€¦ · Web viewSister Lois (aka Jimi Hendrix) ARE YOU LONELY TONIGHT? Sis. Rowena (aka Elvis Presley) - Photos by Staff Photograper – Helen (Robb) Moloney. Official media photograph

Journal of the Slade and St Catharine’s Past Students Association Volume 2009 Issue 2

KINAWAHJournal of the Slade-St Catharine’s Past Students’ Association

MonthVolume 2009

Issue 2

Inside this issue:President’s Report 1

Reunion Report 2

News 4

Committee Report 5

The Goss 5

Slade Campus 5

Museum Report 5

Letters 6

Story 7

Vale 10

Reunion Schedule 11

Membership Form 12

EditorPaul “Louie” HollandContact:The Editor, KinawahPO Box 9099WYNNUM PLAZA, Q 4178Phone: 07 3206 [email protected]

or

SSPSA IncMargaret Stewart, Pres. 248 Hermitage Road Toowoomba Q 4350Phone: 07 4630 [email protected]

Websitewww.sspas.com.au

Email [email protected]

MEMORY LANE?

From Left: Margaret (Melton) Stabler, Jocelyn (Wright) Martin, Edwin Ridley, Margaret (Ree) Stewart discuss alternatives at the gate of Mytton House owned by Edwin & Susan Ridley. Renovation of the grand old Queenslander, once the home of the Society of the Sisters of the Sacred Advent is a work in progress. (Photo – Staff Photographer Helen ‘Robb’ Moloney)

A WORD FROM OUR PRESIDENT The Annual General Meeting Reunion is fast approaching, as u usual on the Queen's Birthday Weekend, 6th and 7th June. This year we have decided to move north to the Sunshine Coast. There are planned activities for both Saturday and Sunday leaving Monday free. A big thank you to John Bayliss for assisting me in the organisation. Everything will be held at Surf Air at Marcoola Beach. The AGM will be held at 11:00am followed by lunch at the Resort. That night, we’ll have dinner there also. On Sunday 7th, there will be a bus trip to the Maleny and Montville area followed by dinner at the resort that evening evening. Monday will be free of organised activities. See page 12 for more details. Kel Williamson is kept busy at Slade organising groups who wish to stay at the school for a short break. He is keeping the grounds in pristine condition thanks to a "super duper " mower purchased by the Council. The St Catharine’s Hall is put to good use as well. The day I called to get a quote for the blinds for the museum, there were cars everywhere, their owners attending a country music muster. The blinds will be a saviour for our school uniforms on the mannequins and other perishables, which face west in our museum. Read all about our 1960's reunion the Abbey of the Roses. It was so much fun and a thoroughly enjoyable stay in Warwick. Hoping to see you all at the Annual Reunion. Come along even if you are not sure who is coming from your year. It is lovely to share memories with those who attended in any year. I had a lovely chat over the phone with Alison Wiley who was enrolled during the war years. She chuckled when she heard we were staying at the Abbey as she remembers sheltering from the rain on the steps at St Mary's Cathedral on the walk back from town only to be scolded by the Sisters for entering a Catholic dwelling. We all have something to share and remember and that is what keeps the Association alive.Margaret Stewart - President

Huh! As if . . .Oh my God!??

You’re kidding!

St Caths? . . It’s been closed for years.

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REUNION REPORTAmazing as it may seem, a group of sixties graduates from St Catharine’s met recently in Warwick to satisfy a fetish to experience a Nun’s life. Not only did they act out that experience, they also re-enacted how the Sisters must have coveted a life outside their roles of service to God and the girls of St Catharine’s CEGS Warwick. The following photographs taken by a private detective reveals the true desires of the Secret Society of Sisters of the Sacred Advent as channeled by these past students.

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Sister Lois (aka Jimi Hendrix)ARE YOU LONELY

TONIGHT?

Sis. Rowena (aka Elvis Presley) - Photos by Staff Photograper – Helen (Robb) Moloney

Official media photograph sent to Kinawah to cover the real purpose for their desperate mission. (Note: Golden Labrador at bottom right)

The motley crew of Sister Wannabes mill outside the doors of the Abbey unaware they are being photographed by a Golden Labrador “plant” with a camera hidden in its nether regions. Next Issue: The true nature of this creepy venture will be revealed.The official version (by Margaret (Ree) Stewart is as follows:We needed 16 girls for our Hollywood Murder Mystery Night at the Abbey of the Roses in Warwick. The Abbey is where the Catholic Nuns used to live. It is now a wedding and function centre surround-ed by peaceful well kept gardens. After booking in, we strolled down to Mytton House past Glover House and the Office House. Here we were met by Edwin and Suzanne Ridley. Their young daughters served us a Devonshire Tea with lovely fruit scones with jam and


cream. A reporter from the Free Times Newspaper arrived to photo-

THE ROSE BY NO OTHER NAME

Sis. Angela (aka Janis Joplin)THAT’S THE MOST

REDICULOUS THING I’VE EVER HEARD

Sis. Moira (aka Groucho Marx)THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE

