5 minute read
EVERY NEW DAY IS A BONUS
Tony Poolman
Tony (top right) with the 1959 First XI cricket team
One of the wonders of Timbertop is that the experience of living through that challenging year bridges the generations. Even if that experience is more than 60 years apart, as it is for Tony Poolman (FB’60) and Lily Power (L Unit, 2022), Timbertop delivers a common bond that enables an immediate connection. Through the old-fashioned medium of letter writing – another Timbertop tradition – Tony and Lily have exchanged stories. ‘On the long runs I fell into a rhythm where I can enjoy the nature’, wrote Lily. ‘I am going to be running up Mt Timbertop – I cannot believe I will be running up a mountain!’ Tony related that, in 1957, as well as the ‘two cross-country runs each week’ and the ‘Up Timbertop’ run that Lily was about to experience, all the students helped in the continuing building of the campus, which was then in its second full year. Tony and Lily have not yet met in person, but Tony’s support goes beyond playing a part in building Timbertop itself for the benefit of Lily and so many others over the decades. Lily is the first recipient of the Anthony Poolman Scholarship, established thanks to Tony’s very generous donation to the Geelong Grammar Foundation. ‘It’s just something I thought would be nice to do, and I like to do, and I’m pleased I’ve done it’, said Tony, who is entirely pragmatic about his motivation to support a scholarship. ‘School fees are not going to go down. It’s harder and harder for people. It is important to reflect on the sacrifices people make to get them there.’
Tony came to GGS as the son of an OGG, Dr John Poolman (M’33), one of the boys in the front row of the lively photo that captures the buzz around a youthful James Darling’s first
day in office. John later became chairman of the School’s 1969 Appeal, which successfully raised significant capital for numerous school projects. The family has a philanthropic trait. Tony’s paternal grandmother made a very generous donation to the Royal Melbourne Children’s Hospital, which established a travelling scholarship. In retirement, John became honorary medical director and deputy chairman of the Buoyancy Foundation of Victoria, an unfunded drug and alcohol counselling service in Melbourne. ‘He was unbelievable in his dedication to the Foundation’, reflected Tony.
This same tenacity is equally a character trait of Tony’s, especially in relation to his schooldays. Tony loved Glamorgan, but the rest was another story. ‘Most of my good feelings about Geelong Grammar and Timbertop are in hindsight.’ Though classroom work was a challenge – more from apathy than a lack of ability – the sports field was where Tony was happiest. The Corian is full of praise for his exploits on the oval: ‘Poolman gave a very fine exhibition of spin bowling against Scotch… With the score a worrying 1/86, Poolman was given the ball, and his advent to the bowling crease was to be the turning point of the match.’ He was vice-captain of both football and athletics. ‘I should have been captain of football, but Dr Darling (quite rightly) didn’t allow it because of my academic non-performance.’ His award of triple colours in 1959 was testament to the breadth of his sporting skills. He enjoyed treading the boards too, appearing in several house plays, including an ‘awe-inspiring and amusing’ interpretation of Capone in Derek Benfield’s Wild Goose Chase and as Creon in Antigone, the 1960 school play, for which he was awarded the Drama Prize.
In his own words, Tony ‘muddled through’ on the academic front, and surprised his teachers when he passed his matriculation exams. After a couple of false starts at university, he graduated Bachelor of Commerce and later qualified as a chartered accountant working for Price Waterhouse and later the Australian Shipping Commission and the Clemenger Group before turning his hand to managing the family investment company. Retirement was the opportunity to give something back through volunteering, first with Vision Australia and more recently at the Epworth Hospital. Golf and real tennis are passions, and he has captained various Australian real tennis age group teams. A dream is for real tennis to be played at Geelong Grammar, and Tony has already explained the sport’s ancient origins to Lily, who was impressed that he had been selected as captain of the Australian over-80s team!
Tony regrets that his own children did not attend Geelong Grammar, but he is happy to be helping Lily and others who follow her on the Anthony Poolman Scholarship with their education. He is reluctant to dispense advice – ‘you make your own decisions and make your own mind up’ – but suggests that finding a balance between classroom and non-classroom activities is important. ‘Grab everything you can get and run as hard as possible!’ He has written to Lily about ‘the very strong bond’ among his Timbertop cohort, which he described as ‘a huge plus’ from that formative year. As with the hiking and running, Lily’s experience will be similar to Tony’s in the close friendships she makes. ‘Me and my friends have bonded through challenges and experiences’, she wrote. ‘I am extremely grateful for this and for you for providing my scholarship.’ And he always signs off his letters with perhaps the best advice of all: ‘Every new day is a bonus. Dolce far niente. Stay safe.’
Tony Poolman
