I first met Roy in 2014 when he enrolled in the Master’s degree at ACU National, with his mate Geoff Hennessy. The group quickly got used to ‘the boys from the West’ joining the study group every few months. We found out in no time that Roy was a positive, curious, knowledgeable and happy person, who quickly sparked attention to learning. His buzz and ‘scallywag demeanour’ were always so much fun in groupwork and interactive learning games. You can see Roy below in his group playing ‘Casino Royale’ and loving every moment of experiential learning.

Here is Roy with his team at the end of another experiential learning game called Babelworks, where a tower had to be built by ‘teaming’.

Before I knew Roy, I had been working for some time with his brother David in Melbourne, who was GM OHS with Jemena. It wasn’t until my second meeting with Roy that I found out they were brothers. Roy was like that; he could keep you guessing as a way to amplify discovery and learning. And, learning was Roy’s vocation, occupation and inspiration. Here is Roy on a semiotic walk in Canberra by Lake Burley Griffin as part of his studies. Roy knew the power of symbolism and the symbolism of power and was often captured like this, taking it all in.

I quickly learned that both Roy and I had been school teachers in the same era (1970s), he in Perth and I in Adelaide. We shared similar stories of our education in Teachers College and our experiences in schooling.

Roy’s expertise in Education and Learning, made his work in the risk and safety world blossom, as he connected so well with people through skills in curriculum and pedagogy. Indeed, this drew us close together as we became mates. Very few in the risk and safety industry have such educational expertise.

Roy graduated with his Graduate Diploma in The Social Psychology of Risk from ACU National in 2016 but our relationship didn’t stop there indeed, it grew and amplified. Just for interest in writing this piece, I decided to pull out his old essays from 2014, 2015 and 2016, all averaged with Distinction. Tells you a lot about Roy, his intellect, sharp wit, ability to research and articulate ideas.

I remember once we went on a walk to the Canberra Cork Plantation, a unique place of History and mood created by the eerie scalping of trees and the harvesting of cork. On this walk we asked everyone to allow the place to greet them and I read a poem from Gerard Manley Hopkins (Pied Beauty – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44399/pied-beauty) to set the scene, then asked everyone to go find a tree, sit at it and journal some ideas. Here is a picture of Roy walking back with tears in his eyes stating how much he loved the opportunity to slow down, use his knowledge of literature and connect with nature. That was Roy, he knew how to connect with people and the world and enjoy the poetry of life.

It didn’t take long for Roy and I to realise that we should write a book together on Learning for the risk and safety industry. We published Tackling Risk, A Filed Guide to Risk and Learning in 2017. You can download a free copy here: https://www.humandymensions.com/product/tackling-risk/

What a joy it was to work with Roy on this book over a nine-month period. There was so much fun, stories and sharing in all we had learned together about education and learning. It is a demonstration of the demand for such a book with more than 20,000 downloads to date.

As we worked together on this book I learned of Roy’s gifts in teaching, presentation, literature, semiotics, Poetics, History and motivation. Many a time I flew into Perth to be met by Roy at the airport in his old Volvo station wagon and feel the buzz of lively conversation all the way to Fremantle, and his home.

One of the things we loved to do together was to go on semiotic (symbolic) discovery walks. These walks of mutual conversation were at every place imaginable about Perth and Fremantle. Roy seemed to know the History of everything.

On one occasion I expressed an interest in walking through the old Cemetery at East Perth which we drove past, which was closed. Next time I visited Perth, Roy had arranged for it to be opened especially for us, wow was that a great day. On another occasion he had told me about New Norcia (https://www.newnorcia.com.au/), a Benedictine Community established in 1847 140 kms north of Perth. The next time I arrived, Roy has booked it all and what a day of car travel, conversation, History and walks about this amazing historical place. We stayed overnight in the old convent and enjoyed a Convent Port in the quiet little bar before we went off to our rooms. You can see below a selfie we took at New Norcia with the main buildings in the background. Roy knew just how much I loved exploring an old religious communities and just how much places like this spoke to me. He was happy because I was happy and pumped me full of questions about the meanings of all that was symbolised there.

On many an occasion I think we must have walked through every lane, church, cathedral, museum and anything historical in Fremantle. Here we are with two good friends who were study buddies outside the Fremantle Maritime Museum.

We also did the Fremantle Gaol and the self-guided cemetery tour where the grave of Bon Scott is (with his own gate) from AC/DC. So many favourite memories with Roy, who delighted in talking History, Culture and learning.

Of course, it goes without saying that we had many fun times with colleagues, bringing them into a meal or training program and sharing in their expertise. Here we are with our friend and colleague Greg Smith, enjoying the conviviality, joy and fellowship of a tasting platter at Little Creatures.

Many a time we shared with Greg, over a meal with his wisdom about the law, risk, safety and critical thinking.

Those who knew Roy knew of his love of military History, his book collection was amazing. I remember once admiring some of these rare works on his shelf and he picked up one and gave it to me, such was the generosity of Roy.

Those who knew Roy also knew of his expertise with his strategic learning boards, a skill and craft he learned in Germany many years ago. From the moment I met Roy, it took some time to learn about the complexity, symbolism, linguistic brilliance and orchestration of how this strategy helped people think and learn.

Roy travelled the world using his boards with executive teams, boards and business, helping them think critically about work. There was no-one on the planet as good as Roy in this approach to learning, strategic thinking and symbolic knowing. You can see below Roy in full flight helping people use the tools, shapes, dots, lines, text, patterns and semiotics of the boards to communicate, think critically, explore, create and discover how to learn about learning. The name of Roy’s business ‘Metadymensions’ says it all.

Roy’s work went over and above the basics in thinking to ‘meta thinking’. He helped so many in organisations better understand their work, tackle problems and develop strategic solutions in their work. The more I saw Roy at work the more I understood the amazing complexity he was able to explore with tools that seems so simple and basic.

But in all of this, you can talk about Roy without talking about the loves of his life Julie and Niobe.

What a privilege it has been to live in their house and be welcomed by their love and hospitality.

Once when my daughter and granddaughter had to move to Perth they knew no-one. So, I called on Roy and Julie, who dropped everything in their busy life to welcome and comfort my daughter Jenni and Minna to Perth. You can see them with Minna in the pic below.

What a blessing it was to know that people like Julie and Roy were there to be friends and helpers in a strange city, on the other side of Australia, to share their love with my family to their city.

What a blessing it was to have Roy, Julie and Niobe enter into our lives with that simple introduction in 2014.

What can you say to people who live their lives with such heart, hospitality and happiness?

Roy, we will miss you dearly. You remain in our hearts (and my heart) and continue to nourish us with all you gave to us by your rich and meaningful life.

Rob and Helen