Philip Baxter

Sir John Philip Baxter (7 May 1905 – 5 September 1989) was a British-Australian chemical engineer. He was the second director of the University of New South Wales from 1953, continuing as vice-chancellor when the position's title was changed in 1955. Under his administration, the university grew from its technical college roots into the "fastest growing and most rapidly diversifying tertiary institution in Australia". Philip Baxter College is named in his honour.

Baxter was born in Wales, but grew up in England, entering the University of Birmingham at age 16. He joined Imperial Chemical Industries as a chemical engineer, and became head of the Central Laboratory of its General Chemicals Division in Widnes, investigating the chemistry of chlorine and fluorine. He was elected to the Widnes Municipal Council in 1939, a seat he held until 1949. During the Second World War he provided James Chadwick with samples of uranium hexafluoride for Tube Alloys, the British wartime nuclear weapons program, and later established a pilot plant to produce it in Widnes. In 1944, in response to a request from the Americans for someone with expertise in both uranium chemistry and industrial operations, he went to Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to assist the Manhattan Project.

Baxter was recruited by the then-New South Wales University of Technology as a professor of chemical engineering in 1949. He became one of the most prolific public advocates of nuclear power for Australia. He served as chairman of the Australian Atomic Energy Commission from 1957 to 1972 and the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1969 to 1970. He oversaw the construction of the High Flux Australian Reactor (HIFAR) at Lucas Heights. He also founded the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and, as the chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust, brought the Sydney Opera House to completion and opening on 20 October 1973.

Early life John Philip Baxter was born in Machynlleth in Wales on 7 May 1905, the younger child of John Baxter and his wife Mary Netta Morton. He had an older sister, Muriel. His father was a telegraphist with the British General Post Office, as was his mother before her marriage. The family moved to Hereford in England, where he attended Hereford High School for Boys. under the supervision of F. H. Burstall.

Baxter returned to Widnes as Research Director of the General Chemicals Division after the war ended in 1945. He became a director of Thorium Ltd,

Baxter's biggest clashes with academic staff were over governance issues. He had a preference for industry-style organisation, with clear lines of authority. In 1957, he created a committee of deans, chaired by himself, that met every Wednesday. This became the vice-chancellor's advisory committee in 1960. Through this he created an administrative mechanism which set the university free from the traditional constraints. He did away with the election of deans by the faculty, replacing it with one in which deans were appointed by the University Council on his recommendation. This provided for more efficient administration, but violated the academic tradition of a dean being primus inter pares among academic colleagues. This aroused the ire of academic staff, and in the end a compromise was reached whereby each faculty elected a chairman who was responsible for academic matters, while the council appointed a dean who was in charge of administrative matters. This proved to be quite successful, and was retained by Baxter's successors. His successor, Rupert Myers, declared that: "History will show Sir Philip Baxter to have been a great educational administrator who built a fine university and made many beneficial changes in the ways universities handled their business and interacted with governments and the community."

Atomic knight

On 19 August 1949, the Australian government created the Industrial Atomic Energy Policy Committee, chaired by Mark Oliphant and with Baxter as a member, to advise government on the development of nuclear power in Australia. On the committee's own recommendation, it was superseded by the Atomic Energy Policy Committee in April 1952. This in turn was replaced by the Australian Atomic Energy Commission (AAEC) in November. The AAEC was run by a three commissioners, with Jack Stevens as chairman, Baxter as vice-chairman and Hugh Murray from the Mount Lyell Mining and Railway Company as the third member.

Baxter succeeded Stevens as chairman in 1957. He worked part-time, spending Fridays at the AAEC until he retired from the UNSW in 1969. Thereafter he was full-time, until he retired from the AAEC on 15 April 1972. Construction began at Lucas Heights in October 1955, and was created a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Civil Division in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours on 12 June 1965.

Arts and legacy

Baxter had been a member of the drama group in Stockton-on-Tees, and had performed on stage with University Drama Club at UNSW, sometimes with his daughter Valerie. In response to a request from the Australian Broadcasting Commission and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1958 for improved training of actors, he founded the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

From 1969 to 1975, Baxter was part-time and unpaid chairman of the Sydney Opera House Trust. He had recently retired from the UNSW, but the job was no sinecure. The architect, Jørn Utzon, had left, construction was behind schedule and over budget, and specialist staff needed to be recruited. Baxter put the project under his unpopular but decisive grip, and brought the Sydney Opera House to completion and opening on 20 October 1973. He died in Haberfield on 5 September 1989, and his remains were cremated. He was survived by three of his children; his wife Lilian had died on 27 July 1989, and his son Peter had died in a motor vehicle accident in the 1960s.