Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

He has passed to his rest now, but for me, he left behind an everlasting legacy.

For me, the most famous person I have ever had anything to do with, is Doctor Jim Eedle. His words and his suggestion of establishing priorities when it came to Education, had a lasting impact on my mind and my actions.

I need to hark back to 1979 when the Northern Territory Department of Education became an entity in its own right, responsible to the Northern Territory Government. Until that point in time Education in the Northern Territory had initially beennthe responsibility of South Australia and then later the Commonwealth Government.

For the Northern Territory, 1979 was the birthing year of education in a local context of operation and control. Doctor Eedle was our first secretary (these days CEO) of education in the Northern Territory. At the time I was a new and somewhat novice principal in the Northern Territory. In that context I was finding my way and establishing priorities.

Dr Eedle called all principals to attend a conference in Katherine, a regional town 300 km south of Darwin in March 1979. He addressed us as leader of our new department and is as our new department’s first principals.

Dr Eedle offered advice that for me evoked deep appreciation of his value as a leader and a person. He told us all that as a new system, we needed to do two things.

He told us that “Schools are for children“. We should never forget that as our number one focus and our priority. We should never devalue the worth and the importance of that is our prime focus.

The second thing he told us was that “structure should always support function”. In other words, the central focus should always be doing our best for students

Doctor Eedle said these two points of focus should be the eternal drivers of what we did educationally in our schools and system. He cautioned that if structure became more important than function, then we were on the wrong track.

Those two operational principles stuck with me and I endeavoured to practice them as a principal in my schools over the years.

To me they were always remembrance clauses to keep me focused on priorities. I tried very very hard to implement and to retain a focus on the advice Dr Eedle offered all those years ago, until I retired.

His wise advice and the focus he offered, make him for me, the standout person who I will always remember.