Monday 19th July, 2021

Dear friends and colleagues

My sincerest thanks to all of you for sharing in the wonderful day of Reflections and Thanks on July the 13th. It was an honour and a privilege. I was overwhelmed by the very kind words and comments that were received. It was confirmed in a most gracious manner that what I had hoped to be and to achieve with colleagues, was achieved. Of course, you were kind in not pointing out the downsides, idiosyncrasies and missed opportunities. It was fun to hear people reflect on several things that I had largely forgotten. It was rather like looking into a mirror as I dwelt on every word.

But the most important thing for me was to be able to say a very sincere and heartfelt thankyou to each of you for the way in which you’ve contributed to our academic productivity over the years. During the almost-25 years we’ve built up some terrific friendships and some productive working relationships. Together we have generated some good ideas, some of which have borne fruit. We have also shared happy personal events and supported each other through unexpected events that have adversely affected us. There is no doubt that I’ve been extremely impressed in the way people have managed to work through the issues around the pandemic.

I’m not completely finished yet and will continue to provide input into the existing projects, I daresay that circumstances mean that I will continue to drift slowly towards this elusive retirement. However, that’s exactly how I want it to be. The best transitions in life are those that happen slowly and steadily according to plan. Please do not hesitate to keep in touch.

I will ensure that the series of pictures that were showed at the evening event will be made available. I dare say that I’ll catch up with some of you on future return trips to Adelaide.

Your sincerely

Graeme