Samuel Alexander Lecture 2013
The Samuel Alexander Lecture honours one of Australia’s greatest scholars and one of Wesley’s most significant alumni. Samuel Alexander was a student at Wesley College in the early 1870s who after completing his studies at The University of Melbourne and Oxford University, was appointed Professor of Philosophy at Manchester University, England. He subsequently became one of the most significant philosophers in western Europe in the early 20th century.
The Hon Dr Barry Jones AO presented the Samuel Alexander Lecture 2013. He has been a public servant, high school teacher, television and radio presenter, academic and lawyer.
MP for Melbourne in the Victorian Legislative Assembly 1972-77, he transferred to the Commonwealth Parliament as MHR for Lalor 1977-1998 and was Minister for Science 1983-90, Prices and Consumer Affairs 1987, Small Business 1987-90 and Customs 1988-90.
He is the only person to have been elected as a Fellow of all four Australian learned academies. He was awarded an AO in 1993.
Barry Jones was named by the National Trust in 1998 as one of Australia’s 100 Living National Treasures. He chaired the Victorian Schools Innovation Commission 2001-05 and was elected Fellow of the Australian College of Educators in 2003. His autobiography, A Thinking Reed, was published in 2006.
