Full Speech delivered by Dr Sundarason at the History of International House launch, July 2004

I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak with you. Let me begin by congratulating Prof. Humphreys on his achievement in producing this book on the history of International House. I expect, many of us after reading the book will recollect some omissions and be disappointed they had not communicated with Professor Humphreys earlier. I shall not be surprised if Professor Humphreys publishes another book with an amended history of International House.

I wish to share with you some of the significant events that influenced the establishment of International House. The International House story begins with a racist snub encountered by a few Asian students in a Portsea pub in May 1950 and witnessed by some Australian students including Sam Dimmick, one of the most progressive people I have had the good fortune of knowing. The students were unanimous in their view that ignorance and misconception that prevailed were the result of lack of contact between races. Hence the idea of International House was conceived.

Our vision was twofold. Firstly, to provide a standard of accommodation similar to that offered by other residential colleges and secondly to provide a platform to promote international understanding and tolerance between Asian and Australian students. The International House evolved beyond our initial aspirations, offering not only a residence and a melting pot of cultures, but it also provided educational and a real world support in the form of tutorial programs and networking opportunities. Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the founders of International House is the opportunity they provided for bonds to be forged. Friendship and fellowship are abundant at International House and endure long after the students leave.

The next important development was to find an ideal location near the university to build the International House. Sam Dimmick and I spent weekends looking for the ideal location. When we passed this property along Royal Parade, we instinctively knew this was the right place. Procuring that and the adjoining property was a milestone in the development of International House. Sure enough once the site was acquired fundraising became easier and the International House dream started to become a reality. The greatest achievement was to invite people and organizations with common ideals and goals who volunteered their whole hearted support for the project.

The women's committees and Rotary clubs throughout Victoria were among those who passionately supported the project.  International House may have been the brainchild of a small group of Asian and Australian students, but it was made possible by the people of Victoria whose willingness to support the project made the work of the fundraisers much easier. The initiative like International House was unprecedented, but is no less important and relevant today. It should continue to serve as an inspiration to embrace differences and celebrate diversity.

A House is Built, written by Dr Marie Fels

A House is Built was written by Dr Marie Fels (wife of Mr Bob Fels, Warden of International House, from 1982-97) on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the official opening of the House, celebrated on 9 June 1983.

The central fact which we celebrate today (9 June 1983) is the transformation of an idea into living reality, into a multi-cultural community sharing a common belief in 'Fraternitas', into buildings and gardens, academic, administrative and support services; into ritual and tradition, flag and gown, and the beautiful blue and gold of the House's colours. Melbourne's International House of 1983 is the product of past giving, both private and public: the Victorian government, and the governments of Australia, Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, Ceylon, New Guinea, Fiji, Britain, Canada  and the USA all contributed.

The idea emerged in discussions between three students at Melbourne University in 1949, Mr Sam Dimmick, Mr Abinash Jerath and Mr Rajaratnam Sundarason. Perceiving the need for decent accommodation for increasing numbers of overseas students coming to Melbourne in the postwar and decolonization period, they went further and imagined a place where students from many countries could live and study together, and in their daily living, move towards international understanding and friendship. It is too early to write THE HISTORY: the measured and balanced narrative of the future must account as well for the struggles and setbacks as for growth and development. What the twenty fifth anniversary offers is a public opportunity to call to mind the immense enthusiasm and labour of those who build the House, as well as a chance to pause and read in the present the traces left behind by those who lived some years of their lives in the House.

Within the 1.6 hectares on Royal Parade, the major buildings testify to the generosity of individuals and families. The building we know colloquially as Clunies was the first to be built. Opened on 24 May, 1958, by the then Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, it commemorates the distinguished services of the first Chairman of the International House Council, Sir Ian Clunies-Ross. The second building was named after the second Chairman, Professor Sir Samuel Wadham; Lord Casey opened it on 23 March, 1963. Our gothic revival treasure, purchased by the University in 1967, has been named after Dame Hilda Stevenson, who also gave the House its squash court. The octagonal Scheps wing was opened in 1972, both it and the Federation-style red brick next door known as Ida Scheps marking the generosity of Ted Scheps. Greycourt, the Victorian mansion purchased from the Royal Melbourne Hospital in 1976, still awaits incorporation into our mythology.  

