Sub-school: origins and structure
Our four Sub-schools represent the school’s values of integrity, passion, achievement, courage, excellence and diversity.
Known as an extraordinary sportsman John Coleman’s debut as an Australian Rules Footballer was in 1949, three years after graduating from University High School. In his first match he kicked 12 goals for Essendon against Hawthorn. Coleman then went on to play 98 games kicking 537 goals. Many who saw him play and played with or against him regard Coleman as the greatest of all Australian Rules Football players. Subsequently, the award for the top goal kicker in each season, the Coleman Medal, is named in his honour. One of the most glamorous awards in football, the Coleman Medal honours the player who kicks the most goals in a home-and-away season.
Coleman’s brilliant career was terminated by a serious knee injury in 1954. Some years later he returned to coach Essendon to two premierships in 1962 and 1965. Illness forced him to relinquish his position and he died at the early age of 44 years on 5 April 1973. As the turn of the century drew to a close, John Coleman was named full forward in the AFL Team of the Century and he was also chosen as one of the ten greats in the AFL Hall of Fame.
Hyder was an Air Force Officer, a Lawyer, a Nurse a Mediator, an Academic and a Journalist. He was born in Singapore and educated in Melbourne, graduating from University High School in 1989. He has post graduate qualifications in business/management, law, nursing and Islamic studies. He has served for close to 10 years as an officer with the Royal Australian Air Force, both in Australia and overseas. Hyder has also worked in indigenous health, paediatric nursing, aged care, as well as emergency and trauma. Hyder is now an in-house legal counsel for a multinational based in Singapore. Formerly, he has practiced as a Human Rights Lawyer, working across a range of areas including discrimination and disability, and an in-house lawyer for large multinational luxury brand, based in Asia. Hyder is a past President of the Islamic Council of Victoria as well as co-founder of the Muslim Legal Network.
Hyder is also an Honorary Associate in the School of Law within the Faculty of Law and Management, La Trobe University. Hyder serves on the University of Liverpool (SIT) Ethics Committee in Singapore. Hyder is recipient of the 2010 La Trobe University Young Alumni Award, as well as the Australian Defence Force Medal, and in 2011 was nominated in the Top 100 most influential, inspirational, provocative and creative Melbournians
Hyder said that he wanted to pass on this message to the students in Gulam Sub-School:
The name ‘Gulam’, means a ‘servant of the community’. It means to help others with humility, courage and strength. For me, I want the students of Gulam House to always remember that they are Australian, and to never forget their own roots. To know who they, and where they came from. I want them to remember that UHS sits on sacred, ancient land. I do not want them to forget their own essence. They all have a spiritual connection – to the land, its creatures, its people. Gulam House serves them all, with kindness, mercy and compassion. Hyder means ‘Courage of a Lion’. Together, my name means ‘Courageous Servant of the Community: with Zeal and Loyalty’.
‘University High School supported my learning in all forms (music, maths, science, sports, fine arts, language and literature) and encouraged my spirit of inquiry. I was surrounded by a diverse mix of enthusiastic students and we were given, not only the freedom, but also the support to carry out student-led projects that were outside of the curriculum. I was busy, joyful and inspired.’
Professor Emma Johnston is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of New South Wales and head of the Applied Marine and Estuarine Ecology Lab (AMEE). Her group investigates the ecology of human impacts in marine systems. She combines the diverse disciplines of ecology, microbiology and ecotoxicology in an exciting research program that expands our fundamental understanding and provides recommendations for management. Her research is conducted in such diverse field environments as Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef and temperate Australian estuaries. Emma’s work has met the highest standards of international research, as evidenced by more than 100 peer-reviewed publications. An Australia Research Fellow from 2010–2014, Emma studied science, music and English at University High School then majored in science at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a PhD in 2002.
Her research has been recognised with numerous awards, including the inaugural Australian Academy of Science Nancy Millis Medal for Women in Science (2014), the NSW Science and Engineering Award for Excellence in Biological Sciences (2012) and the Hynes Award from the Canadian Rivers Institute (2016).
Emma is a high-profile science communicator, winning the 2015 Eureka Prize for Promoting Understanding of Australian Science Research. She is a regular media commentator and, as co-presenter for the Foxtel/BBC television series, Coast Australia, has helped take Australian marine science to an international audience. As Vice President of Science and Technology Australia, Emma is a public advocate for science and for increasing the participation of women in research. Emma contributes expert opinion to state, federal & international government agencies and consults with industry through the development and implementation of environmental monitoring programs.
She leads a large and friendly research group that includes postdocs, research assistants and students at all levels (PhD, Masters, Honours and undergraduates). They approach their research from both an ecological and ecotoxicological perspective using field experimentation wherever possible.
Emeritus Professor Gillian Triggs is the President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. Gillian was Dean of the Faculty of Law and Challis Professor of International Law at the University of Sydney from 2007–2012 and Director of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law from 2005–2007. Gillian is a former Barrister with Seven Wentworth Chambers and a Governor of the College of Law. Professor Gillian Triggs graduated in Law from the University of Melbourne in 1968 and gained a PhD in 1982. She has combined an academic career with international commercial legal practice and worked with governments and international organisations advising on including law, particularly human rights law. She is focused on the implementation in Australian law of the human rights treaties to which Australia is a party, and on working with nations in the Asia Pacific region on practical approaches to human rights.