For well over 30 years, John Paxton has been a presence in the sector. Not a quiet or subtle presence. A larger-than-life presence. Rarely short of a word, he made sure his voice and the voice of private ELICOS colleges was heard. He was of course particularly vocal advocating for those in Perth.

Nearly 25 years ago, he established Perth International College of English (PICE), where he built and maintained the institution’s reputation as one of Perth’s and Australia’s great ELICOS colleges.

He served on the Board of English Australia for over 13 years as the Western Australia state delegate where he has done an amazing job over those years to ensure an especially close and engaged ELICOS community. The Board always worried how he did it, but whether by his sales prowess or a firm talking to he always managed to get near perfect attendance at the WA branch meetings. He led the English Australia marketing and sector profile committee for many years, helped convene the WA PD Fests, was front and centre of the conference committee when it made it to Perth. And always the tour guide extraordinaire whenever the anyone came to Perth.

John has also represented ELICOS and international education as a Board Member of Perth Education City (now Study Perth) and on the board and for a period as Chair of the Western Australian Private Education and Training Industry Association (WAPETIA).

All of this while running his own business. And he was tireless in that too. John is well known for the fact that he knew every agent and every student.

He’s been on more committees we have time to list and engaged local, state, and federal politicians whenever he could. Every time in the same, inimitable John Paxton way. To be clear, if John thought a politician or public servant wasn’t being ‘fair dinkum’, he’d be sure to let them know.

With his college sadly closing earlier this year, John has stepped off the English Australia board. We’ve had two meetings since, and both finished half an hour early!

More than anything though, it was John’s commitment to English Australia’s mission, his tenacity, his directness on issues that impacted the sector that stand out. That and his love of the post board meeting dinner and discussion of the wine list and whether there were enough WA origin wines to choose from.

John, from the Board of English Australia and the members of English Australia, thank you for your efforts, for your leadership, for your contribution, and for your friendship.