It was older and more diverse, with almost half being women compared to the national average at the time of just 34%.

From conception, Murdoch University revelled in its difference, promising a fresh outlook free of traditional methods and attitudes.

A cornerstone of this difference was the requirement that all first-year students undertake a cross-disciplinary foundation course outside their field of study.

This broadening approach underscored Murdoch’s ethos founded on core values of equity and social justice, sustainability, global responsibility, innovation, entrepreneurship and scholarly integrity.

Of the applicants who sought admission to WA’s new university, 510 were offered undergraduate places. Of these, there were a large bloc of part-time and external enrolments – a still novel concept in the 1970s. 

Murdoch’s inaugural Professor of Clinical Pathology, later Dean of the Veterinary School and Vice Chancellor, Mal Nairn, described Murdoch as: “... catering to students who had no ready access to higher education. External Studies was excellent in opening doors to many people. Murdoch was also very encouraging of mature age students, offering them a second chance.”

Image caption: Murdoch University External Studies mailout during 1988.

Students arrived on campus in late 1975 for orientation, which included a film presentation - “Murdoch is” - punctuated with music by the Moody Blues and Deep Purple and a slogan: “Let us change promise and idealism into fact.”  

On 23 April 1975 a formal ceremony at the Perth Concert Hall awarded the University’s first honorary degrees to Noel Bayliss, Sir Lawrence Jackson and Peter Karmel, and through the course of the year, the new university was visited by Princess Anne, US Ambassador Marshall Green and USSR envoy Alexander Borasova. 

Murdoch opened with six foundation schools: Veterinary Studies; Education; Environmental and Life Sciences; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; Human Communication; and Social Inquiry.