Five minutes with...Dr. Anthony Billingsley, Lecturer, Middle East and International Relations, School of Social Sciences and International Studies

Rumour has it Anthony was once a spy.

Intrigued by this tale it’s not long before I decide that the reserved, well-spoken, older man sitting in front of me does indeed, have a touch of James Bond about him.

“A spy?” he says incredulously, “It’s all true, I give up . . . but now that I’ve told you I’ll have to kill you.”

Anthony’s version of his life, unembellished by innuendo, goes something like this.

After completing his BA at UNSW in the late 60s he worked as a chartered accountant “until it was clear that accounting and I shared no empathy at all”, at which point he “bolted” overseas to complete his MA in politics at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

On graduating he was recruited to the Department of Foreign Affairs, which marked the beginning of an 18-year “adventure” during which he and his family travelled and lived in the Middle East and Canada.

But Anthony eventually admits that he did, in fact, work at the Australian Office of National Assessments, the government’s foreign intelligence body in the lead up to the Iraq War.

 “I wasn’t technically spying because other people were employed to do that, my role was to analyse the intelligence data that came through.”

A fluent Arabic speaker with a wealth of knowledge on East-West relations, Anthony says he’s always been interested in politics and still has a collection of newspaper clippings from as far back as the Menzies era to prove it.

But despite his adventurous career Anthony admits that standing in front of a roomful of students for the first time was one of the most terrifying things he’s done.

“However, I soon realised that once I was behind a podium no one could shut me up.”

For Anthony, it’s the students that make teaching stimulating.

“I love their ideas and questions and being asked ‘why?’ all the time. It means I have to constantly justify or rethink my position on things.”

 

My earliest memory…

Is of an orange coloured light on the wall in our kitchen when I was about four. I climbed up on something so that I could touch it and next thing I was thrown against the kitchen wall. The impact of the electric shock was incredible.

 

My most treasured possession…

A Qashqai carpet, it’s a Persian tribal carpet that we bought in Damascus. The quality is remarkable.

 

Two things that people might not know about me…

Well maybe they don’t know that I was a not spy....and I also have a very extensive Marklin model train set from when I was a child. I’ve added to over the years and I enjoy constructing it when I have the time and the room.

I’m an avid, but not very good sailor because I’m prone to sea sickness. I have a small share in a large boat, I believe the steering wheel belongs to me.

 

My favourite song to dance to…

It would have to be Rock and Roll Waltz by Kay Starr. I like to jive, so that immediately puts me into a particular vintage. If my wife’s not looking and I hear that song she’s likely to get swept up and away we go.

 

My last meal would be…

Kharouf Mahjeh. It’s a Middle Eastern Lebanese meal. It’s a gorgeous pile of brown rice, pinenuts, lamb and yoghurt. There would be a nice shiraz as well and I’d eat it in a small cottage by a lake north of Toronto that belongs to my wife’s family. It’s my favourite place.

 

The book that changed my life…

The History of Mr Polly by HG Wells, I delight in reading it every now and again.

 

One lesson I’ve learned…

This comes from my experience living and working as a foreign diplomat overseas. I think the lesson is that no one person has the right answer, we have to respect other people’s perspectives and cultures.