Bassett Memorial Biennial Oration

This biennial oration has been a feature of the Queensland Branch's activities.  The Bassett Biennial Oration was established by the Australian College of Educators Queensland Branch in 1999 to commemorate the life and work of Professor George William Bassett.

PERPETUAL DEDICATION

I feel deeply honoured to be asked to write the dedication for the Bassett Biennial Oration, established in memory of my husband, Professor Bill Bassett, but now I am wondering whether my acceptance was rather precipitous. Although I have always had some understanding of his educational philosophy, I lack his experience in the practising of his profession.

However, while searching through his papers for inspiration, I came across letters, written over the years from leading educators, expressing appreciation of his work, so I decided to use excerpts from those letters to compose a dedication.

The first is a letter from Professor Chris McRae, who was principal of Sydney Teachers' College when Bill was a member of staff, and written soon after Bill was appointed to the Chair of Education at Queensland University.

Discussing the role of the administrator, McRae first of all describes one type - cocksure, making decisions without consulting anybody else, and then walking away from the problem - and then he goes on to say: "On the other hand, there is the fellow who is not so sure about being right every time, who is deeply concerned about the people he is expected to lead, and can't just put aside a decision, then forget the problem; who regards the job of worth as much more important than himself, his advancement and his own personal success - you, Bill, fall into this group."

Another eminent educationist, Joslin Owen CBE, Chief Education Officer for Devon, UK, who had first met Bill at an Education Conference in Ontario, Canada, wrote in September 1980, after Bill had retired: "Your careful, benign, and constantly good-humoured model of scholarliness and the life of the active educator have both opened my eyes and broadened my vision. Those who studied under you were very, very fortunate."

Perhaps of even greater interest to members of the ACE are the remarks contained in a letter from Sir James Darling, written to Bill to congratulate him on being made a member of the Order of Australia in 1979: "You have, over the years we have known each other, been an ever-present help to me, and I very greatly appreciated your great knowledge and wisdom and your sanity in a field of learning not always so advantaged. It is largely due to your academic eminence that the College has prospered, and has retained the respect, up to a point, of the more academic side of the profession, and you have done much to educate the rest of us more empirically minded schoolmasters."

Bill was always very proud of the honours conferred on him by the College - his Honorary Fellowship and the College Medal - and right until his death retained his interest in it and was on the editorial staff of Unicorn. 

And now I end this dedication of the Bassett Biennial Oration with the words of Dame Leonie Kramer, then Chancellor of Sydney University, who wrote to me, after Bill's death in 1999: "He was a remarkable educator, a man with a firmly held educational philosophy and a clear understanding of how to put it into action."

Phyllis Bassett, 1 September 2001