HOME

Sis. Julian (aka Judy Garland)(Above Photos – Helen Moloney)graph us. Edwin warned us when we arrived not to creep around the back due to onging restoration work. However, we all wanted to see where the laundry was and where we lined up for meals so we grad-ually found our way there. The Ridleys have restored the dining room beautifully and it is just as we remembered only smaller (How did we all fit in?). Later we stood on the verandah, remembering the exact spots where our beds were when we were Juniors. Back at the Abbey, lots of giggles could be heard in the corridor as we all dressed up for dinner. Guests included Elvis (Jean Gordon), Janis Joplin (Helen Robb), Bruce Lee (Judy Gillam), Groucho Marx (Helen Jack-son), Judy Garland (Jocelyn Wright), Jimi Hendrix (Lyn Stower), John Wayne (Lesley Baker-Finch), Bob Marley (Pam Aldridge), Fred Astaire (June Yates), Ginger Rogers (Jan Aldridge), Patsy Cline (Margaret Ree), Rita Hayworth (Margaret Stabler), Lucille Ball (Margaret Fraser) and Marilyn Monroe (Tina Richards). All the girls did a great job with wigs and costumes. During the meal, we were given parts to read. Apparently, we were all invited to a party by a millionaire who was murdered just before proceedings began. The doctor (Gloria Cooper) examined his injuries and we were all sus-pects. Everyone said what they thought of the victim. No one had kind words for him as he had ruined reltionships and bought celebrit-ies with his money. After a delicious first course, we had to say why we had props with us. Bruce Lee was a prime suspect as his hard kung-fu balls were obviously used to kill the victim. The policeman (Djanen McDougall) did a marvellous job trying to extract information from us all. Elvis was a hot suspect as he had a wooden heart. Everyone then burst into song (Kitty Gladwell would have been so proud of us) Lyn Stower then lead the singing of Pedro the Fisher-man ( A Crothers House song). She amazed us by knowing every word of every verse. After taking copious notes, we had to name the murderer, best actor and best dressed. Gloria Cooper was the only one who guessed Jimi Hendrick did it. Best dressed was Elvis and best actor went to Jimi Hendricks. “Buck Toothed Mandy” with rollers in her hair did a great job keeping the show moving. French waiters (accents included) served us at the table. Next Morning, breakfast (bacon eggs) was served in another section. It was a lovely casual atmosphere and we were able to catch up more with friends. Some wandered through the Abbey's grounds where there were local mar-kets. Marg Fraser spotted a Patsy Cline CD so she purchased it for me to remember the night by. On parting, everyone agreed the occasion was well worth the travelling. Full points must go to Margaret Stabler who drove all the way from Rocky.

The Sydney “Push” Reunion.


From Left: Brian Self, John Casey, Steve Rowan, Niel Quirk and Richard HarveyPhotograph supplied by Cub Reporter – Steve Rowan(From Page 3) Sunday, 8th

February, I had Steve Rowan along with John Casey, Richard Harvey, Brian and Denise Self at our abode for lunch. Unfortunately, Glynn & Margaret Blackwood and Ted & Leonie Ross could not join us. Whilst here, Steve called Keith Dan and Adrian Charles and we all had a talk with them. Quite a reunion especially as we have not seen John Casey for a number of years.John came to Slade in 1942 from All Souls Charters Towers (this school like Slade no longer exists) Editor’s Note: The school was pur-chased by the town council, like Slade, and was made into a private school which runs successfully today. When war/Japanese threatened Australia, John did his Senior at Slade and went on to the University of Queensland (UQ). Normally he lives in Canberra but came to Sydney for a break.(Report by Cromer Corres-pondent, Niel Quirk)

COMMITTEE REPORTThe next meeting won’t be scheduled until May when full details about the AGM Reun-ion on the Sunshine Coast will be revealed. Meantime, please email Margaret Stewart on [email protected] or call Margaret on 07 4630 7229 to reserve your seats on the bus.

