I was in the Fort St class of 1990 in Mr Browne's brilliant 3 Unit Australian History class and I still think about him often. He had a rare gift as a teacher for connecting with his students: I think we all felt genuinely recognised by him as thinking human beings. This was fairly unusual. I remember him laughing often with that smoker's chuckle and actually looking as though he wasn't suffering through his job as a teacher but maybe even enjoyed it. He was generous hearted and profoundly sympathetic. We learned about history from him not as a collection of "causes of this or that" or "great men" but as a way of thinking politically about how the world works. He embodied the values and things that he taught and made sense of them as a synthetic human whole: social justice and the principles of socialism, not as doctrine but as a sense of fairness and committment to equality for all people; critical thinking and intellectual curiosity; compassion; humour; and a great incandescent love of life and other people. I feel very lucky to have been taught by him. Vale.

My earliest memory of him was him giving a lecture to Sebastian and Miles or some other hooligan at the Fort in 2006 during a history lesson. I wish I could say something like 'No man is an island and that any one's death diminishes us all; but I know he would have laughed at thatt. A very down to earth, 'fair dinkum' fellow, its funny cause I never thought he was the type of teacher to be the most popular but he had a remarkable way of growing onto the students he taught because his sometimes lackadaisical nature seemed so cool.... I remembered truly respecting him when he said he once played the 10th world chess champion ,Boris Spassky in a simultaneous exhibition and I enjoyed every lesson that he taught which was sometimes full of personal anecdotes . As a side note I always thought his uniform was very drab like his name he liked dark, brown clours, until I realised how it hid his extra ordinary personality, he held an aura of understated importance which I shoul've noticed as he sometimes wore a bright pink tie! It is so surreal that he is no longer with us because we only talked just 2 weeks ago and he seemed OK, he had a great passion for teaching and was a kind man with asmile and chuckle that was kinda infectious. He left a legacy to his students, I'm not sure what that legacy is but I hope that that my son/daughter will be influenced by someone like him as he influenced me.Now i know for certain he would have laughed at how corny that was, but I know from his humble gracious and fair minded personality that it is also true. Perhaps what irks me the most is the irony of the 'No Gary No, nicotine ad' that we sometimes playfully called out to him.I hope Heaven allows smoking :) 'From the heavens, a shooting star emerged from the west. its ascension from clouds forever blessed' Rest in Peace, Sir. My heartfelt sympathies to his wife and Children who are bearing with his passing the most.

what a legend, had so many great times with you, most while you were kicking my arse at the pool table, giving me dodgy trifecta tips, or telling me to split 8's at the casino. will miss and never forget you. xxx