Ray Way

About Ray Way

Ray Way’s contribution to William Angliss Institute was significant and spanned more than three decades. He played a key part in the College’s early venture into education-focused programs, as both a teacher and department head. During his time as CEO, Ray helped build the institute into the industry leader that it is today.

Ray was recruited by the Department of Education to write modules for Business Studies, and went on to become head the Business Studies Department. With Graham Dodgshun he created a very successful Diploma program that changed the way culinary business courses are run in Australia.

“We were absolutely snowed! … We had just about every hotel … and every restaurant … in the state. Even people who lived in the country wanted their children to come here. We ran the only practical course that was oriented to real management in the industry. We were operational management”.

Ray witnessed the dramatic surge in popularity that cookery underwent after the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, and into the 1960s and 1970s, when the cuisine of the city expanded and diversified. During this time, interest in food and culinary courses increased exponentially. William Angliss Institute felt the effects of this change.

When I first came here the intake of apprentice cooks would have been about 15, then… it took off, it went from 15 one year to 60 the next.

During Ray’s time at William Angliss, implemented the development of the Tourism Department in the late 1970s, and shaping the Diploma of Business Studies (Tourism) as a leading course run by the Institute. The program was extremely successful and focused on the specifics of the travel industry, including subjects that featured industry professionals as guest lecturers. Later, as the industry modernised, the program changed and adopted a focus on computerised systems and the technology involved in tourism management.

One of Ray’s major achievements was convincing the School Council to approve a change of name, and in the 1970s the Institute changed from ‘William Angliss Food Trade School’ to the more prestigious ‘William Angliss College of Catering and Food Studies’, assigning the College a greater distinction over other trade schools and reinforcing its standing as an industry pioneer.

Another memorable success that came about under his guidance was the funding and design of the Bakery and Pastry and Butchery Wing of the Institute. Ray remembers the initial step towards it getting built:

We got a call about 2 o’clock on a Friday afternoon … from the Education Department saying, ‘Have you got any project (priced) at about a million that you can give us some paper on by the end of the day?’ So Graham Dodgshun who was responsible for facilities and Ray Boardman, who was the planning officer here at the time, did all the building planning. So Ray and Graham and I sat down … in the conference room with a blank piece of paper and we designed a building for pastry cooks, butchers and bakers and the restaurant in two hours … and we sent these sketches up. And we got a phone call back saying, ‘You’re joking! A million!’ ‘Well’, we said, ‘it’ll be a start’. We got 16 million. That wing took … two hours of vision … and hard work by three blokes.

Ray looks back with fondness at his time at the Institute, and at the milestones and innovative developments achieved under his direction.

Summary of the Interview

Summary of the Interview

Interviewer: Jill Adams
Interviewee: Ray Way
Date: 03/03/2011
Recording Format: MP3

