I was sitting in a cafe having a coffee with a former student, now 23, who had finished his double degree and completed some interesting travel. I asked him about his journey and engaged in actively listening to him. I felt that I had done some journeying with him; not with my boots but with my ears and my brain as I enjoyed engaging with his story. If you listen to someone, show you value their story, engage in conversation about it , then you will have clearly valued them and their journey.

As Principals we have lots of “Journeying” to do, not only with former students, but present students, and parents. We can’t “Journey” with everyone and hopefully our staff endorse a culture of “Journeying” and really engage in it.

I love visiting the bookshop in Mansfield in the Victorian High Country which presents as a good old fashioned softly lit shop, but stocked with such a variety of wonderful books, suitable for people of all ages and interests. My older grandchildren love going in there and finding books which are meaningful for them. They are indeed children of the “screen” age but nevertheless still love the smell and feel of a precious book.

Recently my eyes spied a new book, copywrite 2025, by Harrison Christian called “Darwin on the Beagle”. The Darwin/ Wedgwood family were creative and interesting, and my grandson had great interest in Charles Darwin because he knew he was related to him. Darwin had to break free of expectation, particularly from his father, to eventually enable him to pursue his enthusiastic interest in the Natural World for which he became famous, with the City of Darwin being named after him as indeed is our Northern Territory University.

Darwin’s father Robert Darwin was a medical doctor as was his famous Grandfather Erasmus Darwin, a true man of the Enlightenment with skills in medicine scientific research, poetry, philosophy, physiology, inventing, and as a slave trade abolitionist. He was a member of the famous Lunar Society of Birmingham. It was not surprising that Robert Darwin, a large and imposing man, wanted his son to study medicine. Charles started the study to please his father but disliked it. Convincing his father that he wanted to change, his father thought he could go into the Church to become an Anglican Clergyman. He commenced this study but it was not really the journey he wanted to take. He desperately wanted to be a scientist discovering all he could about the natural world. It seems to me that Dr Robert Darwin was instructing his son on what career he should take rather than “ journeying” with him with empathy and letting the value of his son’s interests foster his understanding of the direction his son wanted to take. More listening, less telling at that time would have been helpful.

 Having mentally “bagged out” Dr Robert Darwin in relationship to his son, I re-read the particular pages and realised I hadn’t been entirely fair in what I had written as will be explained in the next paragraphs.

Charles had been offered the opportunity to join a Naval Expedition to circumnavigate the world calling into many countries where his passion for observing nature and collecting specimens for future study could be realised. The ship was to be “The Beagle”, commanded by Captain FitzRoy. Charles’s father poured cold water on his son joining the expedition, partly because it would not enhance him settling down as a clergyman. Indeed, he had a range of other concerns as well. Obviously, Charles was bitterly disappointed. Then Dr Robert regrouped and said, “if you can find any man of common sense, who advises you to go, I will give my consent.”

Well Charles consulted his favourite uncle Josiah Wedgwood II who was highly respected by Dr Darwin, his brother-in-law. Josiah was the son of Josiah Wedgwood the famous entrepreneurial potter who had also been a vibrant member of the Lunar Society and Josiah II, like his father, had diverse creative interests. He thought the voyage would be a wonderful opportunity for Charles and spoke to Dr Darwin accordingly. It is at this point that my respect for Dr Darwin rose. To check his thinking he had consulted with someone he could rely on and then, after hearing the considerations, and thinking about them, was prepared to let Charles go on what was to be a journey of a lifetime, setting in place Charles’s lifelong and famous career.

 A wise Principal will assess when it is worth getting another reliable opinion from someone respected and trusted. In some respect Charles’s father did eventually journey with him. Yes, sometimes you have to have the courage to reconsider a decision, which a good Principal is always prepared to do.

Being a good Principal is an intense people career. Though good administration is necessary, a Principal will not be successful unless they have an understanding and love of people and a never-ending interest in them. School architecture has a role to play in this. Building a grand structure may be the desire but it will not be successful if it doesn’t “speak” positively to the students and staff in the school. 

A school which values “Journeying” will be a good school where people will really feel they belong and can strive to reach their potential in areas of their interest. It is always wonderful to catch up with former students and hear about the Journeys they have taken.