02 Early AMOC

1979: Peter and Jim

I am sure that Peter O'Halloran and Jim Williams were thinking of Australian participation in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) earlier than 1979, but I became aware of earliest discussions on this in 1979, when Jim was a special contributor, with his Sydney University colleagues John Mack and Geoff Ball, to the Senior paper of the Australian Mathematics Competition (AMC).

Jim is seen above with John and below with Geoff at about this time.

Jim was a larger than life character whose life achievements are listed here

In the pilot programs of 1976, the AMC  predecessors had only covered Years 7 to 10. Due to the 1978 AMC expanding to cover the Senior Years 11 and 12 Jim, John and Geoff had been commissioned to specialise on this paper. I returned from Study Leave in 1979 and took over the Problems Committee while Warren Atkins went on Study Leave. As a result Peter O'Halloran and I often went to Sydney in 1979, and later, to work with Jim on this until it later got incorporated into the general mission of the Problems Committee.

Jim by now, with wife Dorothy, lived in a beautiful apartment at McMahon's Point, overlooking the harbour, and so the afternoons were also aesthetically very pleasant.

These meetings, when finished, would follow with a lot of talk on how Australia should join the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Peter and Jim had obviously both thought separately about this, and here pooled their thoughts.

It seemed Jim had made contacts, had befriended the US leader Sam Greitzer, of Rutgers University, and arranged an invitation to attend the 1979 IMO in London. Jim had a very similar personality to Sam and they got on well. I had met him in Australia, but in a later visit to the US in 1983 I found Sam to be a very warm and helpful person indeed.

Both Peter and Jim were making overtures to the Australian Mathematical Society and planning an organisational structure.

I was too busy with AMC and with a rather full teaching load to be involved directly with AMOC as well. However my office was next door to Peter's so I was kept well informed.

1979 and 1980: Interim Committee and Mathematician Debate

There was an interim committee before the founding of AMOC on 13 May 1980 and this was chaired by Peter O'Halloran. This Interim Mathematical Olympiad committee had been set up in January 1979 by the Mathematical Education Policy Committee (MEPC), a committee in turn instigated by the Australian Mathematical Society. This Committee had Peter O'Halloran as Chair and included Jim Williams, Dr Joe Gani (President of the Australian Mathematical Society and Chief of the CSIRO Division of Mathematics and Statistics), Professor Larry Blakers (UWA), Professor BH Neumann (ANU) and Professor GE (Tim) Wall (University of Sydney).

At the meeting of 13 May 1980 the AMOC Committee was founded (this is discussed below under "formalisation"). But there was an earlier meeting held in Canberra on 16 May 1979 in conjunction with a meeting of the Australian Mathematical Society. I was able to find the notes taken of this meeting by John Loxton, then a Senior Lecturer at UNSW, later a Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Macquarie University.

The meeting was described as an "informal meeting held at the Australian National University at 1979-05-16-1400, to discuss matters relating to mathematical activities for talented students, and eventual Australian entry in International Mathematical Olympiad".

The meeting was attended by 26 mathematicians and chaired by Professor Larry Blakers. The names in attendance included the expected names of Peter O'Halloran and Jim Williams, and some others who remained active with AMOC such as John Burns, Laci Kovacs, Mike Newman, Bernhard Neumann and George and Esther Szekeres.

The minutes say "Council of the AusMS considered the MEPC recommendations on 1979-05-13, and some Council members had expressed disquiet. Council had decided that a committee be set up to concern itself with all aspects of activities for talented students, with the IMO participation seen as one possible outcome. The interim committee should either be attached to this AusMS committee, or to the MEPC, which is expected to be attached to the National Committee for Mathematics.

"P.J. O'Halloran spoke about his efforts to bring about a possible Australian entry in the 1981 IMO. He said this was his single goal and interest. He is attempting to transplant the efforts made in the USA in 1972 to this country."

One mathematician questioned whether Australian students were good enough, fearing the harmful effects of coming last. Others compared the Olympiad idea with the old Cambridge tripos in its heyday, and wondered whether the Olympiad would prove similarly sterile.

Whereas those who were clearly committed to developing Australian involvement in the IMO persisted in showing their resolve, there was considerable opposition. One senior mathematician "voiced concern that such mathematical training might be mathematically corrupting if taken to such extremes, and that the problems typified by the Olympiad should and could not be regarded as serious mathematics".

