As in almost any society , groups of the like minded will come together while attending universities , forming their clubs and societies , or if not so formalised , their cliques . These are not always mutually exclusive groupings , and sometimes there are quite odd overlaps.

Students arriving for their orientation weeks in the bigger universities are often overwhelmed by the choices offered to them , and gravitate towards areas that they have known in their schooldays . Evangelical and religious groups in particular provide a comfort zone for many students out on their own in the world for the first time , and there is a natural progression from church groups in their home towns to various religious clubs , of all denominations , on the university campus .

Political affiliations are nowadays more obviously followed up early than they were fifty years ago , but in those days individuals were less likely to merge immediately into the university's political scene . Given time they may well be corrupted from their fledgeling innocence into the extremes of left and right wing thinking , but fifty years ago in the small university which I attended , it took a little time to adjust .

Indeed, the institution that I attended for my first three years was not a full fledged university but a rural university college , deliberately set up as an extension of Sydney University , partly to cater for students from country areas but much more to satisfy the whims of the ruling political party of the time who were pork - barrelling their country electorates.

Let me not in any way denigrate my alma mater , which by the way has now grown into an organisation with a very large student population and a wide variety of courses, graduate and post graduate It has a widespread network of External Studies courses as well .

However , in my day there were not many more than four hundred students , all living in residence except for the few who were born in the university township itself . Thus it was a very intimate group , and we all knew each other , from the first year students to the diplomates in post graduate courses.

This had its advantages and disadvantages of course , but on the whole there was little animosity engendered among residents, and there were many jocular challenges among the town residences where the main body of students was housed.

There were two major intellectual areas of thinking current then.

The Student Christian Movement was quite a strong group , but being of leftist political tendencies , I eschewed them and joined the Labor Club . I was most valuable there as I was the only person in the group who owned a portable typewriter . It is ironic that my wife-to-be , one year behind me at university , was dragooned by an acquaintance into joining the SCM. She was interested mostly in the choral singing they indulged in .

Which brings me to the point : the SCM , determined on converting the wicked leftists , set up an evening campfire down by the river and challenged them to some sort of religious debate . Not being especially interested in the debate per se , but interested in the promised provision of supper , I took my appetite along with me to the riverbank.

, I remember nothing of the debate , little of the supper , being somewhat overwhelmed by the vociferous renditions of such stirring melodies as Kum Ba Ya ; and Michael also did a lot of rowing ashore that night . What I definitely do remember is the trip back through the dark to catch the last bus into town.

Darb , as he was known to us because he had the same surname as a famous jockey , was a leading light among the Laborites and a forthright bloke . He insisted that he would lead a small contingent , of which I was one , back to the main building and bus stop , through the pitch black of the night in the bush surrounding the grounds . We had no torches ,

Follow me , he cried confidently .

Trustingly , we did follow , and it was not far up the steep slope leading back that we encountered a jumble of rocks , with a lot of blackberry bushes among them . I was assisting two young ladies up the slope -- one tall and thin , the other rather plumper . It was no easy task guiding them through the rocky tangles in the dark , and it often consisted of pushing the backside of the plump girl in front of me , and hauling the thinner one by the arms up the slope.

We made it , however , tired and scratched , and we just caught the bus .

A couple of days later I wandered down to where the the campfire had been held and discovered that our fearless leader had taken us through the only patch of rock and blackberry for a hundred yards either way , and the patch itself was no more than twenty feet wide .

Maybe the SCM had the last laugh.