Rix, Alan

University of Queensland eSpace

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Opening of the J.K. Murray Library Refurbishment and Extension 
 
Tuesday 24 April 2018, 9.50am for 10–11am 
Courtyard of the JK Murray Library, Building 8102, UQ Gatton 
 
Emeritus Professor Alan Rix 
 
I too, would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which 
we gather and meet, and pay my respects to Elders past and present. 
 
Professor Peter Høj, Vice-Chancellor and President, UQ, Professor Joanne 
Wright, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Professor Melissa Brown, 
Executive Dean, Faculty of Science, Ms Janelle Zahmel, Director, Gatton 
Campus, Ms Annette McNicol, Acting University Librarian, Ms Khamla Mott, 
Research Scholar, School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Ms Kim Jorgensen, 
President of the Gatton Past Students’ Association, Friends and donors of the 
University Library, UQ colleagues and alumni, distinguished guests, ladies and 
gentlemen. 
 
Thank you for your kind introduction. 
 
I hold to the view about retirement so eloquently expressed by the former 
British Prime Minister, Harold McMillan, in his autobiography written after he 
retired: 
 
It has always seemed to me more artistic, when the curtain falls on the 
final performance, to accept the inevitable. The play is over. It is 
tempting, perhaps, but unrewarding, to hang about the Green Room 
after final retirement from the stage. 
 
However, we can make exceptions, like today -- McMillan certainly did, as he 
became Chancellor of Oxford University!   
 
So it is indeed a great and unexpected pleasure and an honour to be invited 
back to Gatton to open this fantastic new facility. 
 
This project has been a long time coming. 
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The Library Building was first commissioned in 1973 and upgraded in 1999. It 
was named after J.K. Murray in 1976 – he was a former director of Gatton 
College, the foundation professor of Agriculture at UQ and, importantly, the 
Administrator of Papua New Guinea in the critical period from 1945 until 1952 
– a very distinguished alumnus indeed. 
 
Before I say a few words about the Library, today is of course the 24th 
April, and tomorrow is Anzac Day, when we remember in particular the 
landings at Gallipoli, as a first step towards the commemoration of the 
centenary of the end of World War 1 in November this year.  
 
45 staff and students from Gatton College lost their lives in World War 1, 
including 11 at Gallipoli, one of whom was the captain of the College 
football team, Graeme Lang Wilson, killed in action at Quinn’s Post in 
May 1915, aged 25. 
 
Lest we forget. 
 
J.K. Murray himself enlisted in 1916 and eventually went to France. He was a 
private and then a warrant officer in the Ist Australian Veterinary Evacuation 
Station in northern France and Belgium (looking after the animals, mainly 
horses and mules, in the rear of the battlefield, and demobilising these animals 
once hostilities ceased). He himself returned to civilian life in March 1920.   
 
Murray’s entry in the Embarkation Roll for 17 July 1918 for HMAT A30 “Borda” 
in Sydney is certainly interesting and different: alongside the list of occupations 
of his fellow Veterinary Corps privates – horse attendant, grazier, horse-
breaker, drover, wool classer, farrier, stockman etc – was his occupation, listed 
as “Master, Agricultural College”. 
 
Let’s come back now to the present. 
 
So we have a game-changer of a building for student learning at Gatton. 
 
This is a science campus as it has always been  – agricultural, animal and now 
also veterinary. Indeed, it will soon be ten years since Vet Sci came to Gatton. 
 
In this last 5-10 years Gatton has changed radically – not just a little – and of 
course is a vastly different place, in terms of facilities, attitudes and gender, 
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from that overseen by Murray – although the horses still have to be looked 
after! 
 
Its student cohort is very attuned to the needs and demands of their disciplines 
and I think appreciate the practical focus of the campus in providing all the 
animals and the agricultural facilities they need for their study. 
 
This Library building is about providing the best learning conditions (and 
optimal staff facilities) for the students living both on and off Campus. 
 
A comment from staff that I have heard is that this is now an “uplifting place” 
to study and work – it is now the place to be on campus. 
 
Of course, now we can accommodate those large numbers of students who 
want to study here 24/7 – including those with a need for disability access. In 
the past we had to create temporary overflow study space for students when 
we could not fit them in the old Library. 
 
Now there is an extra 1000 sq. m. of space. Seating area upstairs has increased 
from 80 to 300, that downstairs has increased by 30, and the new outdoor 
learning space has seating area for 40.  
 
I particularly like some of the creative touches --- 
 
• the adaptive re-use of the old building, particularly in the soft 
contemporary design sitting underneath the 1970s brutalist roof trusses 
and ducting; 
• the cosy meeting spaces, and the expanse of the main floor, using the 
wide spaces available; 
• the variety of learning areas, seating and the calming palette of colours; 
• the big windows and the light that it allows into the building; 
• and there are some very comfortable armchairs for a sunny afternoon’s 
reading. 
 
So congratulations and thanks to all those involved with this project. This will 
make a genuine difference to the students at Gatton and their studies. 
 
Can I particularly mention: 
 
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• Scott Chapple, Genevieve Hoeben and others from DWP Suters 
Architects; 
• The great team at Tompkins, led by the Project Manager, Ashley White; 
• The UQ P&F folks:  Darlene Lush and Kim Armstrong the project 
managers; 
• Lex Carnie and Craig Carlton from P&F at Gatton, and all the other P&F 
staff from St Lucia and Gatton who I know have been involved; 
• And of course the Library staff:  especially Bob Gerrity, Karen Seymour, 
Maria Chalmers and Glen Dalgleish who were at the forefront of this 
project. 
 
We can now enjoy, and benefit from, this wonderful new Library, and it 
therefore gives me enormous pleasure to declare officially open the J.K. 
Murray Library Refurbishment and Extension. 
 
Thank you. 
 
 


Speech by Emeritus Professor Alan Rix at opening of the University of Queensland J.K. Murray Library refurbishment and extension, 24 April 2018

https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:731501/UQ731501_Rix_JKMurrayLib.pdf

Speech by Emeritus Professor Alan Rix at opening of the University of Queensland J.K. Murray Library refurbishment and extension, 24 April 2018

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