Online Archives Search

The idea for a community legal centre was first proposed in a paper entitled Professional Practice and discussed at a staff seminar on 2 April 1980 (Clinical Legal Education in papers for School of Law 16 September 1980 meeting). At the 14 October 1980 meeting of the School of Law, a Clinical Legal Education Committee was established to investigate this proposal. This committee reported back to the School on 14 April 1981 and it was then decided to proceed with a concept where two solicitors, who would be members of the full-time academic staff, would be appointed to supervise the work at the clinic and apart from this the subject would also have a seminar component to be supervised by the director of the clinic who would be a member of the teaching academic staff. On 4 May 1981 Dean Professor Ronald Sackville wrote to the Vice-Chancellor Professor Rupert Myers with a proposal for a legal clinic to commence operations from Semester 2, 1981, which in 1981 began on 20 July. After some discussion, on 21 May 1981 Professor Myers approved the proposal as an experiment of about nine months' duration with no forward commitment on anyone's part beyond that (file 035392). This decision was announced at the 2 June 1981 meeting of the School of Law, who gave their own approval to the idea. The first Director of the Centre was lecturer Neil Rees. The Clinic was located at located at 11 Rainbow St, Kingsford and was formerly opened on 9 September, 1981 (Uniken, 4 September 1981). By this time it had become known as the Kingsford Legal Centre and as David Nichols notes in the history From the Roundabout to the Roundhouse, it is not recorded exactly how the 'Kingsford' name took precedence, but it is presumably related to the location of the premises offered by Randwick Council and a desire to include residents of the adjoining Botany area while at the same time retaining a sense of local character (page 10). In a review of the Centre's operations in 1991, its then director Simon Rice also stated that Kingsford Legal Centre was not established as a separate legal entity...It was and remains only a name, used by the Faculty to identify the place at which one of its subjects is taught. The legal practice is in effect a private practice, with the benefit of the professional indemnity insurance and auditing facilities of the university (cited in From the Roundabout to the Roundhouse, pg 10). At the 20 October 1981 meeting of the Faculty of Law, a Kingsford Legal Centre Advisory Committee was established to review and advise on the operations of the Kingsford Legal Centre and on its role in the teaching and other activities of the Faculty. With the opening of the new law building in July 2006, Kingsford Legal Centre was re-located from its position in Kingsford to the rest of the faculty on the university campus. In 2007 the Director of the Centre was Anna Cody. Controlling Organisation: UNSW - by 20/07/1981-

On 30 July 1965 the Vice-Chancellor Professor J. P. Baxter wrote to Mr A. Strom, Chairman of the Fauna Protection Panel following Mr Strom's kind offer to assist the university in a establishing a Marsupial Research Station on land under the control of the Fauna Protection Panel at Berowra. In a responding letter on 13 August 1965, Mr Strom noted that the Fauna Protection Panel has agreed in principle to the establishment of the Marsupial Research Station for the University of New South Wales at the Hallstrom Faunal Research [No. 15 at Cowan]. In a letter to the Minister for Education, the Hon C. B. Cutler, dated 30 July 1965, the Vice-Chancellor also noted that the main aim of the station was to obtain the best facilities that are available for the newly appointed foundation professor of zoology, Dr G. B. Sharman, who was to commence at the university on the 1st January 1966 and it is imperative that accommodation for his marsupial research be available by this date as he is bringing with him his mob of kangaroos and wallabies. The station thus appears to have into existence from the date that Professor Sharman entered on duty and seems to have been managed by the Department of Zoology in the School of Biological Sciences (file 00370998). On 6 July 1966 the Associate Bursar provided a file note indicating that all university research stations should be called 'field stations', prefaced in each case by the locality name. On 23 August 1966 the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor B. J. Ralph, wrote to the Bursar, Mr. E. H. Davis, confirming that it has been decided that the field station at Cowan will be known as the 'Cowan Field Station' (file 00014498). On 8 July 1968 Council approved the creation of the Faculty of Biological Science effective from 1 July 1968 (resolution 68/108). At the same time the Department of Zoology was redesignated the School of Zoology and so the Field Station came under the remit of this school. On 6 October 1976 arrangements for the Field Station became more formalised, when a licence agreement with the National Parks & Wildlife Service for occupation of the Cowan Field Station until 31 December 1990, including first option for renewal, was executed under seal of the university (file 00371253). At the 13/21 July 1987 meetings of Council, the amalgamation of the schools of Botany and Zoology to form the School of Biological Science was approved, to be effective from 1 January 1988, and the Field Station thus became managed by this school. At the 2 December 1996 meeting of Council the Faculty of Biological & Behavioural Sciences was disestablished effective 1 July 1997 (resolution CL96/88/4). As a result, from this date the School of Biological Science was transferred to the Faculty of Life Sciences. On 25 October 1994 the licence agreement with the National Parks & Wildlife Service was extended for a further twenty year period (file 023809). On 18 Jun, 2001 Council resolved to disestablish the Faculty of Life Sciences and create a new single model Faculty of Science effective from 1 July, 2001- including the School of Biological Science (resolution CL001/49). The School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences (BEES) was formed by Council on 8 October 2001 within the Faculty of Science effective from 1 January 2002 as a result of the disestablishment of the former schools of Biological Science, Geology and Geography (resolution CL001/84). The Field Station therefore became a part of this new school from this date. In 2009 the Director of the Field Station was Professor Rob Brooks. Controlling Organisation: UNSW - 01/01/1966-

