Dr Peter Hemphill

Dr Peter Hemphill

EPC and the wider community were saddened earlier in the year with the sudden death of Dr Peter Hemphill. Peter was not only an SCR member but a committed mentor and friend of the college. Peter could be seen around college most days particularly in the presence of his beloved Top B for whom he had been affiliated with for 26 years. Peter will be remembered for his wit as much as his vast knowledge and furthermore for his invaluable contribution to life at Earle Page.

The College gave him its highest honour of a College funeral with Top B forming a choir and singing ‘Amazing Grace’ and the College forming a guard of honour in academic gowns along a street block outside the Cathederal followed by a luncheon in the College and a rousing rendition of the ‘Piano Man’, played by old Pagite Mr Matt Peterson.

A memorial garden in Peter’s honor has been created in the courtyard below B-Block reflecting not only his significant impact on the college but also his passion for gardening. The plantings reflect his favourite plants and in fact the iries came from his own garden. A dedication was held for Peter’s garden before Valedictory dinner in October.

Peter’s love for the College extended to great generosity via his estate which, in most part, will be held in trust in order to produce a significant number of Annual Travelling Scholarships. This generous provision reflects his love of study and travel and also displays his affection for the students of the College. His wish was for students to be able to study abroad in any of a named group of his favourite European countries. This gesture is typical of the Peter we know and greatly appreciated by the College.

As a further reminder of Peter’s impact on the college, 2006 has been named as the year ‘Pete left the Party’.

Eulogy for Dr Peter Hemphill
Delivered by Mr David Ward, Master of Earle Page College
6 March 2006

My role today is to speak on behalf of Earle Page College students and staff, both past and present, about the very special relationship that Dr Peter Hemphill enjoyed with so many of us over 26 years. We have so many happy memories indeed.

I begin with a snapshot of the past 3 weeks since students started back in Earle Page. In this short period, Peter Hemphill:

• lunched in college almost every day
• socialised several times with his Top-B floor members
• organised gym outings for floor members
• sat on a Alumni Bursary Selection Panel
• attended the All Committees BBQ
• assisted with some academic advising
• was involved in the Resident Fellow Training Program
• attended Introductory Dinner just on the Friday night before he passed away
• was involved in Orientation events and activities as we welcome new Freshers to our community.

In Earle Page College, we allocate 2-3 Senior Common Room members to each Floor and Peter, as an SCR Member, but a noteworthy exception to regular membership, has been associated on almost a daily basis with the same Top-B Floor for the past 26 years as old students left and new ones arrived. This lead to him, quite unfairly, to assisting the new Top-B Freshers to win the Trivia competition this year much to the displeasure of other floors. Who would equal Peter’s general knowledge? I heard that he was upset though that there were too many ‘pop idol’ questions this year about which he knew little.

I note that in most years, he also attended the Toga Party in a splendid coloured bed sheet complete with ivy borrowed from the college walls. More importantly than just participating in these Orientation activities pursued totally by his own volition, he had become quite ‘unforgettable’ to our new First Year students in that short time.

Prior to term starting each year, and in fact in each holiday period, he called in regularly to college to talk to the staff and to check if Resident Fellows and others were in residence so that he could have lunch with them.

Last week he had planned for his 30 floor members to go to his lovely home and beloved garden for the traditional Top-B KDS “Keg Demolition Squad” party which he hosted annually. In fact, it was one of the first things that he arranged with the new floor Resident Fellow each year.

Well that’s just the February 2006 involvement in the combined life of Peter Hemphill and EPC. He also attended every formal dinner and most informal events in the College. Not only did he attend the EPC Coast Run Charity Fashion Parade, he modelled in it or compered it every year; not only did he support the actual 220km charity Run to the Coast, he ran in it most years, perfectly happy to rough it with the students in the various Scout Halls on the way so that he could relax with his college family; Not only did he attend inter-floor and inter-college competitions, he judged them; not only was he consulted on the acceptability, appropriateness, and legality of the use of the sayings emblazoned on College Floor shirts, he wore them often. (Incidently, his criterion for public acceptability for these sayings was that he had to be able ‘to stand in the Coles supermarket checkout queue wearing his College Floor Shirt with its witty inscription, right in front of the Vice-Chancellor, and not be embarrassed.’ Some were, I add quite risqué though).

