TEN YEARS ON - THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THE AUSTRALIAN COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION *Dr Bill Ticehurst, Kuring-gai C.A.E. ^
INTRODUCTION
The Australian Communication Association was established ten years ago at a conference in Armidale. Today, the Association covers the broad interests of a wide range of communication scholars and professionals. A decade after its formation seems an appropriate time to set down some of the background surrounding the establishment and development of the Association, while memories are relatively fresh and individuals who participated are still available.
This paper presents a view of the circumstances leading to the establishment of the Australian Communication Association, and gives details of the first executive and founding conference held at Raywood, South Australia in May, 1980. It outlines some of the early debate concerning the purpose of the Association and provides a brief review of the decade's development. An appendix lists the office bearers, conferences and journals of the Association up to the present.
BACKGROUND
Some of the earlier concerns with communication as a focus of study in Australia are found in the Australian tradition of speech training. Until the 1960's scholars in speech were primarily concerned with voice, diction and pronounciation (Crocker, 1970:2-5). However, during the 1960's broader perspectives and philosophies on speech and its purposes started to gain recognition.
These perspectives were exemplified by Pullan, writing in the Journal of the Australian Speech Lecturer's Association in 1968:
"to use the term "oral communication" instead of "speech training" may, to some specialists even, seem insignificant. To me it is of paramount importance. If we perpetuate the titles "speech education", "speech lessons", or "voice and speech" we are giving strength to the argument that speech is a frill. We are suggesting in our titles that the students' habits are our primary [PAGE 32 ENDS] concern and not their communicational abilities." (1968, cited by Crocker 1970: 15)
In 1970, Crocker (1970:8) noted that an approach to speech education which helped students master the principles and methods of effective oral communication was gaining support; he suggested that this perspective, which is a process centred approach, sees speech as an expression of the total personality.
Although the concerns of these early speech scholars do not seem directly relevant to many of the wider issues addressed by today's communication scholars, the need to establish the ACA can be traced in a large part to this group. The movement away from the narrow traditions of speech education towards the broader perspective provided by communication studies took place in Australia independently of the similar movement, which began earlier and was more extended, in the United States.
While the changing attitudes of speech and English teachers set a favourable climate for he introduction of communication based units in schools and colleges, other important changes were taking place in Australia during the 1970s which also favoured the development of communication as a significant area of study in Australia. These changes involves expansion in the field of tertiary education and saw the development of a number of Schools and Departments in the newly created Colleges and Universities, directly concerned with teaching and research in the field of communication studies.
The progress towards the introduction of communication based programmes in Australia was relatively rapid. There was no resistance to change such as had been posed by established Schools and Departments of Rhetoric, Speech and Theatre in Universities and Colleges in the United States (Irwin, 1984:2).
As there were few Australian teachers and researchers with qualifications in communication, the introduction of new Departments and Schools of communication in the 1970's attracted scholars from other disciplines such as English, psychology, sociology, science and education. These were supplemented by staff from overseas institutions, [PAGE 33 ENDS] especially from Britain and North America. These original teachers and researchers brought to the emerging field of communication in Australia a diverse range of scholarship and practical experience including the epistemological influences of European critical and cultural studies and the North American empirical/administrative approaches (Irwin, 1984:3-4).
The rapid evolution of communication studies in Australia and the diverse backgrounds of scholars who had moved into the field, meant that in the early formative years there was no established professional association which could provide a forum for the multiple interests of communications scholars. Irwin has noted that the introduction of a "Communication" section at the 47th ANZAAS Congress held in Hobart in 1976 and a successful conference on Interpersonal and Mass Communication held at the NSW Institute of technology in the same yea, indicated the existence of a significant body of scholars concerned with the field in Australia. He suggests these events, in a sense, may be seen as forerunners to the development of the Australian Communication Association three years later (1984:14,15).
FORMATION OF THE A.C.A. - THE FIRST EXECUTIVEThe decision to form the Australian Communication Association was taken at a conference on "Developing Oral Communication Competencies in Children" held at the University of New England in Armidale, July 12-18, 1979. According to Crocker (ACA Newsletter, 1, 1):
"One of the outcomes of the Armidale conference was the formation of the Australian Communication Association. Some delegates felt strongly that there was a need for an organization that which will promote the study of communication, facilitate contacts between people working in the field, act as a sorting-house of information about what is being done in the field in Australia, and encourage the dissemination and application of ways of improving communication."
