express its thanks to the Vice-Chancellor for all his support and wishes him well in his retirement.
- Faculty of Pharmacy
Gavin Brown has taken a complacent underperforming University, infused it with his competitive spirit in all of its activities and, in 12 years, has moved it ahead of the pack while still retaining its core beliefs. His vision that Sydney was a global University, competing with the best internationally, has seen the University and he, as its President, lead the debate on the world stage, as well as within our region. He is a towering intellect, an academic’s Vice-Chancellor, a very human person with a capricious sense of humour, acerbic wit and a Scottish work ethic.
His commitment to research and research productivity has seen Sydney move to the top of the ranking in ARC-funded research and second in medical research, his commitment to education as the prime reason for a University has seen Sydney remain one of the few truly comprehensive Universities in Australia, while others were eliminating some educational programs in the face of financial imperatives.
His commitment to the staff of the University as its most important asset is evidenced by the outcomes of enterprise bargaining, envied by those at other institutions.
His believe that the University experience was training for life has seen an emphasis on the non-academic aspects of student life, with active support for sporting prowess and vocal and practical support for students and their facilities throughout his tenure, particularly when voluntary student unionism was being introduced.
His believe that these things could be achieved only if the University had a financially viable future has seen Sydney adopt strong economic management, emulated by no other in Australia, so that the benefits of fiscal rectitude could be reinvested into facilities and staff, so securing the future for the next generations.
He completes his stewardship with the satisfaction of a job well done. He hands his successor the best University in Australia, one of the premier Universities in the world. He leaves his colleagues proud that they work at Sydney, mindful of the challenges ahead, but reassured that hard work will bring appropriate rewards. Bon voyage, Gavin and Diané!
- David Burke, Bushell Professor of Neurology; Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Central Clinical School; Director of Research, Faculty of Medicine
We owe you our profound thanks for your exceptional intellectual, moral, and political leadership. I applied for the Dean position with heavy input from Max Neutze who said ‘you’d be a good person to work for’ and you have surely lived up to it, including support ‘above and beyond’ for me and I’m sure other Deans. I can now express more fully my admiration for you Gavin as our inspirational poet-warrior leading the church.
- Professor Hal Kendig, Dean, Faculty of Health Science, 1998-Feb 2005
University Librarians have a somewhat unique place in universities. They are often close enough to the centre of power to be privy to what is happening but insignificant enough not to be a threat to the main characters. Working with Gavin Brown has been an interesting part of my career. It has afforded the opportunity to observe enormous changes in the culture of the University accomplished through a very distinct management style.
I arrived at Sydney in 1997 from the University of Wollongong. It was like stepping back to a past best forgotten. The campus infrastructure had a forlorn neglected air and past events had left a climate of mistrust and uncertainty. Gavin faced the enormous task of overcoming that legacy and setting the University on a new path.
At the time, some commentators regarded the University as ungovernable. That was probably true if the Vice-Chancellor sought to control every detail but Gavin wisely avoided that temptation. From afar, it sometimes seemed that he was not leading the change process. Yet, Gavin knew of every significant event and had analysed its importance, likely effect and remedial action. The result was a much more robust and dynamic institution than he took over in 1996.
Gavin’s management style was more akin to that of a medieval king governing through the astute control of his barons. At times, the way Gavin handled his barons suggested that he could have been Machiavelli’s tutor! Each received enough power and favour to do the job but not enough to proclaim independence and not too little to encourage destructive alliances.
Gavin’s intellect set him apart from the throng of Australian vice-chancellors. The very agility of his intellect, however, meant that he was often either ahead of his audience or his allusions were too subtle. Frequently I sat in Academic Board or some other gathering and watched Gavin seemingly toy with the assembled throng. The astute prescience of his observations was not always immediately appreciated and the dryness of his wit was frequently missed by his audience.
The Scottish bard, Robbie Burns penned an Epigram on Mr James Gracie in 1795 which in paraphrase applies well to Gavin:
Gavin, thou art a man of worth,
O be thou known for ever!
May he be damned to hell henceforth,
Who faults thy weight or measure!