On 11 July 1960 the Council resolved that approval be given to immediate action being taken with a view to the acquisition by the university of the following areas for biological field stations: i) an area of Crown land on the south side of Smith Lake, which is 180 road miles from Sydney and 15 miles south of Forster, having a half mile frontage to the Pacific Ocean with a depth of one and a half miles to Smith Lake, together with an island in the lake; ii) two adjacent twenty-acre plots of rain forest and sclerophyll forest, respectively, which are located in the Wallangat State Forest and are accessible to and within easy distance of the main Smith Lake area. These initial requirements were altered slightly and following negotiations with the NSW Government, in Gazette No. 97 of 9 September 1966, the NSW Governor appointed the university as trustee of Reserve No. 85,893 at Smith's Lake, parish of Forster, county of Gloucester, notified 22nd July, 1966, for Promotion of the Study and the Preservation of Native Flora and Fauna. On 6 July 1966 the Associate Bursar had provided a file note indicating that all university research stations should be called 'field stations', prefaced in each case by the locality name. Thus the station at Smith's Lake officially became known as Smith's Lake Field Station (file 00014498). Shortly afterwards, the erection of a small Laboratory building was commenced, which was completed by early December. The Field Station appears to have been operated by the Department of Zoology (file 00371027). On 8 July 1968 Council approved the creation of the Faculty of Biological Science effective from 1 July 1968 (resolution 68/108). At the same time the Department of Zoology was redesignated the School of Zoology and so the Field Station came under the remit of this school. Under Government Gazette No. 10, published on 25 January 1980, an area of land surrounding and including the Field Station was added to the Myall Lakes National Park. As a result the land was no longer under the trusteeship of the university and had instead reverted to the Minister for Lands. On 15 September 1980 A. J. Foster, the Regional Secretary for the Central Region, National Parks and Wildlife Service, wrote to the university indicating that the Service would wish to commence discussions on the future use, and occupancy, of the research station by the university with a view to determining the need to execute formal leasing/licensing agreements (file 00371030). On 20 January 1990 a lease agreement with the National Parks & Wildlife Service was executed under seal for the university's use of the land for the Field Station until 13 October 2006 (file 00019789). At the 13/21 July 1987 meetings of Council, the amalgamation of the schools of Botany and Zoology to form the School of Biological Science was approved, to be effective from 1 January 1988, and the Field Station thus became managed by this school. At the 2 December 1996 meeting of Council the Faculty of Biological & Behavioural Sciences was disestablished effective 1 July 1997 (resolution CL96/88/4). As a result, from this date the School of Biological Science was transferred to the Faculty of Life Sciences. On 18 Jun, 2001 Council resolved to disestablish the Faculty of Life Sciences and create a new single model Faculty of Science effective from 1 July, 2001- including the School of Biological Science (resolution CL001/49). The School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences (BEES) was formed by Council on 8 October 2001 within the Faculty of Science effective from 1 January 2002 as a result of the disestablishment of the former schools of Biological Science, Geology and Geography (resolution CL001/84). The Field Station therefore became a part of this new school from this date. A renewal of the Smith's Lake lease agreement with the National Parks & Wildlife Service appears to have been signed during 2006 (files 910996 and 2003/2114). In 2009 the Field Station remains a part of the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences. Controlling Organisation: UNSW - c. 22/07/1966-