From St. Bede’s to Environmental Advocacy: Michael Buxton’s Journey Through Academia, Politics, and Literature

Michael Buxton, Old Boy of St Bede’s Mentone has mixed academic pursuits, expertise in environment and planning as well as writing as poet and novelist. He writes about his life:

“I attended St Bede’s College from 1956-63. As the eldest of six children, my parents had high hopes for me but I was a poor student except for English, Literature and Latin. I eventually matriculated after two attempts at year 12. My parents came from country working families, but became prominent citizens through their own efforts - my father was mayor of the City of Mordialloc three times and my mother was matron of a local hospital.

“Brother Finian admitted me to St Bede’s despite me being under age for a Form 1 student. Brother Quentin and Jim Murphy were teachers who excelled in the knowledge of their subjects, and the support and inspiration they gave to students. By Year 12, students were treated as young adults, given responsibility and independence, and expected to do well. This helped prepare us for our first year of work or study outside school.”

Work and a Novel of Discovery

“The year 1964 was a year of transition for me after the routine of school, but also of broader social change from the progress of the 1950’s to the uncertainty of the modern world. I began work as a cadet reporter with Standard Newspapers in 1964. This firm published local newspapers for the eastern and southeastern areas of Melbourne and was a powerful presence.

Journalism exposed all the inner workings of a city at a time of flux, and told stories of people and events.  This job formed the basis of my novel ‘1964’, a story of the lives of two former St Bede’s boys in their first year after school. The characters are fictional, but based on two former students, Peter Buck and myself, and the story shows how the group of former St. Bede’s students adjusted to life in 1964.

The two main characters in the book were working and studying part time at Monash university.  Work and study quickly became key parts of journeys of discovery, which formed the epic element in lives which usually are ordinary.”

Academia and Lecturing

“I continued studying at Monash University from 1964-78 until gaining my Ph.D. I may have been Monash’s longest continuously enrolled student. I worked there as an academic in the education faculty from 1975-83. I had been elected to Mordialloc council in 1972 but my wife and I decided to leave politics behind and move to the Dandenong Ranges in 1976.

I should probably never have left Monash or Mentone. But I re-entered local politics, being elected to the Sherbrooke Shire Council in 1978 and was appointed to the regional planning authority for the Dandenongs and Upper Yarra Valley”.

Environment, Planning and Preservation

“This was a time when this region was about to be completely subdivided and its environmental value for Melbourne permanently lost. The council and regional authority worked with the government and local communities to protect the area and it remains largely as it looked in 1978.

In 1983, I moved into the State government and worked as a senior officer in the Planning and Environment, and Conservation departments, and the Environment Protection Authority until 1996. After the years in local and regional government, I couldn’t resist the lure of State government. These were exciting years of great change in community attitudes and rising development pressures on the environment. I wanted to be part of all this.

These years resulted in new environmental and planning policies to protect native vegetation, wetlands and coastal areas, the declaration of new national parks, purchase of large areas of regional parkland around Melbourne, the protection of much of Melbourne’s built heritage, and Australia’s first policies on climate change.

A new Victorian government in the 1990s ended this era, and I moved to head up the Planning program at RMIT University. I originally intended a five-year term but stayed 20 years. Working with students and staff was exciting and rewarding. New courses and staff turned the Planning and Environment School into the largest in the country, and led to extensive new research. The School continues to flourish. But all this work in local and state government and in academia dominated my time.”

Literature and Writing

“In 1962, I sat in one of Jim Murphy’s English literature classes at St Bede’s and realised that all I wanted to do in life was to write literary works, particularly poetry. I made two serious attempts to abandon a conventional career. In 1970, when I had finished my Arts and Education degrees at Monash, my wife and I planned a move to Benalla where I would teach three days a week and write the rest of the time. But I couldn’t resist the offer of a lecturing job at a Melbourne teachers’ college.

Then in 1996, I took two years off work after leaving government, and wrote a collection of short stories, but couldn’t resist the offer of an academic job at RMIT. I have let career dominate what I most wanted to do, fitting the writing of literary works into evenings, weekends, and holidays.

If I had a motto, it would be ‘give priority to what is most important to you.’ But I have been lucky that I am able still to continue writing in retirement, mixing writing with family, community activism and part time academic pursuits.”

Michael Buxton is Emeritus Professor Environment and Planning, RMIT University.