N E WSLE T TE R O F TH E ST TH O M A S M O RE CO LLEG E A LU M N I & FRI E N DS
winter 2010
THE
UTOPIAN
In late 2009 the College Council commissioned its architect to develop a Master Plan for St Thomas More College. A Master Plan was necessary to help the Council with its forward planning.
Archbishop Hickey discusses the new M asterpl an with Brother C allen.
New College Masterplan Archbishop Hickey has given his encouragement to the Rector to proceed with this planning for the future. The College is approaching its sixtieth birthday, and the cost of maintenance is increasing markedly every year. Since its construction in 1955 many new laws under the building code have been enacted, including those related to new fire and safety standards, disability access, asbestos removal and much more. There is also considerable pressure from the UWA for Colleges to expand. Continued Page 2
this Issue New College Website Pg 5 Surprise Gift Pg 12 New Look Tommy Pg 14 Notre Dame Indiana Pg 16
From the Rector invitations to visit their new friends in countries
endeavours to upgrade facilities and keep up
abroad. There’s quite a Tommy More network
with the growing maintenance.
across the world now.
Within the College one other group deserves
Each year seems to get busier as the College Calendar fills up. It’s encouraging to watch students get involved it all that College life affords. Even though academic achievement is their primary focus, many students manage
It’s always gratifying to be able to say each Semester that the College is full. This year we have 175 residents comprising
special mention. Each evening at 5:15pm a small but faithful group, known as the Chapel community, gathers for daily Mass. We acknowledge and thank them for their fidelity and example.
to get a very good balance in their lives with
This is the second edition of The Utopian in its
sports, social activities and community service.
new format. We have been very pleased with
Our weekly Sunday evening Eucharist is well
the positive response to our first edition last
attended and the Collegiate Choir continues
Spring. If you would like to contribute any news
to enhance the liturgy. We are so blessed to
about ex-collegians or if you have any ideas
have these dedicated choristers under the
or suggestions about reunions, please don’t
direction of an ex-collegian, Ericius Tan.
hesitate to contact us. 2011 is the centenary
This year we have made a concerted effort to upgrade our website and marketing materials. Pauline Ibbs, the Vice Rector, continues to
of the University of Western Australia. Perhaps you might like to suggest a special Tommy More event.
53% Australian, 16 % North American,
visit country schools and boarding schools
We are always delighted to hear from our
24 % Asian and 7% from other countries. This
to spread the word about accommodation
ex-collegians and to learn what is happening
multicultural mix contributes towards building
in Perth.
in their lives. Never hesitate to contact us if you
a very enriching experience. It’s fascinating
We are in the process of developing a Master
to watch new friendships develop across
Plan for the College so that we can plan for the
cultural lines. Many Australian students receive
future and make an appeal to our Ex-Collegians and Friends of the College to support us in our
think there’s a story about a former Collegian we should know. And please feel welcome to visit the College at any time. Brother Rob Callen cfc
New College Masterplan continued from front
Concept drawing based on M asterpl an.
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To remain competitive and to attract new students the College needs to upgrade many of its facilities. Unlike schools, with their funding from the Federal Government’s Education Revolution, there is no government money for University colleges. St Thomas More College is totally dependent financially on fees for recurrent costs and generous benefactors for capital costs. We need the generous support of Ex-Collegians and Friends of the College if we are to proceed with any new development.
The Utopian | winter 2010
Valete 2009
VICE RECTOR PAULINE PRESENTS VALETE CERTIFIC ATES.
M ichael Burford, Ed Buller & J osh Boyle.
Luke Smith, Br Rob, Pauline Ibbs & Greg Bates at the Valete M ass.
He ading for the Valete M ass.
At the end of 2009 we said “Goodbye” to thirty-one Tommy More graduates. At the Valete Mass they received a special Blessings and we prayed for their future happiness and success. Teegan Blond with her mum.
