In 1904, the land on which Murdoch’s South Street campus now sits was set aside as an endowment for university purposes.
In 1926 it was vested in the State Forests Department as a commercial pine plantation. The pines have gone but the original commercial streak is alive and well. The campus is already home for enterprises as diverse as Wesfarmers Energy and the St Ives Retirement Village. And there is more to come, as part of a carefully laid strategy for invigorating campus life.
"Our goal is to not only create commercial opportunities but also to establish collaborations with commerce and industry in research and education"
Ian Callahan
Pro Vice Chancellor Corporate
A master plan was adopted last year for development of the entire 227 hectare campus, within which a 20 hectare strip known as the Eastern Precinct has been identified for commercial and mixed-use purposes. The precinct’s near neighbours include the St John of God private hospital (Perth’s biggest), Challenger TAFE and the planned Fiona Stanley public hospital. The entire area has been designated as a major development hub to be serviced by the soon to be completed Mandurah rail link.
The State Government expects the precinct to emerge as the biggest employment centre south of the river, with more than 7,000 employees, 19,000 students and thousands of patients and visitors, all by 2011. Much-needed student housing atop the railway station is being discussed.
Overseeing Murdoch’s involvement in these plans and development of the Eastern Precinct is Pro Vice Chancellor Corporate, Ian Callahan. “In five to ten years you won’t recognise that end of the campus,” he said.
Wesfarmers Energy has just moved in to its new $10m, 3-storey home in the Precinct, which was constructed by the University and now leased to the company. A large part of the Department of Agriculture’s operations are also scheduled to move there in the near future.
“Our goal is to not only create commercial opportunities but also to establish collaborations with commerce and industry in research and education,” Callahan said. Future partners are likely to be from fields such as biomedical, agriculture and health, where Murdoch is prominent.
Construction begins next year on a new centre for immunological research, also to be built in the Eastern Precinct. The state-of-the-art facility has been made possible by a $12m grant from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation to the University’s Centre for Clinical Immunology and Biomedical Statistics. The grant recognised the Centre’s ground-breaking work with HIV, led by Professor Simon Mallal who recently received the Premier’s annual Science Award.
Murdoch’s South Street campus is the largest single university campus in Australia and arguably the most diverse, with benefits aplenty for students. As well as commercial interactions, the Beeliar Regional Park and its wetlands, which intrude into the campus on the southern side, provide real-life environmental research and management tuition. The comings and goings to the University library of the St Ives retirees is another unique aspect of campus life, one that provides a healthy reminder of life’s frailties and the need to make every post a winner.
Clearly, Murdoch heeded that message a long time ago.
