Commem. - Graduation Ceremonies of Yesteryear

Commem Day Procession 1920s. In the bath,Grace Buchanan and Nell Hooper; pushing the bath, Dorothy Hill*
Commem Day Procession 1920s. In the bath,Grace Buchanan and Nell Hooper; pushing the bath, Dorothy Hill*

“Commem.”, a goal for all undergraduates, was the ceremony commemorating the graduation of students, at which they were presented with their certificates by the Chancellor.  There was, in days past, a Commem. Dinner/Ball, held on or prior to Graduation Day.

On the day of the graduation ceremony, there was a public procession during which students paraded down Brisbane city streets on various humorous and politically satirical floats.  One tradition was the "student crocodile" which went in and out of city stores, across streets and even through tramcars, and was described by the Courier in 1930 as "a sinuous 'crocodile' of hilarity".   The edition of the Courier-Mail newspaper for 13 April 1934, however, notes that the Commem parade for that year was cancelled by the students out of respect for Professor Steele, the foundation professor of Chemistry, who had passed away the day before.
 
Later in the day, the graduation ceremony was held.  Back in the George Street days, the ceremony for the conferring of degrees (there was only one per year) was held in the Brisbane City Hall.  This ceremony was attended by graduating students of all faculties.  As the Chancellor and professors walked onto the stage, the assembly sang “Gaudeamus”.  As each Faculty Professor arose to present his graduating students to the Chancellor, the students, having practiced all the faculty songs, would sing the appropriate song.  It was a fun occasion. 
 
The Commem. program and song booklets were issued by the University of Queensland Union.  The University's Fryer Library holds copies of some of these books, including the Commem. Souvenir 1921 (2,750KB), the Commem. Song Book Souvenir 1939 (9,795 KB), and the Song Book Souvenir 1947 (6,504 KB).  All are reflective of the issues and attitudes of their time and the 1947 book contains the students' version of the University's history timeline to that year.
 
By the mid 1960s the move to St Lucia and the growing size of the student population made the Commem day processions, dinners and balls an impossibility.  Police restrictions ultimately confined the processions to the University grounds and by the late 1960s the tradition had petered out.
 
Contributed by Doug Moffett, UQ Archives and UQ Library
 
*Photograph from UQ Fryer Library collection

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