The genesis of U3A was essentially a meeting of minds. It wasn’t U3A as we know it: mutual-aid, self-help lifelong learning.” It may be an oasis in many ways but in terms of lifelong learning there were only a few diversionary TAFE hobby courses. “On the downside, when we relocated to the Sunshine Coast, she said ‘I’ve come to a desert’. My mother, Frayda, brought all these disparate groups together before U3A began in Australia so, when U3A came along it became the banner for what my mother was enacting already. Over here were the card players, over there the sporting types, those wanting further education, and whatever else. “Pre-U3A, I thought of communities in terms of ‘silos’ of interests. This included all the positive, vibrant and vital things that The Third Age could be about, not just retreating to the golf course or the pub, or the Bingo hall. “She was interested in the Third Agers before we even had that in our vocabulary. “Even in those early days my mother had a keen interest in ageing, and with her sociology and teaching background decided to do something that would provide services to independent older Australians,” John said. So, she bought a place in Westaway Towers in Caloundra, and that was 1985.įrayda was part of the very beginnings of U3A in Melbourne. It took a while to sink in, but after a couple of subsequent trips to Queensland, my mother finally said, “you know what, I could live here’. Standing on the highest spot of land in Caloundra was an amazing feeling. “On the way back to Melbourne we stopped over near Noosa, and there was something about the Sunshine Coast that appealed to us. However, we set off in our little Honda Civic and kept driving north until we reached Yeppoon. “In those days my colleagues and friends regarded Queensland as foreign territory they made explorations overseas or occasional trips to Sydney but they didn’t know their way into the ‘wilds’ of Queensland. When Frayda joined John in Melbourne in 1979, they soon after began their excursions north. “Truth be told, I didn’t see myself as a congregational Rabbi but rather to be involved in community service,” he said. First of all, she was a widow at age 40, my father having died of Hodgkin’s Disease, she was an innovative teacher with mathematics as her specialty, she taught literacy and numeracy at all levels, then became a writer and editor of textbooks.Īs it turned out, John did not pursue a religious profession. “What allowed my mother to age well was that she just kept reinventing herself. “I’ve always been fascinated by the issue of ageing well, and I had a really good model, with my mother, Frayda,” John said. With an academic background in adult education, psychology and gerontology it was preordained that John would have a significant career in ageing networks that are the cornerstone of U3A. I intended staying for three years, and here we are now 42 years later.” The very first week in Australia, I participated in an Australian Association of Gerontology conference in Sydney. I had also completed studies in psychology and gerontology – the psychology of ageing well – so I was involved in ageing networks from the first moment I arrived in Australia. “I came to Melbourne as 29 year old newly hatched Rabbi with an interest in service for the international Jewish community. John’s story is one of emigration, discovery and enterprise in community work, with U3A at its centre. John D Cooper has served U3A Sunshine Coast since the very beginning when he was one of the four course convenors at Tea, Talk and Tutors when more than forty 3 rd Agers at Moffatt Beach joined U3A Sunshine Coast’s first mini-courses. “ Now that we are here, where do we want to go?”