University of Queensland, Gatton

Left: Liz Quinn, who, among her many duties, directs community musical theater in the Brisbane area - "The Sound Of Music" at the moment, and "Oliver!" early next year. She was born in a Nazi concentration camp: her parents kept sane by staging theatrical skits with other prisoners.


On Friday, I went into work with Andrew, as Head of the Centre for Pesticide Application and Safety, University of Queensland, Gatton. We drove down the west slope of the D'Aguilar Mountains, through the beautiful, exotic-looking forest down into the Shire of Esk, along the shores of Brisbane's principal water reservoir, Lake Wivenhoe, and across the farming district of Fernvale and Lowood, passing termite mounds and schoolies arriving by bus for class, before arriving at the college station.

Andrew said he gets only 17,000 km per set of tires, which I found dumbfounding at first, but understood better when I saw how quickly he travelled the winding mountain roads. Andrew has, or has had, homes in America - Lake Tahoe, Missouri, Florida - and relatives in Britain - and so, has interests on three continents.

Left: Wind tunnel facility at the University of Queensland, Gatton.


These days, Gatton is a satellite campus of the big University of Queensland St. Lucia campus, at Brisbane. In WWII the U.S. commandeered the campus for a hospital for convalescing soldiers. I met Liz Quinn, Murray Byrnes, and Chris O'Donnell. I visited the wind tunnel facility with Murray, and Chris showed me the mouse and sewage treatment research facilities.

We ate at the campus dining hall, and, when I got lost upon my return, I was escorted back to the Centre for Pesticide Application and Safety by a campus safety officer, decked out in his official, black cowboy-like hat, and shorts (Sherlock-Holmes-like, he said my confusion was obvious, despite my efforts to hide it).