Over 30 years ago Lewis Frederickson dedicated himself to lifelong learning, partly as a means to escape a particular type of life.
“I was a bumpkin from the Whitsundays working on a factory floor,” Frederickson, now the Chief of Air Force Fellow at UNSW Canberra, smiles. “I went to a TAFE College to do Physics and Maths, so I could escape. That got me into the Air Force, but I kept studying outside of work hours, in History and Literature. I achieved a Master’s degree, then a PhD in History, just as a hobby.”
In the Air Force Frederickson was an air combat officer, part of the non-pilot air crew. He also carried out other roles during three decades, before retiring and...