Obituary

XI Obituary Francis Hugh (Tim) Mares (2010.25-9.2.01) Philippa Robin (Robin) Eaden (14.6.43-9.2.01) When Tim Mares and Robin Eaden died instantly in a collision with another on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, the world lost twofinescholars who shared an enthusiasm for words, theatre, justice and the environment. Tim came as a lecturer in English to The University of Western Australia with his then wife Peggy in 1954, with afirstclass honours degree from Durham and an Oxford BLitt; he added an M A in Linguistics from Essex in 1971. Moving to the University of Adelaide in 1958, he quickly became known as a popular and encouraging teacher, and established an international reputation with the publication ofhis Revels Plays edition ofBen Jonson's The Alchemist in 1967 still considered the best one-volume edition - and was revising it when he died. His edition of The Memoirs of Robert Carey for the Clarendon Press followed in 1972, a highly-praised Much Ado About Nothing for the N e w Cambridge Shakespeare in 1988, and his Bell Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra is due in 2001. Visiting lectureships and professorships in more than half a dozen countries brought friends in the international scholarly community. At Charles University, Prague, for instance, he and Robin helped set up a course in Australian studies in 1993 in collaboration with Martin Prochazka, a Czech Shakespearian who had been invited to speak at the second Australian and N e w Zealand Shakespeare Association ( A N Z S A ) which Tim co-convened with the present writer at Adelaide Xll in 1992. This in turn led to at least one Czech postgraduate pursuing English studies at Adelaide University, and receiving the benefits of Tim and Robin's warm hospitality, as so many others did. Tim contributed much to university life. Frequently a step ahead, he was thefirstelected head of the English department (1972-74), he was a muchrespected Dean of Arts (1975-78), he helped establish courses in Drama and Linguistics, and served on several committees. His knowledgeable enthusiasm for theatre led to chairmanship of the Adelaide University Theatre Guild (1969— 70), and as late as last year he produced a successful playreading of Jonson's Sejanus, which involved two of his grandchildren as well as Robin, who both acted in the performance and designed the sets. Outside the University, in 1972 Tim was one of two government appointees to thefirstboard of the State Theatre Company of South Australia, for which he later became a script-reader and dramaturg. This active concern with theatre vitalized and informed his teaching and the results of his research. At various times he was chief examiner in English for the South Australian Public Examination Board, an editorial board member ofSouthern Review, vice-president ofA N Z S A and the Malone Society's honorary treasurer for Australia. After early retirement in 1986, he became active in executive positions in the Adelaide University Alumni Association and the University of the Third Age, for which he was a much-admired lecturer. Election as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 1974 marked signal recognition by his peers, and was followed by appointment as Associate at Clare Hall, Cambridge (1976-77), Research Fellow at the Huntington Library, San Marino (1981) and Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies, Edinburgh (1981). But these academic achievements give only partly the flavour of the man. Tim was always interested in people, inordinately modest, and passionate about causes he believed in, from keeping the Elder Conservatorium on the Adelaide University campus, to environmental issues, to questions of social justice. H e rarely gave vociferous expression to his emotions, but his quiet wit and acute intelligence enlivened both his conversation and his teaching. A country boyhood in Essex gave him feeling for and understanding of the land, and friends, neighbours and colleagues benefited from the produce of his eight-hectare farm at Balhannah in the Adelaide Hills. Robin Eaden, Tim's partner of nearly twenty years, was an English Honours graduate of Adelaide University, and became the English department research assistant in the early 1970s, a position in which she developed manuscript editing...