Time	Content	Keywords
0:06	Early Directions of William Angliss Institute First Director/Principal of College Herb West, an Industrial Chemist by profession Originally building housed an experimental lab for the Principal to develop products to help with food shortages around world (during war time) 1960s was hired to start-up what came to be known as ‘Business Education’ where all of trades were part of retail sector so it was thought necessary for students to learn about the business side of the industry Developed a syllabus for two year course, included budgeting, handling money and expenses, insurance, management practices	Business Education; Director/Principal of College; Herb West; Industrial Chemist; Education Department; private practice; Latrobe Street; East Wing; war; Champagne; bunkers; air raid shelters; rice board; cereal board; council; 1960s; white pants; uniform; butcher; baker; pastry cook; food trades; grocery trade; business education; cooking; apprenticeship; finance; syllabus; budgeting; business owners;
5:56	William Angliss Institute Initial Focus 1940s Set-up of Mono-Purpose Schools WAI was MP School for Food and Hospitality Apprentice focused with some other courses for armed services Hostess Course, demonstration and lecture of cookery and culinary techniques Full-time Cookery Diploma Courses Hotel Management Course set up in the 1960s, wasn’t accredited by Department of Education and collapsed Council of leaders pushed a focus of restaurant management and industry focus which was at odds with Department of Education’s outlook and aims	Mono-Purpose Schools; food; hairdressing; Little Lonsdale Street; Pascoe Vale; Coburg; Batman Automotive School; Queensberry Street; 1940s; 1950s; armed forces training; Hostess Course; dinner parties; 1960s; Full-time Cookery Diploma Courses; management courses; Hotel Management Course; Department of Education; Council; Industry; training; 1956 Olympics;
10:23 17.01	Employment at WAI Education background with a Commerce Major, taught at Pentridge Gaol Shifted from Primary Teaching to Tertiary Focus Recruited to Footscray TAFE to develop and implement Business Education with Allan Handberg 1966 WAI Business Studies Diploma, wrote syllabus for finance, law and other teachers looked at different areas, taught at WAI and Footscray Big changes in Tertiary education happened in the 1970s, similar to Universities in degrees and diplomas Development of Undergraduate 3-year Diploma just at WAI with only liaison with Footscray TAFE Practical focus of diploma made it incredibly popular	Hawthorn Football Club; Pentridge Gaol; Footscray Technical College; Len Watts; Board of Inspectors; Commerce Major; Teacher’s Training; Hotels & Hospitality; Allan Handberg; first year Bakers, Butchers, pastry cooks and cooks; 1966; Graham Dodgshun; Business Studies Diploma; finance; law; budgeting; costing; syllabus; Australian Hotel Association; Federal Hotels; Universities; Institutes of Technology; Undergraduate 3 year Diploma; awards; chair; committee; Government Approval; Lindsay Thompson MP; degree; hotel & restaurant industry; operational management; 1975; gap year; interview; deferral of place; program;
25:20	Students at WAI Mostly male but a good percentage of female students [early 1970s] Balance of funding changed, initially all from government sources, gradually changed over time Training direct to Industry generated cash flow Handled Administration with Graham Dodgshun, decided to hold Open Days a couple of Sundays a month that were very popular Policy that Australian Industry was small so international students were not encouraged to apply or study at WAI until 1990s Original name ‘William Angliss Food Trade School’, convinced council to change name to ‘William Angliss College of Catering and Food Studies’, bypassed the government boards	1970s; International Students; funding; training guarantee; TAFE; training direct to industry; Bhutan; United Nations; administrators; open days; Australian Industry; 1990s; trade fair; Singapore; William Angliss Food Trade School; William Angliss College of Catering and Food Studies; Technical Colleges Committee; ColIn Cunneen
34:10	William Angliss, Himself Donated money to get College started, ColIn Cunneen as Council President in 1957 Disputes/differences of opinion with management Ron Eades as next President and was very forward thinking, encouraged Technical diversity and progress	Sir William Angliss; ColIn Cunneen; Council President; Dame Jacabeena; Smithfield Market; butcher; Queensland; Vestey Group;; Arthur Call; St Paul’s Cathedral; Dean Thomas; Chaplain; Diploma; Len Watts; Technical Director; Council; Ron Eaves; Victoria Hotel; futurist; President; 1957; 1962
41:01	Trades Butchery always very prosperous, but retail shop declined as supermarkets rose, “every strip in Melbourne used to have a Angliss shop” Change in industry, grocery began to expand, but butchery still had retail stores until late ‘90s Change in Cookery, dramatic expansion of industry “almost overnight” Influence of Graham Kerr, encouraged more cooks, changed idea or attitude towards male chefs in society, raised the profile of masculinity in cooking Post-Olympic Melbourne industry expanded and began to take on more apprentices, hotels opened for more apprentices Apprentice Commission, controlled all hiring of apprentices, regulated ads calling for 2^nd and 3^rd year apprentices offering poor conditions/exploited, a big problem in the industry BYO and café culture shook up industry and provided more regulated hours, spread of qualified cooks also dispersed talent over the sector, a distinct transition towards quality of cookery everywhere	Retail shop; supermarkets; Croft’s Grocer; self-service grocery; 1957; 1958; Castlemaine; George Clarke; Foodland; butchery trade; 1990s; cookery; Graham Kerr; Galloping Gourmet; chefs; masculinity; Margaret Fulton; Women Weekly; Post-Olympic Melbourne; Apprenticeship Commission; bar manager; BYO; café culture; qualified cooks; sandwich; garden centre; Warrandyte, Vic.; nursery
51:45	Development of Tourism Department Involved in Travel/Tourism Industry, put together a committee and then developed a Diploma in Tourism [late 70s] Certificate of Business Studies (Tourism) changed to Diploma program Extremely successful course, taught specifics of travel industry, adapted/incorporated computerised systems later, guest lecturers from industry to teach subjects	Tourism Department; Member of Board;Educational Representative; SKAL- Travel Industry; Travel Agent; Business Studies (Tourism); Diploma in Tourism; 1970s; Certificate of Business Studies (Tourism); itinerary; international travel;
57:38	Significant/important Achievements Went from trade school to industry focused college Expansion in buildings, staff, students; funding of building Design of bakery and pastry and butchery wing Original position of buildings/grounds	trade school; industry focused college; Cunneen Wing; education department; funding; bakery and pastry wing; Ray Boardman; conference room; budget; canteen;
1:03:49	Jock Kerr’s time as Principal of WAI	Len Watts; Jock Kerr; army colonel; army catering corp; acting CEO; Box Hill Technical College; Jeff Fountain; Ted Jackson; ColIn Cunneen;
1:07:27	Term as Director(over twenty years) upgraded to higher rank in Tertiary Education credibility and exposure when government lowered retirement age	Tertiary Education; retirement age; postgraduate study;
1:12:10 End	Diploma Program only one of its nature in Australia, such an important milestone in the development of Food Business Studies