In addition to organising very memorable floor parties, SCR Dinners and smaller college based dinner parties at his home on a regular basis, he has more importantly ‘connected’ in friendship and mentoring roles with the cycle of students that his floor has seen over 26 years. But it doesn’t stop there, he also engaged with so many beyond it in the broader college community. He taught and inspired members of the College with his knowledge of the world, its history, its peoples, cultures and languages, always delivered with panache and great wit. Finally, on a bureaucratic level, he was a regular attendee at SCR Meetings and assumed the role of its President in 1986.

Peter, as the significant ‘elder statesman of the College’ and I adopted different roles; he naturally played an avuncular role to my more paternal one, by nature of my position. He could stay at a floor party like a fun uncle can in a family party with many junior members, have a few too many drinks and then sleep the rest of the night on the common room lounge as he did quite often over the years. How endearing an uncle can be! Will the students of Earle Page College miss this man, this uncle, mentor and friend? I assure you that they do already in many ways. Will the staff, and especially the Master, miss his wise counsel, his knowledge of College history and culture, his enthusiasm for being with young people and his commitment to a traditional college life. I assure you, a mentor and friend has left us all. And all those students, staff and College Masters over those 26 years of Peter’s active involvement feel just the same today too. I have received so many emails from former Pagites around the world, and many have travelled very long distances across the country over this weekend to pay their respects. All have been shocked and saddened and messages are replete with adjectives such as inspirational, enthusiastic, warm, honest, extroverted, intelligent, loyal, energetic, wise, willing, committed, witty, supportive, active, articulate, generous, kind, unforgettable…and the list goes on. Some do include with honesty:, irreverent, naughty, outrageous and even slightly wicked as well, of course. And we all remember that distinctive laugh, something that I personally noted during any of my dinner speeches (That must have been OK, I’d think, Peter’s laughing)…

So many Old Pagites note that Peter’s fame, as both lecturer and collegian, is spread abroad. I’ve noticed myself that Old College members of particular eras seem to date themselves by whether Peter Hemphill was in college then or not and I’ve met people on the other side of the world who say “You live in Armidale, NSW?…You must know my friend Peter Hemphill then”. Such is the Peter Hemphill factor. The outstanding things that I have noted through all the correspondence and phone calls that I have received over the past week since Peter’s death are that everyone regarded him as a true friend, that memories of being around him were happy ones and that he had the ability to make people feel special.

Former Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ingrid Moses, who emailed her sympathy this week, recalled being initially quite daunted meeting him as he had had a reputation for being very ‘honest’ regarding Vice-Chancellor performance in the past, but they ended up having a very warm friendship based on their mutual love for art, history, music and gardens. Former Earle Page College Master, Phillip Raymont, emailed from Cambridge this week with similar comments and added that he appreciated highly Peter’s dedication and commitment to the College and knew that Peter quite relished being his advocate regarding some ‘up top’ university decisions that adversely affected the College and its students. Former Master Greg Eddy, now President of the Association of Heads of Australian University Colleges and Halls, noted Peter’s loyalty and generosity of spirit and went on to say that it is a shame that more Colleges around Australia don’t have a Peter Hemphill. I know that all of us as Masters, appreciated his refined skills as both the perfect host and guest. Always witty and entertaining, we all enjoyed his repartee especially placing him on High Table to engage with some of our more difficult or controversial guests at our dinners such as Annual Politics Dinner.

Thankfully, I did not ever have to bear the scars of Peter’s exceptional ability to let one know if he disagreed with aspects of one’s operation. As I indicated, even Vice-Chancellors, or indeed Chancellors, were not immune to the odd letter of complaint when Peter felt strongly or deeply concerned. We shared common interests, sense of humour and a strong belief in the strength of our college system and the benefits for all those associated with it, of college life. His only concern with my ‘Mastership’, of what could have been called his college, was last month when he came into my office to point out that I had placed his famous innovation, the SCR-JCR Committee Empire Day Dinner on the College Calendar too far away from the actual date of Empire Day …I had to look over my glasses with shame and say “But Peter, I’m really not sure what date it’s meant to be…It’s been a Commonwealth for some time now, in fact, all my life!) After an embarrassed laugh, I realised that ignorance was simply not a good enough excuse and undertook to have it moved even though the Calendars were printed and already on display. To be honest, I was wondering at the time whether he was going to supply sparklers again at that dinner and convince everyone that they should be lit and waved enthusiastically around in the Dining Hall with sparks flying everywhere…the result being the destruction of a dozen linen table cloths and many pock mark burns on the table tops which remain today. He did agree that year, that perhaps the ‘fun factor had swept past the safety factor at the time’. For more reasons than this, however, the Empire Day Dinner will never be the same again in EPC because it was at this event that Peter’s wit and intelligence, were at their best as he delivered a unique after-dinner speech each year, by heart, which celebrated the glorious deeds of those dedicated to the service of ‘our great and glorious Queen...Victoria’. He delighted, as did I, in observing the confusion of the listeners as he lead them down a path of examining Victorian era culture and attitudes, overlaid cleverly with humour and great wit, weaving in a history lesson, some vocabulary extension, a little bit of Latin and a touch Greek, some perfect, though possibly out-dated, grammatical constructions, a cultural lesson (Do Marquesses really fit below Counts and just under Earls in an order of Precedence?), and even a moral lesson as he went (Should we really be laughing, mid-speech, at unfortunate industrial workers and the lower classes slaving away for the wealthy minority?? …..Well, no we should not…His rebuke would be the final twist in the oration) Such was the way that he played effortlessly with the minds of the listeners …I know that I have touched a nerve here and that many of you have seen Peter in similar full swing, in other contexts, particularly as Kate has mentioned in his law lectures.