Under the chairmanship of Rod Miller, Queensland Institute of Technology, an executive committee was appointed. The committee comprised President Bill Crocker, Armidale College of Advanced Education; Secretary A.C.A. Newsletter Co-editor Bonnie Francis, also from Armidale C.A.E.; Treasurer/Assistant Secretary, Brian Hansford, University of New England; and Editor of Australian SCAN/A.C.A. Newsletter Co-editor, Rod Miller, Queensland Institute of Technology. Other members of the executive were Priscilla Broadbent, Mt. Lawley College [PAGE 34 ENDS] of Advanced Education; Les Cartwright, State College of Victoria; Geoff Pullan, Sallsbury College of Advanced Education; Martyn Croft, Tasmanian College of Advanced Education; Guy Davies, W.A. Dept. of Education; Win Colvin, Mt. Gravatt College of Advanced Education; John Skull, Adelaide College of the Arts and Education; and Valerie Proverbs, Launceston Technical College (A.C.A. Newsletter 1979,1,1).
This executive group set about launching the Australian Communication Association and planning a founding conference to be held at the Raywood Conference Centre, near Adelaide.
THE FOUNDING CONFERENCE
The founding conference was held at Raywood on May 17th-18th, 1980. The purpose of the conference, the first fromal meeting of members of the A.C.A., was to develop a constitution for the association and begin planning for a major convention to be held in 1981. These goals were achieved at the conference. As well, the first four papers presented at an A.C.A conference were delivered. The papers were presented by Harry Irwin, Bill Menary, Rod Miller, and Astrid Wootton. Summaries of these papers may be found in the ACA Newsletter 1, 3, June 1980.
According to the records of the Raywood conference kept by Helen Jenkins, 21 A.C.A members attended the founding conference:
Mr. Jim Baxter, Consultant, Melbourne
Mr. Bill Crocker, Armidale CAE
Ms. Bonnie Francis, Armidale CAE
Mr. Gordon Golding, of Burnside, S.A.
Ms. Jenny Hearn, of Malvern, Vic.
Mr. Harry Irwin, Kuring-gai CAE
Ms. Helen Jenkins, Melbourne State College
Mr. Gunther Kress, Hartley CAE
Ms. Kay Lindbergs, of Harthorndene, S.A.
Mr. Paul March, Kuring-gai CAE
Mr. Bill Menary, Adelaide CAE
Mr. Rod Miller, Queensland IT
Dr. Grant Noble, University of New England
Dr. Elizabeth Puddy, of Millswood, S.A.
Mr. Geoff Pullen, Salisbury CAE
[PAGE 35 ENDS]
Dr. John Skull, Adelaide CAE
Dr. Ted Smith, Warnambool IAE
Mr. Bill Ticehurst, Kuring-gai CAE
Ms. Ines Tyson, of Stirling, S.A.
Ms. Arlinda Watson, Leeward Community College, Hawaii
Ms. Astrid Wootton, Methodist Ladies' College, Melbourne.
Helen recalls that one optional activity, a walk in the hills surrounding the Raywood site was selected by many people and that the whole conference was "rather cosy and friendly". My own recollections are similar, Raywood was a lovely old sandstone mansion and the complexities of the developing field did not seem as apparent, or concerning as now.
Whether the founding of the Australian Communication Association is seen as arising from the appointment of the executive at the 1979 Armidale conference, or from the 1980 founding conference at Raywood at which a formal constitution and organisational structure was determined, is open to discussion. From a historic viewpoint it seems more important to consider the academic and professional climate from which the association emerged rather than particular dates.
DEFINING THE GOALS OF THE ASSOCIATION
Reflecting [on] the emergence of A.C.A. from a speech and writing tradition, the President of A.C.A. , Bill Crocker, in the first A.C.A. Newsletter (1,1), proposed that the focus of the A.C.A. should be on interpersonal communication. He considered this to include person-to-person communication, group communication, public speaking and writing. He also saw the application of these activities in areas such as teaching, counselling, business, politics, social work, administration and personnel relationships.
Interestingly, Crocker did not see A.C.A. as centrally concerned with mass media, communication arts or communication technology, although he recognised that the interests of A.C.A. members might certainly overlap with those areas. To some degree he saw the interests of scholars in "media communication" as covered in the "Communication" section of ANZAAS while interpersonal communication was more appropriately represented by A.C.A. (A.C.A. Newsletter, 1,2). The early focus of A.C.A. on interpersonal communication was supported by Miller who noted in an editorial of Australian Scan (1979, 6) that "The initial focus of ACA is on interpersonal communication studies - an area [PAGE 36 ENDS] that has been much neglected in this country's conferences and publications."
