Michael Roberts
Though Don Bradman had settled down in Adelaide and his son was a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law at Adelaide University and thereby a colleague [1], I never met the Don personally (while recognising his greatness by attending the massed commemoration of his death at the Adelaide Oval in 2001).
The first encounter with Bradman Weerakon was via his wife. It was an unplanned ‘encounter’. She was floating in complete peace in the relatively calm waters between reef and shore at the Boy’s Bathing Place off the Fort of Galle — a spot about 500 yards from the Roberts house in Middle Street — without allowance for the gentle current which took her into a rocky section of the swimming spot where corals and sea pencils were a danger. Spotting this, I swam rapidly to her side, told her to stay calm and floating and then guided her safely (still floating on her back) to a spot on the shoreline. She was pleased and grateful to the teenage lad who had assisted her.
the photo alongside is not of the Boy’d Bsthing Place” but it suggests the ckind of physical circumstances where I participated ona minor rescue act
My second encounter with Bradman Weerakoon was as in the mode cricketing ‘enemy’: Bradman was a member of the SSC cricket team facing a University of Ceylon B team at the University grounds in Colombo …. dates forgotten I am afraid. But this is an important note: Bradman Weerakoon was multi-skilled and not a mere bookworm.
The third occasion is the most important one. As one of the team running the CEYLON STUDIES SEMINAR at Peradeniya University in the late 60s and early 1970, I secured his contribution to our debating enterprise. On the 21stAugust 1973 he visited Peradeniya so that we could debate a written paper circulated beforehand. This Paper is entitled “Role of Administrators in the Context of a Changing Agrarian Situation: A District Point of View.”
This paper is accessible in the copies of the CCS publications assembled in several libraries in Sri Lanka and abroad. I seems that Bradman himself took steps to present a revised version of the article in the public domain in 1977: see ………………….
Bradman Weerakoon, 1977. “Role of Administrators in a Changing Agrarian Situation: The Sri Lanka Experience,” Public Administration & Development, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 16(3), pages 148-161……………………………………….July. Handle: RePEc:wly:padxxx:v:16:y:1977:i:3:p:148-161
DOI: 10.1002/j.1099-162X.1977.tb00452.x
FOOTNOTES
- At one stage the offices of the Dept of Anthropology (my department] were in the same building as the Law Faculty; so I had a nodding acquaintance with John Bradsen.
What a small world, Michael. It is a fascinating piece.