NEWS FLASHPAPER SHREDS JOBS

The largest newspaper con-glomerate in the world is re-sponding to the global finan-cial crisis in a predictable man-ner. “RUPERT MURDOCH has flagged more job cuts at News Corp and a 30 per cent slide in profits this year, warning the company is witnessing ‘the worst global economic crisis’ since he start-ed building his global media empire more than 50 years

ago.” – Sydney Morning Herald (07/02/2009). Behind every corporate announce-ment is a human consequence soon forgotten and rarely seen in context. It is widely known in Queensland Newspapers’ circles that twenty people will lose their jobs in Brisbane alone and many, par-ticularly middle management, are waiting in trepidation for the inevitable axe to fall. There are four methods in which a business can cut its workforce – voluntary redundancies, forced redundancies, resignations and sackings. In order, voluntary redundancies are the most expensive with resigna-tions being the least expensive. It is well-known that management of corporations, large and small, often make life difficult for those it wishes would leave in the hope they will voluntarily pack up and go. And it sometimes works especially if a worker does not have a union who will back him or her up. Those who have found work elsewhere often resign in anticipation of finding a happier workplace. For those that hang on, management’s next option is to set up a series of complaints of incompetency against those they wish to remove. Through the process of “three strikes and you’re out”, they are able to lawfully fire their longest serving and highest paid employees so avoiding expensive redundancy payouts. This stick is usually accompanied with a carrot – e.g., an offer of a few extra weeks pay if a letter of resignation is received, a tacit agreement to accept the bribe and move on. Under these circumstances management have even been known to offer a glowing reference to help their now past employee find another job as long as he or she leaves quietly. All this is done to avoid protracted and costly court battles and to avoid the huge redundancy packages they would otherwise be obliged to pay. In mass retrenchments as presently envisaged by Murdoch Papers, this would cost many millions of dollars as Fairfax discovered recently. One of the longest serving journalists of a large circulation newspaper in Queensland was recently sacked for “incompetency” after over forty years with the same newspaper. Not only did he serve as sub-editor for a major section of the newspaper, but had his own column , which ran for a record thirty-five years continuously - so much for incompetency. A past student of Slade and the highest academic achiever of his graduation year, his superannuation now reduced to half its value, a result of the global financial crisis; his retirement not due for several years; he has been thrown on the employment scrap heap in the most brutal and reprehensible manner by a newspaper that is not backward in coming forward to declare its moral virtues as an advocate for human rights and society’s democratic values. Even the Australian Journalists Association to whom he loyally paid his dues for his entire career, offered no support. In fact, its representative advised our old boy to send the requested letter of resignation and collect a paltry pound of his own flesh without passing “Go”. This came at the same time as receiving advice by his union not to bring a wrongful dismissal action against the newspaper, as the AJA rep stated, “It is unlikely the case would be won because of the weight of legal resources available to the newspaper and the fact that none of your co-workers would have the courage to stand up and support you.” Even Kinawah is fearful of naming the newspaper involved due to its reputation for silencing critics. Is this newpaper so powerful, it can even muzzle a large representative union? Has the newspaper done a deal with the union? Surely the union’s responsibility is to look at all cases of wrongful dismissal. There have been two other recent cases of dismissal from the same newspaper with similar MOs already and no doubt there will be more. So much for a union that accepted its members’ dues without reservation and shows absolutely no support in their moment of greatest need. It seems everyone surrounding this sorry tale hasn’t the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing. An action for wrongful dismissal should be pursued with vigour for all our sakes.



As the corporal in “Dad’s Army” used to say, “They don’t like it up ‘em!” (Editorial)

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THE ‘GOSS’Make The Goss more inter-esting and informative by contacting the Editor on 07 3206 2777 or by email: [email protected] to let us know what’s doing with our past students.Rumour that a past St Cath’s student has been taking advantage of Queensland’s “State of the Art” hospital system has been confirmed. Since rents have escalated, Gwenda Sorensen has found that hospital has proven a much cheaper option and has been taking advantage of long waiting lists, short operating schedules and subsidised rent since last May. Thank heavens for health insurance. The bill would have been well over $30,000! Finally gaining upmarket accommodation at the Wesley, Gwenda topped off her stay with a hip replacement on Boxing Day. After several weeks rehab at the Canossa Rehabilitation Centre, Gwenda was finally launched in a walking frame and sent back home on the 1st

March. Two months of junk mail, bills and other commun-ications spread over Gwenda’s kitchen table may convince her to return from whence she came. However, with the aid of Transition Care, Gwenda is sure her now, at long last, painless mobility is rapidly improving. On yer, Gwenda! We look forward to catching up with you soon.Also good news that another past student, Alex Kidd, is on the mend after a difficult op. Alec has also been doing it tough, but we look forward to catching up with him in the near future. The boys from Sydney, Self, Quirk, Casey & Co send their best wishes.Word has it that a chaplain of some fifty-five years ago

recently made a return visit to his old prayer ground at The Southport School to celebrate the Centenary of Delpratt House where he was also housemaster. Delpratt House was named after Maurice Delpratt, a WWI hero, a past student of TSS and resident of Warwick. Our chaplain had already done a stint as house-master at Slade’s Highfields House before he was ordain-ed. Oh, how time moves on! While at the Centennial Celebrations, he met the grandson of one of his stu-dents. I bet he was surpised his grandfather’s minder was once Bishop to the Australian Defence Force! I hope he didn’t think you held that position during Delpratt’s time, Patron.

