Obituary: Dr Rod Crewther

Dr Rod Crewther, 1945–2020

Felix Patrikeeff, University of Adelaide

Dr Rod Crewther, Physicist of note, a very popular teacher and supervisor, dab hand at the piano, author of the legendary Rod’s Council Notes (which provided insight into the workings of the University Council, while such a thing was still possible), a formidable Unionist, and passionate student of University, national and international politics, passed away on 17 December 2020.

Rod was born in Victoria on 23 September 1945. He attended Scotch College in Melbourne, which was followed by was followed by a degrees in Science from the University of Melbourne. After his master’s degree, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to the California Institute of Technology, where he studied under the Nobel Prize winner Murray Gell-Mann. Upon completing his PhD thesis, he was examined by another Nobel Prize winner, Richard Feynman. Rod subsequently proceeded to an enviable career as a scholar and teacher. Cornell University at Ithaca, Fermin National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois were followed by a period in Europe, which included a six-year span at CERN, the famous European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva.

After that, he moved to the University of Berne, and then onto Germany, and the University of Dortmund, and the Max Planck Institute in Munich. This was an early career in which Rod circumnavigated the most important centres of research. He became a specialist in Gauge Theory, which he brought to the University of Adelaide, when he moved there in the early 1980s as a Senior Lecturer; a position that he remained for the rest of his career.

I first met Rod after my arrival at the University of Adelaide in the late 1990s. I was drawn to him as a friend and colleague in a variety of contexts, and at first wondered why it was that he never rose to a status beyond his Senior Lectureship. The answer, to my mind, is a simple one: Rod was intellectually and culturally a free spirit; a rare person who was involved in research, for which he gained pre-eminence, and life. Not for him were some of the mundanities associated with a conventional career, it seemed.

He was a dedicated student of politics. As a Political-Historian myself, I never ceased to be impressed with his grasp of politics, and his insights into history. But it was in the area of living politics; organisational politics, politics of institutions that he excelled. He knew the politics of the University of Adelaide inside-out. I learned so much from him in terms of looking at how things worked, and very often didn’t work, at the University.

In important ways, that is why I followed in his footsteps into Union work, became a Branch President, Divisional President, and a National Councillor, and replaced him as a member of the University Council when he left that body. In occupying these various roles, I understood how deeply-felt his influence was after many years in his various posts. I also enjoyed the great pleasure of seeing him regularly at the University of Adelaide Club, where he held a very special place, often chuckling and guffawing as he read through State and National news coverage over cups of strong flat white coffee. His delight in this was infectious!

His work for the Union was in some respects peerless. Thirty years as a representative of his university colleagues, and he became a foundation member of the NTEU. For a number of years before the NTEU came into existence, Rod was involved in the Federated Australian University Staff Association (FAUSA). He was not in favour of the amalgamation, but when it happened, he turned his energies and commitment to the new organisation.

Indeed, this was a sign of another important trait of Rod’s. He did not mull over and over on political losses. He was, in this regard, a political realist, and in the finest sense of the word. Politics was to him the art of the possible, which was why so many members of the University’s senior administration both feared and made light of him in their private settings.

They at all times wanted the impossible, and it was Rod who very often drew them back from that unrealistic position. In truth, politically he would have made a terrific VC!

Rod was Branch President for over twenty years, Vice-President (Academic) and Division President, Assistant Secretary (Academic Staff), Councillor, and National Councillor. He led six rounds of Enterprise Bargaining, representing some 36,000 members of staff. It was so impressive to see him entering a new round with energy and enthusiasm, as if it was his first. For many reasons, including very prominently this role, he was in 2014 awarded SA Unions’ Certificate of Recognition to the Union Movement.

For those who knew and admired Rod for his many qualities, this was indeed a sad day when he died. He had struggled with bouts of illness and treatment for some years, and did so in his normal stoical manner – by not allowing these to overwhelm his spirit. At one stage in the course of his often troubled treatments earlier on that he might lose his hearty laugh. But it did return, much to the delight of those who knew him, and were his friends.

When he died, I posted a notice on the FaceBook page Overheard at the University of Adelaide, an informal site for those who are interested in matters just below the surface at the University. It attracted over 180 acknowledgments, as well as many comments and shares.

Amongst the latter was from a former student who wrote: 'That’s very sad to hear, had him in the first year for Physics, we were all terrified by his brilliance but he was a pretty decent lecturer, helpful too!' Rod would have liked to read this. It was something all his colleagues would doubtless support the spirit of.

He left behind his beloved wife Galina, his siblings, Pauline and David, Galina's sister and family, as well as step-children and grandchildren.

I end this piece with a little levity, as I’m sure Rod would enjoy himself. It is his playing of Gershwin’s Prelude #2 ahead of one of his lectures. The response from the students in the lecture theatre says it all! Vale, Rod. Watch the video at nteu.info/rodcrewther ◆