Raoul Mortley
After leaving NSBHS I went to Sydney University and took Latin, Greek and Philosophy, after which I went to Monash University where I completed a Master of Arts. Subsequently I went to the University of Strasbourg, where I completed a doctorate, and ten years later the D.Litt degree.
I worked for a while as a translator in the Council of Europe and in the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, as a research fellow in philosophy. Coming back home, I went to Macquarie University where I taught very happily for 15 years until 1989, when I went to Bond University. I subsequently became Vice Chancellor at the University of Newcastle, and then at Bond University.
I became a director and shareholder in TFG International, carrying out numerous consultancies, and continue to be involved with that company.
I returned to Bond University in 2002, and am currently Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of the faculty of Humanities and Social sciences.
Update 2020
Since the last update I ended up serving 15 years as Dean at Bond, being promoted during this period to Pro Vice Chancellor International. I had been Vice Chancellor at Bond, but this ended badly, coinciding with Malcolm Turnbull's directorship on the board of Bond University.
I finally retired at the end of 2018, having greatly enjoyed my time. I still have an office at the University and most importantly for me, a library card. My eldest daughter Anna, who was born in France and educated there, ended up marrying an Australian and now runs an art gallery with him in Richmond, Melbourne. My son Hugo has recently returned from six years in Japan, and appears to be almost entirely self educated through YouTube. My youngest daughter Sarah is studying nursing.
I have gone back to consulting in a mild kind of way, and at present am undertaking a review of the patent system and its use by small business for the Department of Industry Science Energy and Resources. I knocked around intellectual property issues a lot, copyright and then patenting, between 94 – 2002, and learned a lot of things from a lot of people.
It is odd for a philosopher to be on the board of Innovation and Science Australia, but there it is: Aristotle would not have found it odd. At the moment I am writing a book on Chinese philosophy, and am also doing a property development. I give a fortnightly class on Plato to anyone who wants to come (at Bond University), and I alternate with a colleague who does Chaucer and Shakespeare. We are both defiantly retro.
David Levine and I were close friends until his sad death. We had dinner once a year, and discussed anything and everything: we were soul mates.