Our guest speaker on 28 July is Jeff Hockley OAM. For the past 50 years, he has been active in the theatre and cultural life of the city. If you haven’t seen him on stage or on-screen, then you might have seen his work as a director of dozens of musicals and plays.

In his other life, he was, for 25 years, the graduation officer at the University of Tasmania, conducting those all-important rites of passage throughout Tasmania, as well as in Sydney, Hangzhou and Shanghai. Thousands of graduates have been guided through the ceremonial process in that time.

Graduation ceremonies touch all our lives at some time or another, but what does this formerly medieval rite-of-passage mean in a modern age? What ancient messages are embedded in the ceremony itself, the dress codes, and those funny hats? Please join Jeff Hockley as he uncovers the fascinating history behind the graduation process.