Editing Macquarie University (section)

===20th century===
[[Image:Professorpetermasondelivers first lecture.JPG|thumb|[[Peter Mason (physicist)|Peter Mason]] delivers first lecture]]

The idea of founding a third university in Sydney was flagged in the early 1960s when the [[New South Wales Government]] formed a committee of enquiry into higher education to deal with a perceived emergency in university enrolments in [[New South Wales]]. During this enquiry, the Senate of the [[University of Sydney]] put in a submission which highlighted 'the immediate need to establish a third university in the metropolitan area'.<ref>Liberality of Opportunity, Mansfield and Hutchinson, p. 19</ref> After much debate a future campus location was selected in what was then a semi-rural part of [[North Ryde, New South Wales|North Ryde]], and it was decided that the future university be named after [[Lachlan Macquarie]], an important early governor of the colony of New South Wales.

Macquarie University was formally established in 1964 with the passage of the Macquarie University Act 1964 by the New South Wales parliament.

The initial concept of the campus was to create a new high-technology corridor, similar to the area surrounding [[Stanford University]] in [[Palo Alto, California]], the goal being to provide for interaction between industry and the new university.<ref>''The Book of Sydney Suburbs'', Compiled by Frances Pollon, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia {{ISBN|0-207-14495-8}}, page 189</ref> The academic core was designed in the [[Brutalist architecture|Brutalist]] style and developed by the town planner [[Walter Abraham (town planner)|Walter Abraham]] who also oversaw the next 20 years of planning and development for the university. A committee appointed to advise the state government on the establishment of the new university at North Ryde nominated Abraham as the architect-planner. The fledgling Macquarie University Council decided that planning for the campus would be done within the university, rather than by consultants, and this led to the establishment of the architect-planners office.<ref name="University of Sydney">{{cite web |url=http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/architecture/274.html?newsstoryid=1452 |title=Wally Abraham – a distinguished planner for Sydney and Macquarie Universities |publisher=University of Sydney |access-date=20 September 2009 |archive-date=11 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080911132951/http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/architecture/274.html?newsstoryid=1452 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first vice-chancellor of Macquarie University, Alexander George Mitchell, was selected by the University Council which met for the first time on 17 June 1964. Members of the first university council included: Colonel Sir [[Edward Ford (physician)|Edward Ford]] OBE, [[David Paver Mellor]], [[Rae Else-Mitchell]] QC and Sir [[Walter D. Scott|Walter Scott]].<ref>{{cite dictionary|title=Biography – Sir Edward (Ted) Ford|chapter=Sir Edward (Ted) Ford (1902–1986) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ford-sir-edward-ted-12503|dictionary=The Australian Dictionary of Biography|access-date=29 March 2015|archive-date=29 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929034617/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ford-sir-edward-ted-12503|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary|title=Biography – Sir Walter Scott|chapter=Sir Walter Scott (1903–1981) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-sir-walter-15492|dictionary=The Australian Dictionary of Biography|access-date=29 March 2015|archive-date=27 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141227174519/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/scott-sir-walter-15492|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite dictionary|title=Biography – David Paver Mellor|chapter=David Paver Mellor (1903–1980) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mellor-david-paver-11104|dictionary=The Australian Dictionary of Biography|access-date=29 March 2015|archive-date=3 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150403063748/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mellor-david-paver-11104|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=1964 First University Council – Jubilee Hub|url=http://jubilee.mq.edu.au/Story/1012/First-University-Council|publisher=Macquarie University|access-date=29 March 2015|archive-date=2 April 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402152016/http://jubilee.mq.edu.au/Story/1012/First-University-Council|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[Image:First students Macquarie.JPG|thumb|left|First students at Macquarie University]]
The university first opened to students on 6 March 1967 with more students than anticipated. The Australian Universities Commission had allowed for 510 effective full-time students (EFTS) but Macquarie had 956 enrolments and 622 EFTS.<ref>Liberality of Opportunity, Mansfield and Hutchinson, p. 24</ref> Between 1968 and 1969, enrolment at Macquarie increased dramatically with an extra 1200 EFTS, with 100 new academic staff employed. 1969 also saw the establishment of the [[Macquarie Graduate School of Management]] (MGSM).
[[File:Macquarie University Library 1993.jpg|thumb|right|Macquarie University Library 1993, scaled by members of the Macquarie University Mountaineering Society during O-Week.]]

Macquarie grew during the seventies and eighties with rapid expansion in courses offered, student numbers and development of the site. In 1972, the university established the [[Macquarie Law School]], the third law school in Sydney. In their book ''Liberality of Opportunity'', Bruce Mansfield and Mark Hutchinson describe the founding of Macquarie University as 'an act of faith and a great experiment'.<ref>Liberality of Opportunity, Mansfield and Hutchinson, p. 317</ref> An additional topic considered in this book is the [[Macquarie science reform movement|science reform movement]] of the late 1970s that resulted in the introduction of a named science degree, thus facilitating the subsequent inclusion of other named degrees in addition to the traditional BA.<ref>Liberality of Opportunity, Mansfield and Hutchinson, pp. 268–271.</ref> An alternative view on this topic is given by theoretical physicist [[John Clive Ward|John Ward]].<ref>J. C. Ward, ''Memoirs of a Theoretical Physicist'' (Optics Journal, Rochester, 2004).</ref>

In 1973, the student union ([[Macquarie University Campus Experience|MUSC]]) worked with the [[Builders Labourers Federation]] (BLF) to organise one of the first "pink bans".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ross |first=Liz |date=2023-04-03 |title=Revolution Is For Us: Gay Liberation, Unions and the Left in the 1970s |url=https://commonslibrary.org/revolution-is-for-us-gay-liberation-unions-and-the-left-in-the-1970s/ |access-date=2023-07-09 |website=The Commons Social Change Library |language=en-AU}}</ref> Similar in tactic to the [[green ban]], the pink ban was recommended when one of the residential colleges at Macquarie University, Robert Menzies College, ordered a student to lead a [[celibacy|celibate]] life and undertake therapy and confession to cure himself of his homosexuality. The BLF decided to stop all construction work at the college until the university and the College [[wiktionary:master|Master]] made statements committing to a non-discriminatory university environment.  MUSC was successful in engaging with the BLF again in 1974 when a woman at Macquarie University had her NSW Department of Education scholarship cancelled on the basis that she was a lesbian and therefore unfit to be a teacher.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Green Bans, Red Union: Environmental Activism and the New South Wales Builders Labourers' Federation|last=Burgmann|first=Verity and Meredith|year=1998}}</ref>

After over a decade of service, the first vice-chancellor Mitchell was succeeded by [[Edwin C. Webb]] in December 1975. Webb was required to steer the university through one of its most difficult periods as the value of universities were debated and the governments introduced significant funding cuts. Webb left the university in 1986 and was succeeded by [[Di Yerbury]], the first female vice-chancellor in Australia. Yerbury would go on to hold the position of vice-chancellor for nearly 20 years.

In 1990, the university absorbed the Institute of Early Childhood Studies of the [[Sydney College of Advanced Education]], under the terms of the Higher Education (Amalgamation) Act 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1989/65/historical1999-12-03/ful|title=NSW Legislation|website=www.legislation.nsw.gov.au|access-date=12 April 2017|archive-date=27 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160727093514/http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1989/65/historical1999-12-03/ful|url-status=live}}</ref>