The University of Sydney was not unfamiliar ground for me when I first arrived on the campus as a student in 1989. I had lived practically next door for most of my childhood, and, in the days before the university became a sneaky through route for traffic, I used to pedal my bike around it on Sunday afternoons. The heart-stopping challenge of flying down Science Road and over the speed bumps at full pelt was the peak. I once tried it on a skateboard, and I still bear the scars to this day. The buildings of the university made no…