General News
24 October, 2025
Alex awarded for U3A dedication
Maryborough U3A’s Alex Stoneman has been honoured for nearly three decades of volunteer teaching and inspiring others with his passion for education.
Following a nomination by a member of Maryborough U3A, Mr Stoneman was presented with the U3A Victoria Tutor Recognition Award 2025 at the Savoy Hotel in Melbourne last month, alongside 15 other recipients from around the state.
“When I got there, I had found there were 15 of us across Victoria who were being recognised, and it so happens I even knew two others there. We were equally surprised to see each other,” he said.
“They read out what each 15 had done, and they were really impressive and wonderful volunteers, enriching the various communities they came from.”
Mr Stoneman’s 29 years as a tutor made him one of the longest serving of the 15 recipients.
Joining U3A Maryborough in February 1997, by August that year, he had already become a tutor.
“U3A had only been going for a year or so in Maryborough. The local woman who kicked it off, Pat White, a dynamo in this community, came to the high school I was a principal in and she said U3A needed a room to run their classes in, but that was when high school enrolments were increasing and we really couldn’t accommodate them,” Mr Stoneman said.
“So she extracted a promise from me. After I retired, I would join U3A and be a tutor of philosophy. I was so impressed with what she was trying to do with senior people in the town, to bring some culture and the opportunity of learning over a broad range of things.”
Since then, Mr Stoneman has continued courses in philosophy, musical appreciation, literature and geology.
“The original idea of U3A in Maryborough was people would join, and they would also offer classes themselves. It was self generating volunteering skills and majors, whatever field they had been in. So I was happy to join something like that,” Mr Stoneman said.
Recognised for his popular classes, Mr Stoneman has been awarded for his genuine nature, and treating all participants respectfully.
The geology courses he runs even include a field trip to Melbourne Museum or nearby volcanoes, landforms and rivers.
“In some years, I ran almost 100 classes during the year. Often two and a half sessions a week in the 40 weeks that we met. But I have wound it back to 16,” Mr Stoneman said.
“It cuts back the preparation I have to do. I plan to keep doing that as long as I can. But they are always on the look out for other people to be tutors.
“The members all still read their notes, some of them do their homework, which is a change from the kids I taught at school. But kids at school had to do their exams, U3A doesn’t.”
Mr Stoneman said he has found many reasons why U3A has been vital for older members of the community.
“There has been a lot of analysis of U3A membership in Victoria, and it has found a prominence of women, for a number of reasons,” he said.
“First of all, they had a fairly truncated education, it was only a minority that really went on to higher education, and there is still this thirst for learning, so here is that opportunity for them.
“The second thing is, many women had family responsibilities, whatever it was, there was a limited range of activities they could involve themselves with.”
Mr Stoneman said there have been endless benefits to not only joining U3A, but having a life long pursuit of knowledge and social interaction.
“In this community, and a few others, these programs have enriched lives. People can talk about these topics with a wide circle of others,” he said.
“When you’ve got such a group of people together, they are sharing part of their lives with you, if they are confident to do that with a group of people, it does them and the listeners good.”