15/05/1938 – 10/11/2025
Ian grew up as a Methodist minister’s son in country Victoria until he moved to Melbourne and entered Wesley in 1951, where he was known to his contemporaries as ‘Paddy’. He rowed for the school in the Head of the River in 1954 and 1955.
The year after leaving school, at age 18, he put together a coxed four which he stroked for the 1956 Olympic games. His young crew was initially named as bronze medallists, but they missed out after a photo finish camera revealed they were overtaken on the line. The emergence of Ian and his crew surprised the rowing community. In his book on Australian rowing, Bob Duncan OAM (OW1949), also an Olympic oarsman, wrote a chapter titled ‘Where the hell did they come from?’ to describe this unexpected success. For the 70th anniversary of the Melbourne Olympics, Ian and his crew are celebrated in this year’s official magazine of the Australian Olympic Committee.
At the age of 54, Ian returned to rowing at the Alan Mitchell Club to start a highly successful Masters career, rowing in pairs with his close friend, the late Hon Paul Guest OAM KC (OW1957), and fours with the addition of John Henshaw (OW1959) and Dennis Millikan (OW1960) (dec). In addition to winning numerous State and National championships, his crews competed in the World Masters Rowing Championships around the world, resulting in 16 gold medals.
Ian had an important career in education. After graduating from Melbourne University, he was awarded a master’s degree and doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, before becoming a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Georgia and being appointed Director of Professional Programs at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
Returning to Australia, he was Principal of Coburg Teacher’s College ahead of its amalgamation into RMIT University. As Executive Director of the Victorian Education Department, Ian played a key role in the rationalisation of the Victorian higher education sector and the establishment of the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM). He was Chair of the Australian Joint Committee on Higher Education from 1999-2000, which was tasked with the establishment of quality assurance standards for the higher education sector in Australia. Ian was also a member of the Councils of Monash, Deakin, Victoria and Swinburne Universities, and was Deputy Chancellor of La Trobe University.
In his retirement, Ian was a consultant to the governments of Chile, Oman and Saudi Arabia. He held Chairs in Education at Imam University in Riyadh and King Khalid University in Abha, Saudi Arabia, and was Chairman of the National Review Committee for Academic Accreditation and Assessment for the Saudi Government, 2005-2010.
Contributed by Geoff Allen AM (OW1960)