- John Shipp, University Librarian
While I have only worked with you ‘remotely’, having joined your executive a short few months ago, I wish to acknowledge your outstanding leadership. As I learn the transformation story of this fabulous institution under your watch I can only admire what you have achieved. Thank you for your foresight and courage, your heart and your intellect. You have bequeathed to us a gift of immense value and I feel privileged that you have seen fit to permit me to join your team in this your last year. Thank you for trusting me with this brand. Thank you for the honour of having worked with you and under your sponsorship. Let me wish you a most fulfilling and enriching future life.
- Juli Brown, Director, Marketing and Communications
Gavin, your leadership, wisdom and wit have infused this University with a spirit of humane, inclusive aspiration from the moment you arrived. It has been a spectacular period. I wish you and Diane every happiness in the future.
- Professor Simon Chapman, Fellow of Senate
I have beenimpressed by Professor Brown's commitment to a strong and independent student voice as a foundation to a quality, world-class university. In particular, Professor Brown's vocal support of the National Union of Students' campaign against the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism in 2005 should be applauded. Similarly his commitment to maintaining the activities of student organisations post-VSU (in both spirit and dollars) has positioned the University of Sydney as the No. 1 provider of the student experience in Australia. While Professor Brown and student representatives at Sydney University have not always seen eye-to-eye on some policy decisions, his respect of the student voice and willingness to engage in open and frank debate has been a strength of his leadership.
- Angus McFarland, Undergraduate Fellow of Senate 2008, National Union of Students National President 2008, Sydney University Students Representative Council President 2007, University of Sydney Union Board Director 2005 - 2007
Dear Professor Brown, I enjoyed your brogue, your readiness to speak to me and to my wife (Great Hall, Eastern Avenue Lecture Theatre ... dancing with your wife at the Staff Christmas Party). Further, the regular Obiter Dictum (my brain just does not process cryptic crosswords!), and your political ability to speak (Staff in the Great Hall), pleasantly, entertainingly, but without me being able to put down on paper afterwards a concrete undertaking - now that's a politician, which one must be as Vice-Chancellor. On the other hand, the physical improvements to Camperdown I can see and touch every day - and that has been a fantastic achievement on your part. Well done!
- Dr Craig Symes, Business Development Manager, Sydnovate
It was lovely to meet you and your beautiful wife at a university function. I am pleased to have met such lovely people and wish you and your wife all the best in the future.
- Toni Tyson, Koori Centre student
Professor Brown: wish you good health and good fortune for the future, and everything goes well with you in your retirement.
- Weijia Zhao, Student
Many thanks for opening the School of Aerospace, Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering’s Computer Laboratory in 2000. Your speech and presence were both greatly appreciated. Many happy wishes on your next endeavor.
- Paul Briozzo, Computer Laboratory Manager, School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering
Gavin Brown was the most inspirational leader I ever worked with. It is easy to forget that when hearrived on the scene in July 1996 the University was not performing as well as it should have been. It had failed to meet enrolment quotas (incurring a heavy financial penalty from Government), there was a poor result in the first Quality Audit, research performance was not all it should have been and the campus was somewhat neglected. It was generally acknowledged that other metropolitan Universities were far more attractive to potential students.
When he arrived he listened, consulted widely, and inside six months had put together a set of reform proposals for Senate’s approval.Early in ’97 with his colleagues he set to work on each of the areas needing urgent review.Through his dedicated efforts he managed to change what was a palpably deep- seated problem of resistance to change evident among so many at the University. It was a tremendous effort and he has sustained it thought his time as Vice Chancellor. You don’t come across many people with the intellect and the capacity to lead that Gavin possesses.
He adopts what might be called a contemplative approach to leadership. In meetings, he sits, often with eyes closed, listening to what is being said (in the early days some mistakenly believed he was having a nap). He has an amazing ability to digest a discussion paper very quickly. Having heardwhat people have to say, he will suggest a way forward that has built into it the core of what has been said but very often has a novel touch about it. Gavin Brown could never be accused of being pedestrian in his thinking or of failing to look for new ways of doing things. Who else as Vice Chancellor would think of using a leading AFL and Sydney Swans star to advertise on Melbourne trams that Sydney University would be a good place to re-locate to just as the Swans had doneyears ago?
