Historic homecoming: Skilbeck’s legacy lives on in Deakin Archive donation

On a rare sunny winter day at Waurn Ponds Estate, Dr Helen Connell handed Deakin University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Iain Martin, a carefully wrapped package.  

Inside was a fragile copy of a BA Honours thesis from 1954 – that of her late husband, Emeritus Professor Malcolm Skilbeck AO. 

‘This,’ Helen said, ‘was where he first crystallised his educational ideas.’ 

Malcolm was a major figure in Australian education, serving as Deakin’s Vice-Chancellor from 1986 to 1991 and shaping educational policy both nationally and internationally. 

For years, 60 boxes of his papers – including notes, policy documents, letters and drafts plus publications – waited quietly in a shed on their acreage near Drysdale. Helen and her longtime friend Ann Raybould worked together to sort and organise the archive before eventually donating it to Deakin. 

‘Nature was his first love’

Growing up in Broken Hill in the 1930s, Malcolm witnessed first-hand the planting of the green belt: an ambitious project to regenerate the arid landscape surrounding the mining town. 

‘It was a seminal event and Malcolm never forgot it,’ Helen says. 

His first love was the natural world. That passion stayed with him, even as he moved into education. In the early 1950s, Malcolm studied as an evening student at the University of Sydney, supporting himself with full-time work at Swane’s Plant Nursery during the day. 

‘The only evening courses offering his key interest, philosophy, were in the University’s education department,’ Helen explains. ‘That’s how he became involved in the world of education.’ 

‘At the end of his degree,’ she recalls, ‘he said it was a toss-up whether to go into academic work or continue in plant nurseries.’ 

Becoming a Vice-Chancellor

Before arriving at Deakin, Malcolm had spent almost twenty years overseas, studying in the US and UK, and working in London, Bristol and Coleraine.  In 1975, he returned to his home country as the foundation director of Australia’s Curriculum Development Centre (1975-81), followed by five years in London as Chair of Curriculum Studies at the University of London, alongside the post of research director at the Schools Council for Curriculum and Examinations of England and Wales.  

Malcolm and Helen were married in 1984, just two years prior to taking up the post at Deakin. Malcolm was previously married to Elizabeth Robbins, with whom he had four children. 

Helen and Malcolm worked together on many educational projects over the years.  ‘It was always a partnership, professionally as well as at home,’ she recalls. Into his retirement Malcolm continued writing.  Helen remembers him in his armchair, handwriting notes late into the evening, surrounded by stacks of books. 

During his term as Vice-Chancellor, their daughter Brigit was born in 1989.  

‘There weren’t many babies at Vice Chancellors’ events,’ Helen smiles, ‘but she was warmly welcomed.’ 

Helen balanced raising Brigit with getting involved in many University activities, including Friends of Deakin events when that community outreach organisation first got underway, as well as making many visits with Malcolm to students in Deakin off-campus centres around Victoria and in the Northern Territory. 

From the start of his tenure, Malcolm led Deakin through significant change: 

• He reviewed and strengthened the range of off-campus teaching programs offered by Deakin [these were the years before online learning existed]. 
• He strengthened the research and development program, boosting Deakin’s reputation for innovation. 
• Drawing on his love of nature, he developed an ambitious beautification plan for the Waurn Ponds Campus featuring a series of lakes, lush gardens and forests. 
• In 1986, he established the University’s School of Nursing – the first nursing school in an Australian university – transitioning nurse training from hospitals to universities. This program is now ranked 15th in the world. 
• He expertly guided Deakin through the Dawkins reforms, a major reshaping of Australian higher education. 
• Under his leadership, Deakin expanded into a multi-campus university.
• This included key mergers with Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education and Victoria College in 1991, significantly extending Deakin’s reach and influence.  

After completion of his term at Deakin, Malcolm served as the deputy director for education at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (1991-97), based in Paris.  Following his retirement, he and Helen returned to live on Geelong’s Bellarine Peninsula on an acreage which they had bought during their years at Deakin. 

 In 2014, Malcolm was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished work in education. 

‘Malcolm was always looking ahead for the next challenge,’ Helen says. ‘He always said: “You cast forward for a fox” – his motto of sorts. He anticipated change and found ways to bring others with him.’ 

A life’s work now shared

It wasn’t until after Malcolm died in 2022 that Helen discovered the true scale of his archive.  

‘Every time I drove in and out of the garage, I’d see those boxes,’ Helen recalls. ‘I knew there was a story there. I just didn’t know how much of it.’ 

The garage eventually had a dedicated section that Helen calls a ‘documents room’, filled wall-to-wall with files, manuscripts and notes. As she and Ann began to go through them, a remarkable discovery surfaced: a fragile, carbon-copied typescript of Malcolm’s 1954 BA Honours thesis, possibly the only surviving version of his very first academic work. 

‘Malcolm was always looking ahead for the next challenge,’ Helen says. ‘He always said: “You cast forward for a fox” – his motto of sorts.’

The decision to donate the archive to Deakin was a natural one, bringing his life’s work back home in a way. 

‘Malcolm’s vision helped shape the University we are today,’ says Deakin Vice-Chancellor Professor Iain Martin. ‘Preserving his archive ensures that future generations can continue to learn from his legacy.’ 

Deakin Archivist Antony Catrice describes the donation as ‘one of the most important private collections we’ve received. It captures the scope of Malcolm’s influence, from local policy to global education reform, and will be an essential resource for scholars for decades to come.’ 

Building on this legacy, Deakin Distinguished Professor Julianne Moss, Director of Research for Educational Impact, with support from the Faculty of Arts and Education, is already leading initiatives to make the archive accessible. These include the establishment of a PhD scholarship to ensure the collection benefits both Deakin and the broader education community.