THE MAGAZINE OF WAVERLEY COLLEGE ISSUE 23 NUMBER 1 @ WINTER 2016 < 6 Take a Bow, High School Musical! May Procession < 8 Visual Arts & Peter Frost TAS Exhibition 50 Years of Cadet Unit > 10 > 15 ISSUE 23 VOLUME 1 NOTE FROM THE EDITOR WINTER 2016 PRINT POST 100002026 This edition marks significant changes at Waverley: Head of College, Ray Paxton has announced he will depart at the end of 2016; we introduce a new Deputy Head of College, Graham Leddie, who hails from Nudgee; PUBLISHER and we also welcome our new Development Manager, Rebecca Curran. We also celebrate two outstanding Waverley College creative arts events from our students; we mark the Jubilee of ex-Headmaster, Br Bob Wallace at our May 131 Birrell Street, Procession; and we sadly note the death of another ex-Headmaster, Br Kevin Kirwan. Read on... Waverley NSW 2024 Jennifer Divall TELEPHONE 02 9369 0600 EMAIL IN THIS ISSUE [email protected] WEB 3 FROM THE HEADMASTER 15 OBU PRESIDENT’S REPORT waverley.nsw.edu.au The Start of a New Era Waverley College Old Boys’ Union 4 ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS Peter Frost 50 Years of Cadet Unit EDITOR Letter from the Edmund Rice Education 16 OBU EXECUTIVE PROFILES Jennifer Divall Australia’s Executive Director, Dr Wayne Tinsey Marketing Manager OBU Council Sets up Sub-committees 5 DEPUTY HEADMASTER Retirement from the Old Boys’ Council ALUMNI RELATIONS Introducing Mr Graham Leddie 17 OBU NEWS Rebecca Curran 6 Take a bow, High School Musical! TELEPHONE Australia Day Honours 02 9369 0753 8 106TH ANNUAL MAY PROCESSION Legal Award EMAIL AND FEAST OF EDMUND RICE Old Boys at Barbarian Luncheon The Mark of Waverley Men – speech by developmentoffice@ 18 OLD BOY CONTRIBUTIONS Br Bob Wallace cfc AM – former Headmaster waverley.nsw.edu.au Lifesaving Visit of Waverley College Brian Peter Flannery Profile of Br Bob Wallace WAVERLEY COLLEGE Schoolies for Schools Support OLD BOYS’ UNION 10 2016 Visual Arts and TAS Exhibition A Writer in the Family Col Blake and Chris O’Sullivan Apprentice & Manager Catch in 2015 12 POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST Old Boy Connections! DESIGN The Grange and Carrington Road Entrance Kirk Palmer Design, Sydney 50th Anniversary of HSC 19 ANZAC Memorial Plans to be Completed Centenary of the Battle of the Somme 20 REUNIONS PHOTOGRAPHY 14 FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE James Greig, Class of 2015 22 OLD BOY SPORT Becoming a Part of a Great Community Jeremy Bowring, Class of 2009 Annual Giving 24 WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The Future 26 MILESTONES PRINTING Oxford Printing 27 OBITUARIES 30 DEATH NOTICES CONTRIBUTIONS Reader contributions are welcomed. BC Waverley College Capital Appeal Please forward to [email protected] COVER ‘High School Musical’ hits the NIDA stage in March, performed by students of Waverley College and St Clare’s College. twitter.com/waverleycollege www.facebook.com/waverleycollege WINTER 2016 3 FROM THE HEAD OF COLLEGE The Start of a New Era 2016 has been a year of innovation in the life of the The College is College. Innovation in education is much more than embracing using the latest technology in the classroom. It is about providing new opportunities to structure learning for innovation with students and staff in ways that are both engaging and thought provoking. This is very much in line with the a great many Edmund Rice touchstone of Liberating Education and changes that will encapsulated in our own imperative of liberating the potential of every learner. enhance the The College is embracing innovation with a great many changes that will enhance the learning of our learning of our students. The new TAS Building and redeveloped Carrington Road profile. The heritage-restored Grange, students. Brother Lacey Gymnasium have been operational since the sandstone approaches, a new crest, a bus shelter June this year. and carpark strongly announce our presence on the The TAS Building comprises generous and well- western perimeter of the campus and link us more equipped wood and metal technology rooms, a closely with St Clare’s College, St Charles School and CAD & Design Lab with 24 Apple Mac workstations, Mary Immaculate Parish. a professional domestic kitchen and a commercial Innovation at Waverley College is going from kitchen, all of which are already having a positive strength to strength. I have also drawn on this strength impact on students and staff. I believe strongly in this in taking the next step in my career. From January 2017, “real world” model of learning and the new building is I will take on the role of National Director – Identity a testament to that – with students gaining skills that and Liberating Education with Edmund Rice Education