From the Principal I've always been interested in the idea that schools are ever-changing and yet somehow remain the same. In our case this is true, partly because St Mary’s College is so old. At the same time the College, while being ‘elderly’, is still very much young and sprightly in its approach to education in the contemporary world. At the recent Year 12 Mother’s Day Breakfast we were regaled by the life story of alumna, Juliette Tria (class of 1999). While we were sitting in the Year 12 Common Room, Juliette delighted in telling me that she had known it in its former glory as the library. I’d say most rooms at St Mary’s College have had a former life.
What 'is' St Mary's is bigger than its buildings, its symbols and even its people. Even if you've only been out of the College for one year, you would find yourself coming back to a place that has somehow changed. It's still your place and yet, in a strange way, it's simultaneously unknown to you. Even the people in a school change almost on a weekly basis. We farewell students moving interstate, we welcome student teachers, we say goodbye to staff taking maternity leave, and so forth. The population of the College is everchanging.
For many alumni, the connection with the uniform is ever present, and for them, the uniform is and continues to be St Mary's College. But a walk-through the past will show you that the uniform has not always been as it is. In one iteration girls wore a light blue dress! While the blue is a contemporary St Mary's colour, it is hard to see the blue uniform as embodying how we now know St Mary’s, but the students who wore it were as much our alumni as the Year 12s who graduated last year. What 'is' St Mary's is bigger than its buildings, its symbols and even its people. It is an attitude, a way of knowing the world, a spirit, and I have no doubt these three features have been magnificently shaped by the Presentation Sisters. It is about knowing that one has responsibility to those who have less; it is about compassion and a down-to-earth simplicity. I am buoyed by understanding that in many ways I am inconsequential to St Mary’s College. I have decided to return to full-time study next year, hopefully embarking on a Fine Arts degree at the University of Tasmania. I have been the Principal of the College for six years. It has been the greatest privilege of my life. I look forward to welcoming the new principal as they take over the custodianship of the greatness and beauty that is intangibly St Mary’s College, while I take my place as an alumna, one of thousands of fabulous women and a few good men! Helen Spencer Principal
S T M A RY ’ S C O L L E G E A L M A M AT E R J U N E 2021
Top to bottom: Year 12 Mother’s Day Breakfast fundraiser, smiles in the schoolyard, Ms Spencer leading the Kinders in an art lesson.
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