SLADE CAMPUS

Despite rumours to the con-trary, Slade is a going con-cern. Kel Williamson reports that there has been lately a plethora of bookings for the campus’ use. And plans con-tinue on track for the facilities to be used as a base for a flying school.

MUSEUM REPORT

Secretary Helen Moloney, accompanied by the Museum Curator, made a flying visit to the museum to finish polishing some shields and take down an Honour Board for updating the day before she was due to

fly out of Austalia for a well-earned three months tour of the world. Now that’s dedic-ation for you. El Presidento Margaret is taking the Honour Board, which lists all the past presidents of your association in to a signwriter for updating. The board has not been maintained since Marion Mackenzie was President in the early ninties. These boards are important primary sources of historical inform-ation and it’s important we keep them current.One of the sad facts of life for past students is that much of the early history of our schools was either never written or not collated in any comprehensive manner. Various people gath-ered whatever information was readily available in later years and wrote valuable short hist-ories, but much of the detail has been lost in time. Some of these writers include Charlie Olsen and Marion Mackenzie while Eddy Prince wrote a very comprehensive book on his years at Slade from the fifties to the nineties. Our earliest history goes back to 1904 when Cambridge Ladies Col-lege was built. The following extract comes from a book published in 1972 on the hist-ory of Stanthorpe and sur-rounding areas. Despite its poor sentence structure, gram-mar and punctuation it re-mains an important source of information.“Secondary education was introduced in 1904 when Miss Violet Gibbs built a school for girls secondary education in College Rd. In 1905 it was extended to take boarders, twenty girls enrolled, and des-ignated Cambridge Ladies College. By 1907 Miss Han-nah England took over from Miss Gibbs, who started a well-known school in South-port. The Anglican Sisters of the Sacred Advent, who had operated St Margaret’s in Bris-bane since 1895, acquired the school in 1909 with Sister



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Evelyn, the first Sister-in-Charge. They opened with three boarders and five day girls, enrolments grew – by 1921 there were twenty-nine on the roll, and the school prepared students for Bris-bane Matriculation and Junior Public Examinations and the Royal Academy of Music.The girls’ spare time was oc-cupied with charitable work for Anglican missions and funds, with Tennis, Basketball and Croquet, and dramatic and choral performances. World War I brought almost a frenzy of patriotic activity. Miss Collison compiled a patriotic play entitled “To the Day” which students presented. A photograph of the cast shows all the stock figures – Britan-nia, the Kaiser, etc – but its presentation raised ₤18 for Red Cross funds.By 1919 the enrolment had risen to forty-five, including twenty-three boarders. The success of the school up to this point justified further ex-pansion, and in 1922 a build-ing in Wallangarra Road was obtained. Extensive renova-tions and additions housed the school, which by now was under the charge of Sister Elizabeth. The report of the year drew attention to the aim of making the children more self-reliant and less dependent on their teachers by increasing the periods of supervised study and a reduction in the time for formal teaching. By 1936 it had become necessary to consider amalgamation with the Church of England Girls’ School that had been estab-lished in Warwick in 1917. Thus the Stanthorpe school closed and in 1937 the new St Catharine’s School was locat-ed in Warwick.”(From “They Came to a Plat-eau: The Stanthorpe Saga” by Jean Harslett and Mervyn Royle.)Unfortunately, many details remain lost or at least unan-swered. Where did Miss Gibbs come from? What

really led to the demise of all the Anglican Schools in War-wick? History has lessons for all of us, but it is something that many choose to forget because of their own culpabil-ity/disappointment/disinterest. Will history be kind to the Ang-lican Church over its commit-ment to education in Warwick? The issues are bound to be complex and the outcomes may not be very palatable. Do we really want to know?The Curator and the Archivist of our Museum have a vested interest in the history of our schools and they see it as part of their roles to collect as much information as possible. However, they cannot provide an analysis. That is the role of historians past and present. Perhaps the question should really be, “Is the disappear-ance of all the Anglican schools in the Southern Downs Region significant enough to warrant a compre-hensive historical analysis of their creation, contribution and demise?” And if so, who would take on such a task?

