{"id":112636,"date":"2023-04-22T15:11:02","date_gmt":"2023-04-22T15:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/?p=112636"},"modified":"2023-04-22T15:11:37","modified_gmt":"2023-04-22T15:11:37","slug":"alastair-roosmale-cocq-appreciations-memories-by-michael-roberts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websitedesigns.com.au\/elankanew\/alastair-roosmale-cocq-appreciations-memories-by-michael-roberts\/","title":{"rendered":"Alastair Roosmale-Cocq: Appreciations & Memories-by Michael Roberts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alastair Roosmale-Cocq: Appreciations & Memories-by Michael Roberts<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"elanka\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Source:<\/span><\/strong>Thuppahis<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Michael<\/p>\n

VALE ONE by Jeremy Ludowyke<\/span><\/p>\n

My name is Jeremy Ludowyke and I\u2019d like to tell you something of Alistair\u2019s life before he came to Australia in 1969.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Alistair, I was born in Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, of Dutch heritage and ancestry. The first Roosmale Cocq arrived in Ceylon from the Netherlands in 1763 and many were Magistrates or Judges in the first Dutch then British colony. Perhaps this is where Alistair inherited his magisterial bearing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Roosmale Cocq motto is\u00a0Am Omni Re Paratus<\/em>, meaning\u00a0I am ready for anything<\/em>. A creed Alistair could be said to have lived his life by. And he would have loved the fact that I have just inveigled a Latin phrase into his eulogy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alistair was the eldest son of Jamie and Marguerite. His father was a formidable and highly-respected man who rose through the ranks to become the nation\u2019s Deputy Inspector General of Police. Marguerite, who I have had the pleasure of meeting, was a vivacious woman who befriended my family when we were stationed in Jaffna at the Northern tip of the island. His younger brother Trevor who died in 2013, was the Managing Director of George Steuarts, one of the largest companies in the country to this day and the first to export tea to Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

His life before Australia can best be described as a restless search for a purposeful expression of his diverse talents that led him to take some surprising twists and turns. But I hope you will recognise the man you came to know in the early chapters of his story.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Due to his father\u2019s career. Alistair\u2019s family moved around quite a bit during his childhood. He was therefore sent away at the age of 12 to board at Trinity College in Kandy, an elite private school. Here his lifelong passions for classical music and theatre were well nurtured. He was a member of the Chapel Choir and could be found playing a piano donated to the school by Lord Mountbatten.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alastair resented being away from his family so was brought home to complete his schooling at St Aloysius College in Galle, the old Dutch capital at the southern tip of the island, graduating in 1952. In the last months of his life it seemed to be this period of his life that remained with him most vividly. However, rather than proceeding directly to University, Alastair returned to Trinity College for two years, assisting with their choir and Theatre performances.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1955, he commenced a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English Literature at Peradeniya University in Kandy where he was also involved in staging and acting in University plays and was president of the Music Society and also conducted the University\u2019s choir.<\/span><\/p>\n

After independence, the language of instruction in Sri Lankan schools and Universities changed from English to Sinhala in 1956 and Alistair (who claimed to only know cooking terms and swear words in the local language) joined the exodus of those with European heritage from the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost on impulse \u2013 perhaps motivated by missionary zeal, he surprised family and friends by taking a position as a teacher in the Hope Waddell Training Institute, a Christian mission school in Nigeria, where he taught from 1960-67. He rarely spoke about this period of his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

He returned briefly to Ceylon from 1967-69, where he became closely involved in contemporary theatre, staging plays such as John Osborne\u2019s Look Back in Anger at the leading theatre in Colombo. Unusually, he opted for back of stage roles in these productions.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1969, he emigrated to Melbourne and lived briefly with my family before boarding at Trinity College where he initially enrolled in a Bachelor of Theology and toyed with the idea of becoming an Anglican priest. He thrived in the intellectual life of the College winning the College prize for essay and oratory for a speech entitled \u2018In praise of Twinings Tea.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

He won the University\u2019s Melbourne Theatre Company prize for dramatic performance for his portrayal of Henry IV \u2013 not the Shakespearian version but Enrico Quarto by Pirandello where the titular character feigns madness because he prefers his imagined world to a real but harsher reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps this was a metaphor for Alistair\u2019s inner thoughts at the time, as his restless search for purpose quickly took a new tack and he abandoned his theological studies to train as a teacher \u2013 a profession he and I were to share for the rest of our lives. There are others here better equipped to recollect those chapters of his life and I will leave it to them to continue that side of his story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst completing a Bachelor of Education at Monash University, Alastair collaborated with another Sri Lankan, Dr Dennis Bartholomeusz, Senior Lecturer in the Department of English in acting and staging a number of Shakespeare\u2019s plays including Coriolanus, King Lear and A Winter\u2019s Tale. He seemed to specialize in and enjoy playing villains. I thought therefore it might be fitting to let Shakespeare have the final word by paraphrasing the final verses of his most famous eulogy as my farewell to Alastair.<\/span><\/p>\n

You all did love him once, not without cause:<\/span><\/p>\n

What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?<\/span><\/p>\n

Bear with me;<\/span><\/p>\n

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,<\/span><\/p>\n

And I must pause till it come back to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Roosmale Cocq motto is\u00a0Am Omni Re Paratus<\/em>, meaning\u00a0I am ready for anything<\/em>\u2026\u2026\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

