News
The Wiggles receive honorary doctorates from Macquarie University
1 October, 2009
On Friday September 25th 2009, The Wiggles and former Yellow Wiggle, Greg Page, received a Doctor of Letters, honoris causa from Macquarie University.
The following is the Occasional Address that Murray gave at the ceremony.
"Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, members of the Faculty, staff, distinguished guests, graduates and their families,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak at this graduation ceremony. It is certainly a great honour.
As well as being a Wiggle I am also the father of high school age children. I am constantly impressing on them the importance of completing their assignments well before the due date. Unfortunately, in my career as a student I failed to heed my own advice. Almost without fail I would be completing my assignment as the sun was rising on the due date. And so it was with preparing this speech…..I reverted to my old student self.
In the thousands of media interviews we have given in our careers in the Wiggles the most common and constantly-asked question we hear is, “ How do you explain your success?” I always reply that the single most important element in our success is our background in early childhood education. The cornerstone of everything we do was formed at this very university in the institute of Early Childhood. Greg, Anthony and I were students here and as part of our training we studied theories of how children think, how to communicate with children, how to use music and stories with children and how to develop curricula based on the observation of children and considering their stage of development. These are just some of the tools essential to the early childhood educator and, I believe, essential to our work too. Anthony and I both worked as early childhood teachers and further developed skills which we have used in our subsequent careers. I don’t believe it would have been possible to have made the connection with our audience as successfully as we have without these skills.
Many of you will be graduating from courses that you may see leading you in a very specific vocational path. And while vocationally based courses are necessary for preparing us for specific professions I am a strong believer in education as an end in itself and as part of our own self development.
Recently, I travelled to Mozambique representing the Wiggles in our roles as UNICEF good will ambassadors. I travelled with a number of UNICEF benefactors to observe a school building and educational programme conducted by the Mozambique government in partnership with UNICEF. We visited many, by our standards, very primitive schools in impoverished areas. The excitement that I witnessed amongst the children and communities, due to their access to education, was amazingly inspiring. It prompted a discussion amongst some of my companions on the value of education in such communities. One of our party was concerned at where education might lead the students, as there are so few jobs after their schooling was completed. It was a vocational view of education; that education must lead to a job. My argument was that their education would enrich their lives even if it didn’t lead to specific occupations. For instance, you can be a better parent if you have even basic literacy skills; even if only for the practical purpose of reading medical instructions.
With our own education, we also need to have a broader view of the purpose of education in our lives. The career course that Anthony, Greg and I have taken is a testament to this. We trained as teachers, and in some ways we continued to educate, but in a different forum and in larger classrooms. Our education is not just those lessons we learned at school or at university. It is all our life’s experience; everything that goes towards making us who we are. In our case, we were musicians who studied early childhood education. It seems like a simple equation. A+B equals The Wiggles. I wish we had that much foresight. We were as surprised at our success as many others were.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with following the vocational path for which we are trained, but we can bring all our skills, talents and experiences to our chosen profession and be the richer for it.
In our work, we have discovered what a valuable resource our university and fellow students are, even many years after graduation. In our case, of course, we have had each other to use as a sounding board. When we are developing new material, Anthony and I can ask each other, “Is this appropriate for children? Is this of value for children?” Your fellow students can be a great support in the wider world. Similarly we have conferred with our former teachers to make sure we are on the right track in our work. Dr Kath Warren, in particular, was one of our great mentors while we were at university and she continues to be something of a guru to us.
I began my university career at the end of the era of free tertiary education. Despite the erosion of access to free tertiary education we are very privileged in Australia to have relatively easy access to education at all levels. This is something we should not take for granted. With the rights and privileges of education comes a responsibility. In difficult economic times it is easy for our priorities and responsibilities to become unbalanced. We live in a society not an economy. Economic concerns are just a part of our larger societal structure. As educated people we have a responsibility to contribute to society in ways that are not merely economic. That is, we don’t just do our job and go home. The concept of “giving something back to society” has become something of a cliché. But it is no less important for that. We try to lend our name and time to charities and causes. It is inspiring for our work and for our private lives to do so. And it’s good for the soul. I would encourage you all to consider how you can contribute to your society beyond your professional lives.
I know I speak for all the Wiggles when I say that we have been blessed to have the opportunities that we have had over the last eighteen years. We have travelled the world. We have met many inspiring people, from the famous to the unknown. We have had a level of control over our destinies that many people do not have. We have had the opportunity to make music and spread joy. And Macquarie University is where it began. Here is where we were supplied many of the resources to create our lifes’ work. I am grateful for those opportunities. I am grateful for the recognition that the university is bestowing on us and I am grateful for being asked to be part of this ceremony today."