Reflecting a broader perspective, requests to join A.C.A. in the newsletter stated that A.C.A. concerns itself with:
public communication
creative and educational literature, speech, drama, film and television
organisational communication
interpersonal and small group interaction
intercultural communication
mass communication and media studies
(A.C.A. Newsletter, 1, 1, 7)
The information page of Australian Scan (1979, 6) suggested that the Journal covered the same areas.
The founding conference at Raywood spent considerable time discussing the objectives of the association, much of which was centred on the use of the term communication. No formal definition was reached and it was suggested that communication should be interpreted in a broad and multi-faceted manner. It was agreed that the association would gradually define itself by what it does (A.C.A. Newsletter 1,3,1).
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ASSOCIATIONA detailed description of all facets of the development of ACA is beyond the scope of this paper. However, the following paragraphs may provide some insights into the events which helped shape the Association. As noted above, names of office bearers, and details of conferences and journals are summarised in the appendix.
The first major conference of the A.C.A. was held at Kuring-gai C.A.E. in 1981. The conference attracted a diversity of participants (150) and focused on the theme "Differing perspectives on Human Communication". There was considerable debate concerning the competing goals of communication studies which continued in the subsequent A.C.A Newsletter (2,3). The debate was summed up by John Leipzig, a visiting fellow at Kuring-gai from the U.S. who noted:
"Since the study of communication is a rather new phenomenon in Australia, the opportunity exists for the discipline here to emerge as uniquely Australian. Bt to be unique the discipline must first realize what the [PAGE 37 ENDS] other assumptive positions on communication are. This was the purpose of this Conference and why the organizers chose to begin the Conference the way they did. The question now is the direction that the discipline will assume in Australia."
In 1981 the ACA Newsletter was renamed the Australian Communication Review reflecting a changed orientation and an enhanced role. Membership fees were reluctantly increased to $20 as "prices everywhere increase", and the ACR carried the first (of many, see this issue) proposals to establish computer based communication among Association members.
In 1982 the ANZAAS conference Section 33: Communication was well attended; there was no ACA conference in that year. The move to annual conferences was made in 1983 with an ACA Conference held at NSWIT. In 1982 the ACA membership had risen to 170.
In 1983 the Association voted to move to a one year cycle for executive positions and conferences. The Australian Journal of Cultural Studies was adopted as an official Journal of the Association.
By 1985, when the Annual Conference was held in Canberra, membership was 233 (117 unfinancial) and membership fees increased (again) to $45. The Australian Journal of Cultural Studies was dropped in 1986, and Media Information Australia was adopted as an official Journal of the Association.
The period 1986-1989 has been one of stabilisation and consolidation for the Association, reflecting its increasing maturity. Conferences held at Macquarie University, University of New England, and Queensland University of Technology were well attended, and membership has stabilised at a satisfactory level. The Association Journals have maintained their high level of contributions and continue to be published regularly.
Ten years on, communication studies in Australia is a recognised developing field of study which will continue to expand, change and develop. We expect that the Australian Communication Association will continue to provide the professional and personal linkages and support for its members that it has provided over the last decade.
[PAGE 38 ENDS]
REFERENCES:ACA Newsletter (see Australian Communication Review).
Australian Communication Review. The Secretary, ACA, CRIA, GPO Box 655, Canberra ACT 2601.
Crocker, W. J. (1970). Speech education in Australia. In International studies of national speech education systems (eds Casmir, F. and Harms, L.S.). Minneapolis: Burgess Publishing Co.
Irwin, H. (1984). Communication Studies in Australia: Achievements and prospects. Paper presented at the annual convention of the International Communication Association, San Francisco, May 24-28 1984.
Pullan, G. (1968). Oral communication vs. speech training (A title fight). Australian Speech Lecturer's Journal, 1,12.
[PAGE 39 ENDS]
* First published in the Australian Communication Review 10(3) (September 1989): 32-43 and reprinted here in the original formatting with the permission of the author. An appendix including Office Bearers, National Conferences, and Journals to 1989 followed in the original but is not reprinted here. Associate Professor G.W. (Bill) Ticehurst is currently Associate Dean (Curriculum and Quality Enhancement), at the University of Technology Sydney.
First Upload 15th June, 2003. © Bill Ticehurst 2003
MLA Referencing information. Bill Ticehurst, 'Ten Years On - The Development of The Australian Communication Association'. An ANZCA Dossier. Comp. Steven Maras. 2003. Date of access <http://www.anzca.net/dossier.htm>.Home | About | Contacts | Dossier | Conference | Members | Join | Calls for Papers | Search