Honouring our past students As we commemorate 125 years of St Margaret’s, it is only fitting we honour the diverse accomplishments of our past students. Late last year we commenced work on our 125 Notable Old Girls project, building on an endeavour initiated by the Old Girls’ Association in 2014 to celebrate St Margaret’s Old Girls. Throughout the course of our anniversary year, we are adding 100 more past students to the esteemed group, celebrating the lives and careers of our alumni who are and always will be inspirational role models to the current and future generations of our St Margaret’s students. Many profiles of our 125 Notable past students have been published on the school’s 125th anniversary website. We have also highlighted a handful of these high-achieving women here with excerpts of their profiles and you can read more about their personal and professional journeys online.
Susan Lorette Dunn - At St Margaret’s 1978 - 1981 BMus, Voice (Performance and Teaching), Graduate Diploma of Music (Opera) Susan Dunn is an Australian soprano and current Artist Teacher of Opera Studies at The Shepherd School of Music, Rice University in Houston, Texas. While maintaining her teaching career, she regularly performs with leading orchestras and at renowned summer music festivals throughout North America and Europe. Since leaving St Margaret’s, Susan graduated from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Voice and a Post Graduate Diploma of Opera. She pursued an opera career, which took her to London, the USA, Israel and throughout Australia, and has worked with companies including Opera Australia, Sydney Theatre Company, Opera Queensland and the Queensland Ballet. Susan has been a winner of major grants and musical awards. As a State and Commonwealth winner of the ABC Instrumental and Vocal Competition she had the opportunity to appear with Australia’s major orchestras. She was also the recipient of the prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship Award, which led her to New York City, where she met her future husband, conductor Larry Rachleff. Susan held positions as Lecturer at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and the Queensland University of Technology, where she also devised programs in music theatre skills. She has premiered Australian vocal works in concert both nationally and internationally. Composers David Heuser, St Margaret’s Old Girl and Notable Betty Beath, Stephen Lalor, David Hush and Paul Keelan have written for her.
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Phoebe Young - At St Margaret’s 1995-1999 BA, LLB, GradDipLegalPrac Phoebe Young (nee Stuart) is a lawyer, writer, keynote speaker and mum of two. She attended St Margaret’s from 1995 and in 1999 became Prefect and Boarding Captain. Following school she spent a year travelling and working in Spain and England, before returning to Brisbane to attend university. During her first semester of tertiary study, Phoebe suffered a rare and near-fatal illness which resulted in the loss of both her legs below the knee, her left hand at the wrist and much of her vision. After multiple surgeries and a gruelling stay in hospital, she determinedly learned to walk on prosthetic legs, navigate the world with low vision, regain her independence and eventually returned to her university studies. Phoebe graduated with degrees in Arts and Laws with Honours, before spending two years as an associate to The Honourable Justice Ann Lyons of the Supreme Court of Queensland. She was admitted as a solicitor to the Legal Profession and has since dedicated her career to working and advocating for our community’s most vulnerable people in not-for-profit legal centres and government departments. She is also an Ambassador to the Queensland Eye Institute.
