THE University’s role as ‘a leading intellectual and creative resource to the communities it serves’ remained the backdrop against which it has engaged with the wider community throughout the year.

The year 2000 began with another stimulating Summer School from UWA Extension, setting new enrolment records. The theme for the new millennium was Western Australia—The Way Forward. Keynote speakers included the Premier of Western Australia and the Opposition Leader as well as leaders from the community, business and professional sectors.

Building on the theme, the University later in the year launched an ambitious Vision for WA project aimed at facilitating community consideration of a long-term vision for our State. The Vision for WA project, led by a high-level and diverse reference group chaired by Mr Denis Glennon, aims to identify common themes for the future of Western Australia as it moves towards a more ‘knowledge-based’ economy. The project will continue its activities throughout 2001.

The Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery has been charting new territory, for example, with its Gravitate exhibition which depicted some of the fundamental laws of physics through sculpture. As anticipated, the audience for this exhibition included as many scientists and engineers as it did art lovers. Another major community partnership by the Gallery was the exhibition H₂O: A Miscellany of Works from the Kerry Stokes Collection. Its combination of works by major European and Australian artists, plus its unique display of books and journals relating to the discovery of Australia, drew record numbers of visitors to the gallery.

UWA Press also had further success during the year. The Press published another 17 titles: three were short-listed for major national awards and four were short-listed for the Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards. A major innovation for 2000 was the establishment of the Press Club which holds regular literary functions and has already attracted a significant community following for its excellent presentations.

The Berndt Museum of Anthropology has enhanced its international standing, entering an important partnership with the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (College de France) in Paris for a joint investigation of new multi-media technologies and their application to anthropological and ethnological research (funded by UWA and CNRS, France). This is a major coup for an Australian museum, and we can expect that the Berndt Museum’s presence in the new Musée de Quai Branley will trigger further international interest in its work. Perhaps the most important news for the Berndt Museum during 2000 was the benefaction of the late Dr Harold Schenberg towards the cost of a new building for the Berndt Collection.