LETTERSThe integrity of a newspaper is measured by its willing-ness to accept criticism, advice and input from its readers. Letters also reveal the insights of its readers who have been inspired by the newsletter to share their life experiences with other readers. If you become so inspired, I urge you to write to The Editor nee Aunt Louie, “KINAWAH”, PO BOX 9099, WYNNUM PLAZA, Q 4178 or email your letter to: [email protected] Aunt Louie, I read the latest edition with a great deal of sadness for it reported the death of my classmate, “Dick” McCowen. Dick along with myself, Eric Donaldson, David McCarthy, Don Rae, “Lambie” Clark, Sandy Boston and “Ghostie” Roberts comprised the Senior class of 1953. As your report mentioned, Dick

was the popular School Cap-tain of that year, and a very talented athlete. Apart from that, being a couple of years older than the rest of us, I think we all looked up to him as a role model.I believe that the last time I saw Dick was when many of us attended his wedding to Dallas in Brisbane in 1954. I was always hopeful that our paths would cross sometime when we could have relived some of our enjoyable school day adventures. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I am sure that there will be many who will remember Dick with great admiration and nostalgia.Kind regards, Dick “Mark” Matthews.Thanks Dick for allowing us the privilege of hearing more about your namesake. You were no slouch yourself as an athlete, particularly at Rugby being in the key five-eight position next to your Captain, Dick McCowan, at inside Centre. Both of you were members of the undefeated First XV Premiership side in 1953. I quote from the 1953 School Magazine “Perhaps the real sensations were Hassall and Matthews, who combined well and backed up magnificently.” Apparently, you and Ken Hassall really cut WHS up in your last game against them. – Ahhh memories. I believe, from what Steve Rowan tells me, the boys had a simple way of establishing a non-confusing method of disting-uishing between the various “Dicks”. The following is an email from our Honorary Life Member No: 10. - Aunt LouieGudday Aunt Louie,I knew Richard “Dick” Matthews as he was one year ahead of me at school. He had the craziest bowling action you ever saw - a complete round arm with his arm at only 45 degrees and his left elbow almost touching his knee at delivery.He was not “Big Dick”. That title went to Kelvin McCowen,



the elder brother of “Little Dick” being Royce McCowen. Kelvin passed away in June 1998 at Tenterfield.I went to Melbourne on Sunday to do a wedding and caught up with Barry Dance our first old boy to go to Dun-troon and finished up as a Lt Colonel at retirement from the army. Always meet up with him - bloody good bloke - when I go to Melbourne and he touches base with Fred Nussey, Erwin Spork and I whenever he comes up to Brisbane. He was “Big Dance” and his younger brother, Ken, was “Little Dance”. We had limited education in those days but could define big from little, as you will have noticed. CYA – Steve Rowan.Now if that doesn’t bring a smile to your face, nothing will.However, just to confuse you further, I include a follow-up email from said “Mark” Matthews who denies he was known as Dick at school – this is probably due to the number of “dicks” there were. - Aunt LouieAs to the origin of Mark I can enlighten you. When I first arrived at Slade straight from the Qld bush, John Schwen-nesen, who was a year ahead of me and was somewhat of a hero because of his swimming feats, took me under his wing, and said, "What’s your name?". When I replied "Matthews", he responded, "Matthew, Mark, Luke and John –‘Mark Matthews!’". I was never called by any other name, either by teachers or students, during my whole period at Slade.Dick “Mark” MatthewsDear Aunt Louie, Many thanks for another well-prepared “Kinawah”. Now go to the fridge; get yourself a “coldie”; sit down and get ready for my manuscript to read.Thanks for the obituary for old colleague Geoff Wilson, altho’ was not too happy to see “Niel” passed away at 82!! Have spoken to his wife, Betty,

and sent her a copy of the section re her late husband. She told me she had received a very nice letter from Margar-et Stewart and was pleased to receive it. Good work!Now don’t you go picking on me re my hoarding of lovely ladies’ photos – you’d be sur-prised what I have. Thanks for the inclusion of Jacky – brings back many happy memories.You surprised me with Neil Gow as a Slade old boy for he only attended Slade 1 year (1942) and returned to Churchie. Certainly, he never participated in any old boy’s functions during my time. He had a cousin, Ned Gow, and they were of the old R M Gow Family, who sold groceries under the “Gold Crest” brand. I knew them fairly well as they were customers of mine when repping for Nestle in the 1950’s.Brian Loughnan and the Loughnan Family bring back some memories. Again, when as the Nestle Rep in western Queensland (west of TWMBA & Warwick) and staying o/night in Mitchell, I went to a couple of balls with them. On this occasion, have no photos of the lasses nor remember names!!! - very enjoyable evenings.Now to the Bishop. Page 8 – thought Leonie was a Robin-son not a Smith. Again as Nestle Rep, I met Leonie in Surat, her mother introducing us. Her mother was a shop assistant in an outlet I called on and somehow or other knew I was a Slade old boy. Boy, are we really turning the clock back? There were a number of Slade boys from Surat, e.g., Don McMilland who married one of my wife’s relatives. Don passed away a number of years ago, but was well known in buck-jumping etc and held a number of championships.Talking of lovely ladies 40/50/ 60 years ago – there’s quite a few photos I have, but not all St Caths. Remember when