What is not apparent is how this steady expansion was generated. From a foundation community of forty two men, we are now a co-educational community of 250 people from 15 countries. It is a plaque just inside the front doors that provides some understanding - small in size, modest in wording, its central position reflects accurately the place of the Women's Auxiliaries in the building of the House. The range of their fundraising activities (the records of which are preserved in the archives for the historian of the future) is truly astonishing. With accuracy, the claim is made that while the women continued to work for the House, the International House Council went ahead confidently with its purchasing of land.

Of these ten or more groups, the Law Auxiliary continues to work, its recent funds going to the extension of the Library and the Scholarship and Bursary Fund. Unmarked by any exterior signs is the work of the original Appeal Committee composed of academics and business people. Equally crucial to the on-going work of the House is the continuing contribution made by the Ross and Angliss Trusts, the Lee Foundation and the Friends of International House.

The hub of present life would be the hall and covered walkway along the east-west alignment, from the offices which Mrs De Lisle and Mrs Colwell occupied for nearly twenty years as Secretary and Business Manager respectively, to the house-keeper's office, kitchens and workshops where Mrs Joan Cramp, the chefs and Mr Max Saw manage house and gardens, including the self-help work of students. Some guests with us today would remember that it was not always so - the central living areas of the House were realigned when they were rebuilt to suit the needs of the expanding community.

In the dining hall we are watched over by past Chairmen of Council. In addition to Sir Ian and Sir Samuel, there are oil portraits of the third Chairman, Dr Len Weickhardt, and the fourth, Mrs Mavis Jackson. Only one warden is honoured in this way - Mr Sam Dimmick, who came back to administer the House eleven years after the birth of his idea. Mr Dimmick was the second warden following Mr Brian Jones, and he in turn was followed by Mr Gilbert Vasey and Mr John Hopkins. In the community rooms centred on this hub, in the dining hall, in the Junior and Senior Common Rooms, the Student Club room, the Constance Duncan room, are enshrined in word and artifact the relics of our past. The trophy cupboard full of the products of sporting victories, the photographs of the whole community year by year (a collection presently being framed and hung as funds permit), gifts of overseas visitors, the gold-lettered board of the Presidents of Student Clubs, the trikes, the bound volumes of Satadal, our annual House magazine - all these bear witness to the ongoing expression of the original idea of a House where students from different cultures should share their lives.

Away from the hub of the House are the quieter places - tutorial rooms named after individual benefactors; the Angus Mitchell Library commemorating Rotary's work, and the study-bedrooms, many of which bear a plaque naming each of the particular Victorian country towns which raised 2000 pounds towards the initial building costs. Satadal, as the editorial of the first issue explains, is a Sanskrit word used to suggest unity in diversity and harmony in multiformity, symbolized by the lotus, the flower of a hundred petals. Diverse indeed are the contributions, embracing serious discussions of international politics, race and culture, the White Australia policy, poetry, the funny and awful things of the community, reflections on the degree to which the House lived up to its lofty ideals and one article gloriously titled 'How the 1965 intake of freshmen arrived at International House; how they were received; and how they received their reception; together with what happened then and what had happened before'.

Photographs capture some of the highlights of the past - the visits of Mrs Indira Gandhi, Mr Tom Mboya, Tengu Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and General Nasution, as well as the ordinary - plays, parties, dances, national cultural nights and Café Internationale. Strangely to present eyes, there are no women to be seen in the early editions. Only after much anxiety did International House admit female students, but even so, it was the first collegeof The Universityof Melbourne to do so. Most of our past though is enshrined in memory, private understanding of shared experience, which members of the House take with them into the world outside. If living in the House has shaped its members in the direction of international understanding and friendship, then the labours of those who strove to build the House are well rewarded.