Returned from Oxford to Adelaide in 1956, the author and Patricia Berry were married, and John worked in the social work field - briefly in a family welfare agency, and then in the social work section of the Commonwealth Department of Social Services. Rapid national experience came as organising secretary of a conference of the Australian Association of Social Workers. A PhD scholarship at the embryonic Australian National University in 1958 enabled him to research the history of professional social work in Australia. In 1961, he was appointed to Australias first academic appointment in social policy - at the University of Sydney. A sabbatical year in 1967 at the University of Michigan in the USA, was memorable for all of the family. It was at the time of race riots, the Vietnam War, the war on poverty, and student protests. A summer tour included Expo 67 in Montreal. After 12 professionally productive years, living in Adelaide, Canberra, and Sydney, the University of New South Wales appointed him in 1968 to the first chair of social work in the country.

About the Author

John Lawrence has taught social policy for thirty years, taking a special interest in the ethical justification of policy and professional intervention. He is a graduate of the Universities of Adelaide and Oxford, and the Australian National University. Australias first Professor of Social Work, he headed the School of Social Work at the University of New South Wales for fourteen years, chaired the Universitys Faculty of Professional Studies, was a member of the University Council, and was directly involved in the development of its Social Policy Research Centre, a national centre directly funded by the Australian Government. A former federal president and life member of the Australian Association of Social Workers, he served on its National Ethics Committee. For eight years, he was an elected member of the Executive Board of the International Association of Schools of Social Work. He has had membership of the governing bodies of community agencies, including a vice-presidency of ACOSS (Australian Council of Social Service). He is a firm advocate of international experience, and has spent almost seven years away from his native Australia, studying, researching, teaching and acting as a consultant in England, the United States, Canada, Thailand and Sweden. This has been assisted by various awards - a Rhodes Scholarship, Fulbright senior awards, the Moses Distinguished Professorship at Hunter College in New York, and a Canadian Commonwealth Fellowship - and university study leave and exchange arrangements. He is a member of the Order of Australia.