Liliana Balaguera Teegan Blond Josh Boyle Edward Buller Aaron Chong Cassie Cox Amalia Croasdale Tom Curtin Jess De Bellis Michelle Delfos Rachel Dennis The Utopian | winter 2010
Greg Doger de Speville Ryan Fernandes Stewart Hardy Abel Ho Kristine Kesavan Candice King Matt Krummenacher Genevieve Liu Vinith Menezes Ryan Mitchell Liz O’Brien
Sheau Woei Pan Kara Price Ryan Quinn Angelos Sharobeam Roy Sim Reece Smith Jane Spillman Yvette Tey Megan Venables
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What’s In A Name? It has long been suggested that our blocks, traditionally named ‘A’ through ‘Q’ might have benefitted from slightly more imaginative designations. We have taken this proposal to heart this semester, with the renaming of each of the twenty-two blocks after a saint of note within the Catholic tradition. We have tried to select outstanding Christian men and women, saints and significant Catholics whose involvement with young people, or with issues of social justice, makes them suitable and worthy role models for our residents. Thus F Block has been named after Bl. Pier Frassati, the young Italian who gave so freely of both his time and his money to help the poor of Turin in the 1920s, while G Block is named after St Maria Goretti, the patroness of youth. St Ignatius of Loyola, whose name has been linked to what was I Block, also represents the Jesuit roots of the College, as do fellow Jesuits Robert Bellarmine (B Block) St Stanislaus Kostka (K Block) and Father Pedro Arrupe (P Block). Bl. Edmund Rice (E Block) represents the current Christian Brothers’ influence within the College.
Scholarships List of Block Names A St Francis of Assisi B St Robert Bellarmine C Dom Helder Camara D Dorothy Day E Bl. Edmund Rice F Bl. Pier Frassati G St Maria Goretti H St Hildegard of Bingen I St Ignatius of Loyola J St Joan of Arc K St Stanislaus Kostka L St Lucy M St Mary Mackillop N Bl. John Henry Newman O Oscar Romero P Pedro Arrupe Q Our Lady, Queen of Heaven
One of the new signs for “i block”.
The College has recently restructured its scholarships and bursaries, so that they better cover the range and diversity of our student population, and can offer help where it is most needed. Seven bursaries are now available to First Year students, each named after one of the Jesuits who influenced the development of the College, and collectively known as the Jesuit Bursaries. Each bursary has a value of $1000, and is awarded on the basis of both TEE (or equivalent) score, and financial need. The Singleton family continue to support the students of St Thomas More College, and the scholarship which was endowed in honour of Brian Singleton, our first Student Club President, continues to be awarded by the family, in consultation with the Rector. In recognition of the role the College played in Brian’s transition from country life to studying in the city, the Singleton Scholarship is valued at $5000, and can be awarded twice in any academic year to a rural student who might otherwise find continued residence in the College financially unviable. The estates of Stanislaw Murphy and Jean Rogerson each contribute two $2000 scholarships each year, available to students in at least their second year of residence in the College. Finally, four Rector’s Exhibitions, each totalling $2000, are available to graduate and postgraduate students residing in the College. Prospective and current residents alike are encouraged to take advantage of these scholarships to ease what we realise can often be the considerable financial burden associated with living in residential accommodation. Full details, along with application forms for each of the awards, are available on our website www.stmc.uwa.edu.au/scholarships or by request from the Rector’s office.
Blessed M ary M ackillop 1842 - 1909
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Blessed pier frassati 1901 - 1925
The Utopian | winter 2010
Launch of New College Website
www.stmc.uwa.edu.au In July the College will launch its new website. The new website was part of a whole marketing strategy for the College. The process began with an outside facilitator working with three groups: new students, senior students and parents of students. From this data key themes were developed. These pointed to the most attractive features of life at Tommy More. A new Site Map was drawn up and new text and new photos were sent to the web designers. One of the key features of the website is a video which takes the visitor on a tour of the College. As well as the new website, complementary marketing materials have been produced including banners, brochures and posters. This material is distributed during school and parish visits in country WA, as well as being posted to people making enquiries. Our positioning line is: LIVING, LEARNING & MORE.
