Between Sydney and Hong Kong

CATHAY PACIFIC FLIGHT 162—Another two-week visit to Australia is over, and I am bouncing back over Typhoon Linfa on the way to Hong Kong. Turbulence on my last few long-haul flights has been bad, and this one is no exception. Like all seasoned flyers, I try not to look worried.

I have been fulfilling my adjunct professor role at the University of Western Sydney (UWS) and visiting my family in Brisbane. The UWS occupies several campuses and, for the first time in many years of visiting, I was in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney, the first week. Situated on the site of a former asylum—a “lunatic” asylum, as it would have been called—the Parramatta campus takes in many of the elegant buildings associated with the place’s former purpose, and the older buildings are complemented by many fine, modern buildings.

Yours Truly with Associate Professor Michelle
Cleary, who organized my visit.

Numerous mental health hospitals in Australia are located on the banks of navigable rivers, as lunatics were not permitted to walk on the Queen’s highway—these institutions were built during the reign of Queen Victoria—and had to travel by boat. A steep set of steps leads from the river to the campus, and I imagine this is how many people were led up to their new and permanent home. I met one of the senior managers of UWS last year and only just managed to stop myself from cracking the old “the lunatics are now running the asylum” joke. He had probably heard it many times before.

With apologies to the occupants of Parramatta, this is not the most salubrious suburb of Sydney, and one of the missions of UWS is to serve these communities. My hotel website boasted “access to a state-of-the-art gym.” There was access, but the gym was a mile into town, a walk I made each evening past less than desirable housing and youth that appeared intimidating. Some of my colleagues were astonished that I had ventured out of my hotel. I reckoned that the sight of an elderly man in shorts and T-shirt in temperatures just above freezing was enough to keep me safe. It was very cold, the coldest winter in Sydney in 17 years.

Family time

The weekend I spent in Brisbane was warmer. I feel blessed to have such a great family, who make me welcome. Apart from Christmas, it is one of the few times of the year I leave work behind, literally in luggage left at the Sydney airport, and spend time with family. I always come away grateful, a few pounds heavier, and with an increased knowledge of Australian wines and beers. (Someone has to do it).

But my time in Australia was not all fun. Back at UWS, I gave a day and a half of writing-for-publication workshops and two video-conference sessions, one on social media and the other on marking theses and dissertations. Otherwise, I held staff consultations about publication plans and kept up to date with editing and supervising—from a distance—my PhD, master’s and final-year students. Two of my PhD students, one from Taiwan and one from mainland China, have completed their theses, and I am arranging for their examinations, which, in the UK, is done by viva voce, otherwise known as the “viva”). The viva is a terrifying prospect for most students, so I expect anxiety levels to be high when I get back to my desk at the University of Hull.

Two busy weeks

I have two weeks of intense activity coming up. It has to be two weeks because, although I have many July deadlines, it is only two weeks before I go on holiday and take the long-suffering and mostly tolerant Mrs. Watson—it’s OK, she never reads my blog—to New York. For the record, this is the first time in 31 years we have been away together on holiday without at least one of our children. We have gone on work-related trips to the Far East and Southeast Asia, but, as I am frequently reminded, those “don’t count.” 

So, before that happens, I have a PhD thesis and a pile of scripts from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland to examine, a handover of my acting associate dean role to the incumbent who is now back in the role, Journal of Advanced Nursing author guidelines to revise, and lots of research data to analyse. I see the seat belt sign is on again, and I am trying not to look worried.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

'And this is winter?'

My daughter’s first words on stepping outside at the Sydney airport form the title to this entry. It gets “cold” here, and there is even snow on the mountains, but what the average Australian considers cold would be an above-average summer day back home in the UK. I have lost count of my visits to Australia, but this is the first time my wife has been here, and I love to see old places through new eyes.

Two of my sons and another of my daughters have already been here, so my wife decided to see what all the fuss was about. In my view, part of the “fuss” is the unique combination of early morning frost in the suburbs of Sydney against the background of a deep blue sky that seems uniquely Australian. By midday, it’s officially warm—by UK standards—yet the locals are in coats and scarves, and, because I am mainly in shirtsleeves, I’m always being asked, “Aren’t you cold?”

View from my hotel.

University of Western Sydney

As mentioned in previous entries from Australia, I’ve been based at the University of Western Sydney (UWS). As the name suggests, the university serves the western side of Sydney but, in fact, it is not really in Sydney at all. It has campuses in Campbelltown, Paramatta and Hawkesbury, with an outpost in Liverpool, the Centre for Applied Nursing Research. During my recent two weeks in Sydney, I visited all the campuses where nursing is provided.

These visits often involve drives that would take you from one side of the UK to another. As with my sense of what is hot and cold here in terms of weather, I have to adjust my sense of distance in this vast country. I told someone I used to drive 60 miles to work and back, trying to instil a sense of horror at this daily feat. They looked at me with a “so what?” expression.

I was really pleased recently to notice that UWS had made the Times Higher Education list of the top 100 universities less than 50 years old (ranked 87th), alongside a very interesting list of younger universities across the world. While here, I have held scholar-in-residence consultations, given two seminars, and I had time to post online slide presentations about open access publishing and the uses and abuses of impact factor. This evening, in the presence of Rhonda Griffiths, dean of nursing and midwifery at the University of Western Sydney, and Scott Holmes, deputy vice chancellor for research and development at the school, I address a function at the university for senior people from local hospitals and health authorities. My topic is “The Francis Report: You simply could not make it up.”

Australia and onwards

This is the first of two visits to Australia this year. In October, I return to Canberra to speak at the 2014 Australian Capital Region Nursing and Midwifery Research Conference.

Aunt Jean, at age 90, the oldest member of the party,
meets the youngest, Rebecca, age 15.

In addition to the professional aspects of my trips here, the past few years of regular visits have enabled me to connect with my extended family of cousins and one remaining aunt. I was especially pleased that my wife and daughter (Rebecca) were able to meet my Aunt Jean, who turned 90 in February.

Tomorrow, we leave Australia for Hong Kong and, after two days, we return to the United Kingdom. August is relatively quiet, but September and October will be intensive with final scores and report writing for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, after which I must turn my attention to the slightly neglected Lancet Commission on UK Nursing.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be published.