In another age or place, Peter would have been the slightly eccentric retired academic living in the ‘grace and favour’ flat upstairs in an old Oxford or Cambridge University College, appreciated by all for his academic contributions and also his commitment, though more restrained, I’m sure, to College life…Peter was, in fact, the only person living outside Earle Page College to whom I entrusted a set of security door keys to enter the buildings, so that he could meet with his student friends at his convenience at any time of the day or night. Certainly, he was a true ‘College Man’, exemplified by his commitment not only to the Earle Page College of his working life but also to Wesley College at the University of Sydney as a post-graduate student and member of High Table. I note that several old Wesley friends and the Wesley College Master are here with us today in recognition of that time in his life. They remember fondly his sophistication, his wealth of knowledge which was an on-going inspiration, and his unique sense of the absurd. Peter truly loved his university colleges and he loved the young people who inhabit them. Only at Introductory Dinner 10 days ago did he say to our Assistant Head, “I can’t understand why there are such negative views of the young people of today. I find them nothing but gracious, polite and enthusiastic for life”.

In standing here today, performing this quite unexpected and untimely duty, I feel some slight sense of relief that Peter did know that we, as a college, did appreciate him so very much. Indeed, in 2001, we publicly recognised Peter’s wonderful long-term contribution to the lives of college members, both a loyal and humble contribution at that, by naming the Top-B Common Room after him. This was decided in consultation with Peter’s College Floor Members of that time. We made it a fun event; it was a packed Annual Dinner with our 300 students in their gowns being joined by an additional 200 parents. Instead of just announcing the honour, or just presenting the brass plaque alone, I had it carried with full pomp and ceremony into the Dining Hall already affixed to a beautifully wrapped Common Room door. Peter was for probably the only time that I observed, utterly speechless. He stood there, next to the High Table in his academic gown, unwrapping this full-sized door to resounding applause and delight on all sides. He loved it and was moved by the genuine emotion. On the door plaque I had had all the following engraved -

I am so glad that this happy celebration occurred and that our appreciation of Peter was made very clear to him in life and not just noted at his passing. Now sadly, it is time for us to build a true memorial in the form of a lovely living Memorial Garden in the College, which will include a number of irises from his own garden.

But what about the future?…I am honoured to be able to reveal for the first time to you, his friends and college gathered here to honour his life, that Dr Peter Hemphill’s affection for the students of Earle Page College will continue long after his death. This affection will be demonstrated, in perpetuity, from this point on, through an extremely generous provision he has made to be held in trust to benefit them. This provision will provide a substantial number of Annual Travelling Scholarships for Earle Page College students. I believe Peter to be a true Renaissance Man and these Annual Scholarships reflect his love for travel and learning and his desire that students of the College should have access, as he did, to these dual benefits by travelling to, and undertaking a course of study in, any of a range of named European countries, including his beloved Italy. Peter has ensured by this generous bequest that his story does not end today and that his legacy will continue on into the College’s future, providing practical support and opportunities for students to grow and develop broadly with added international experience. Peter believed strongly in doing good and contributing to society and we, today, honour this commitment and loyalty. The College motto is ‘Each Prove Himself’ and certainly, Peter did just that. For those of us who knew him well and know the details, this is truly the ultimate, ‘very Peter Hemphill act’ and we appreciate his great thoughtfulness and generosity.

I am pleased to now hand over to the students of Peter’s Top-B Floor who requested to sing ‘Amazing Grace’ on behalf of all the Top-B Floor members over 26 years.