young, one wandered far and met many!!!Well, that should be ‘nuff for you to digest on this occasion. Keep up good work. All the best - Niel Quirk.(Editor’s Note: This is an edited version of Niel’s letter. The rest of Niel’s letter makes part of our Reunion Report on Page 2)Dear Niel, I thought the editor was being kind. Surely some information was removed to protect the innocent. Only joking. ☺Sorry about the mispelling of “Neil” Gow’s first name and I’m sorry it sent a shiver down your spine. You are, as usual, quite right. re Leonie Charles. She was a Robinson, not a Smith. Where the name, Smith came from remains a mystery – TV show, Lost in Space - Smith Family Robinson perhaps? I must have been spaced out at the time. Finally Niel, research indicates that a man bearing gifts, especially Nestle’s chocolates, has a distinct advantage over the rest of us. - Aunt Louie.

STORY (Part II)“An Audience with the

Queen”

Interview with the Right Reverend Bishop Adrian Charles OA, Patron of the Slade-St Catharine’s Past Students’ Association PH: In 1990 you had been invited to go to London as part of the 75th Anniversary of ANZAC Day in your capacity


as Bishop to the Australian Defence Forces. Quite a step up for that boy from Oman-ama, Warwick High School and Slade. Would you con-sider yourself a naïve country boy still?AC: Yes, and I hope I always will, as a matter of fact, be-cause I think that sort of naivety gives an entrée into people’s lives which is forbid-den you if you launch into somebody with ‘see what I am – see what I know, I know the lot’ – would at once prevent me from any proper chance of communication, I always find.PH: But would you say that there were certain experiences that changed you? That broadened your outlook?AC: Yes, it’s the experience you have, plus the ability to be changed. You can, I think, be a country boy and remain so by choice all your life and never want to change. Or, you can be open to change and if the openness is there and the experiences can then fill the void for you, you become a broader, probably a wiser individual.PH: You once told me that one of those experiences occurred when you took Leonie and the twins with you to the UK on a sabbatical.AC: While I was at St Lucia, I was given leave, study leave for a year to go to Canterbury in Kent in England to spend that time at what was called the Central College of the Anglican Communion. Some twenty-eight priests – young people – were brought from all over the Anglican world. You couldn’t have too many from one country. The spread had to be as wide as possible. These twenty-eight people came from all over the world, India, China, Africa, Japan, Newfoundland, America, Australia. There were about two from each country and for a whole year they lived togeth-er in St Augustine’s College at Canterbury where they had to fulfill certain academic require-ments. They had exams and

the like at the end of each term period and during the course of the year, they had to write a work which having been judged by an indepen-dent body of people was to be published. This was the disci-pline behind it all. In the pro-cess of doing that you all had to live together, worship to-gether in this conclave. That was a most revealing experi-ence also. Imagine for exam-ple living with people like say from Africa who had to go through an English winter for example; who didn’t like kip-pers – couldn’t get the right food – didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know anything at all about the way of life in which they found themselves. All that sort of conflict, person-al conflict within people is very much magnified when there’s no escape while in this wider community. That taught me – well made me a lot of friends all over the world as you would appreciate and also it was a revelation for somebody com-ing from way down here in Australia who didn’t know any-thing about all those things, particularly in things you glean in conversations apart from the formalities of lectures and so forth. I think in my case it very much broadened my un-derstanding of life really. I re-member going over there, the ship pulled up at India. Well, I’d never seen anyone poor really till I got there – people all over the place begging. The smell wasn’t all that euphoric. That was a revelation, but then coming back you took that in your stride. The change had been written into your life and your attitude that govern some of the things that you say and do was very much related to your personal intimate know-ledge of the feeling and being of people having lived with them for that period of time. It was a bit of a revelation to see two little Australian kids play-ing happily with about a dozen other little people from all over the world and nobody could