There was discussion of the value of the Olympiad effort for mathematical education. One senior mathematician said that the Olympiad had nothing to do with education, although other speakers felt that there might be some "spin-off" benefits, even if the "exact way in which this might arise was not clear".

There were the inevitable discussions about finance, and two mathematicians raised the question of the "legitimacy of the Interim Committee and asked to whom it was responsible".

After much discussion the following resolution was agreed: "It was agreed that the sense of the meeting should be transmitted to Council. In particular, it was agreed that the following points should be emphasised:

1. The AusMS should support moves towards an eventual Australian entry in IMO.

1. The AusMS should not regard itself as the sole supporter of the Olympiad effort, and so

2. The Interim Australian Olympiad Committee should be formally attached to the National Committee for Mathematics, possibly via the MEPC."

This led to AMOC becoming a subcommittee of the Academy and not AusMS.

1980: Formalisation

There is next a record of a meeting on 16 January 1980, in conjunction with the Summer Research Institute at the ANU. This meeting was chaired by Professor Ren Potts. It is not clear from the record who was in attendance. However, certainly Peter O'Halloran, John Burns, Jim Williams. It seems also that Mr Hugh Southon, Executive Secretary of the Academy,, was there, probably also Dr M. White, Consulting Systems Engineer of IBM, and possibly Professor Sam Greitzer visiting Australia. At the time they were hoping to send a delegation of two adults and a team of 2 students to attend the coming IMO in Mongolia, although it was soon cancelled as a result of Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. This meeting was exploring structure, moving towards being a subcommittee of the Academy under the National Committee for Mathematics, and identifying personnel.

In the period up to May all of these aspects were tightening up and the first formal meeting of AMOC was to be held on 13 May in the Mathematics Building of the University of Adelaide, commencing at 12.30pm.

This meeting was chaired by Professor BH Neumann FAA. Others in attendance were Professor John Burns, Dr Joe Gani FAA, Mr Keith Hamann, Dr Mike Newman, Mr Peter O'Halloran, Professor Ren Potts FAA and Dr MW White (IBM). In attendance also listed as Mr Peter Vallee, a senior member of the Academy staff. In addition to planning for student training, finance was to be a major difficulty, although a donation of $5,500 from IBM had been gratefully received.

During the following months more personnel were being identified, the most notable being that in July Professor Basil Rennie agreed to chair a committee to create the problems. State Directors (known at the time as `State Organisers' were being identified also. Finance was also a major activity with correspondence to and from Wal Fife, Australian Minister for Education. A contact person, Mr Harold Hughes, a First Assistant Secretary in the Department of Education, was also identified.

There being no IMO in 1980, many IMO people gathered for ICME-4 in Berkely, where on 12 August, American head of the coming 1981 IMO in Washington, Henry Alder, chaired a meeting attended by 50 IMO people, including four Australians, Professors Neumann and Potts (who would be involved also organising the following ICME- 5 in Adelaide in 1984, Dr Mike Newman and Peter O'Halloran.

There was a significant two-day meeting of AMOC on 1 and 2 November 1980, in Canberra at the Academy of Science. Here Basil Rennie and Mike Newman seem to have been confirmed as members of the Committee, together with Bernhard Neumann, John Burns, Peter O'Halloran and Jim Williams. By now though four State Organisers in Mike Hirschorn (NSW), Derek Holton (Victoria), Neil Williams (Queensland) and Keith Hamann (SA) were in attendance. All gave reports and also two State Organisers not in attendance, Norm Hoffman (WA) and Jim Kelly (Tasmania).

There were three others in attendance, Hugh Southon, of the Academy, Harold Hughes, who attended at the start for a most useful discussion on getting government grants, and Laci Kovacs of the ANU.

1980: John Burns Annual Reports

John Burns was to write his first annual report on the activities of AMOC and it also covers the events above, as well as into mid 1981, as follows.

It had been hoped to send a team to the IMO scheduled for Mongolia in 1980. Due to Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, and various cultural and sporting boycotts which followed, that IMO did not take place, leaving Australia's first appearance to be in Washington in 1981.

The founding of AMOC formally traces to a meeting of various parties on 13 May 1980, when the committee was founded. This committee comprised Bernhard Neumann as Chairman, Peter O'Halloran as Deputy Chairman, Jim Williams as National Director and John Burns as Secretary. As explained above, the Committee became a Subcommittee of the Australian Academy of Science, a status which remained until 1992.  