When the history of his period as VC is written I believe it will be shown that this was a time of great significance and lasting achievement for the University. This period reflects his forward-looking approach. He is well aware of the great heritage of Sydney but he understands full well that you have to lay a strong foundation for future success. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the massive building program approved in 2003 and now gradually coming to a successful conclusion
As many people will know, while Gavin Brown enjoys working hard in the interests of the University, he also enjoys life. He likes a flutter on the horses and amongst Australia’s VCs he is the leading AFL tipster. I am pleased to say that he is a supporter of the Sydney Swans. We have seen many games together and he can get very excited about the Swans winning or losing, but always with a degree of composure! He enjoys these things and those around him appreciate his company. He also has a wonderful, wicked sense of humour.If you go to a function with Gavin Brown you would always know you are going to enjoy yourself, because he’s always on for a laugh, a quick quip. It always pays to listen to what he says at work or at play, even if sometimesthat Scottish accent might make it hard to decipher the message.
- Ken Eltis, Former Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor
I have "lived" through VCs from Stephen Roberts onwards. Your time at the helm has been truly remarkable and entirely incomparable. Your achievements combined with very interesting personal attributes (how do you remember everyone's names?) means you will remain in the warm part of my memory.
- Professor Cris dos Remedios, Professor of Anatomy, Discipline of Anatomy and Histology, School of Medical Sciences
To lead the University of Sydney is to lead a group of persons who value independence and who have considerable egos and great confidence in their own intellectual strengths and powers of reasoning. It cannot be easy; and long may it remain so. Professor Gavin Brown accomplished it well because he was recognized and esteemed by those he led as a true scholar, an intellectual with broad vision, good instinct and a matching strategic mind and as a person who, when he looked in the mirror, didn’t see a god. May his major legacy to the University be that his successors must also be so. I know Professor Brown only from a distance and largely through matters of contention. I found him quite tolerant and always respectful of those of contrary view, and often accommodating, when he could easily have been dismissive. For matters that mattered, he formed and held resolutely his own view, his ears open only to the voice of experience. Sometimes, in my view, he was wrong. Enough, lest I go overboard and fall under the curse of the good Shipp John. I shall miss Professor Brown.
- Associate Professor Ross Drynan, Discipline of Agricultural and Resource Economics
I appreciate your diligence, enviable intellect, impeccable oratory skills and enormous success as our leader for over a decade. You leave the University of Sydney as a better place as a result. I thank you personally for your time and for various chats over the years. These have been meaningful and enjoyable. I wish you well for the future. May you be in good health!
- Professor Brian J. Morris, Professor of Molecular Medical Sciences
Thank you for your commitment, enthusiasm and investment in research. Your initiatives have been greatly appreciated by researchers and a major factor in our research success, transforming the University's reputation.
- Merrilee Robb, Warwick Dawson, and Professor Masud Behnia, Research Portfolio
Professor Brown has shown a commitment to students and student organisations that is unparalleled in this country. He has shown great leadership of this university at a time of tremendous change in higher education. Professor Brown's support of the student experience has allowed this university to lead the way in providing a world-class, all-rounded education. Thank you to Professor Brown for his vocal support for independent student organisations for a diverse and vibrant student experience at the University of Sydney.
- Rose Khalilizadeh, President, University of Sydney Union
Here's wishing you good health and every success in all that you undertake in future. And also wishing you a happy and blissful retirement!
- Janice Loke, student
Gavin, you have achieved great things in your time at Sydney. The University is stronger than ever, and truly a player on the international stage. Clear vision and an iron will were essential parts of that success. It is thus with some sadness that I reflect on the fact that I missed your first decade. And two years is just too short a time to be around your alchemy. I wish you all the very best in the future.
- Professor Colin Rhodes, Dean, Sydney College of the Arts
Gavin enticed me to the University of Sydney with the explicit directive to perform daring research - "win a Nobel Prize" he said, and raise the profile of the University worldwide. What more could I wish? Thank you Gavin.