speak the same language. It didn’t matter. All sorts of asides like that which are very important things in your life to have them written in, because they became the substance out of which decision-making and living itself evolves.PH: There’s certainly some-thing almost romantic in that experience, to be able to share your life with people from different cultures. But there was another eye-opening experience that came much later in life that we mentioned at the beginning of this interview.AC: In 1990, which was the 75th Anniversary of ANZAC Day, I was seconded by the Australian Army to go to Lon-don to take part in the celebra-tions, which involved taking a service in the middle of Lon-don in a mall. All the streets were blocked off – hundreds and hundreds – thousands of people – Lord knows how many were there in the pres-ence of Her Majesty the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and various members of the Royal Family. The Queen, I think, is a very brave person for a start. I remember talking to one of the security people in the middle of this open-air ser-vice. I said, “Can you guaran-tee that the Queen is not going to get shot today?”And he said, “No, we can’t guarantee that. We’ll guaran-tee we’ll get the person who shot her.”It was a pretty difficult time. The IRA was very active for example in England as well as in Ireland in those days. And there she was, this little figure right out in the middle there without any protection whatso-ever and continuing to do it with great bravery and then to go immediately from there to Westminster Abbey where the service and celebration and thanksgiving was taking place and to preach at that service. It’s quite a thing, as you’d probably realise to be invited to preach at Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey


doesn’t have a Bishop. It has a Visitor and the Visitor of Westminster Abbey is the Queen. I remember we had to line up at the door to greet the Visitor, that’s the Queen – her husband, Phillip was there. There was a sort of protocol to be followed. For example, there must be the four Canons lined up. You can only ever have four Canons. You can’t have five or twenty. I thought, well where am I going to go? I’m not a Canon. You just go on the end there. You’ll be all right. In comes the Queen. Michael Mayne goes over introduces himself; shakes hands with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and they begin to come along the line. The Duke of Edinburgh, as he is accustomed to do, begins to wander off to one side to see what’s going on. I could see him over there to one side and he was almost going like this (Adrian counts on his fingers) counting the number of fellows lined up knowing full well there should only be four blokes there and there’s another bloke there on the end – five! So before the Queen even got to me, he came up to me and he said, “Who are you?”“Oh,” I said, “My name’s Adrian Charles. I’m the Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force.”“Oh, yes,” he said, “You were around there at the mall, weren’t you?”“Yes, that’s right,”Oh, I was just wondering where they got the fifth Canon from.” (Adrian laughs)Prior to preaching you’ve got to submit your sermon written out to the Visitor before it’s delivered. So we dealt with that and had the service and it was a fine occasion.PH: It’s quite obvious that someone in your position would be greatly honoured to have the opportunity to preach at Westminster Abbey. I would - - and I’m not even a bishop or a priest. (Adrian laughs) What an opportunity to ad-dress so many people

with the chance of making such a contribution to the lives of so many in positions of power. How did you feel as you approached this occasion?AC: All I had to do on the day was read the sermon, but in the process of producing it, there were all sorts of emo-tions, which began to interplay such as the one you have al-ready mentioned. You’re not going to be here again. This is a once in a lifetime opportun-ity. It doesn’t come to every-one so don’t belittle it. Use it well. The second thing was, it’s all very well to preach a sermon as good as it might be, but where you preach it often has as much an impact on what you say as what you preach. That wasn’t helped, I might say in this regard, Paul, because the Dean of West-minster prior to the service during a rehearsal said to me, “Now remember when you preach your sermon from up there, using that pulpit there, which is the same pulpit used by Charles the First as he preached his final sermon just prior to his execution . . .” didn’t do too much for my con-fidence. (laughs dryly) If Charles the First’s sermon wasn’t much good, mine would probably be not much better. There was that and it was at a time too when the IRA were very active in England. You might remember there was a couple of killings and lots of bombings. In fact, the Com-mander of the Australian con-tingent in London – there had been an attempt to blow up his car just a couple of nights be-fore, so they were very active. Security, therefore, was pretty tight especially in this case be-cause when the Queen said she would be present at West-minster Abbey for the ANZAC Day Commemoration, her se-curity became involved with the Australian Army’s security and Westminster Abbey’s se-curity so it was more or less a very frightening situation. All of which added together made

it not the easiest of proposi-tions that I had before me. And I have to share with you that as the tension of the day mounted after the open-air service in the mall and then the service in the Abbey. I don’t know what it was. Prob-ably it was the occasion. Prob-ably all that had happened beforehand. I had my sermon in my hand – in the pulpit – all ready – all I had to do was read it. I remember the An-them was being sung by the choir during which the Verger came and collected me and moved me up to the pulpit – up the stairs. I was in position ready to start. When all was quiet, all waiting for the ser-mon to begin, I found I couldn’t read it. I could see it. I just couldn’t read it. So I said to myself, well I can’t do this. So I said, “I hand this over to you Lord, it’s yours.” And having said that I then proceeded to read it.PH: You weren’t having visions of Guy Fawkes at that moment?AC: More likely Charles the First. (laughs) Anyway it was completed presumably satisfactorily.PH: What was the subject of the sermon?AC: Well obviously, it was the significance of ANZAC Day after 75 years and its implic-ations for its continuance in years to come.PH: I imagine though it would have been put into the context of the occasion.AC: Yes. I have a copy of it if you have some time and would like to read it.PH: I’d like that very much. Would you have written it very differently today?AC: No. No, it would be exactly the same. It talks not so much about the occasion of ANZAC Day, but the spirit be-hind what was done on AN-ZAC Day and what was con-tinued in subsequent historical events from that point on. I was trying to make the point that there was a certain gover-nance, which springs from a


