Vale – Frank Underwood

Brian Hoepper, QHTA Patron. For many years in the latter part of the last century, Mr Frank Underwood held a singularly important position in education. At the same time, he was a true friend of the Queensland History Teachers Association.

Within the then Queensland Department of Education, Frank belonged to a select group of ‘Inspectors of Schools’ – a century-old institution that today would be filed under ‘Quality Assurance’. Inspectors travelled the state, undertaking comprehensive audits of all aspects of school life. In the state secondary system, inspectors usually visited a school as a panel (or, in teacher parlance, a ‘pack’!). Their impending visits were anticipated with a mixture of ‘interest’ and ‘fear’ – more emphatically the latter.

What made Frank Underwood’s position ‘singularly important’ was that he took responsibility for ‘inspecting’ the teaching and learning of History. He played that role with rigour and diligence, always underpinned by a love of history and a genuine interest in the classroom work of the state’s many history teachers. He played a key role in assessing history teachers who applied for promotion to ‘subject master/mistress’, a term eventually replaced by ‘Head of Department’. Particularly telling was the first question Frank asked of every aspiring applicant: ‘Are you a member of QHTA?’.

Frank’s affinity with QHTA went far beyond that telling question. He was an Executive member and conference convenor, and an enthusiastic participant in QHTA activities, including AGMs, conferences and excursions. In a period when QHTA ran day-long historical excursions for members, Frank was not only participant but also occasionally organiser and  leader. Destinations ranged far and wide: Peel Island; Fort Lytton; the little-known goldfields near Clifton, where we ended up in the home of a history-minded member of the Manx Parliament; historic Tamrookum and nearby Nindooinbah homestead; and historic Ipswich. Ipswich was Frank’s home town, and doubtless inspired his deep enthusiasm for history.

At QHTA events, when serious issues arose, Frank displayed a diplomatic balance of enthusiasm and propriety. At a particularly ‘spirited’ AGM held at The Abbey medieval museum – where around a hundred QHTA members debated whether to boycott the introduction of the ‘ROSBA’ system of curriculum assessment – Frank, as usual, preceded the vote by declaring that, as an officer of the education department, he was obliged to abstain. His apolitical stance probably obscured a profound political interest; Frank’s son David was a member of the Queensland parliament, former Ipswich mayor … and former school teacher!

Frank’s important role in history teaching was played out in extraordinary circumstances. The 1970s witnessed the relatively sudden abolition of the external Junior and Senior public examinations and the simultaneously sudden introduction of the ‘Radford Scheme’ of school-based curriculum development (SBCD) and school-based assessment (SBA). These were revolutionary educational moves, which no other Australian state ever came close to emulating. In the 1980s, ‘Radford’ was reviewed and supplanted by the criteria-based ‘ROSBA’ system. These radical changes demanded much of teachers, and Frank’s role as an informed and influential adviser was invaluable.

I was only one of many history teachers whom Frank took ‘under his wing’ over the years. As an inspector Frank could be probing and critical, but eminently supportive and encouraging when he saw quality history teaching and learning across the state. He spent countless hours in classrooms. In an unusual and valuable link between ‘head office’ and schools, Frank had personal dealings with a great number of the history teachers across the state.

In the turbulent and sometimes exhilarating decades after 1970, the connections among history teachers, the ‘Department’, the ‘Board’, universities and QHTA were strong and productive. At such a time, they needed to be. One personal episode is illustrative. When I decided to move to tertiary teaching at BCAE, I (a former QHTA president) chose Russ Cowie (QHTA legend) and Frank Underwood (QHTA stalwart) as referees. At BCAE, I replaced the retiring John Sparkes, who had been QHTA’s first president. In those days – as now – the landscape of history teaching was rich, busy and demanding. Frank Underwood was an enthusiastic and valuable presence in that landscape. Now, with the news of Frank’s passing, we can look back at his distinctively important role with deep appreciation, tinged with the inevitable sadness.

Kay Bishop, QHTA Patron. Having taught only in private schools during my teaching career, I did not meet Frank through Education Queensland channels. My association with Frank was through QHTA and the BOSSSS (Board of Senior Secondary School Studies, now QSA) and it was a long and very rewarding association. I marveled at the breadth and depth of his history knowledge and the intensity of his commitment to history teaching and history teachers.

As an Executive member of QHTA, Frank was dedicated to working through our professional association to support and improve history teaching. I can’t recall ever meeting a professional person from the upper echelons of the Department so dedicated to supporting a professional association, and so understanding of the importance of professional associations to the quality of teaching and learning in schools.

I remember Frank as a reserved man who chose his comments wisely but never shied away from a challenge. I also remember his wonderful sense of humour and his ready smile as we all navigated the challenges of school-based assessment. Frank worked with the BOSSSS and I felt quite privileged when Frank recommended me to take his place in an important role while he was on leave.

My fondest memories of Frank, however, were shaped in 1983 when he and I were the Queensland participants in a history teacher ‘embassy’ to China. The Chinese Government invited two history teachers from each state to spend three weeks travelling around China, participating in a range of lectures from Chinese University personnel and absorbing the culture of China. I got to know Frank really well in those three weeks and I vividly remember some of our experiences.

There were no concessions to Western practices at that time and it was either master chopsticks or go without. I remember Frank was not really skilled at using chopsticks and he initially resorted to stabbing whatever food he could with his chopsticks. Before too long, however, he was wielding chopsticks as well as most of the group.

The most memorable day of the trip, perhaps, was the day Frank joined our Communist Party ‘host’, Mr. Chou, shelling peas on a train to Suzhou. Mr. Chou accompanied us everywhere and, after we had spent several days in Shanghai, which included a four hour lecture on the Boxer Rebellion (in Chinese then English) while we travelled by boat around the harbour, we were going to be given a brief ‘holiday’ visiting beautiful Suzhou. Mr. Chou seems to have lived in this area and he bought some peas to take home to his family.  He began shelling the peas on the train. Frank joined in immediately and he and Mr. Chou sat contentedly together sharing this age-old task that had no cultural barriers.

Frank was also keen to engage locals in conversation where possible. Many young Chinese were eager to practise their English on us, and Frank loved chatting to them. Perhaps our Government should find someone like Frank to mend our relationship with China!

Unfortunately, we could never entice Frank to join us for a massage at one of the local barber shops!

Vale, Frank. I was privileged to know you and to experience your insights, dedication and humour.