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Debbie Chandler
The Engine Room – Some of Our Staff A ship is only as good as its engine room. It’s the behind-the-scenes staff who make St Thomas More College such a happy and efficient organisation.
We could say that generations of Tommy students know Debbie, because she has been at the College since May,1993. During her 17 years here she has worked with the Housekeeping staff and since 1996 with the Catering Staff. Debbie takes a personal interest in all students and she works tirelessly to promote a happy and efficient Dining Room. Many students enjoy chatting with Debbie. She is their Tommy More mum.
Our Catering, Housekeeping, Maintenance and Grounds staff are the unsung heroes and heroines of the College, and each staff member really cares about every resident and providing the best possible College experience for each.
Top: C atering - mrs k aren bartlett, mr terrance chu, mrs the a staples, mrs debbie chandler, mrs julie dhu. M iddle: housekeeping - mrs k aren keys, mr m irak novak, mr peter hurst, mrs margaret harwood. Botto m: Grounds and maintenance mr daryl forward & mr david steer.
The Funky Gibbon – Maintaining the Volunteer Spirit We hope that the spirit of volunteerism to which we introduce our residents will continue to live on once they have left St Thomas More College. It was a great pleasure, therefore, to hear from one of our recent residents, Sharna Thompson, who left us in 2007 to head to the United States, where she worked as part of the Camp America project, offering children from around the world the adventure of a lifetime as they get to experience the great outdoors for what is often the first time in their lives. Sharna returned to Perth – and to her studies – later that year, but found she had been bitten by the travel bug, along with the need to make a difference. She has recently returned from Thailand, where she has been working with the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project, a research division of the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand, a not-for-profit organisation, funded purely by donations, established in 1992 with the
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sole purpose of rescuing gibbons and their rainforest habitat through rehabilitation and education. The Gibbon Rehabilitation Project rescues animals which have been stolen from the wild, gives them a range of health checks and treatments, and then rehabilitates them in a safe yet natural environment (a process which can take up to ten years in some extreme cases), before releasing them back into the wild. The Project also educates both locals and tourists on the importance of maintaining the gibbon in its natural environment. Sharna was based at the Bang Pae Waterfall Rehabilitation Centre, where she recently worked alongside full-time staff and longterm volunteers, helping to clear sites and lay foundations for new cages, homes to some of the newest temporary residents of the centre. With a lack of outside funding, specialised equipment and personnel, the help of international volunteers is an asset that the Project would struggle without, as well as an avenue for them to get their ecological message out into the wider world.
Sharna is pictured working with her fellow volunteers (and wearing the old-style Tommy More shirt while doing so) to lay the concrete foundations of one of the new cages. “It was hard work,” she confided on her return, “but well worth doing. The looks on the local faces, combined with the education we received as volunteers, made it all worth while, not to mention all the gibbons we can now count as friends!” More information on the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project can be found on the Foundation’s web site – www.warthai.org
sharna with fellow volunteers in bang pe, thail and
The Utopian | winter 2010
Alumni News – What’s Up? The College welcomes news of its past students, and would love to be able to use the medium of this new magazine to let others know what you are up to. We know of a number of groups of alumni which meet regularly, and will try to bring you news from them in each edition. If you have news you would like us to share with your fellow ex-collegians, please send us a written note, come in personally to let us know or drop us an e-mail at admissions@stmc.uwa.edu.au
Where are They? Who are They?? We received a number of replies to our request for information on that old photograph from the 1970s which we published in our last edition. Father John Prendiville proved that his memory is far from failing him, and was able to identify well over half the people involved (the ones most often in the Rector’s office, perhaps?), while e-mails from a number of ex-students helped to fill in most of the remaining gaps.
