Postcode 3010

The first light of dawn is still an hour away but the lights are already on at Union House as trucks arrive to bring the first of the tonnes of food and drinks consumed each day across the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne.

Building workers arrive on the sites of major construction of new facilities on campus. Down on the banks of the Yarra, members of the University boat club, Australia’s oldest rowing club, would be unloading equipment from their historic boatshed for training that will see some selected for the 2012 London Olympics.

And in some of the new learning spaces dotted across the campus, the lights didn’t go out at all as students read, reflect, ponder, write and socialise in the round-the-clock facilities.

The University of Melbourne is a 24-hour, 365 days a year community of more than 50,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students and staff based in Parkville and with a presence at Burnley, Creswick, Dookie, Shepparton, Southbank and Werribee along with affiliated research institutes and teaching facilities in major hospitals.

I had just walked across the campus from Graduate House on University Square – one of the University’s 12 residential colleges and home to 114 postgraduate students from across Australia and around the globe – where I had spent the previous night in a restored historic terrace house in anticipation of sampling as many of the academic and other activities going on at the University from early morning to deep into the next night.

While I was planning the story, Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar told me “the Melbourne campus experience is unique in Australia.

“I don’t think there are many other campuses that have the depth and richness that this one does in terms of community,” Professor Dewar says.

“We are a real community, not just a destination for study, a place where people work, eat, drink coffee, and enjoy a wide range of entertainment, cultural collections and libraries. The University of Melbourne is a distinctive physical space and a city in its own right. For students and for prospective students it’s the uniqueness of the place and the community, which means you have to come and see it and smell it for yourself.”

Back on campus students are streaming from the No 1 Swanston Street tram stop, cycling from near and far and walking from nearby student accommodation. Other students happily making their way are some of the 2000 students living on campus coming from the residential colleges around College Crescent and further north along Royal Parade with others nearby.

For many students their first port of call for the day is the Student Union.

“The Student Union is the heart and soul of student life at the University. Union House is a hub for student life, be it buying lunch at one of 20 cafes, meeting friends, visiting the Rowden White Library with its legendary “Do Not Study” signs on the tables or catching a show at Union House Theatre,” says Student Union President, Jesse Overton-Skinner.

“There’s always something exciting happening, whether it’s free breakfast Mondays, enjoying Tuesday beer, band and barbecue, reading (or even writing for) the student newspaper Farrago or attending one of the many collectives or workshops that are run throughout semester.

“To make the most of all the Student Union has to offer, it’s important to become a financial member. In addition to the warm glow you get from supporting independent student representation and activities on campus, there are many members-only benefits, discounts and access.”

In a masterstroke of original planning the University’s main oval and sporting facilities are in the centre of campus and central to University life.

“The facilities at Melbourne University Sport (MUS) are considered among the very best in Melbourne,” says Tim Lee, MUS Director.

“The benefit that regular physical activity has on the body and mind is well documented. MUS provides all University community members with a fantastic opportunity to improve their physical and mental wellbeing on a daily basis. The University’s sporting facilities and activities allow people to choose between exercising in a gym, hiring facilities or having a casual game with friends. If that doesn’t motivate people, then there is always the opportunity to join one or more of the 39 sporting, recreational or instructional clubs on offer.

“Sporting facilities and clubs add enormous value to the University by enriching the ‘Melbourne Experience’.”

By mid-morning students clutching notepads and laptops glide across the campus between lectures. But this ease and efficiency does not come about without precision planning and preparation.

“Our staff arrive prior to 8am, ready to resolve any issues arising overnight before classes (and ad hoc bookings) begin,” says Matt Wright, Manager, Timetable and Venue Management.

“Apart from a handful of 8am lectures, classes in the larger venues start at 9am and run through to 6.15pm. Smaller postgraduate classes run into the evening, with some of these not finishing up until 9.15pm.”

The combination of full-time study and part-time work makes the day crowded for most students, but as Di Rachinger, General Manager, Student Engagement, explains, “University offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore a range of local and international extra-curricular activities as well.

“Students taking part in programs and activities via the LIVE Unit (Leadership, Involvement, Volunteer Experience) have the opportunity to closely engage with a range of communities both local and international,” Ms Raschinger says.

“In addition to contributing in ways that make a real difference, students also broaden their knowledge and skills in areas highly valued by employers.

“One of our student groups undertook a community project with St.Mary’s House of Welcome in Fitzroy. Other student groups have worked with primary school children on a nutrition program, taught in an orphanage in Argentina, and run an art workshop with Burmese and Sudanese refugees.“

Choices and more choices abound come lunchtime. The University is a hive of activity at this time – classes at the Sports Centres and Student Union, meetings and activities of the many student clubs and societies, markets, book and food co-ops, concerts and recitals, faculty seminars, running, walking or cycling using the Bicycle Share scheme around Princes Park, booking a holiday at the on-campus travel agent, buying phone or computer gear, a hairdresser’s appointment or just sitting out on the South Lawn with friends.

It is these informal activities that in many ways provide the foundation for academic success and a positive experience of university life.

“For students it’s all about networks – networks of other students, making connections with tutors and academic staff, with people in the libraries and Learning Centres,” Professor Dewar says.

“It’s about building those networks and learning where help is available. Open Day is a really good way of getting your bearings. The key though is you have to be here, because you can never get the real sense of the place from a website.”

There are 18 food outlets in the student union and numerous cafes dotted around the campus and inside adjacent University buildings. Many college students return to their dining halls for meals. The staff club, University House, occupying the sole remaining 19th century professorial house, is bustling with members, guests and visitors.

I opt for sushi in the tranquility of the historic System Garden – the remnant of a unique teaching Botanical Garden begun in 1856 – located behind the School of Botany, one of the many quiet green spots around campus, before setting off to explore the new Student Centres that are emerging as focal points of study, learning, administration and advice.

