ASTC, MSc (NSW), PhD (Syd)

June was the first woman graduate of the University of New South Wales. She took her undergraduate and Master's studies in chemistry at UNSW. The graduation photograph was taken after the graduation ceremony of 1955. In those early days of UNSW's history, graduations took place in the Great Hall at the University of Sydney, which was borrowed for these important ceremonial occasions. She later completed a PhD at the University of Sydney, then returned to teach chemistry at UNSW. Joan became Director of First-Year Teaching in 1968 and held that post with distinction until her untimely death from cancer in 1978.

June was a legendary and inspirational teacher and mentor to her students. It was said that she could remember the names of every first-year student, even though these might number more than 1,500 at any one time. She also devoted long hours to her job.

A former colleague recalls: "Her work was her passion. She would come in at weekends and on holidays if she felt it was necessary. Even when she was ill toward the end, she never took a day off for sickness. Her students were her life but she was no soft touch. She could be tough on them when she needed to be, but she was equally supportive if one of them came to her in tears for some reason. She was a good person to be around. She liked a drink and a smoke and she was an excellent squash player. She used to get her students out onto the squash court and they wouldn't know what hit them. She never made a fuss about being the university¹s first woman graduate. She was greatly missed after she went."

Her photograph hangs proudly in the School of Chemistry, with a plaque that reads: 'Her prime concern was the welfare of her students. Her devotion to her position went far beyond what is even regarded as exceptional in a dedicated teacher.'

Class of '83
BSc (Hons) UNSW

Australian rugby legend, Simon Poidevin, was born in 1958 in Goulburn, NSW.

Simon is the Head of Institutional Sales and responsible for selling Australian Equities Research to Fund Managers in Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and United Kingdom.

Simon enjoyed a long career in Rugby Commentary with the Ten and Seven Networks and played 59 rugby union tests for Australia between 1980 and 1991, captained the Wallabies in 1986 and 1987 and was awarded an OAM in 1988 and a centenary medal in 2002.


"Simon is such a perfectionist, it's almost a disease. Not only is he the best rugby player in Australia, he's the most determined" Mark Ella (former teammate)


Apply for The Simon Poidevin Lexcen Scholarship
The Scholarships are to be awarded to encourage students with an outstanding ability in a particular sport to undertake graduate study at UNSW.

BSc UNSW

Kerry Nettle was born in 1973 and grew up in Marsfield in the north of Sydney.
Kerry first became involved in direct action campaigning as part of the protests to stop the M2 private tollway from being built in her local area, and then through student politics in her UNSW days.
As Environment Officer at UNSW Student Guild, she was involved in fighting to protect the light-rail corridor through the Eastern Suburbs, and later the campaign against the Eastern Distributor, another provate tollway cutting through Sydney communities and parklands.

Kerry completed her Environmental Science degree at UNSW with first class honours in Palaeontology.

Kerry's transport activism continued as a co-ordinator of a statewide conference on public transport issues. After the conference, Kerry was involved in Reclaim The Streets activities and then joined the Jabiluka Uranium Mine Blockade where she acted as a media spokesperson for the blockade for the four months she spent there.
Kerry joined The Greens in 1998 and was part of the campaign team for the successful election of Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon. This was the first year she began co-ordinating The Greens Mardi Gras Parade entry.

Following Lee's election Kerry began work as a youth worker at Granville Multicultural Community Centre where she worked with the local Tongan and Lebanese communities.

In May 2000, Kerry left her job as a youth worker and headed to East Timor as a volunteer with the Asia Pacific Support Collective. Kerry taught English and computer skills to East Timorese women for two months until contracting malaria. After returning to Australia, Kerry was preselected as the Greens NSW lead senate candidate.

Kerry has also worked with trade unions and community groups on many campaigns such as those opposing corporate glodalisation focussed around the S11 protests at the World Economic Forum in Melbourne in September 2000.

Kerry became the first Greens Senator for NSW at the November 2001 elections.

Since taking her seat in August 2001, Kerry has been furiously busy articulating The Greens vision, focusing particularly on opposition to the looming war in Iraq, the tragedy of broad scale land clearing and the anti-democratic actions of the WTO.

Kerry has already made a significant contribution to the work of the Senate environment committee during its recent Uranium inquiry, and on the Government's attempts to introduce the draconian ASIO amendment bill.

The war, Higher Education and Land clearing loom large as issues of key concern for Senator Nettle and her staff.

Materials Science UNSW, PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Saul Griffith grew up in Sydney's southern suburbs. He confesses to being, "someone who keenly observes the world and then likes to tinker with it". The 30 year old innovator and adrenalin junkie's recent tinkering has won the Lemelson-MIT Student Prize for innovation worth US$30,000. Saul's developed a way of producing eyeglass lenses inexpensively enough to serve developing countries. What's more he has developed prototype electronic goggles that accurately diagnose eye problems using an electronic sensor to scan the wearer's eye. The potential for non-specialists to diagnose vision defects and provide cheap lenses means every school, clinic and doctor's office could offer clear vision on a walk-in, walk-out basis.Only one of many successful inventions, innovator Saul lets great ideas crash and collide in his head on a daily basis.

Read the transcript from Saul's interview with George Negus on ABC's program GNT People


View an article on Saul Griffith's vision

Read more about Saul

Read more about Saul's time at MIT Media Labs

Geoff "Henry" Lawson has had an oustanding career in Australian cricket.
Geoff is also an optometrist, a television cricket commentator, a regular ABC radio broadcaster, and has written for a variety of newspapers and magazines.
Geoff first represented Australia in 1979 in India, and played in 12 tours, travelling to England, Pakistan, West Indies, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. He captained NSW 40 times until his retirement in 1992. In 1990 he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal for services to cricket, and in 2002, the Australian Sports Medal. Recently he receive the CEntenary Medal for services to the community through sport.

In September 2002, he was made a life member of the New South Wales Cricket Association for his services to the game.

Karl Kruszelnicki (Dr Karl) is an author and science commentator on radio and television.

In addition to degrees in Physics, Mathematics, Biomedical Engineering, and Medicine and Surgery, he has studied several non-degree years at various universities in Astrophysics, Computer Science and Philosophy. He speaks at primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, an after-dinner speaker, and corporate video writer and presenter.
In the media, he was a writer and presenter for the first series of Quantum and has been a science reporter for various TV shows ever since. Currently a regular on Channel 7's Sunrise, Dr Karl, as he is most affectionately know, has a 1-hour science talkback show on Triple J every week.
He has just released his 23rd book, Great Mythconceptions - Cellulite, Camel Humps and Chocolate Zits.

Visit Dr Karl's website

BSc UNSW

Gary Pemberton is Chairman of Qantas Airways Ltd and TAB Ltd and a director of Rio Tinto Ltd, Queensland Investment Corporation and NM Rothschild Australia Holdings Pty Ltd. He was previously Chief Executive and subsequently Chairman of Brambles Industries Limited, and a director of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, CSR Limited and John Fairfax Holdings Limited.