In this edition, we have a slightly simpler challenge. We know who is in the picture, we just don’t know what he was doing. Can anyone from Fr John Hamilton-Smith’s era tell us what he was up to?
Combining your various information, we would seem to have identified Mark Howard, Cathy Bugg, Helen Slattery, Alan Cummings, Gerry Moran, Veronica Wee, Leong Young Hiong, Maria Intini, and Jenny Still, while the event would seem to have been either a concert in the JCR in 1974 or the Great Debate of 1975.
1974 GATHERING IN THE J CR
The Utopian | winter 2010
can you rem em ber the occasion?
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Response to Our First Edition The response to the first edition of our new magazine aimed at alumni and friends of the College has been great. Not only did we get lots of positive feedback, but a considerable number of people wrote to us or e-mailed with up-to-date contact information. If you know of anyone you think would like to receive future copies of the magazine – especially fellow collegians whom we may have lost touch with over the years – please feel free to send us their details, and we will be only too happy to add them to our distribution list. We have also included in this edition a list of people whose copies of the first edition were returned to us: “address unknown”. Do you have contact information for any of these people, or are you in a position to help us to get back in touch with them? Please let us know if you can help.
Murray Terence Graham Kimberley Thomas Robert Domenic John Kevin Adrian Stella Natasha Paula Margaret Loretto (Laurie)
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Allen Allen Anderson Antonio Ardagh Ashman Audino Bamberg Barden Barich Barry Bartlett Bates Berry Bertoncini
Robert Anthony Piero Joanne Caroline Simone Joanne Vincent Karen Louise Michael Brian Donna Darryl Loretta
Bettridge Bevan Biagioni Bilston Bird Blackwell Blayney Bligh Bordoni Boswood Bourke Bradley Brennan Brick Brick (nee McCamish)
Fiona Keith Linda Peter Stephen Peter Christopher Sarah Grahame James Catherine Marcus Michael Raymond Peter David Brenda Mark Paula Anthony Ronald Elissa Robert John Bun Dominic Paul Shi Peter Stan John Iain Nicole Tanwen Geoffrey Benjamin Monica Christina Roderic Sara Bruno Paul Emma Jill Kathryn Sean Chadwick Sara Barbara Garrett Jean-michel Michael
Bright Brown Brown Brown Brown Buck Bucktin Buehrig Burton Butler Byrne Byrne Byrne Byron Cabassi Cabral Cahill Capogreco Capogreco Carrivick Carter Castelli Castiglione Cawley Chan Chan Chard Chen Chung Chwal Citterbard Clark Clark Clark Clarke Cobley Cole Colegate Collins Collins Coniglio Coronel Corrigan Courtney Cowley Craig Creighton Crossing Cullity Cullity Cuneo Curtin
Michael Jane John Michael Amy Adam Michelle Michael Laurence Iara Paul Anthony Andre Julie Robert Rebecca Kevin Man Yee Jillian Jayne Anthony Robert Louise Lloyd Aggie Agnieszka Ewa Kaye Dene Leonard Domenico Claire James Serena James Michael Ross Megan Brvan Ashlee Daen Paul Steven Mark Paul Sally Dalila Neil Jerome Laurie Ryan
D’esposito Dagostino Dagostino Dagostino Daniel Davies De Souza Dean Defrenne Delise Depiazzi Dickey Dines Elliott Embry English Fergusson Fhang Fimmel Finch Finucane Fitzgerald Fitzgibbon Fletcher Florkiewicz Florkiewicz Florkiewicz Foong Foran Gardiner Garuccio Gicquel (nee Hanavan) Gissua Giudice Giumelli Glynn Gollan Goodwin Gorddard Gordon Gould Gould Green Grist Grist Grylls Guerreiro Gulvin Gumley Guthridge Hair
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Douglas Sandra Simon G James Thomas May Belinda Alexander Philip Justine Peter Shane Kartini Duncan Lloyd Christopher Jenny Paul Beth Kristy M Clare Joshua Darren Colin Anna Ben Jeremy Lisa Leo Jane Graeme Chio Rodney Mortimer Roger Maria Cherylee Marguerite Patrick Peter Jared Marita Warwick Boon Timothy Peter Natalie Joseph Robert Derek
