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FOR MEDIA 27 JUNE 197.9"
OPENING OF YAVNEH A. S. LEIBLER
SECONDARY COLLEGE, MELBOURNE
Thank you for giving me the opportunity of sharing with
you today the opening and dedication of your new colleage.
It's interesting that today also marks the birthday of a
great Australian who was also a member of the-Australian
Jcwish co-mmunity. I'm speaking of course, of the : Late
General Sir John Monash, a person whose achievements are
legendary and none more so than his academic successes.
Surely, no better day could have been chosen to open the
" Yavnch A. S. Leibler Secondary College", a school which
will build on the academic excellence of the Yavneh
Primary School.
The opening of this college is a milestone in the life of
the Jewish community of Melbourne. This college is not simply an
educational institution designed to give students the skills
to pass examinations but rather it is a further vital link
in a tradition of. scho]. arship and learning which stretches
back almost two thousand years, back to the ancient city
of Yavneh in Israel.
Yavneh flourished as a centre of Jewish life and study during
the years 3830 to 3892 or, for the Gentile press, the
years 70 to 132 A. D.
The tradition set by those rabbis, scholars and great
seminaries has travelled down the centuries, across continents
and vast oceans, been tempered, like steel, by the holocaust
and finally come to rest in establishments like Yavneh College.
For the past 18 or so years, Yavneh College's Primary School
has sought to impart traditional Jewish religious and cultural
values to its pupils.
Now the time has come to develop further, to enable those who
commenced their primary schooling at Yavneh to continue their
education uninterrupted and to proffer the traditional
Jewish values to others who are now at the secondary level. / 2 N
2
Yavneh prides itself on its high level of biblical
and other Jewish learning and I've no doubt that the
Col;. ce will continue to atLrac students mainly from
Jewish families. However, the school will be open to all
irrespective of race, colour, nationality or religion.
The school will offer an unparalleled opportunity for
students to observe and absorb the rich tapestry of
Jewish history, a tapestry embroidered with the joy, blood
and tears of countless millions.
Lest it be thought that students at Yavneh are constantly
immersed in dusty manuscripts and books, I'm pleased to hear
Yavneh has a full sporting programme. Last year for example,
Yavneh's football team defeated Grimwade House, the junior
school of my old school Melbourne-Grammar.
Being present at a school function like this takes me back to
my own school days and youth. Many things have changed since
then. There have been enormous leaps in technology over
the past 30-40 years. Developments, which in my youth, were
in the realm of science fiction are now commonplace.
The world of radio valves and adding machines has yielded to
the world of the printed circuit and computer. Now the
silicone chip is revolutionising the electronics industry.
The pace of life is much faster. When I first entered
Parliament about 25 years ago Sir Robert Menzies was
Prime Minister. He used to visit the United Kingdom about
once a year, travelling by ship and taking a leisurely three
to four weeks. Nobody saw that as being anything unusual.
Nowadays, travellers jet around at ever-increasing speed
trying to fit in as much as possible in as short a time
as possible.
It may be that in our eagerness to achieve more we, in fact,
achieve less. This paradox is most clearly seen in education.
Twenty to thirty years ago it was popular to believe that
large institutions offered economies of scale that benefitted
their students. However, it was found that the large
institutions became impersonal bureaucracies the teachers
divorced from their students; the students resentful of
their teachers.
Nowadays, there is a strong body of opinion which believes that
education has its greatest successes in a small school. I'm
pleased to see that Yavneh intends to keep itself relatively
small, maintaining its happy, family-type environment which
in turn must benefit its students. / 3
3
When all is said and done the true test of a school is the
calibre of person it sends out into the world. I know that
Yavneh with its blending of traditional values with the
J. iest educatlional develop'.' Ients will produce students th; at
will be a credit to the school, to the Jewish community
and to the Australian community as a whole.
Institutions such as Yavneh have been and will continue to
be of fundamental importance to the richness and diversity
of our national life. It cannot be stressed too often that
Australian society is not weakened but strengthened
by diversity, that preservation of a cultural heritage can
be an integral part of participation in Australian life*
and love for our country.
This Government believes in diversity in education in the
right of parents to choose the type of education that is best
for their children. We totally reject an educational
philosophy which removes freedom of choice and which limits
Government financial assistance only to State-run institutions.
The Australian Government supports schools like Yavneh and
in recent years has provided Yavneh with capital and
recurrent grants of over $ 400,000.
Yavneh epitomises the initiative of the Australian Jewish
community. The secondary college itself is named after a
man whose initiative and energy is an example and
inspiration to us all.
The late ir A. S. Leibler involved himself in many aspects
of commlunal life. le was one of the founders of the
Mizrachi Organisation in Melbourne, a President of the Jewis
Board of Deputies and a founder of this school. The foresight
and work of men like the late Mr. Leibler has come to
fruition with the opening of this college.
It gives me great pleasure to formally declare open
the " Yavneh A. S. Leibler Secondary College".
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