Chancellors of Murdoch University

The University’s fifth Chancellor, Terence (Terry) Budge, is a highly successful businessman with a distinguished career in banking, management and business leadership.  

Mr Budge graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Economics and is a Graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School. He is also a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Banking and Finance and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management.

Most recently Terry Budge was Group Managing Director of BankWest from December 1997 to May 2004, having previously joined the bank as Chief Operating Officer in May 1997.

Prior to his appointment at BankWest Mr Budge worked at the National Australia Bank (NAB) for 25 years where he held a number of senior managerial roles. These included General Manager Group Strategic Development 1991; State Manager, Queensland 1992-93; State Manager, NSW & ACT 1994-95; General Manager of Business Support 1995-96; and Chief Economist. Immediately prior to his appointment at BankWest, Mr Budge was General Manager, Strategy and Integration, Australian Financial Services at the NAB.

In 2003 Terry Budge’s eminent contribution to the Australian banking industry was recognised when he was awarded a Centenary Medal for Service to Australian Society through the finance sector.

He currently holds a number of directorships including Chairman of the West Australian Land Authority (LandCorp), Chairman of Leadership WA, and a director of Aspen Group Limited and Westoz Investment Company Limited. In 2007 he headed a Functional Review into the WA Department of Industry and Resources (DOIR).

Mr Budge is also a member of the Major Stadia Taskforce established in 2005 to review Perth’s existing sports stadia and future needs, and has been serving as Campaign Chair for Rotary WA Cord Blood Bank fund raising program.

He is a former National Director and President of the WA Division of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), a former Director of the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research, a former State President of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), and a former member of the Federal Government's Financial Sector Advisory Council.

Terry Budge has also been a member of the Murdoch University Senate since 2004 and has served as a visiting Professor in the University’s School of Business.

See also:
Investiture of the Chancellor - Address by Mr Terry Budge, 7 March 2007

Murdoch University’s Chancellor from 2002-2006, Geoffrey Bolton AO, was born in 1931 in Perth, Western Australia. He is one of Australia’s most eminent historians and prominent socio-political commentators and is the author of 15 books and has contributed to many more.

Geoffrey Bolton was educated at the University of Western Australia earning a Bachelor of Arts with first Class Honours in 1952 and a Master of Arts in 1954. On a Hackett Research Scholarship he studied at Balliol College, Oxford University where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts with first Class Honours in 1956. He earned a Master of Arts and his PhD from Oxford University in 1961. 

Geoffrey Bolton was Senior Lecturer at Monash University from 1962-1965, and then Professor of Modern History at the University of Western Australia from 1966-1973. During this time he was also Visiting Professor at the University of Kent, England, in 1971.

Geoffrey Bolton’s long and distinguished association with the University began with his appointment to the Murdoch University Planning Board (1970-73). He also served on the academic, buildings, site, and Vice Chancellor’s selection committees at this time. Professor Bolton was among the first members appointed to the University Senate serving from 1973-1976 and again in 1999-2002, and 2002-2006.

Geoffrey Bolton was appointed Murdoch University’s Foundation Professor of History in the School of Social Inquiry in 1973, a position he held until 1989. In 1979 he was Visiting Commonwealth Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge and from 1982-1985 he was seconded to establish and head the Australian Studies Centre at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. Geoffrey Bolton left the University in 1989 to take up the inaugural Chair of Australian History at the University of Queensland. In 1993 he returned to Perth, accepting an invitation from Edith Cowan University to establish their history program.

Geoffrey Bolton is the author of many books and articles and he has been General Editor of the prestigious, five-volume “Oxford History of Australia” and author of volume five of that series.

Geoffrey Bolton is the recipient of several prestigious awards including Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) 1984 in recognition of distinguished service of a high degree to Australia for his services to education, and a Centenary Medal in 2001 for services to the Centenary of Federation celebrations in Western Australia. In recognition of his major contribution to Australian history and the community Geoffrey Bolton was named the WA Australian of the Year 2006.

Geoffrey Bolton has twice been awarded an honorary Degree by the University. In 1995 he was awarded a Doctor of the University (citation) and in 2000 a Doctor of Letters (citation).

Frederick (Fred) Chaney AO was born in 1941 in Perth, Western Australia. He served as Murdoch University’s third Chancellor from 1995-2002. 

Fred Chaney is a former Senator and member of the House of Representatives and is widely respected for his distinguished work with the Aboriginal Legal Service and the National Native Title Tribunal.

Fred Chaney graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Laws in 1962.  He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor in Western Australia in 1963 and in Papua New Guinea the following year where he worked as a Crown Prosecutor from 1964-1965.  After returning to Western Australia he worked in private law practice from 1966-1974 with an emphasis on mining-related work.  In 1972 he co-founded the Law Society of Western Australia's Legal Advice Bureau. Fred Chaney was also involved with the Aboriginal Legal Service in the early 1970s, being a foundation member of the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA in 1972.

Fred Chaney was elected to the Australian Senate in 1974 serving as a Liberal Party Senator until his resignation in 1990. During this time he was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1983-1990. He was elected Member for Pearce in the House of Representatives from 1990–1993. Fred Chaney’s ministerial appointments, in the Fraser Government, included Aboriginal Affairs, Social Security, Minister Assisting the Minister for Education, and Minister Assisting the Minister for National Development and Energy.

From 1993-1995 Fred Chaney undertook research into Aboriginal Affairs policy and administration as a Research Fellow with the Graduate School of Management at the University of Western Australia. 

