Coll Portley grew up and had his schooling in Warwick, where he then became a cadet journalist. Disenchanted by the hours of work expected of that job and subsequent inroads on his social life, and spurred by experiences of friends who had become teachers, he eventually came to Kelvin Grove in 1955, hoping to become an art teacher, but settling for primary training because there were no scholarships for art teachers that year.
In 1957 he went out into the teaching service, returning permanently to the College in 1964, where he is now Senior Lecturer in Art in the School of Visual and Performing Arts.
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Portley: First impressions of the place-well, I don't think in the mid fifties we had all that many expectations. I lived with two maiden aunts in the old family mansion in Red Hill - it was simply a matter of walking down Victoria Street and up Blarney Street to College. We were paid, of course, to come to College in those days, and if you lived away from home, you got an extra allowance and, as a matter of fact, it was twice as much as I had been getting as a cadet journalist. There were a thousand of us. Each group had about forty students and they were grouped from A to Z pretty well. We all studied the same curriculum, no variation - phys ed was taken every day.
As a matter of fact, most people would say that the fittest they had ever been in their lives was at Teachers' College.
We didn't have the continuous assessment that we have now - it was like the school system, three terms and written examinations at the end of each term. I think the most enjoyable aspect was the people I've met, because I came from a fairly parochial area - I met all kinds of people, men and women from all over Queensland, with various backgrounds. I was very interested in sport, played a lot of rugby, swam, was an athlete, and gymnast, so I met a lot of chaps. It was very, very social -every second week, there was a dance in a hall over at West End, and alternate weeks there was a boat cruise up to Mandalay, Lone Pine, barbeques, dances, music. Every Friday or Saturday there was some social activity planned, and we were paid enough - could afford to go to a dance, or on a boat cruise for five bob.
Social activities were organised by our own students. Bob Squire was a science lecturer and he headed the social committee which had a representative from the, maybe twenty, thirty, groups in College. We had a little broadsheet that was published, say once a month, advertising various things. I thought that was marvellous, the social life.
Interviewer: What about the academic side?
Portley: Probably the most memorable part of tlze academic life was having a very good lecturer, Don Munro in English - he retired a few years ago as Registrar of the Queensland University. In those days lze would have been in his later twenties -very cultivated, cultured-and lze opened our eyes to the film; he talked about the film as an art form, told about new wave films of the fifties. This was the era of the great French films; tlze Broadway at the Gabba, which lzas since burnt down, and also the Rex in the Valley, showed continental movies that no one went to - because most people went to the post,war song-and-dance extravaganza movies for very light relief. Whereas these mainly French and Italian movies had heart and soul and examined the human condition - very different from anything I'd seen, and I think that was probably one of the most memorable experiences I had, aesthetically, and academically.
I was particularly interested in art, Mr CMB Van Homrigh, who was much feared by staff and students alike, as was tlze Head of the Art Department.
He was like the typical headmaster, abided 110 nonsense.
Rugby Union Team, 1956 Back row: f S111it'1, W frn11s, f Cleary Middle row: F McC11l1/li11, R Wilmo/I, B Kdlc/1cr, f Frederick, I\ Weedon. K O'De111pscy, W Ournde11 Front row: f Carrol, R llickling, !<, Wd1/J, C Port/et/ (Capt11i11!, I Taylor, fl Keml'llt/, C Colding
In the school that I went to, or in the local High School, there may have been the odd reproduction, but no original paintings. But at Kelvin Grove a very interesting thing had happened, and this is due to Van Homrigh - everyone donated twenty cents a pay on a voluntary basis and at the end of the year a group of students, perhaps the "top" painters, were selected by their peers to go into exhibitions to buy original works of art, whether they be water colours, oils, or some other medium, with the collected money. And this is how the College collection has largely been built up; and this practice went right through to probably 1960.
For example, one such purchase was a Grace Cossington-Smith, an Australian-born artist who went to Paris and painted with the post-impressionists. Now the students of, perhaps 1948, bought this painting for round twenty guineas or some small sum. It's now worth
$85,000on our present [1989) art market. So the students, with their twenty cents per pay, built up a substantial collection, with some very valuable works here.
One of the highlights of the year was a trip to Beerwah quite an epic journey by train and bus, taken around on the backs of trucks, we saw the whole thing from the fellow climbing to the top of a huge pine tree, getting the little seeds, and then the germination process, the seedlings being planted out, smaller trees, and all to do with the reafforestation. Thinking of it now, that material is mainly used for chip board because all the real forests have been cut down.
I don't know why the practice ceased - since 1900 in nearly every school in Queensland, especially in the one teacher schools, they had a project. It could have been milk testing or growing their plot of trees; kids would monitor the growth of trees through the years. I think it was a very worthwhile course.
