[Ray Evans gave this speech on October 7 at a dinner held in Melbourne to mark his retirement after two decades as president of the H.R. Nicholls Society.] I’ll begin with some brief comments on the early history of the H.R. Nicholls Society, some reflections on what has been achieved, and what is to be done, given our present discontents.  Barrie Purvis has a much better recollection of the early history than I have. Apparently the H.R. Nicholls Society was conceived in Nick’s Steak Cave sometime in July 1985. I was trying to find out more about the “Industrial Relations…