A medical graduate of the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford, D.G. Penington was Professor of Medicine at this University 1970- 1987, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine 1978-1985, and Vice-Chancellor from 1988 until 1995. Among his extra-mural activities were the Chairmanship of the Committee of Inquiry into the Rights of Private Practice in Public Hospitals, 1984, and of the AIDS Task Force 1984-1987. He played a leading part in the controversy surrounding the Victorian Certification of Education and in the defence of the autonomy of universities. In 1999, he was appointed chair of the Victorian State Government Drugs Taskforce.
| 1996.0007 | PENINGTON, DAVID GEOFFREY, PROFESSOR | 1983-1995 | 72 cm. | Addresses, 2 July 1985-7 December 1995; records of Professor Penington's involvement with the Aids Task Force, 1987; Committee of Inquiry into Rights of Private Practice in Public Hospitals 1983- 1984; Files on legal cases of individuals infected with AIDS in the course of receiving blood transfusions, 1989-1990 Invitations, 1990-1993 | Yes box level list ONLINE | Access: Restricted |
| 1995.0117 | PENINGTON, DAVID GEOFFREY, PROFESSOR | 1989-1993 | 2.52 m. | Files relating to The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute 1991-1995; the Strategic Planning Group on External Relations (SPEGER) 1992; the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee Executive and Board of Directors 1990- 1992; Australian Universities Industrial Association (AUIA) including the Australian Higher Education Industrial Association 1989 -1993; Files relating to AIDS Task Force. | Yes box level list ONLINE | Access: Restricted |
John Foster was born in 1944 in Melbourne. After undergraduate studies at the University of Melbourne and postgraduate studies in Britain and Germany, Foster returned to Melbourne University in 1970 to lecture in modern German and Jewish history until illness forced his early retirement in 1993. Editor of 'Community of Fate: Memoirs of German Jews in Melbourne', Foster's illness sadly prevented him completing his major study of German-Jewish industrialists between 1880 and 1940. Gardening was one of his passions (he was a descendant of Taylor gardeners) and he wrote about garden design. Foster was also author of 'Take me to Paris, Johnny', a book that paid tribute to Foster's partner Juan Cespedes who died in 1987. The book was shortlisted for the 1993 Age Book of the Year. John Foster died on 6 May 1994.
Peter Craven’s beautiful introduction to Take Me To Paris, Johnny.
| 1997.0085 | Foster, John Harvey | 1970-1994 | 8 archive boxes | Personal Papers: Correspondence, 1970s-1994; material relating to Juan Cespedes; drafts and other items relating to John Foster's "Take me to Paris Johnny"; photographs. Correspondence relating to Jewish Affair, Council of Christians and Jews. | Yes listed ONLINE | Access: Open |
Prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality, gay men were often arrested and charged with offensive behaviour under the Victorian Summary Offences Act.
In 1979, Terry Stokes was a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne and part time tutor in History and Philosophy of Science. At the beginning of the academic year, he moved into the University’s Graduate House, a residential college situated in Leicester Street, Carlton. Stokes was middle class and quietly spoken. His much younger boyfriend Darren Turner was good-looking and rebellious. On Saturday 8 September, they went for a social drink at the Woolshed Bar (Hotel Australia) in Collins Street. Out the front, Constable Anthony Burke saw the two men kissing and arrested them.
The case was heard in the Melbourne Magistrates Court. Both men pleaded not guilty. Terry received a fine of $75 in default of 7 days jail and Darren a fine of $100 in default 15 days. The charge of loitering with homosexual intent was dropped.
The University of Melbourne Gay Society (GaySoc) assisted with court costs. However, after The Age reported the case, there was an outbreak of anxiety and anger within the University community that exposed very divergent views around sexuality.
On Monday 8 October, the Acting Warden of Graduate House, Barbara Funder issued Stokes an eviction notice, effective within seven days. Immediately, students, workers and gay liberation activists rallied and mobilised their support. Tuesday evening, more than one hundred men and women assembled outside the Hotel Australia and staged a ‘kiss-in’ demonstration that lasted for about an hour (see The Age photograph). Humorous re-enactments of the kisses were timed with (organiser) Kay Barry’s stopwatch. The police made no arrests.
The next day, about 20 students occupied Graduate House until mid-afternoon. The University Cafeteria workers subsequently held a stop work meeting. Backed by the Liquor and Allied Trades Union, they delivered a strong message of protest. The SRC also passed motions that the University had acted unjustly and the student newspaper Farrago voiced similar concerns.
The argument made by Graduate House was not clear-cut. The Acting Warden, Barbara Funder used breach of overnight visitor rules to evict Stokes, which he appealed. In her statement to the Board (see Julian Phillips Collection), she mentions a Council Member, who had worried about the newspaper report and telephoned her. Warden Berry on the other hand, made the public claim on broadcast radio (interviewed by the ABC) that it was Stokes’ homosexuality that had upset people (see Julian Phillips collection).
A search of the records held by UMA reveals that social justice law lecturer Julian Phillips attended the Graduate House Board meeting with Stokes and spoke persuasively. The Board concluded that the Warden had a right to evict a student for breach of the rules but they rejected discrimination on the grounds of homosexuality. Thus, Stokes was re-instated. But he did not return to Graduate House because as a condition of the appeal, he’d been required to find alternative accommodation.
References
1. Julian Phillips Collection 1992.0165
2. Dianne Otto Collection 2000.0109 (Box 4/18)
3. AUS Women’s Department Collection 2000.0155
4. Gay Community News, Nov 1979
5. Farrago 18 Oct 1979, p.5
6. UM Student Representative Council (SRC) Collection 1980.0029 (Boxes 6, 8, 9)
7. Telephone interview, Terry Stokes, 16 December 2016