Hamilton Harris Hepworth Hesford Hickey Hinds Ho Holmes Horan Hosemann Howard Howard Hughes Ismail Jones Jones Judkins Kain Kain Kanavich Keddie Keely Kelderman Kember Kempton Kenworthy Killerby Killerby Killerby Killerby Killigrew King Klass Ko Kroon Kuhlmann Kwok Ladec Lane Lane Lang Le Rossignol Leigh Lewis Ley Liang Lines Lloyd Lockwood Lor Loton Lynch
Scott Kate Natalie Donatella Brooke Deborah JB Dennis Jo-an Richard Roger Clare Debbie Lorretta Aiden Karen
Macwilliam Males Males Manolini Manson Martin Mathieson Matthews Mc Cagh Mc Cagh Mc Donald McBeath McCamish McCamish McCarthy McCarthy (nee Castelli) Mark McGill Haruko McGovern Elizabeth McKenzie Paul McKenzie Terance McLeary Mattew McNee Chris Meiklejohn Brian Meyer Sally Mills Mark Miocevich Timothy Mitchell Brian Molinari David Moltoni Joanna Monaghan Beverley Moriaty Patrick Mullally Bryan Mullumby Shailendra Nathoo Kenneth Ng Veronica Nieman Eliza Nixon Ann Noonan Rachel Norris Peter O’Connor Simon O’Neil Jamie O’Neill Claire O’Rourke Quirinus Olsthoorn Eng Kheng Ong Ernie Ong Gwendoline Ong Karla Oversby David Palandri G Palandri A Panizza
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Stephen Hannah Paddy Shane Ian Julie Gerald David Renee Barry Phillip Darryl Mary Anne Joseph Phillip Olivia Craig Sean Alexandra Gavin Jodette Joe Liberto John David Domenica Elizabeth Peter Steven David George Melissa Toby Julie Paul Craig Maria Michael John Terence Stephanie Jeremy Peter Karina Vivien Paul Blair James Kimberly M Bryan
Panizza Pannell Papalia Parker Paton Patten Pauley Paull Pazdan Perich Perry Podmore Poh Poprzeczny Power Princi Read-smith Redden Rees Rennick Reynolds Riccardone Riccardone Riordan Robb Rombola Rossi Royle Rushforth Rushton Russo Ryan Ryan Samson (Patman) Samulkiewicz Sanderson Sarnacki Schluter Scott Shanahan Sherrard Shervington Shine Silinger Sim Smargiassi Smith Smith Smith Smith Stokes
Francis Katarzyna Matt Ichiro Yvette Saw Lay Kellie Maria Yvonne Rebecca Sally Matt Andrew Andrew Marcos Garbi Rebecca Kathy Tim Catherine Donald Anthony Margo Amanda Jasmine Jasmine Brett Kate Timothy Erica Michael Ruth Anthony Lindsay David Kelvin Robyn Wee Thomas Lambro Sergio
Sykes Szwedzicka Szwedzicki Takahashi Tan Tee Thompson Thornton Thuys Toovey Toovey Townsend Travis Upfold Vivian Vrbas Wall Walsh Walsh Walters Watt Weller Welsby Werder White White Wilkie Wilkie Wilkie Williams Williams Williams Willinge Wilton Wiszniewski Wong Wylie Yeo Yow Ziatas Zorino
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Past Rectors – The Early 1960s 1960, The dawn of a new decade brought change to the leadership of St Thomas More College, as our foundation Rector, Father Cornelius Finn SJ, whose life and contribution to the College we chronicled in our last edition, finished his term. In this, the second in our series on past Rectors, we detail the contributions of his two immediate successors, who guided the College and its students through the opening years of the nineteen sixties. Father J Rolland Boylen SJ succeeded Father Finn SJ in 1960. A member of the Society of Jesus from the tender age of fifteen, Father Boylen, who was born in Kalgoorlie, had received his basic education at the hands of the Christian Brothers, before a novitiate in Sydney, and then further studies in the Netherlands and Belgium, before reading Classics at University College Dublin. Having returned to Australia in 1939, Father Boylen held a number of teaching posts, and was eventually appointed as Rector of Xavier College, Melbourne. He then transferred across to Perth, and the Rectorship of St Thomas More College in 1960, but served for only eighteen months
