Ex-Singer, History Prof Brings Taste Of Australia To Quincy

Visiting Professor John D. Rickard is used to having his voice noticed; after all, he spent 10 years on stage, singing his heart out in musicals such as "The King and I" or operas including "The Rape of Lucretia."

However, now his voice is being noticed for different reasons; his version of the famous Crocodile Dundee accent has been turning heads and getting students guessing all over campus.

Rickard says he is surprised at the number of people who confuse his accent with a British Cockney or a Danish twang, especially considering that there is little difference in the accent across regions.

"People from the bush," sometimes speak with more of a drawl than in the city, says Rickard, who is an urban dweller and native Australian himself.

Rickard, who is filling the visiting chair of Australian Studies and teaching History 1841: "The Last Frontier': Australian Cultural History," says he is enjoying teaching Australian history from a new perspective and to a new audience.

"I am not suggesting that everyone study Australia, but Australia's history should be of interest to America" he says, noting the common threads of colonization and relations to the native population.

"It does seem to me," Rickard says, "that America in some ways, because it's such a big country and such an important country, America is rather insular."

Rickard says that life at Harvard is much more formal than that at Monash University in Melbourne, most visibly among the Faculty, who sport ties instead of t-shirts.

The differences are clear in the student body as well, Rickard says, if not in dress, in behavior.

"The American students are much more articulate and confident," Rickard says, also noting that students in the U.S. do not call their professors by their first names, as is often true in Australia.

In teaching his class on Australian history, he has incorporated some of the myths associated with the country.

Rickard implemented one of the most memorable visualizations of that myth having his class watch excerpts from "Crocodile Dundee" to get a feel for both the mythical outback and hints of modern attitudes toward issues, such as aborigine relations and perceptions.

But Rickard's first life before teaching was that of a professional actor in both England and Australia.

He describes his life in the world of Australian theater as "all a game of survival," demanding enormous adaptability, a game that he "survived for 10 years."

After receiving a BA from Sydney University, Rickard travelled to Oxford with a scholarship for a show company.

"I somehow drifted into professional theater...I didn't know what I wanted to do," he says.

Having a primary talent and interest in ginging, he ended up playing the role of the Prince of Burma in "The King and I," as well as "Oh What a Lovely War" and "Half a Sixpence."

Wanting to pursue his other academic interest in history, he began "living a double life" and earned both his master's and Ph.D., then received tenure.

Teaching at the University proved too time consuming to keep up with singing, but he is still very involved in theater.

Campus producers and actors may be interested in meeting Rickard, since he is still associated with a theater program in Australia that he describes as "sort of an awards system...sort of a small version of the Tonies."

Through this year-long experience of teaching, living and researching at Harvard, he says he expects to learn a considerable amount himself.

"There's almost a need to translate things to explain," he says, because of the cultural difference and reduced level of familiarity.

But Rickard doesn't find this a burden-in fact, it's exactly what he came here for: a chance to "see Australia through an American's eyes."