Nick Cave Given Honorary Doctorate

BY Cam LindsayPublished Mar 28, 2008

Having already received the prestigious "Counter Culture Icon" award from Rough Trade, Nick Cave has now received an honorary doctorate.

The honour was awarded for his services to songwriting and, er, suitwearing, by the Caulfield Campus of Monash University. A student at the school when it was called the Caulfield Institute of Technology, Cave dropped out in the mid-'70s, abandoning his Diploma of Art and Design (Fine Art) in 1978 in order to focus on his band, the Boys Next Door, who later on became the Birthday Party.

About his time at school, Cave said: "I’d come out of Caulfield Grammar School, which was very sports-orientated and to be interested in arts at the time was swimming upstream. To suddenly go into this environment where there were a lot of like-minded people talking about art was incredible for me.

"I sat around and talked with a lot of third year students in the park and didn’t really hand in a lot of work… but what I learnt from those conversations was enormous. I’m eternally grateful that I failed because it pushed me into a different area. You learn what you love in those years.”

The school's Vice Chancellor Professor Richard Larkins explained the decision to hand out the doctorate to the drop-out, stating: "Nick Cave’s substantial achievements in the creative arts and in raising Australia’s profile internationally make him a worthy candidate for recognition by Monash University. In addition to his musical contributions, Nick Cave has shown an outstanding ability to contribute to writing and acting - he is truly an extraordinary creative talent.

"His reputation and popularity crosses age and culture barriers. As an Australian largely based out of London, and previously in Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and Berlin, Nick Cave has been successful in increasing the profile of Australia internationally, particularly in terms of our nation’s creative and artistic capabilities.”

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