before being recalled to Melbourne, and appointed as the Provincial Superior of the Australi an Jesuits. Father Boylen returned to Perth in 1971, taking up a teaching post at St Louis School, Claremont (now John XXIII College). He passed away suddenly some three years later. Back at St Thomas More College, Father Boylen was succeeded by Father Jeremiah Hogan, an Irishman from Limerick, with a background in Philosophy, which he had studied in Rome, and in Latin and Gaelic, which he had read at the National University in Dublin. Father Boylen having been recalled to Melbourne to take up a leadership role
Fr J. Roll and Boylen SJ
within the Society, Father Hogan was appointed in a caretaker role for the remainder of 1962, a post which it is said he would have liked to have made permanent, were it not for the fact that his services were required in the eastern states as a lecturer in Canon Law. It may seem, looking back, as though the opening years of the nineteen sixties brought with them a good deal of change and uncertainty for the College, but that was about to change, with the appointment in 1963 of a long-term Rector, Father Edward Stormon SJ. His story will be the subject of the next article in this series.
Fr Jerem iah Hogan SJ
In our Tommy More Outreach program students are encouraged to serve the poor in our city. Most students find their own placements and take on service activities that challenge their own comfort levels. To those students who wish to extend themselves further, the College offers the opportunity to travel to India in November to live and work with the poorest of the poor in Kolkata and Chennai. It’s an opportunity to immerse themselves in the
culture and life of people who live very simply. Volunteers will work with fellow international volunteers at a variety of centres run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta, and with children with disabilities from the slums of Madras at Sr Theodore’s MITHRA Rehabilitation Centre. If anyone would like to assist these volunteer students with their airfares, we would be very grateful. It’s very hard for university students to cover the costs of this experience.
Immersion In India
Serving in C alcutta
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The Utopian | winter 2010
In Memoriam - Greg Brophy [He] was a well-known and much-loved figure in the local community. Greg Brophy, who was Dean of St Thomas More College in 1965 and 1966, passed away recently after a lengthy battle against illness. A native of Perth, Greg joined the Jesuits in the 1950s, and held a number
of posts on behalf of the Society, including the deanship here at Tommy More, before leaving the Society in the 1970s. He continued to teach in the city, and was a well-known and much-loved figure in the local community.
freely shared his considerable knowledge of College history with more recent members of staff. Greg was eighty-eight, and is survived by his wife Barbara, his brother Jack, and a number of nieces and nephews.
He remained a good friend to the College, and his occasional visits were a source of both enlightenment and amusement as he
For Every Storm A Rainbow As many of you will have seen in the newspapers and on television, the Crawley campus was at the heart of the torrential hail storm which swept down on Perth in March this year.
Damage in the front C ar Park of the College.
Like so many of our neighbours, we were hit by high winds, and by flying ice and rain. We lost around fifty windows across the site, and a number of cars were badly damaged, and had to be written off. Electricians, plumbers, and all manner of maintenance men have been clambering over roofs, and under floors, ensuring that everything got back to normal as soon as possible, and proved as small a distraction as possible for our residents.
M any of the students’ cars had to be written off.
