Making a Difference

John Bate was dedicated to making a difference to girls education

John’s daughter Robyn Kanat (Bate, 1980) remembers her father ‘loved the sense of community at Ruyton’. John and his wife Liz were active community members who consciously sought out new families in order to make them feel welcome. Connecting with people through his work on the School Council and the Foundation, John made lifelong friends at Ruyton and firmly believed ‘the more you give, the more you get back’.

An active philanthropist ‘Dad felt girls schools get the rough deal when it comes to giving compared to boys. He had a passion to change that at Ruyton and make a difference’. Robyn remembers her father’s firm belief that families who gave to their son’s schools, but not their daughters were sending the message that ‘your daughters are not as important as your sons’. Fostering a culture of philanthropy and driving the campaign for the Physical Education Centre, it is fitting it is named in his honour. The John Bate Centre has supported the physical education and wellbeing of generations of Ruyton students while also providing the School with increased revenue through the highly successful Swim School.

‘Dad believed we all have a responsibility to contribute to educating people, especially women. I was fortunate to have parents who did that, I do feel proud as a daughter that he has made a difference and his name will live on’. John Gordon Bate OAM (1926–2016)† Daughters Wendy Bull (Bate, 1975), Liz Bate and Robyn Kanat (Bate, 1980)

Grandchildren Clare Bull (2004), Jack Bull (EL,2010), Zoe Kanat (2011), Sarah Kanat (2014) and Mitchell (EL, 2015)