By Jack Miller
Emeritus Professor Robin (Bob) Gollan died in Canberra on October 15.
In a long and distinguished career he taught and lectured in NSW schools and at Sydney Teachers' College before being appointed Manning Clark Professor of Australian History at the Australian National University from which position he retired to Armonds Beach (Bermagui) in 1982.
Flight Lieutenant Bob Gollan also served in the Royal Australian Air Force during served in World War 11 as a navigator in Beaufort reconnaissance bombers.
His war experience no doubt helped shape his later work for peace.
Writing in 2005 of the death of an RAAF mate in 1944, Bob explained his reasons for handing back a commemorative medallion awarded by the Prime Minister to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War 11:
"I wondered what (my mate) and the more than 40,000 men and boys who died defending our country would feel about John Howard's Australia.
“Certainly most people are materially better off.
“We have shared in the bounty of the one-fifth of the world which has become rich.
“But we have become a country governed by lies and fear.
"John Howard has surrendered the self-reliance for which we fought, to curry favour with the most dangerous military power in history.
“He has stoked the fear of terrorists who may target us because of his fawning subservience to US President George Bush.
“He boasts he stands for mateship and egalitarianism at the same time he attempts, by his industrial relations 'reforms', to destroy the institutions on which those qualities have been nurtured."
In retirement near Bermagui in the 1980s Bob and his wife Anne were active members of that community.
They, with others, founded the Bega Peace Group which later resulted in Bega Valley Shire Council proclaiming the shire 'Nuclear Free'.
Bob and Anne supported moves to conserve the coastal landscapes and forests locally.
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