From Ferranti to Faculty: Information Technology at Monash University, 1960 to 1990

Abstract

From Ferranti to Faculty tells the story of the foundation of the first faculty dedicated to computing and information technology in Australia. Covering the period from the late 1950s until 1990, when the Faculty of Computing and Information Technology at Monash University was formed, it spans the establishment phase of the discipline of computing. During this time, this field of study was developing and changing at a rapid rate, arguably faster than any new discipline in the past. This created enormous challenges and difficulties, as well as wonderful opportunities. These opportunities were seized upon by visionary people both at Caulfield Institute of Technology (later Chisholm Institute of Technology) and at Monash University. In many ways From Ferranti to Faculty is about these people - the influence they had on the development of computing in Australia and on the establishment of the faculty. From Ferranti to Faculty traces the foundation and establishment of Monash University's Faculty of Computing and Information Technology, known today as the Faculty of Information Technology. It explores the emergence of computing and computer science as new, stand-alone disciplines in the tertiary sector. The history of higher education in Australia provides the backdrop to this story, as does the history of Monash University and the various institutions that occupied what is now the Caulfield campus of Monash University.