'It is now more than three years since the untimely death of Charles Thomas ‘Tom’ Stannage, AM, FASSA. Tom was a graduate of the University of Western Australia, studying under Frank Crowley and Geoff Bolton. Apart from doctoral years at Cambridge University, he spent more than thirty years at UWA before taking up the position of Executive Dean of Humanities at Curtin University in 1998. The previous year had been a big one for Tom. He became a Member of the Order of Australia, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences of Australia, and won the inaugural Prime Minister's Award for Australian University Teacher of the Year. ...'