A GUIDE TO the mt lawley campus

WRITTEN BY IZABELLE FRENCH.

Amongst the beautiful suburbia-scape of Mount Lawley, you’ll find a variety of sandstone buildings and squiggly constructions. You may think nothing of them, you may think “o! Mount Lawley Senior High School is bigger than I thought”, or you may even think “do those curvy buildings have a purpose?” Why yes they do, for they make up the Mount Lawley ECU campus, where hundreds of students go in each day to learn valuable lessons and build towards their successful academic career!

What once was a quaint College of Advanced Education, the Mount Lawley campus is the Legendary Hyperforce Megazord remains from its formation with the Claremont Teachers College in 1991, under the name of the amazing and constantly significant Edith (Dircksey) Cowan. And what a beautiful site for a significant part in the history of tertiary education! Traditionally known as Jinjeeejerdup, or the place of the honeyeater, though its inhabitant’s faces may be devoid of all signs of life, the flora that surrounds them is truly alive, with beautiful flowers, lawns, trees, and yes, even the occasional honeyeater.

Unlike Mount Lawley’s labyrinthian and more marketable brother, the Joondalup campus, Mount Lawley’s tiny size allows students, lecturers, visitors, and random wanderers to only sort of get lost while walking around campus! Some may find it annoying, but I believe it allows for you to truly appreciate the architecture and life around the university. Maybe, while trying to figure out which building 13 you’re supposed to be in, you’ll stumble upon the beanbags and beach chairs that litter the lawn, perfect for relaxing in the beautiful Mount Lawley sun.

You might discover other amazing places, like a tavern that tries to insist it has its own name, but will never be referred to as anything but “the Tav”, or you might find yourself in Chatterbox, an amazing and affordable Asian food experience inside a mock-cafeteria built for the film students. You may even find yourself in the wind tunnel they (maybe accidentally) made under building 10! Truly amazing how many great experiences they can funnel into the Mount Lawley campus.

But, with all of the amazing features of the campus, why are there so little students here? As someone who’s been here four years, I’ve seen countless (3) iterations of students all excited at the start of the year, looking at all the wonderous facilities here, and then, month by month, less people start to show up. Is this a symptom of the pandemic? Heck it might be, I came here in 2020, and I only know as much as I know. But you look at all of ECU’s marketing, and it is always Joondalup campus this, Joondalup campus that, never a shot of Mount Lawley, not once. As a Mount Lawley primitive, the first time I went to Joondalup I was shocked at what a modern university actually looked like Actually impressive architecture! Interesting vending machines!

But looking at Joondalup’s campus gave me a deeper appreciation for the campus that I call home. The Mount Lawley campus is small, it has mismatched architecture, the Grindhouse is… the Grindhouse (please don’t sue me for libel thaaaanks), but it’s endearing. Looking back at Joondalup, what does it even represent? The constant gentrification of our beautiful land? Or even worse, Murdoch University Two? The Mount Lawley campus doesn’t have a unified identity, but does any of us? It doesn’t hold itself to an impossible standard, with a crazy walkway that’s apparently a portal if I’m to believe the advertising. It’s honest. It’s a little bit strange in places, but aren’t we all? This is a campus that gets us. If you love underdog stories… you probably should look to the Bunbury campus, but if you love underdog stories where the underdog is already vaguely successful, then the Mount Lawley campus, with all of its sandstone, and odd shaped buildings, is for you.

Mount Lawley: you could do the impossible, or you can just be yourself.