beginning like that was seen on ANZAC Day which takes its place in the ongoing life of a country – of the nation – of the people. As has been borne out, I might say, well beyond Anzac Day in the trenches of WWI and certainly WWII as well. That is what I would call the spirit of Anzac Day as dis-tinct from the historic event of Anzac. But then it was a great joy to have a private luncheon with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh afterwards too. When you meet her privately, she comes across as a person who is almost beside herself with happiness in being able to speak to somebody who is not going to write a book about it, or be on the news that night, but just to meet an ordinary sort of person who might come from another country – so totally relaxed. The dinner party was supposed to finish, I think, at about two o’clock, but it was well after three before it all concluded I’m bound to say that it was a great highlight because it was so revealing, I thought.It was very important at the 75th Anniversary that it was seen as Australia’s day. The sensitivity of the Royal house-hold really was they would not intrude on it. For example, the luncheon was held at the residence of the Australian High Commissioner, a man called McClelland, not at Buckingham Palace. But on the guest list of people who had been invited to come to this lunch was one, Elizabeth R. She came along with the other guests. She came with all the other people who were there, I suppose about twenty. The New Zealand people were there of course, because it was an ANZ event. We were a bit late putting away our stuff and everything so when we got there, she had just arrived and was standing at the door talking to the High Commis-sioner. When she saw us coming in she turned around

and said, “ Ahhh, here comes our hardworking Bishop.”That was very “Royal” salute (wryly).That was the way the function went on and the Queen went round and spoke to everyone and everybody spoke to her. We all moved around and sat at various points at the three tables that I think there were. The conversation was the same as at any other dinner party. You’re not supposed to report what occurred at royal occasions, I know, but she and Leonie were talking at great length about those wonderful plants with coloured leaves called Crotons, I think they were. The Queen had seen them when she was in Bris-bane. They had been pointed out to her as a decoration in a room and when she went to North Queensland. “Mind you,” she said, “in North Queensland they were much brighter. Oh, the colours are vibrant up there.” This was the sort of level of the conversation. It went on like that until about half past three when reluctantly, it seemed to me, she left. As I said, the queen is a delightful person and so easy to talk to.PH: This was a significant event for you.AC: It was a significant event for me, Paul, in a strange sort of way because I think it was the happiest day in Leonie’s whole life. She was a Royalist of course, so she just loved things relating to the Royal ap-proach. To be right up close and to be part and parcel of the whole occasion produced a huge sense of total happi-ness in her life. I think its one of the best of human experi-ences to be in the company of somebody who is experiencing great joy and great happiness. She loved it, as did I.

NEXT ISSUE“On the Church & It’s Role

as Educator”VALE

You will be pleased to note that none of our names appear in this column this issue.However, in last issue, Kinawah provided a notice of the passing of Neil Gow, but at the time, little was known about Neil as he spent just a year at our school. The following is part of an Obituary that appeared in the Courier Mail. NEIL GOW, CMG Businessman, sportsman Born: Brisbane, August 24, 1926 Died: Brisbane, January 6, 2009Well-known manufacturer Neil Gow played rugby union for Queensland and, according to his contemporaries, never dropped a catch in GPS crick-et. However, it was in the business arena where he made his biggest contribution as the head of a successful, Queensland family company and tireless advocate for com-merce and industry. He grew up in Hamilton, was educated at “Churchie” (Anglican Gram-mar School) and for two years at Slade School, Warwick, where he was sent during the war years due to fears Bris-bane might be bombed. He was destined to enter the food wholesaling and packaging company, R.M. Gow and Co, established by his grandfather Robert Milne (Gow). He furth-er expanded the company under the Gold Crest label and soon the TV advertisement jingle became one of the best known in its time – “Thanks to you, Mr Gow”

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PER VOLAR SUNATA - PATRIBUS DIGNI ESTOTEBorn to Fly Higher - Be Worthy of Your Forebears


Documents

€¦ · Web viewSister Lois (aka Jimi Hendrix) ARE YOU LONELY TONIGHT? Sis. Rowena (aka Elvis Presley) - Photos by Staff Photograper – Helen (Robb) Moloney. Official media photograph