He was appointed part-time Member of the National Native Title Tribunal in 1994, appointed a full-time Member in 1995 and has served as Deputy President of the tribunal since 2000. The Hon. Fred Chaney is also a Director of Reconciliation Australia and served as Co-Chair from 2000-2005. 

In recognition of distinguished service of a high degree to Australia Fred Chaney was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1997. This recognised his service to the Parliament of Australia and his work for the Aboriginal community via his contribution to the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia and the National Native Title Tribunal. He was also awarded a Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to parliament and education.  

Fred Chaney was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) by Murdoch University in 2003 (citation).

See also:
Investiture of the Chancellor - Address by The Hon Fred Chaney AO, 9 February 1995
Installation Address by His Excellency Major-General Michael Jeffery AC AO (Mil) CVO MC, 9 February 1995
"Installation marks the beginning of new era", Murdoch News, Autumn 1995.

Sir Ronald Darling Wilson was born in Geraldton, Western Australia, in 1922 and died in 2005. He was Murdoch University’s second Chancellor serving five, three year terms from 1980-1995.

Sir Ronald Wilson was a distinguished Australian lawyer, judge and social activist renowned for his integrity, humility and leadership qualities. His deep and sustaining Christian faith underpinned his approach to life and his advocacy for justice and equity for the most disadvantaged in society. After leaving school at the age of 14 Ronald Wilson worked as a messenger in the Geraldton courthouse and then as a junior clerk in the Crown Law Department in Perth. In 1942, during World War 11, Ronald Wilson enlisted in the Australian armed forces, serving initially in the Australian Imperial Force. He later transferred to the Royal Australian Air Force and fought as a Spitfire pilot in Britain . Upon his discharge from the RAAF in 1946 he enrolled at the University of Western Australia , graduating with a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours in 1949. Ronald Wilson was admitted to the Western Australian Bar in 1951. In 1956-1957 he held a Bi-centennial Fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and was awarded a LLM at that university.

At the WA Crown Law Department Sir Ronald Wilson was promoted from Assistant Crown Prosecutor to Chief Crown Prosecutor in 1959 and was appointed Crown Counsel in 1961, a position he held until 1969. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1963 and was Solicitor-General for Western Australia from 1969-1979. Sir Ronald Wilson was elected by the Murdoch University Senate as its new Chancellor in 1979 and in the same year became the first West Australian to serve on the High Court of Australia (as a Justice until 1989).

Sir Ronald Wilson served as a Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in 1965 and was the first Moderator of the Western Australian Synod of the Uniting Church from 1977-1979. He was the first national lay President of the Uniting Church of Australia from 1988-91. In the meantime Sir Ronald served as one of the Royal Commissioners to inquire into the Commercial Activities of Government in WA during the 1980’s (also known as “WA Inc”).

Sir Ronald was President of the Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission from 1990-1997 and Deputy Chairperson of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1991-1994. He presided over the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families and co-authored with Mick Dodson the “Bringing Them Home” report published in 1997. This led to the creation of a “National Sorry Day” and a walk for Reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2000 with 400,000 people participating.

As a former President of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) from 1997-2001 Sir Ronald Wilson is remembered as a social activist and humanitarian who promoted international aid and development and worked towards ending global poverty and extending greater equality and protection of human rights for all people.

As Chancellor of Murdoch University Sir Ronald Wilson presided over the Senate efficiently and graciously and is remembered for his unstrained dignity and humour and the humanity and idealism that imbued his public and private life. Following his retirement as Chancellor Sir Ronald remained a passionate campaigner for the University as patron of the campaign for a new law building and patron of the University Theology campaign as well as donor of the “Ronald Wilson Prize in Law”. Much of his financial support, however, was offered anonymously.

In 1978 Sir Ronald Wilson was awarded the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for services to the community in Western Australia. In 1979 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire - Knights Commander (KBE) in recognition of distinguished service to Australia as a Judge of the High Court, and in 1988 awarded a Companion in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC) for services to the law. He was also honoured with a Centenary Medal in 2001 for service as a Justice of the High Court of Australia and to human rights.

Sir Ronald Wilson was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of the University) by the University in 1995 (citation).

See also:
"Confidence, Humour in Installation Speech", Murdoch News, 20 March 1980.
"Farewell Sir Ronald ... the feeling's mutual", Murdoch News, Autumn 1995.

John Leonard Clifton Wickham was born in Western Australia in 1919.  He had a distinguished career as judge and Queens’s Counsel, and was well-known for his deep concern for social issues. The Honourable Justice Wickham was the Foundation Chancellor of Murdoch University and served two, three year terms from 1974-1980. 

In his history of the first ten years of Murdoch University “It Had Better Be a Good One” Professor Geoffrey Bolton refers to John Wickham as “a humane, thoughtful, and fair-minded jurist and an excellent choice” as the University’s first Chancellor.

After graduating from the University of Western Australia, John Wickham was admitted to practise as a solicitor in 1942. He was a foundation member of the Independent Bar of Western Australia in 1962 and of the Western Australian Bar Association (WABA) that was formed in 1963.

The Hon. John Wickham was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1967 and was a justice of the Supreme Court of Western Australia from 1969-1983. He was appointed a joint Commissioner Assisting the Senate Inquiry into the conduct of the Hon. Justice Murphey of the High Court in 1984 and was the Chairman of the W.A. Anti-Corruption Commission from 1989-1997. He was also a Visiting Lecturer in Law at the University of Western Australia and editor of WA Law Reports from 1960-1968. John Wickham also served his old school, Guildford Grammar, as a council member for 21 years and was its chairman for four years.

He was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of the University) by the University in 1984.

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* These photographs are reproduced with the kind permission of the University Photographer, Mr Brian Richards.