The solving of a decades-old mystery behind Deakin’s ‘big colourful day’

The front-page headline of the Geelong Advertiser on Friday 12 May 1978 trumpets ‘Deakin’s big colorful day’ as it reports on the large crowd and dignitaries in attendance at the University’s Opening Ceremony the day before.  

There’s no clue that among the crowd was a group of clearly uninvited guests, captured in a series of curious images that have kept the keepers of Deakin’s archives guessing for decades. 

Dressed in military gear and as giant playing cards, and arriving in an odd convoy of a mock army jeep and a group hoisting a large cross made of power poles, the interlopers are shown making their way across a muddy Delacombe Court to the obvious bemusement of onlookers. 

The images are filed in Deakin’s Archives as part of the enduring record of the day, but the identity and purpose of the ‘protesters’ was lost, until one of the ringleaders decided Deakin’s 50th anniversary year was the ideal time to confess all.   

A silent protest  

Former Deakin arts student Geoff Rollinson came prepared to tell the whole story at a Deakin community event in Warrnambool this year, handing over a folder of photographs with detailed captions. For Deakin’s University Archivist Antony Catrice, it was the moment the final pieces of the puzzle fell into place. 

‘I recognised the photos instantly,’ Antony says. ‘We have different versions of them in the collection but there aren’t any accompanying details. I always thought, what on earth is going on there with the militaristic uniforms and fake machine guns and that cross?’  

According to Geoff, what was going on was a good-natured, and mainly silent, protest by 15 to 20 current and former arts students aiming to disrupt the opening ceremony proceedings, although the exact reasons behind their presence and costume choices remain ‘hidden in the mists of time’. 

‘It may have been to protest the elaborate nature of the opening ceremony or the inadequate student allowance at the time, or a call for more funding for the arts department, no one remembers now,’ he says. 

Arts students get creative

Geoff moved to Geelong from Victoria’s Western District to study, before joining the Forests Commissions Victoria media office. After a career in marketing and advertising, including at the Age and the Warrnambool Standard, he’s now back on a Deakin campus, co-located in an office at Deakin Warrnambool as a Senior Landcare Facilitator.  

He’s kept his photos and memories from the Opening Ceremony close all these years. 

‘The soggy ground conditions didn’t deter the unwelcome arts students as they were accustomed to surviving in adverse conditions,’ Geoff captioned one of the photos he shared with Antony. 

‘Disapproving engineering students and other Deakin denizens held their breath as the intent of the insurgents was unclear.’ 

Geoff reveals the army jeep was a Volkswagen dune buggy in disguise. Modified in a shed behind the West Geelong share house of the co-conspirators, it was complete with a gunners’ turret concealing a camera, fitting for photography students. The gunner was Geoff himself.  

‘It must have been a bit scary to see the vehicle and the troop of different people as it came over the top of the hill at Waurn Ponds down into the lower part of the campus,’ he says. 

‘Unfortunately, we then positioned ourselves too close to the engineering students on the balconies above us – they lobbed a few missiles and flour bombs at us!’  

Case closed

Although such a prank would not be encouraged today, Geoff says the official party took the protest in good spirit, with one of the dignitaries even inviting the students to join the post-ceremony celebrations. 

‘We had some good conversations,’ Geoff remembers. ‘I don’t think they would be as accommodating if it happened today!’ 

For Antony, Geoff’s story solves a 50-year mystery, allowing him to update the images in the archives with the missing details. 

‘The memories and experiences of people who were there is important history to add to the official records, adding a human dimension that brings them to life,’ he says.