The Gippsland campus of Monash University is located in the town of Churchill 142 km east of Melbourne. There are around 2,000 students studying on-campus and 5,000 students who study off-campus. The campus faculties include Business and Economics; Arts; IT; Medicine, Nursing & Health Sciences; Education; Science and Art and Design. The current head of the campus is Pro-Vice Chancellor, Professor Helen Bartlett, who was appointed on August 4 2008. The Gippsland Education Precinct was recently completed at the Campus, which provides education and training for Year 11 and 12 secondary school and TAFE students.[1]
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The campus began as the Yallourn Technical School in 1928, in order to train State Electricity Commission of Victoria workers for the Yallourn Power Station. It became Yallourn Technical College in 1958. The Gippsland Institute of Advanced Education (GIAE) took over College courses after it was formed in 1968 at its current location of Churchill. It was amalgamated with Monash University in 1990, initially becoming Monash University College, before becoming a campus of the University in the mid-1990s. In recent years, the campus has undergone substantial expansions and upgrades of its buildings, Science and Engineering (1986), Information Technology (1994), a two level library (1997), Gippsland Education Precinct (2006), and a new auditorium was completed in 2008, replacing the iconic Binishell, demolished in 2009.
In 2008, the Monash Gippsland Medical School was opened, after extensive construction of new facilities and accommodation for the increase in students on campus.[2]
The Gippsland Campus is Monash University's only non-metropolitan, rural campus. It is situated on 63 hectares of landscaped grounds, next to the Strzelecki Ranges.[3] The region is home to both major environmental and industrial sites in Victoria, including twelve national parks, including Wilsons Promontory and Baw Baw, and the centre of Victoria's electricity industry.
A distinctive architectural feature of the Gippsland campus is the Binishell. A Binishell is large reinforced concrete dome shaped and lifted by air pressure. Its inventor, architect Dr. Dante Bini, directed the construction of the Binishell in December 1979. Around 1,600 Binishells have been built in 17 countries. The eleven metre high binishell, using 300 tons of concrete and reinforcing steel, was inflated by a large membrane in around one hour, using Dr. Dante Bini's ferrocement method. The Binishell is used as a place for exams and graduations. However, due to its diminished structural integrity, during 2004 and early 2005 the building was not used for either of these purposes whilst a new structure support was installed. Normal use of the building was resumed in Semester 1 2005.
On February 14, 2009, the Binishell was demolished. Monash University plans to replace it with a square shaped building.
The National Primate Breeding and Research Centre is located next to the Gippsland campus. Opened in 2007 and costing $5 million it is Australia's main primate centre housing up to 600 monkeys.[4] Little is known about the centre, Monash maintains a low public profile concerning the centre.
The student organisation at the campus is known as the Monash University Gippsland Student Union (MUGSU). Every student enrolled at the Gippsland campus is by default a member of MUGSU. The organisation began as the GIAE Union in the early 1970s. Each year students are elected to the student union board, with each office bearer in charge of a portfolio of various student issues. The organisation runs a student publication called Emit, which is distributed throughout the Latrobe Valley by a local newspaper. The organisation has lost much of its funding due to Voluntary Student Unionism. VSU was among the issues for which MUGSU campaigned against John Howard and in particular the now local member Peter McGauran in the 2004 Federal election.
The campus produces the Monash University Gippsland Student Newspaper that represents all students at Monash Gippsland. The paper is edited by students, and consists of student articles. It is seen as a tremendous initiative which allows Journalism students the chance to improve their writing skills as well as develop experience in the field of Journalism. The Threshold Newspaper was founded by journalism students Bjornar Kjensli and Timothy Lamacraft in 2002.
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