JJ'S LEGACY

17 August 2026 

It’s nearly 20 years since a mentor, colleague, friend and Sebastian’s godfather, John Jackson died of brain cancer. I was thinking about John today because I attended an event at the University of Western Australia’s Business School where prizes and scholarships were given out – one of them in John’s name.


Some of you reading this blog will remember  John. My life is woven through with experiences shared with him. To start, he was my undergraduate Economics lecturer and tutor. A serious English academic with a PhD from Princeton. I was frightened of him and the only time I remember opening my mouth in a tutorial was to ask permission to miss a class to go for my Driver’s Licence.

A number of years later, I ended up as an academic colleague, an Industrial Relations tutor at UWA. For John, the suits had been replaced with tropical shirts as he drove around in a mini-moke. I left Perth to go to Adelaide to do my MBA and when I came back to take on the role of Station Manager of 6UVS-FM, he was the Chairman of the Board. I left again to join the ABC in Sydney and at the same time, John left to take up a senior role at RMIT in Melbourne. His house became my hotel on endless visits to Melbourne before I finally moved there. Our relationship was now one of friendship and the time was full of shared dinner parties, shared theatre experiences, and when Sebastian came along, shared holidays.

JJ, Ann & Susan, Port Douglas 2003

In an obituary for John written by a dear friend, he was described this way: 

“John Jackson was a man of broad interests, great ability, intense intelligence, dry humour, clarity of mind, and also deep reserve.  He was a great friend to have and was himself lucky enough to have a true and magnificent family of friends.”

It’s wonderful that through his thoughtful donations to RMIT and UWA students with financial and other challenges are being supported in their studies. And it was great to finally meet one of them this week, Nathan Oliver, and to hear about what a difference it has made to his studies and his life to be able to live at a University College. I had to confess that my year at a UWA college hadn’t facilitated successful study (too many parties) but I suspect he’s more mature than I was at that age. At his college, he has co-founded a jazz group as he plays both piano and trumpet and I know John, a piano player and music lover, would be pleased.

 

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