The Eastern Precinct Student Centre designed by Cox Architects has transformed what was a narrow and uninviting concrete passage between two education buildings into a covered, light-filled and inviting interior flowing into a wi-fi cabana-style outdoor area.

Abutting it is a computer centre to which, like a number of other facilities on the campus, students with the relevant subject enrolment have 24-hour access.

“We wanted to create a safe and welcoming shared space for our students,” says Jon Peacock, General Manager, Learning Environments.

“We wanted it to say something to our students. We value you. We trust you. We support you. That’s why the finishes and fabric are high quality and we encourage access in the evenings and on the weekends. Secure proximity card access reserves the environment for the exclusive use of our enrolled students. The presence of security cameras and the regular patrols by campus security have proven to be effective strategies to enhance personal safety.

“And the results speak for themselves. Students vote with their presence. They are always present in the space, engaged in group discussion or solitary and reflective activity, as well as meeting friends. It speaks to the high calibre of our students that their respect for the environment and each other is very impressive.”  

Armed with a self-guided campus tour brochure I head off to take in the richness of the University’s architecture. Much of it came about in large part by accident – the University was starved of funding for long periods which were followed by a flurry of building in the style of the day.

Starting at the original Quadrangle, which was self-sufficient in water, I note the 1854 8-Hour Day plaque and make my way through precincts of distinctive architectural styles from the 1860s to the present.

The wisdom of the 1970 Masterplan – which emphasised the importance of the spaces between and around buildings – is evident in the immaculately maintained plantings and landscaping of the campus.

Cutting under the campus via the underground carpark – featured in the first Mad Max movie, the University being a favoured location for local and international film makers – I emerge at the main library, the Baillieu, which celebrated its 50th birthday last year. Jenny Ellis, Director Scholarly Information, tells me that when the Baillieu stays open until 3.00am on week days and until 9.00pm on weekends in the six week lead up to exams, 33,000 students come to the library between 11.00pm and closing weekdays and after 5.00pm on weekends.

The library is hosting the exhibition Banned Books in Australia, part of the University’s rich and diverse cultural collections, which includes The Potter @ University of Melbourne on Swanston street which is one of Melbourne’s most significant cultural institutions and features historic windows salvaged from the original Wilson Hall destroyed by fire in 1952.

I next call in to see Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Peter Rathjen, who oversees research at the University. He beckons me to his computer screen and an email received earlier in the day advising him that the University’s new Supercomputer has been installed and is up and running.

“We’ve gone from never having a real supercomputer to having a big bastard of a thing,” he declares with affection for the $100 million facility that will revolutionise medical research in Melbourne.

“We marvel about how vibrant this research community is - major changes seem to occur almost hourly!

“This supercomputer is completely out of our previous ballpark and a whole new world. It is a facility that serves the whole community. It’s at the University of Melbourne but it will be used by all medical researchers in Victoria and will be linked into international networks.”

The supercomputer will be available to researchers in the entire Parkville Precinct of the University, affiliated research institutes and teaching hospitals.

Professor Rathjen cites the Bionic Eye project as an early user of the super computer where its enormous power will enable it to simulate a human retina allowing far more accurate modelling of chip implanting than is possible under the current practice of using mice and rats.

“This initiative provides a glue that brings our whole research precinct together.”

The supercomputer will be available to researchers in the entire Parkville Precinct of the University, affiliated research institutes and teaching hospitals.

Professor Rathjen cites the Bionic Eye project as an early user of the super computer where its enormous power will enable it to simulate a human retina allowing far more accurate modelling of chip implanting than is possible under the current practice of using mice and rats.

“This initiative now means the whole precinct is tightening up and really holding together.”

By now it is mid-afternoon and I drop in on Professor David Runia, Master of Queen’s and chairman of the Heads of Colleges chapter.

His office, full of shelves lined with books and mahogany, looks very traditional, as does the College that he heads. But, he tells me, Colleges are vibrant places, full of youthful vigour.

“Colleges are really the best places to live in if you want to taste university life to the full, have a great university experience,” he says.

“They are very close by, there are always things going on, and yet it is also possible to study hard and get top marks there.

“This year the first batch of new generation students graduate. Next year some of them will start on the new graduate courses of the Melbourne model. Will they want to stay in College? If the Colleges want to attract graduate students – and most of them do – they will have to build superior facilities. There are lots of plans. They are now waiting to see whether the government will come to the party. They also want to attract more non-resident students. It’s a great opportunity.”

The evening’s highlight is a public lecture by 2001 Nobel Laureate Professor Jospeh Stiglitz, currently a Professor at Columbia University in New York. The lecture, Farewell to the invisible hand? A Global Financial System for the twenty-first century, is one of the hundreds of lectures, seminars, panels and book launches held at the University each year. Professor Stiglitz’s lecture was booked out quickly and two extra theatres are packed with eager patrons watching a live stream, which is also on the University’s web page.

Next I meet up with Josie Byrt, Cultural Services Manager & Theatre Administrator.

“Many hundreds of students choose to be involved in this extra-curricular activity for diverse reasons such as professional interest to hobby expanding on their current skills. Students come from all faculties of the University and VCAM,” she says.

“Union House Theatre provides these groups with professional advice and support in areas such as artistic, technical and administration.“

I make my 11.00pm appointment with Security and complete a final tour of the grounds, calling in on a number of locations where students are still hard at work.

And so, while I had packed a lot in, seen many highlights and made some discoveries of my own, like a traveller in a new city, I had the feeling that I had still only scratched the surface of the intriguing and enticing place that is the University of Melbourne.

For information on locations, organisations, activities and events go to and search in

http://www.unimelb.edu.au/