Scotch College
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Richard Nelson leads OSCARichard Nelson ('57) is the OSCA President for 1999. He entered the Junior School in 1948, and it fell to Miss Mackenzie, in form 2C, to instil the three R's into him. At this time he met three young lads who have remained life long friends, namely Frank Stephens, Jim Hall and Alastair Alexander. In the centennial year of 1951 he participated in the torch relay, which commenced at the original site of the school in East Melbourne and finished in Hawthorn. He received the torch from David Price and handed it to Tony Staley. In 1952 he was selected by Garth Tapp to play in the under 12A cricket team. Throughout the season he neither batted (Bob Cowper was already making a name for himself with the willow) nor bowled. He was obviously in the team for his fielding. In that year he and Duncan Harris were playing in a house match. They were batting together and due to inordinate ineptness each unwittingly sought to run-out the other. They survived due to the even worse fielding of their opponents. To this day they refer to each other as 'run-out'. Life in the senior school passed uneventfully until Richard's matriculation year in 1957, in which he was a Probationer, a Cadet Under-officer, a member of the Collegian editorial committee, a Crusader and business manager for Satura. It was this last position which Richard blames for him being one of the very few failures which Ron 'Chesty' Bond had throughout a long career in matriculation Latin. On the sporting field he was captain of the Second XVIII and the Second Athletic team. Instead of studying in the library during his formal spare periods, his time was devoted to increasing his ping-pong skills in the Probationer's room against Ian Morse, Graeme 'Swottie' Thomson and others. For the four years after school he was a resident of Ormond College sharing a room with Tim Smith, now Mr Justice Smith of the Victorian Supreme Court. Richard graduated in law in 1961. Although the process of converting from law student to articled clerk is now extremely difficult, in those days it was simply a matter of a telephone call by one's father to his friend, who happened to be the senior partner of the desired law firm. At this time Richard was a member of the Old Scotch Athletic Club, participating in lower grades in sprinting, long jumping, shot-putting and discus events. He was treasurer of the Club for one year. The brevity of the tenure of this position was obvious. He could only balance the books, with the assistance of the creative accounting skills of a fellow student at Ormond, who was then studying theology. The Reverend Ivan Barker, who recently joined the School Council as one of the Presbyterian Church's nominees, was that helping hand. Richard did his articles at the law firm of Mallesons and was appointed a partner in 1969. He is now a senior partner (and part of the furniture) of that firm now called Mallesons Stephen Jaques. Over the years he has been involved in projects such as Westgate Bridge, Melbourne Underground Railway, the Victorian Arts Centre, version 1 of the City Square, the Rialto, the sale of Loy Yang B Power station, Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast and Nauru Phosphate Trust investments. He is also a Director of Taltarni Vineyards. Richard married Sue in 1964 and their two sons, Andrew (1975-1984) and Hamish (1981-1990) absorbed more of the cardinal, gold and blue. Andrew is currently establishing a walnut orchard near Cobram and Hamish is a geological engineer working for a consulting firm based in Perth. The Nelson daughter, Georgina, married Robert Simpson, who is a friend of Andrew. She lives in Sydney and works in the marketing and product development area of Unifoods. Sue trained as a nurse and then for over 20 years was a volunteer at the Malvern Playgroup for Handicapped Children. At the present time she spends two days a week at the Alfred Hospital in the oncology ward administering pastoral care to cancer patients. There is a strong Scotch connection throughout the family. Richard is the son of Frank who was vice-captain of the school in 1924. He was a judge and presided in Victorian courts for over 28 years. One of Richard's sisters, Margot, married Alan 'Tubby' Parton ('56) but the other sister, Jennifer, saw the light and married an 'Old Melbournian' Brian Willcox. All Old Boys wish Richard well in his Presidential year.
Great Scot
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Updated: Thursday 23 June 2011 © Scotch College 2011