Professor Sir Bruce Williams and Mrs Marie Sim, Secretary

This item is part of the HerStory Hike with the Archives, a history walk around the Camperdown and Darlington campuses of the University.

Forty Years of Patient and Dutiful Service

Marie Sim began her four decade-long career at the University on 13 November 1950 [Ref 1], first, "…as the junior member of the Registrar’s Department. Her duties included making the tea, delivering the mail and the answering the phone. She later became a stenographer and worked in turn for Mr Howard Buchan, Mr Ralph Fisher, Mr Stuart Wilson (for one day in Examinations) and Mr David Wood. After some part-time work for the then Vice-Chancellor, Sir Stephen Roberts…she joined him full-time as a stenographer in 1963. Sir Stephen was succeeded by Professor (later Sir) Bruce Williams in 1967 and Mrs Sim was appointed his secretary in 1969, succeeding Miss Doreen James". [Ref 2].

While his Secretary, Professor Williams commemorated Sim on 25 July 1979 when, "…bronze medals were presented to over 70 members of staff who had served the University of Sydney for 25 years or more…The spirit of the ceremony was summarised by the Vice Chancellor, Professor Bruce R Williams, when he quoted Robert Browning: All service ranks the same with God – With God, whose puppets, best to worst, Are we: there is no last nor first". [Ref 3]. Sim certainly appreciated the official acknowledgment of service, saying on the day, "I believe that people who have been at the University for a long time have stayed because they are happy in their work and enjoy the pleasant surroundings…When a job is satisfying and an employer appreciates your work, this is enough, but I am certain that the presentation of the medals by the Chancellor, which made each of us feel important to the smooth functioning of the University, will be a highlight amongst our fondest memories". [Ref 4].

When Professor Williams stepped down from his position in 1981 [Ref 5], Sim continued as Secretary to the next Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Manning Ward [Ref 6], and then, in 1990, even, "…helped ease the current Vice-Chancellor, Professor Don McNicol, into his job", before retiring herself on 7 December 1990, "…undoubtedly the longest-serving person to hold that position at this University" [Ref 7].

When on 17 May 1991, Sim was awarded a Master of Arts (Honoris Causa) for, "Forty years of patient and dutiful service to the University", "…Vice-Chancellor, Professor Don McNicol, praised Mrs Sim for her dignity and tact in what were often trying circumstances. In particular, Professor McNicol and Mrs Sim had witnessed first-hand a turbulent period of students protests…Sometimes the locks [on the Vice-Chancellor’s office] were insufficient, and only the person of Marie Sim herself stood between the protesters and the Vice-Chancellor…She overcame those conflicts with the calm demeanour and dignity which were characteristic of her style…From her unique position in the University administration, Mrs Sim saw a great many changes – in the growth of the University’s staff and student numbers, in the expansion of its physical and academic boundaries, in the attitudes towards tertiary education and in the demands placed upon it…Many will remember her as one of the public faces of the University – the calm and dignified personage who presided at the entrance to the Vice-Chancellor’s office, delicately weighing the urgency and importance of requests and inquiries from students, staff, ambassadors, Ministers of the Crown, and leaders of business and industry, and treating each person with tact and discretion…Mrs Sim had long harboured a wish to study for a degree at the University, but had entered during a period when women were not encouraged to do this. 'Today’s ceremony allows us to satisfy one of her unfulfilled ambitions'". [Ref 8].

This honour was followed by a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), "…for service in the office of the Vice Chancellor", awarded in 1993, when she humbly accepted, stating that, "I believe any recognition given to me must be shared with all those for whom and with whom I have worked because without their confidence in me and the superb support I received, my job would not have given me the immense pleasure I derived from it. I owe a deep sense of gratitude to many people at the University".

There was more to Mrs Sim than being an able administrator, however, as, "Although she is well known for her tranquil demeanour, Mrs Sim also has a wild side. She has spent the last twenty years making journeys into a diversity of rugged and isolated regions to fulfil one of her great interests – animals in the wild – with recent destinations including Antarctica, Jordan, the Gulf of St Lawrence, Franz Josepf Land and Rwanda". [Ref 9]. She took, "…yearly trips throughout the world for about eighteen years…Her travels began in 1961 when she went on her first overseas trip – a ten month 'fairly standard European trip' – although she managed to see many more countries than most would cover in the same period…A highlight was visiting Berlin the day after the building of the Wall began and she has photos of the first rows of bricks being laid…The list of places Mrs Sim has visited, and the number of native animals she has seen, is impressive and intriguing...Retirement for Mrs Sim will give her greater freedom to visit even more places and wild animals". [Ref 10].

In addition to efficiently managing the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, acting as, "…the last barrier between the protestors and the V-C" [Ref 11], and visiting harp seals in Canada [Ref 12], Sim also enjoyed, "…playing the bagpipes (she rose to the rank of Pipe Major in the NSW Ladies Highland Pipe Band)" [Ref 13].

Ref 1: Staff Salary, Leave and Service History Cards [Accountants Office] (Series 195) (1920s to 1989), Sim, Marie, [SRS-00000195]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 2: The University of Sydney News Vol 22 No 39 (04/12/1990), p. 315, [REF-00040523]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 3: The University of Sydney News Vol 11 No 16 (30/07/1979), p. 101, [REF-00038821]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 4: see Ref 3.

Ref 5: Williams, Bruce Rodda (BR), [PER-00000204]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 6: Ward, John Manning, [PER-00000123]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 7: see Ref 2.

Ref 8: The University of Sydney News Vol 23 No 14 (28/05/1991), p. 108, [REF-00040584]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 9: The University of Sydney News Vol 25 No 1 (23/02/1993), p. 7, [REF-00040781]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 10: The Gazette Vol 19 No 1 (Mar 1991), p. 11, [REF-00092794]. University of Sydney Archives.

Ref 11: see Ref 9.

Ref 12: see Ref 10.

Ref 13: see Ref 8.