The first Annual Report of AMOC was for the period of the inception date to 31 August 1981. Under the letterhead of the time the four key officers are named as the four officers named in the paragraph above.

I will quote a few paragraphs from this report which provide some of the flavour of the tasks carried out by key individuals, and the general environment. First, on establishment.

The possibility that Australia might take part in the International Olympiad Programme had been under discussion informally in various places for some years when an invitation to the 1979 Olympiad held in London reached the Australian Government. Although this invitation had to be declined because no procedures were available for selecting a team and sending it to the Olympiad, its arrival did have the effect of stimulating action which led to the formation of the Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee.

Two particular consequences of the 1979 invitation should be mentioned. First, Mr J.L. Williams was able to arrange to attend the London Olympiad as an observer and, with the assistance particularly of the USA team under the leadership of Professor S.L. Geitzer, to observe the proceedings of the Olympiad. On his return Mr Williams prepared a most useful report which has been of great value to those involved in the Olympiad Programme.

Second, the Australian Mathematical Society established an interim Australian Mathematical Olympiad Committee under the Chairmanship of Mr P.J. O'Halloran. The committee arranged for a pilot series of monthly practice sets of problems to be sent to interested students from whom a team might be chosen for the 1980 IMO and set up a panel of State Organizers to arrange for activities associated with the programme in each state and territory. In the event, the 1980 IMO, which was to be held in Outer Mongolia, did not take place.

The first report details the structure, already strongly centred around the State Organizers, and outlines the role of several individuals.

The arrangements for the monthly programme of problems and their solutions are in the hands of the National Director, Mr J.L. Williams. He supplies problems to the State Organizers who pass them on, often with additional problems, to the students in their areas.

The National Director is responsible also for the conduct of the annual Australian Mathematical Olympiad, a competition modelled on the International Olympiad and comprising two four-hour papers taken on successive days.

Selection of the team to represent Australia in the International Olympiad is based on performance in the Australian Olympiad and in 1981 was carried out on behalf of the committee by Mr J.L. Williams and Professor G. Szekeres.

The questions for the two Olympiad papers and the questions submitted by the Australian team for possible inclusion in the International Olympiad papers were prepared by the Chairman of the Problems Committee, Professor B.C. Rennie.

Basil Rennie was incidentally a highly respected figure not mentioned further here, but had been a Professor at James Cook University in Townsville, had published widely read newsletters of his own, and went back to Adelaide to live after his retirement.

There were difficulties faced at the time.

Once the team was selected, a considerable administrative effort was needed to arrange for team preparation and for travel to and from Washington. This work was shared between Mr P.J. O'Halloran and Mr J.L. Williams and not made any easier by a breakdown of communications between Canberra and Sydney so that at one stage it was necessary to invoke the assistance of an amateur radio enthusiast.

Finance, of course, was of vital importance. It was hoped that because students were representing Australia on behalf of an invitation which had been sent to the Australian Government, that the Department of Education would provide funds, and submissions were made.

It was possible to plan with some confidence because of the support which had been provided by IBM Australia Ltd. In preliminary discussions, IBM had indicated their interest in the project and at the inaugural meeting of AMOC, Mr M.W. White announced an initial donation from IBM of $5,500.

Eventually the Education Department advised the AMOC that no funds would be provided in the 1980/81 financial year but that efforts would be made to establish regular funding for the Olympiad programme starting from the 1981/82 year.

It was thus necessary, very late in the financial year, for the Committee to seek funds elsewhere and it was not easy to find sponsors who were both willing and able to provide support for the project. In February, 1981, 39 letters were sent to large companies in Australia: no reply was received by 17 of them, a further 17 advised they were unable to assist and 5 companies made donations totalling $5,700.

The committee was able to proceed to send a team to Washington. It is now history that a team of 8 participated. The team was placed 21st out of 27 countries, and Richard Wilson, of NSW, earned Australia's first medal, a bronze.

Richard went on to obtain a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Newcastle in 1989. Richard later lived in Canberra for a while, working at the ANU, and sometimes tutored with me and other colleagues in our Friday night group of students at the ANU. But he went on to live in Italy, where he led a religious life.