Robert Blackwood

Sir Robert Rutherford Blackwood (3 June 190621 August 1982) was an Australian engineer, prominent businessman and university administrator. He was the first chancellor of Monash University, serving from 1961 to 1968, and chairman of Dunlop Australia from 1972 to 1979. He left the company to become Foundation Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Melbourne University, before returning to Dunlop in 1948 to be its general manager.

When Monash University was established by an Act of Parliament in 1958, Blackwood was appointed chairman of its Interim Council. When the university took on its first students in 1961, he was its first chancellor. He pushed for Monash to become a generalist, multi-disciplinary university, which was unusual at the time.

The impact of Sir Robert Blackwood on Monash University is still evident today. Not only is the Clayton Campus' great hall named after him, but its design continues to reflect his insistence, as an engineer, on certain design features in its original master plan. Most buildings are situated inside a ring-road, with the medicine, science and engineering buildings in contiguous positions, and the older buildings are connected by a series of service tunnels.

Blackwood later returned to Pacific Dunlop as managing director and then as chairman of what was one of the largest Australian companies of its time.

Personal life

Blackwood was described by friends and colleagues as scrupulous and enthusiastic, though not prone to express his emotions. He had a range of interests outside of his working life, including painting, carpentry and archaeology. He published two books on South-East Asia, and served in public affairs in a range of capacities, including as trustee of the Museum of Victoria and president of the Royal Society of Victoria.

Sir Robert Blackwood died in Brighton, Victoria on 21 August 1982, aged 76. He was survived by his wife Hazel, their son Andrew, daughter Janet and grandchildren Nikki, Robert, Julian and Alistair.