|
History of the Sydney University
Liberal Club
The Sydney University Liberal Club (SULC) was
founded in 1933 - 11 years before the Liberal Party was itself founded by
Sir Robert Menzies in Albury. After 72 glorious years, SULC is the oldest
surviving Liberal Club in Australia,
and naturally, has a rich heritage.
John Howard was a member of the Club in the late 1950s, as have been
Kerry Chikarovski, John Brogden and Malcolm Turnbull. Unfortunately many
club records have been lost over the decades, but we are still aware of the
achievements of many of our former members. Most did not go into politics,
but instead enjoyed long and fruitful careers in business, academia and the
law. Ironically, even a youthful Neville Wran was once a member of the
Club!
But perhaps our most famous former President is Jim Carlton, who was
Health Minister in the Fraser Government and was the Member for Mackellar
from 1977-1994. Jim was influential in establishing the conservative cause
in the Federal Parliamentary Liberal Party, which is so thriving today. He
was awarded with an Order of Australia in 2001. Jim was also the first ever
Liberal to become President of the Sydney Uni SRC. The Club owes Jim a
great deal for his magnificent service.
Indeed, becoming the President of the Sydney Uni SRC is a rare feat for
Liberals. We have had many, many Liberal Presidents of the Union, but the communist-infested cesspit that is the
SRC has been much tougher to crack. Tony Abbott (1978) and Joe Hockey
(1987) both did it, but neither were Liberals at the time. Adair Durie did
it in 1997, only to find that the rigged leftist system in place was
designed to have him immediately removed from office.
The Club has had many varying and constantly changing political views
over the years. Sometimes the Club has even been in direct conflict with
the ideas of our State or Federal Liberal Governments, which has at times
drawn us some criticism. But without doubt, the defining debate in the Club
over the past 30 years has undoubtedly been Voluntary Student Unionism
(VSU).
In times past, the Club has incredibly been in favour of compulsory
unionism. This drove away large numbers of members and, as recently as
1998, the Club even had a President who resigned from this position to run
as the Far Left Queer candidate for the Union Board. Membership
understandably dwindled significantly as a result, and the Club went
through a very dark period. But we slowly rebuilt over the years, and by
2003 we had once again achieved pre-eminence as the most successful
political club on campus.
There is no question that the majority of university students want to
choose whether or not to join a student union. In 2005, the Sydney
University Liberal Club is committed to providing students with this
choice.
Presidents
of SULC
1946 - Ted McWhinney |
1947 - Mali Stephen |
1948 - Barry French |
1949 - MIke Lazar |
1950 - F.J. Nicholls |
1951 - F.J. Nicholls |
1952 - Brooks Wilson |
1953 - Don Hayward |
1954 - Don Hayward |
1955 - Bill Gale |
1956 - Jim Carlton |
1957 - Janet Spratt |
1958 - Vincent John Flynn |
1959 - Malcom Beveridge |
1960 - Don Harding |
1961 - Brian Jardine |
1962 - Brian Jardine |
1963 - John Hamilton |
1964 - Brian Jardine |
1965 - Peter Middleton |
1966 - Joan Jardine |
1967 - David Mendelsson |
1968 - David Mendelsson |
1969 - Wal Browne |
1970 - Paul McClintock |
1971 - Paul McClintock |
1972 - John Booth |
1973 - Annabella Fletcher |
1974 - John Quinn |
1975 - Ian Whisken |
1976 - Ian Whisken |
1977 - Valdis Berzins |
1978 - Kym Turner |
1979 - Kym Turner |
1980 - Michael Christie |
1981 - John Holley |
1982 - Tony Dimmit |
1983 - Peter Griffiths |
1984 - Mark Hayward |
1985 - Stephen Coutts |
1986 - Michael Hughes |
1987 - Brendan Wong |
1988 - Luke Bunbury |
1989 - Joanna Doyle |
1990 - Andrew Ethell |
1991 - David Rook |
1992 - Stephen Galilee |
1993 - Justin Owen |
1994 - Genevieve Turville |
1995 - Tony chappel |
1996 - Tony chappel |
1997 - Parissa Notaras |
1998 - Parissa Notaras |
1999 - Adam Faulkner |
2000 - Adam Faulkner |
2001 - Kyle Kutasi |
2002 - Kyle Kutasi |
2003 - Dominic Perrottet |
2004 - Sonia Stavreff |
2005 - Charles Perrottet |
2006 - Tom Watson |
2007 - Tim Andrews |
|