- Professor Allan Snyder FRS, Director Centre for the Mind, Inaugural University Professor, 150th Anniversary Chair of Science and the Mind
I first met Gavin in January 2004 when he and Diane stayed with my wife, Judy, and I for a week or two in our home in Perth. Three things about Gavin immediately impressed me: his enormous knowledge of and expertise in the higher education sector, his ability to do cryptic crosswords while simultaneously holding a conversation, and his memory recall the day after a night of copious alcohol consumption. It was while sampling the delights of Margaret River wineries that the topic of the vacant dean of science post at Sydney came up and I think I responded at the time that I thought being a dean was a mug's game. He sought to persuade me otherwise and, while it took some time for this to sink in, some months later I found myself interviewing for the position. Accepting the post when offered was one of the best decisions in my life; Gavin has made the University of Sydney an exciting and rewarding place in which to work.
- Professor David Day, Dean, Faculty of Science
Dear Professor Brown, may God gives you a better life, health and happiness in the future as a "thank you" wish for your contributions to this university. The same goes to your lovely wife who will always support him and be right besides him. May God bless you.
- Nurul Iza, student
Although I have never met you personally I feel that my university life is indebted to your continuing support of students. As the President of the Student Union on Cumberland Campus and on behalf of all the students at the Health Science Faculty I would like to thank you and wish you all the best for the future.
- Leith Robertson, student
On behalf of Nagoya University, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation and earnest thank you for all you have done to strengthen the relationship between the University of Sydney and Nagoya University during your term. I have great memories of meeting you at various parts of the world and discussing the possibilities of the University of Sydney and Nagoya University working together.
It was also a great pleasure to work with you to build the world wide consortium, Academic Consortium 21 (AC21). As a founding and the Steering Committee member, the University of Sydney’s active involvement has always been a key to the success of operating AC21. For six years, you gave a great contribution to the AC21 and lead activities of AC21 strenuously. Especially, we were very impressed by the significant success of the International Forum in 2004 held at the University of Sydney with your excellent leadership. This great success enabled AC21 to grow. Moreover, during your term of Presidency of AC21 (from 2004 to 2006), AC21 was able to blossom into a truly international and multi-cultural consortium. AC21 would not be the same without the support you have so generously provided.
Finally, I would like to congratulate you on the splendid achievement which marked your brilliant career and wish you further success in your future endeavour. At the same time, I sincerely hope that our friendship will continue and enjoy amicable relations in the years to come.
- Shin-ichi Hirano, D.Eng, President, Nagoya University
I do not have the privilege of knowing you personally but I am truly grateful for all you have done for the University. I wish you all the best and good health in your future. May you find renewed passion and purpose in this next phase of your life.
- Izmira Farhana Mohd Ismail, postgraduate student
The past twelve years have seen an enormous transformation in the fortunes of the University of Sydney, and even if someone were so inclined, it would be difficult to make any rational argument that Gavin was not the principal, maybe the sole, intellectual architect of that transformation. It has been a pleasure and an inspiration to be *led* by someone who did not lead in the narrow conventional sense in which that term is commonly used, but rather by organising the intellectual and physical environment for successful academic work and then suggesting - and by example showing - how it could be used to make this University a major player on the international scene. None of that however, is what has made Gavin the highly successful academic *leader* he has been. It is rather, that despite his lofty position and many honours, he retains that profound Celtic suspicion of authority which is essential for intellectual authenticity.
- Chris Murphy, Bosch Professor of Histology and Embryology
I discovered Professor Gavin Brown's silence amid the noise of absurdities. This inspired wonder and reflection on character and characteristics: Gavin Brown, the philosopher, reminds us that all must return to the "unwavering heart of well-rounded truth". There are many intellectuals, but only few philosophers. An intellectual listens to debate and seeks an understanding that can preserve his existence into the future. A philosopher listens to conscience and seeks understanding in accordance with right reason. A philosopher knows that untruth arrives sooner than death. Gavin Brown, the athlete, is audacious and fleet of foot in the spiritual contest for truth. No human can win this contest, but some catch up and fewer keep the pace. Those are athletes of the spirit who limber up steadily and practice persistently clear thinking, clear perception and truthful expression. Gavin Brown, the writer, says only what must and can be said. His writing attracts perplexity and thus reveals the truth of the unsaid. This makes him a truthful writer, seemingly strange, playful and certainly untimely. Gavin Brown, the teacher, demonstrates the serious importance of learning. Only those who are serious seek to improve their own ignorance. They inspire hope that we can see more than shadows and hear more than noise. Gavin Brown, the musician, exposes the "backward-turning harmony" that governs all. Public life demands obvious business and spectacular noisiness from its leaders. Thus, many profess more than they know, say more than they mean and do more than they should. The resulting confusion, absurdity and dissonance destroy freedom, beauty and happiness for all. The real musician listens to the logos and creates the harmony, which in its differences, agrees within itself. Sydney and its University are a better place thanks to the philosopher, the athlete, the writer, the teacher and the musician Gavin Brown.