We also went to Runcorn which was a project school - they had a project going where they raised chooks. Quite a harrowing experience it was, seeing these Grade 7 kids take a live chook on a stage and just ring its neck, very, very neatly, and then plunge it into water at a certain temperature. They did it in front of all the students - some passed out - and then after a certain time of immersion, the chook would be raised and the feathers wiped off- no plucking at all - these kids were expert it and ended up with a featherless chook in seconds!
Because most of us eventually would have ended up in one-teacher schools, being primary trained, we visited the one-teacher school at Ascot. They had a gallery, built specially down the back for about thirty or forty people, and the one teacher would go through his performance - it was a fair dinkum
one-teacher school and parents in the area broke their necks to get their kids into that school. Quite ironical, isn't it?
Interviewer: Did the College life allow you to mix well?
Portley: There was a lot of mixing. Altlzouglz tlze groups were separate - segregation in lectures - outside lectures, certainly not, it was just like mixing at a big high school.
One of the phys ed lecturers did a survey at the time, and found that an incredibly large percentage of students played sport. Tlzere were four lecturers for phys ed, basketball in ten grades, vigoro, ten grades - men's basketball, three rugby teams, league, soccer, tennis, cricket- competitions were played on Saturdays - maybe, we didn't lzave tlze distractions tlzat students have today, nor did we lzave the transport. Very few people lzad cars in those days - they were very, very expensive, and very few and far between.
Tlzis is where you got to meet people, and probably it was ucry cheap. I'd worked for a couple of years, sol lzad a bit of a bank. But I tlzink most people coped, very fezv students in t!tose days fwd anotlzer job. Tn our day, witlz tlze allowance
111e
i
11st didn't lzaz1e to work. A mate of 111i11cfiw11 Warwick t'm11c ltcrc as an adult and he ·was a qualUlcd elcctricia11 - /Jc used to do electrical jobs round tlze town - drozie a car /JCL'ause lzc could get reasonable paymentforfixing toasters and irons. Big league!Interviewer: Have you kept any of your old art piecesji·o111 stude11t days?
Portley: 1 didn't keep muclz of my old artwork. 1 used to do a lot of sketclzes of/ccturers and I've still got some of tlzose. Maybe because tlzc College zuas smaller, it was less fragmented, we all did tlzc one sort of course work, so we
<ucre pretty ·well exposed to tlzc same people tlzro11g/1011t. Tlzcre were some quite eccentric people in all departments - and there was a lot more fi·aternisation between staff and students.
It was more like a big lziglz school, staff were like tcnclzcrs, as opposed to lecturers. Teaching was the lecture type, notes, lots of lzmzdouts-11cry little roo111 for discussion or group work - the s11111c 111odcl we ·were expected to use wizen we taught.
[)rcss,for example, you Iuouldn 't sec lecturers in jeans and open neck slz i rts.
F7.1cryone, including students wore tics. We zucrc in tlze 111 iddlc of tlzc original
1 ock'11 roll era - the bodgics, the widgics - so tlzcre were a few problems witlz drl'ss - many of the avant-garde were starting to wear stove pipe pants and
"Florence, 1950"
by Donald Friend
"The Kookaburra"
by Murray Griffin
get the traditional duck's bum haircut, wear thin ties and bangles; girls, the more modern ones, took on exotic hairstyles and tight skirts, very attractive - I know it really upset a lot of people, but there wasn't a big song and dance done about it. Gradually, I think everyone loosened up in that particular era.
We were not very political. Students rioted when the Springboks visited Australia in more recent times, but in 1956, when Hugh Courtney invited them to College, they came armed with reams of defensive material about apartheid, which merely perplexed us. We thought they were there to play rugby!
Interviewer: Can you fill in the years between being here as a student and coming back on staff?
Portley: I spent two years in Warwick Central, teaching several different classes, and in my spare time took all the Art courses available externally from the old Central Technical College. Then I asked to be moved to Brisbane to finish that qualification - several years of going to classes three nights a week, and painting on Saturday mornings. In 1960, Mr Van Homrigh, Head of the Art Department here, went on long service leave for a year and needed a replacement. They were reluctant to take anyone out of a high school and some of the lecturers who taught me, mainly Betty Grulke and Merv Muhling, knew that I was just about finished my Art studies at the Tech;
so I came here for 1960 as an acting junior lecturer.
Then I went back into the teaching service, this time at high school level, and then a job was advertised here as a junior lecturer which I applied for and got - and I've been here since then.
In 1964 the course was still fairly much the same as the course I undertook as a student. Of the two year course, one year was done in the same mode, where everyone did primary training. At the end of that first year, selections were made into specialist areas, such as phys ed, art, music, whatever.
