Palmer
Dr Bill Palmer received a BH Neumann Award at a function at the Holmes Building, University of Sydney, on Tuesday 28 August 2007. The Award was presented by Professor Don Nutbeam, Provost and Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of Sydney, on behalf of Vice Chancellor Professor Gavin Brown.
![[Bill Palmer]](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/b3ntUypDpLsc6TefFTdImfaAIYkJJijoVgDS8_NfMpZCkWBZufXc1qtIprdKz9Fd80HM7c0Wc7iaoiJSDTdS8ozyrEImOOq93TV64-tiER8_yz8Q=w1280)
Dr Bill Palmer receives his Award from Professor Nutbeam.
![[Bill Palmer]](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/tokaVvA-MEHI42q6LnZByb9dtUaAj-EM_OHqnPzNq1FcRfMj_qvdH8GfmFcsYEMw9MZvuy87c_K1w84eFTSJnfp55Tl8M68cz-a9I3xFctdD4UnL=w1280)
Bill afterwards with some members of his family, from left wife Robyn, grandson Clayton, son in law Mark Bonello, grand daughter Talia and daughter Christine.
Citation
Bill Palmer gained his first enthusiasm for mathematics while a student at Lithgow High School, particularly studying Euclidean geometry with two inspiring teachers and where he read his first copy of the student Journal Parabola, produced by the mathematics school at UNSW and now published on their behalf (and also now incorpoarting Function from Monash University) by the Australian Mathematics Trust.
Bill qualified at school for a Commonwealth Scholarship, a Teachers College Scholarship and an Engineering cadetship, but settled on science and mathematics teaching and so entered the BSc and DipEd program at the University of Sydney.
This was the time of Professor Harry Messel, the public face of Physics and the virtues of studying pure Science in general, and Pure Mathematics Professor TG Room, well known publicly for his role in the public exams.
On graduation he requested a position in country NSW but was placed at Blacktown Boys High School, where he taught for a number of years.
In the 1970s there was a shortage of mathematics teachers and Bill was encouraged to undertake further study. This led to him undertaking a Masters under the supervision of Alwyn Horadam, working on loops, introducing him to the world of combinatorics, and appointment as a Lecturer at the Sydney Teachers College, teaching mathematics to the 3-year trainees.
The Teachers College got absorbed into the University of Sydney, and Bill pursued his interests in combinatorics, working with various people including Jennie Seberry.
On the way to a conference in New Zealand in 1994, Bill found himself sitting next to AMT Executive Director Peter O'Halloran, and discovered he had been recruited to work with Geoff Ball, also at the University of Sydney and NSW Director of AMOC. He linked with Geoff as Deputy Director of AMOC for NSW and whan Geoff retired from the University in 1997 Bill and Geoff swapped roles. Since then Bill has been Director and Geoff, who already holds a BH Neumann Award, has continued as Deputy.
Together Bill and Geoff have coordinated the whole AMOC program in NSW. They have identified from AMC and AIMO the most talented students throughout the state and nurtured them through to the highest levels. Their program is unique in Australia, has a considerable correspondence component and involves keeping talented students active with regular problems to solve.
As a result NSW has contributed more to the Australian IMO team than would be expected even as the most populated state. Normally NSW supplies at least 3 of the team of 6, but sometimes more, such as this year when 5 of the team came from NSW.
Peter Taylor
Tuesday 28 August 2007