Reflections on the life of Colin Lawton by Jack Cross AM

 

I attended the funeral of Colin Lawton on 19 December as a representative of the WEA and U3A Adelaide.

Colin was one of the most outstanding adult educators that South Australia has produced. In 2000 he was declared Australia’s Adult Educator of the Year. In July 1949 he became General Secretary (or chief administrator) of the WEA, a position he held to 1957 when he took up the position of Secretary Organiser of Adult Education at the University of Adelaide. As Secretary Organiser he then became the university’s representative on the WEA Board. In 1982 with his retirement he moved back to the WEA. In 1985 he was made a Life Member of the WEA and in 1987 the chaired the WEA Board.

In 1986 he founded the University of the Third Age in South Australia. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1988 – a grand South Australian!

More details of the colourful history of the WEA can be found in the book Labour and Learning, available from Dymock’s Rundle Mall and the WEA.

Jack Cross AM