will enhance their lives upon leaving the College. Australia (EREA). This role oversees the values, vision, We will officially open the new building in Term 4 mission, charism, formation and renewal of EREA with a special event. schools. I will take with me all of the experiences and The Brother Lacey Gymnasium, boasting two full values that I have had the pleasure of gaining while sized new basketball courts, a BOSE sound system, at Waverley College and will utilise these across EREA multimedia screens, tiered retractable seating across Schools throughout Australia. It is a great pleasure three levels and many more functions, transitions easily to know that my strong association with Waverley from sporting venue to an assembly hall with seating College will continue. for 1800. It also provides two covered walkways linking At the time of publishing this edition of the the east and west of the campus. The Gym not only Wavelength magazine, the search for my replacement highlights the progressive nature of the School but the is already underway, ushering in an exciting new era amazing community that lies within these walls. With for this great school. I am forever grateful to this many assemblies, co-curricular events and conferences dynamic community for all it has offered me. Below and page 2: The College’s already staged, this space is the new gathering place for new TAS and gym are now in use. the College. Mr Ray Paxton I am extremely proud of the enhancement to our Head Of College 4 WAVELENGTH Asking the right questions In May 2016 Edmund Rice Education Australia’s Executive Director, I laughed and enthusiastically responded, Dr Wayne Tinsey, wrote this letter to our staff. He writes about the “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant power of a truly liberating education and his message resonates not squeeze. only for professional educators but for all of us in our hopes and “Why are you in college at such a young, dreams for ourselves and for our young people. innocent age?” I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel.” “No seriously,” I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. “I always dreamed of having a college Remember the wise parent who asked his child opinions and assumptions, shallow solutions and education and now I’m getting one!” she told me. each day not “What did you learn today?” but inherited prejudices. We hope our young people We became instant friends. Every day for the “What questions did you ask today?” are liberated from boundaries rather than defined next three months we would leave class together Much of the education process entails the by them. and talk nonstop. asking of questions and the giving of answers. But Parker Palmer goes further to suggest At the end of the semester we invited Rose As teachers, sometimes we can judge our success that seldom, if ever, do we ask the “who” to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget by the answers that we receive from students. question – who is the self that teaches? How what she taught us. She was introduced and The testing regimes we serve can reinforce this does the quality of my selfhood form – or deform stepped up to the podium. As she began to emphasis. – the way I relate to my students, my subject, my deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her However, it’s not the answers we require, but colleagues, my world? three by five cards on the floor. rather it’s the questions we encourage, that can Our lives are very complex. It often appears to Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned often make education most transformative and me to be a miracle that teachers can so regularly into the microphone and simply said “I’m sorry liberating. overcome the turmoil in their own lives and I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this Inspirational educator Parker Palmer suggests family situations in order to be ‘on song’ in the whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech that there are several types of questions that classroom. I learned a long time ago to have back in order so let me just tell you what I know.” we can ask in our hope that education is truly patience with colleagues, since we never know As we laughed she cleared her throat and began: liberating. what they have had to deal with before they even “We do not stop playing because we are old; The question we most commonly ask is the get to the workplace. I hope they would have this we grow old because we stop playing. There are “what” question – what subjects shall we teach? patience with me! only four secrets to staying young, being happy When the conversation goes a bit deeper, we Our schools place real importance on and achieving success.