Monash University was founded as Victoria's second university in 1958 and opened its doors to students in 1961. When quotas were imposed on the University of Melbourne's law school in 1961, Monash was under pressure to quickly establish its law school more quickly than originally planned. Melbourne University's Professor of Jurisprudence, David Derham, was appointed its inaugural Dean. From October 1963 to March 1964, Derham and a skeleton sta designed a rst year curriculum and planned the forthcoming years' courses. It was an exciting time, and when the rst students arrived in 1964 they knew that the curriculum for their later years was still being written.
Appropriately for a law school, the Faculty's establishment was delayed by a dispute over the interpretation of the Monash University Act, concerning when and how the University Council could set up new faculties. Debate between the University, the Crown Solicitor and the Parliamentary Draftsmen eventually resulted in an amendment to the Act. Today, the Law School has approximately 2800 undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students, as well as several hundred academic staff, many of whom are world leaders in their field.
The history of Kindilan Society is rare amongst community residential
facilities for adults with a disability. Formed nearly forty years ago
as a Steiner School by parents of children with
a range of disabilities,
Kindilan Society has moved through
a number of significant phases
until the present time when it provides much more than education
and assistance for the disabled in our society. This history will trace
the beginnings
of the organisation, the fight for government funding,
increasing client numbers and will highlight pivotal staff members
and their vision for the organisation. It will reflect on and contextualise
changes in legislation, funding and staff models.
Using archival research, oral history interviews and a range
of 'vignettes'
of significant staff or residents, this history will
tell the story of the
different phases in the organisation's life.
To make sense of the
organisation's history, the story of Kindilan Society will be told
within the wider context of disability services in Australia.
