ABSTRACT German at the University of Queensland between 1947 and 1985 is shown as an extreme example of the problems that can beset small departments or sub‐departments that have little or no protection through degree requirements and do not automatically attract large numbers of students. If such subjects are to prosper or, in some cases, merely to survive, demand must be created by the department. This public relations process can add tremendously to the workload of the staff of the department. Linked with the problem of numbers is the maintenance of standards. However, whereas the struggle for students probably affected only a limited number of departments in the last forty years, the problem of the maintenance of standards must have affected almost every department in Australia. It is shown how an almost unavoidable decline in standards took place in German in Queensland between 1947 and 1974, during which period the basic pattern of courses remained unchanged. Then the introduction of the semester system created new problems of standards while at the same time having a surprising effect on student numbers. Keith Leopold, M.A. (Syd.), Ph.D. (Qld), now Emeritus Professor, was in charge of German at the University of Queensland from the beginning of 1947 to the end of 1984, initially as Lecturer in German within the Department of English and Modern Languages and from 1953 as head of a separate Department of German. He was also closely associated with secondary education in Queensland, particularly with the development of German but also with broader aspects as a long‐serving University representative on the Board of Senior Secondary Studies and later the Board of Secondary School Studies. In addition to articles on pedagogical topics and on German literature (a selection of the latter was published in 1985 under the titleSelected Writings), Professor Leopold has specialised in materials for secondary schools, including readers, the very successful course book and reference grammar Introducing German, and over 500 scripts for German school broadcasts between 1960 and 1974. He is also the author of two novels in English. In 1973, for services to German in Australia, he was awarded the Order of Merit, First Class, of the Federal Republic of Germany.