Kev Carmody - the singing doctor

And what a story it was, especially the yarn about his missing thesis.

“I finished six chapters all hand written on paper and one night I was going to my uni in Brisbane (from Toowoomba) to deliver my thesis to my supervisor. During the trip I felt a strong wind blowing against my bike but it wasn’t until I arrived at the uni that I discovered the bag containing the thesis must’ve slipped from the bike. I later discovered that it dragged for 26 miles, from Plainlands to Black Soil.” Kev said.

“It was shredded.”

Kev told the audience, who was hanging off every word, that he took his children back over the route the following day and collected every piece of shredded paper they could find over the 26-mile distance and placed them into a plastic bag.

Kev repeated the words of his supervisor who expressed dismay on receiving the plastic bag: “I’ve heard every conceivable excuse known to students; from health reasons, relations with terminal illness or ‘had my thesis stolen’,” to which Kev instantaneously exclaimed, as only Kev could: “As an historian you need hard evidence - and there it is.”

The audience by this stage was truly transfixed on the larrikin Aussie at centre stage and I even observed many of the overseas graduating students - who were probably the only people in the room who didn’t know of Kev before this day - smile and applaud at the precocious address, the likes of which they, or anyone else in attendance, were unlikely to have ever heard at a graduation ceremony before.

Kev continued his thesis yarn by saying he received his Masters degree and enrolled in a PhD but by then he had signed his first record contract and had to defer his studies.

After his magnificent address Kev then created a first for the USQ when he sang his signature song, From little things, big things grow, and in so doing became the only official guest to date to not only present the occasional address but also provide the entertainment.

Sure beats classical music.