Bill Robbins, who had been suffering from cancer, died on Christmas Eve. Bill was one of the earliest, most enthusiastic and popular members of AIRAANZ. He embodied the best of academia: he was a good scholar, careful and measured in his approach, and at the same time deeply committed to, and passionate about, his many areas of research expertise. His work was never an exercise in abstraction: he wrote clearly and concisely for the lay readership as well as for his peers; he was active in the NTEU and AIRAANZ. He was a good teacher and he was a thoroughly decent person. He also had an extraordinary range of interests and commitments in his local community. We are the better for having worked with him and the poorer for losing him. Two items from the local press make clear just how important he was to that community as well as to all of us in AIRAANZ:

www.bordermail.com.au/news/local/news/general/leading-arts-figure-dies/1714723.aspx

www.bordermail.com.au/news/opinion/editorial/general/robbins-will-be-missed/1714732.aspx

Bradon Ellem
AIRAANZ President.