This week I would like to pay tribute to one of the finest teachers and human beings it has been my good fortune to know.
Harold Glasby was one of my history teachers at my secondary school in Sydney in the 1960s.  He was also the deputy head of the school.
He was, as history teachers should be - very knowledgeable and a passionate storyteller.  His rendition of the French National Assembly after the revolution is still vivid in my memory.
In my last year, an incident occurred which said a lot about him.  A teacher had accused and punished a boy in our year, for writing insults about the teacher on a classroom board, without a shred of evidence that the boy was guilty.  This particular teacher was well known for having his favourites and his pet hates. 
So we, as a year (150 or so boys), decided one breaktime to go on strike and refuse to attend lessons until the teacher in question apologised to the boy and to us as a body of students.  At the end of break we all sat on the grassy embankment at the East side of the school.
It didn't take long for windows to be flung open and then hundreds of pupils, yelling, cheering, whistling their approval while their class teachers tried in vain to continue the lesson.
After ten minutes or so, Harold Glasby suddenly appeared from nowhere, brandishing two canes in his hands as he shouted:
"Get to class NOW!"
We didn't actually fear Harold Glasby, but such was our respect and liking for him, we rose as one and made our way to our classrooms.
Near the end of the lesson, Harold Glasby arrived and wanted to know why we had gone on strike.  We told him our grievance and the very next day, after thoroughly examining the evidence, the teacher our grievance was against apologised to the boy he had wrongfully accused and punished.  He then apologised to us as a year.  So good for Harry!
His speech to our farewell dinner was a masterpiece of hilarity and wisdom, earning him a standing ovation from us.
I had cause to speak to him a few years later, when he was head of The Conscientious Objectors' Committee against the Vietnam War and conscription.  A brave stance to take for a civil servant, but then he was a State civil servant, not a Federal one, which would have put him at odds with the Australian Government's shameful policy on the war, making it impossible for him to be a teacher.
I count myself very lucky to have known such a man.