PAST STUDENTS
ALUMNI AWARDS RGS past students take many different paths in life after they leave the School. The annual RGS Distinguished Past Student Awards Dinner on 24 July recognised students and a past teacher who have gone above and beyond in their chosen careers.
DISTINGUISHED PAST STUDENT AWARD
DISTINGUISHED PAST STUDENT AWARD
DISTINGUISHED PAST STUDENT AWARD
ROD LAVER RGS 1947 – 1949
GARY LARSON RGS 1983 – 1984
RACHEL DOWNIE RGS 1985 – 1987
Rod Laver is widely considered one of Australia’s greatest ever tennis players. Rod was the first male tennis player to win two calendar year Grand Slams – with wins at Wimbledon, the Australian, French and US Opens in both 1962 and again in 1969. Rod was ranked number one in the world in nine different years and ended his career with 200 singles titles, including 11 Grand Slam titles. Rod also represented Australia in Davis Cup tennis, winning five titles. Rod was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1981 and in 2000 was bestowed the honour of having centre court at Melbourne Park renamed Rod Laver Arena.
Gary played 24 consecutive games for Queensland in the 1990s and represented Australia in nine games. Reflecting on his Queensland duties Gary said, “My attitude in every game I played in that Origin arena was that I didn’t want to let anyone down.” Gary played 233 games for the North Sydney Bears and 17 games at Parramatta before retiring from professional rugby league. While at RGS, Gary was also selected in the Australian schoolboys rugby union team.
In 2020, Rachel was awarded the Queensland Australian of the Year for her work with education and helping young people to say something when they see or experience harm. Twenty-five years ago Rachel became an educator to help young people flourish. After losing a Year 9 student to suicide, Rachel decided she needed to find a way to support young people to seek help for themselves and their peers. This led Rachel to developing and self-funding Stymie – an old-fashioned word for stop – to allow students to anonymously report harm without fear.
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