A creed Alistair could be said to have lived his life by. And he would have loved the fact that I have inveigled a Latin phrase into his eulogy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alistair was the eldest son of Jamie and Marguerite. His father was a well-known and highly-respected man who was a Superintendent of Police. Marguerite, who I have had the pleasure of meeting, was a flamboyant and lively woman who befriended my family when we were stationed in Jaffna at the Northern tip of the island. His younger brother Trevor who died in 2013, was the Managing Director of George Steuarts, one of the largest companies in the country to this day and the first to export tea to Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

His life before Australia can best be described as a restless search for a purposeful expression of his prodigious talents and I hope you will recognise the man you came to know in the early chapters of his story.<\/span><\/p>\n

Due to his father\u2019s career. Alistair\u2019s family moved around quite a bit during his childhood. His early education was at Trinity College in Kandy where his lifelong passions for classical music and theatre were first nurtured. He was a member of the Chapel Choir and could be found playing a piano donated to the school by Lord Mountbatten.<\/span><\/p>\n

He completed his schooling at St Aloysius College in Galle, the old Dutch capital at the southern tip of the island, graduating in 1952.<\/span><\/p>\n

Between 1954-59 he completed a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English Literature at the University of Ceylon where he first became involved in what could be best described in semi-professional theatre, initially in back of stage roles.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following independence, the language of instruction in Sri Lankan schools and Universities changed from English to Sinhala in 1956 and Alistair (who claimed to only know cooking terms and swear words in the local language) joined the exodus of those with European heritage from the island.<\/span><\/p>\n

He travelled first to Hong Kong, then England, where he intended to continue his academic studies but then unexpectantly, took a position as a teacher in the Hope Institute, a Christian school in Nigeria, where he taught from 1960-67.<\/span><\/p>\n

He returned briefly to Ceylon from 1967-69, where he became closely involved in contemporary theatre, staging plays such as John Osborne\u2019s\u00a0Look Back in Anger<\/em>\u00a0at the leading theatre in Colombo. Again, he opted for back of stage roles in these productions.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1969, he emigrated to Melbourne and lived briefly with my family before boarding at Trinity College where he initially enrolled in a Bachelor of Theology and toyed with the idea of becoming an Anglican priest. He thrived in the intellectual life of the College winning the College prize for essay and oratory for a speech entitled \u2018In praise of Twinings Tea.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

He won the University\u2019s Melbourne Theatre Company prize for dramatic performance for his portrayal of Henry IV \u2013 but not the Shakespearian version but Enrico Quarto by Pirandello where the titular character feigns madness because he prefers his imagined world to a real but harsher reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps this was a metaphor for Alistair\u2019s inner thoughts at the time as his restless search for purpose quickly took a new tack and he abandoned his theological studies to train as a teacher \u2013 a profession he and I both shared for the rest of our lives. But there are others here better equipped to recollect the next chapters of his life and I will leave it to them to continue his story.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0**************<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

AN EULOGY from NICOLAS PANAYOTIS\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Eulogy: italian-elogio, praise \/ Greek -eulogya \u2013 good speaking<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremy quoted the final lines of Mark Anthony\u2019s funeral oration from Shakespeare\u2019s \u2018 Julius Caesar\u2019. Let me close this circle of eulogies by quoting the first line of that speech:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

My version:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I come to bury Alastair AND to praise him.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>To praise his intellect, his creativity, his morality and his friendship.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>He was a teacher with a magnificent grasp of his subject matter. One need only look at his bookshelves: the classics of English literature, the Latin and Greek masterpieces, the Vacalapanta or 25 Tales and other Indian masterworks, French, German and African novels, poetry and plays.And a myriad of young people\u2019s literature including the Narnia stories of C.S. Lewis and Alice in Wonderland !Not to mmention science fiction, and Tolkien; an incredible range.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

When he studied for his B. Ed. at Monash University children\u2019s literature was one of his essay topics, essays for which he was always awarded 1sdt class honous, marks as high as 98%. On an essay on R. S. Peters, the examiner wrote:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This is an excellent discussion: beautifully organised and written, and resting on a thorough reading in the field. You give a fair and more balanced assessment of Peters than I usually do, and I find it difficult to pick on any detail that calls for criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Of his studies for Dip. Ed at the Canberra College of Advanced Education the following comment:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Alastair proves himself to be one of the outstanding students of the first intake\u2026and was Placed in the top five\u00a0 of 100 students.<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in life, Alastair completed the VCE Latin exam and went on to study Latin at Melbourne University and even started Greek.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As a teacher, Alastair always sought perfection and required high standards, whether in Australia, in Sri Lanka or in Nigeria. He considered himself just \u201ca little teacher\u201d which after several repetitions drove me to ratlle my fingers on the table, clear my throat and say: \u201cHave you forgotten I am a teacher too? So you are not a doctor or a magistrate as others amongst family and friends BUT, tell me, who taught them? Little teachers!\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Let me quote from the farewell document from Calabar in Nigeria where he taught at The Waddell Institute, as well as taking part in directing the choir, playing the organ and producing plays:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2026appreciate your broadmindedness and frankness\u2026your insistence always that we should leave no stone unturned\u2026to produce the stamp of good musical standards.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a teacher of no mean calibre, our children of your generation will ever remember you with gratitude, while we, as parents and guardians, do add your name with pride on the Honour Board of Notable Pedagogues of our nation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Signed by the Head Pastor, Treasurer, Choirmaster and Organist.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Broadmindedness and frankness\u2019-this is not just praise for teaching but more importantly praise of character.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

No lesser praise is obvious in references from Victorian schools:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n