Doing Things Differently: Griffith University at 50

by Patrick Weller

A history of the first five decades of one of Australia's leading universities.

Griffith University's first students arrived on its leafy bush campus in March 1975. Without the pedigree of age, Griffith set out from the start to be different.

Drawing on interviews with over 150 staff and students, as well as wide-ranging documentary sources, Patrick Weller investigates what the university as an institution stands its goals, its activities, its values and its considerable achievements. He considers how its early ambitions have influenced its development, and how it has evolved over its first five decades. Doing Things Differently includes snapshots of the work of outstanding members of the Griffith community and insights into teaching, research, extra-curricular activities and governance. It asks to what extent the university achieved its ambitions and whether the values it espoused are still retained.

It is a fascinating account of one of Australia's leading institutions, one that sought to distinguish itself from the traditional models of university governances and organisation.

Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2025

Reviews

[Tara van Beurden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am going to preface my review with saying that I work at Griffith and have done for 12 years (which I have realised is approximately a quarter of its history - scary!). This book lays out the highlights of the University's first 50 years. Despite my own time there, much of the first hundred pages, the inception of Griffith, I did not know and I found rather interesting. The fact that the University was originally intended to be home to UQ's cast-offs was a particularly curious fact, particularly given the rivalry that exists between Brisbane's three main universities. I also really enjoyed learning how Griffith acquired Mt Gravatt and Gold Coast campuses and the Conservatorium and College of Arts. The Mt Gravatt is made more fascinating by the upcoming departure from that campus. The piece about Gold Coast explained some of the attitudes from Gold Coast staff over the years. I also realised I literally lived up the road from the original College of Arts campus as a child and it never clicked that it was Griffith. Subsequent chapters, whilst less informative for someone like me were still fascinating. I know so many of the names mentioned in these pages, and it was a fun deep-dive to learn more about these people, and the impact they have had on the University. One of the reasons I originally took the job at Griffith was in order to work someone where I felt I could make a difference to the world (or at least Brisbane), and contribute to something that will hopefully live long past my lifetime. I still feel that way, and I have no intention of leaving Griffith anytime soon - it has become an integral part of my DNA at this point. This book talks a lot about Griffith's desire to be different, its values as an organisation. One thing it doesn't highlight enough I think is that whilst those values may be important to the academic staff, they are, in some ways, more important to the professional staff. They are something discussed repeatedly among colleagues, something we consider when employing staff, something we cry when a decision doesn't make sense to us: "But that's not Griffith". I understand why the focus of this book is on the academics, even if Weller himself acknowledges that said academics often feel that the professional staff run the show. But a sentence or two noting that the professional staff, the rank and file, not the big wigs, also believe we are trying to do something different, would not have gone astray. I did however really enjoy discovering that getting anyone to make a decision at Griffith has been a labour since its inception!

A worthwhile read, particularly for any former/current staff or students.