Then the specialisation period lengthened and eventually three year courses came in - it seemed to happen fairly slowly at the time, but probably happened reasonably quickly.
I think the students here today don't get enough time working in their specialist area because of the second teaching requirement. A few years ago
our art specialists got more ti111e tlza11 tlzey get now and I tlzink tlzcy were L'Z'en better trained a few years ago - nowadays tlzcir training is too sclzi:oplzrcnic- breadth, but just not quite cnouglz deptlz.
In tlzc Art Depart111ent at tile 1110111cnt tlzc plant is running down - i11 tile Gouglz Whit/am days we spent money like drunken sailors, so we bouglzt printing presses, kilns, and tlzings of tlzat nature; but t!zcse lzaue a li111itcd life span and the cost l~f n~f11rbislzi11g is incredible.
Probably tlzc 111ost significant clza11ge in tlzc last twenty i;ears was tlzc for111ation of the Sc/zoo! of tlze Arts, and since tlzcn we've had fairly good continuity of staff Jeff Shmu, wlzo retired last year, was tlzcfirst Head of tlze Sc/zoo! of tlze Arts, and lze zms a great leader, a z1isio11ary wlzoforesmu lots of changes and kept abreast of tlzc times.
Tlzcrc !zas bern an incredible demand for the Arts areas. For cxa111plc, for our Arts degree, for every twclz1c applicants, we select one - and I knmu in botlz Dance and Dra111a, it's similar - 11u111y arc called and very few arc clzosc11. Kelvin Grouc lzas a z1cry good reputation i11 tlzc Arts areas, for training either practitioners or teaclzcrs. For cxa111plc, one inspector, wlzo was n student nt College witlz 111c and lzas traz 1ellcd all oucr Q11cc11sland, said, "Well Portley, I do11 't k11ml' wlzat you 're doing up tlzerc, but J!Olir art products arc tlzc best around".
Because tlzerc' s a great drn11111dfor 011 r cou rscs, we get top people 11ppli1i11g, and tlze ones wlzo arc selected arc lziglz aclzicz1crs-z1cry talented people. Tlzcrc arc so 111n11y of tlzc111 - Bill Robi11so11 wlzo
i.~ a 111c111ber of staff an Arcl1ilmld Pri:c zui1111cr. Botlz Kate Collins and Miclzael Riclzards, wlzo IL1ritc art reviews for The Courier-Mail, are for111cr students. Partirnlarf.11 in tlze craft nreas, Queensland is very, very strong. I rmd a few days ago, a f(m11cr student wlzo is now a prod ucc rs tat ing q 11 i te ca tcgorica II y t!111t Kelvin Grouc College and tlzc drama cou rsc lzcrc lzns 110 peer i11 Australia.
And il'l're working on a slwc string nil tlzc time. We nhunys scc111 to be staff dm1111. But we're still doing it, tue're hanging i11 tlzcre. Studio space is slzort particularly for painting, you iust need space - it could be a cc111c11t floor 1111d a great big shed, but arclzitccts c111z't see111 to lzandlc this concept- tlzcy m111t ncstl1etirnlly pleasing ln1ildi11gs - still tlzinki11g i11 tcr111s of people lJC!zi11d clzairs and desks. We want 111ovrnblc space, you k11ow, trestles a11d tlzi11gs
or
tlzat 11at11rc."French Model"
by Bessie Gibson
We're taking a significant part of the Art Department over to the South Bank next year to the old Greyhound bus terminal. It has vast amounts of uninhibited space, and this looks perfect for an art school. So next year we will be moving all our first year BEd and BA people, over there - that will probably be 120 souls. Maybe later we'll hire the building behind - which goes for a whole city block and would house the whole of the Department. It would be ideal because we could make as much mess as we need to without upsetting cleaners.
We are losing the Associate Diploma, but increasing the numbers taken into the BA course. We have to have more space. Although we've been promised modifications, or a new building, for the last seven years, nothing has happened. So we are going to move over there, close to the Cultural Centre - close to all the galleries in the city.
The dream was to have a school of the creative and performing arts on the South Bank. So we're starting off by doing it anyway. Eventually the Conservatorium, plus the School of Creative and Performing Arts, Visual Arts, may end up on the South Bank. That would be marvellous. But, to purchase the land, to build the buildings would cost mega millions. We're making a start in the sense - we' re making a creative corner, if not a creative centre!
I think Kelvin Grove is different from other colleges and I think the art, dance, and drama students help make that difference. People are wayout in their dress and fairly casual and informal - I think it's very good, from the jocks in the Phys Ed Department to the screaming drama-ites, and the funnily dressed art people. I think it's a good mix.
What happens in the future with new mergers, I just don't know. Will we retain our autonomy, or be swallowed up into a general School of the Arts?
Or ...
From an interview with Denis Cryle in 1989.