- Associate Professor Goetz Richter, Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Gavin Brown has led the University of Sydney to a pre-eminent place in Australia and one of the high ranking Universities world-wide. His leadership was responsible for the re-invigoration of academic scholarship and community; his predilection of excellence in these things created a stimulating atmosphere that is truly a privilege to be immersed in.
Gavin, you were always open to new academic endeavors and that is what brought me here to lead an initiative in Biophysics and Bioengineering. You have an amazing capacity to get involved in internal academic matters as well as outreach activities, including those with industry.
The truly amazing thing is that whilst performing your duties as Vice Chancellor as thoroughly and expertly as you did, you were still able to continue your own scholarly research and maintain an eminent position in Mathematics. This for me reflects your outstanding intellectual capability that has set you quite apart from other Australian Vice Chancellors before you.
Gavin, it was a pleasure and privilege to have served under your leadership; thank you for your support and to you and Diané I wish for you stimulating things to come.
- Professor Hans Coster, Director, Biophysics and Bioengineering
Lieber Gavin, die meisten ‘Tributs’ wirst du auf Englisch bekommen, aber da ich aus Deutschland komme und für zehn Jahre in der deutschsprachigen Schweiz geforscht habe, schien es mir angemessen, meine Gedanken in meiner Muttersprache zu formulieren.
Ich bin ja erst seit drei Jahren an der Universität Sydney tätig, aber deine charismatische und zugleich unkonventionelle Art hat mich von Anfang an begeistert. Du bist das absolute Gegenteil eines Gelehrten, der in seinem Elfenbeinturm gefangen ist. Mit Esprit und einem hervorragenden Sinn für das Machbare hast du die Universität Sydney über die Landesgrenzen Australiens hinaus in Asien, Amerika und Europa bekannt (und berühmt) gemacht und darüber hinaus beeindruckende Rankings erzielt. Als Forschender am Brain and Mind Research Institut (BMRI) bin ich besonders dankbar für deine Weitsicht, ohne die es diese einzigartige Forschungseinrichtung nicht gäbe. Meine Frau Cornelia und ich wünschen dir in Adelaide in deinem neuen Tätigkeitsfeld alles Gute. Die Royal Society ist zu beneiden, dass sie dich gewinnen konnte!
Mit herzlichen Grüßen an dich und Diané,
und wie man auf Deutsch sagt: Auf Wiedersehen!
- Cornelia and Professor Jürgen Götz, Director, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease Laboratory, Brain and Mind Research Institute
I would like to congratulate Professor Brown on his wonderful achievements and his dedication to all things ‘Sydney University’!
I graduated from the University in 1976 and have always been proud of the fact that my tertiary education was completed at such a fine institution. Both my degree and my Blue for athletics are displayed with prominence in my home office, and I am honoured to say that Sir Hermann Black, former Chancellor of Sydney University, watched me become the first Australian woman to break 5 minutes for the mile in the Sydney University Christmas ‘Gift’ Mile in 1972 – at the University oval!
I have maintained a strong interest in, and attachment to, all events and ‘happenings’ at the University since my graduation and every year was thrilled to receive Christmas greetings from Professor Brown and his wife – don’t quite know how I made ‘the list’, but I always felt very special to be included.
I would like to express my appreciation to Professor Brown for all his outstanding contributions to the University of Sydney, and my hopes that he enjoys his new ‘adventures’. I am sure he is not the kind of person to be avoiding challenges, and I wish him and his wife much health and happiness and many inspired and inspiring moments ahead!
- Angie Wilcock (nee Cook), alumna
With best wishes to Professor Gavin Brown from Professor Simon P. Ringer on behalf of all staff and students, past and present. We thank you for your ongoing support of the Electron Microscope Unit