The residents themselves also rolled up their sleeves, and pitched in to help set things to rights. Our thanks go out to everyone who lent a hand, and to our friends at Catholic Insurance who dealt with so much of the paperwork on our behalf. We proved luckier than many others in the local area, and are grateful that we got off as lightly as we did.
Hail covered the l awns in both the Upper and Lower Quads.
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Making A Practical Difference In The Community
St Thomas More College asks each of its residents to commit to spending at least fifteen hours each semester in community service, lending a helping hand to those less fortunate in the local community. That level of commitment has just received a welcome boost, with confirmation that a benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous, has agreed to cover the costs associated with the purchase of a soup van, which the College proposes to staff with student volunteers, and to send out on a regular basis. The Rector has been in contact with local charitable organisations, and with other interested parties, in an attempt to judge where this new service might best be employed within the city. Other members of the staff team here at the College have been busy working on details relating to the regular provision of food, and the training which will need to be undertaken to turn this worthwhile dream into a reality. We fully expect to be able to bring you an update on this project in our next edition, and hope to see the van on the road, doing some practical good, in the very near future. OUr new TO M MY more outre ach van kindly donated by an anonymous benefactor.
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The Utopian | winter 2010
Rectors In A New Light The portraits of our past Rectors, previously housed in the Senior Common Room, and therefore out of sight on a daily basis, have been given a new lease of life, and placed in the College Library, surrounding a beautifully hand-carved copy of the College crest. There they continue to look down upon the academic endeavours of our students, and continue to hold a place in the affections of the College.
botto m left: All the past rectors given pride-of-pl ace in the library. botto m: the be autifully hand-carved college crest
Age and Treachery vs Youth and Inexperience – Pauline Ibbs Never offer short-term, part-time help - you never know where it will land you. Take Pauline Ibbs, for example – she came to St Thomas More College in 1996, having just completed a contract with the Claremont Museum as a member of their hands-on education team, and originally expected to stay for a short spell, temping in the front office. Almost fifteen years, four Rectors, and a bout of open-heart surgery later, Pauline is still a much-loved fixture within the College, known to one and all, and responsible as Vice Rector for the immediate health and welfare needs of our residents, their academic progress, school visits, as well as for our burgeoning Tommy More Outreach Programme. Under Father Tim Quinlan, Pauline joined the small admin team working out of the front office, and helping to see to the day-today needs of the College community. When Father Quinlan gave way to Father Theo Overberg, Pauline took on responsibilities as the Student Support staff member, overseeing academic support for residents, a post which was re-badged under Father Kevin Long as Senior Academic Tutor. When Sister Claire Sciesinski left the College in 2003, Pauline stepped in to bat as the third (and currently the longest serving) female Vice Rector in the College’s
The Utopian | winter 2010
almost-sixty year history. As such, she has, at one time or another, been the primary contact point for issues relating to welfare, discipline, and publicity; she has sewn Easter pageant costumes, been one of the oldest attendees at World Youth Day, and sat beside countless hospital beds as students have recovered from accident and illness alike. She has attended so many College weddings that she is often accused of being a professional wedding guest, and has spent so many evenings staying in College to attend functions and events that the dog often bites her when she finally makes it home, convinced that she is an intruder.
Pauline tells us that rumours that she intends to be buried beneath a concrete slab in the College grounds are a gross exaggeration, though she did apparently manage to convince a couple of our more susceptible residents that she was planning it recently. “After fifteen years,” she confides. “you do sometimes wonder!”
Insert caption
Pauline attributes her long survival in College to an almost-unfailing, if sometimes quirky, sense of humour, and to the fact that working with
Vice rector Pauline IBBS
young people tends to keep you young at heart. With a genuine and enduring commitment to the well-being and development of the young people in her care, she has been an asset to the various Rectors under whom she has served, and remains a friend to literally hundreds of students who have passed through our doors.
what makes a dinkum aussie?
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College Sports Stars Get Shirty A promising start to the sports season this year has been topped off by the arrival of our new sports gear, complete with the beefedup Tommy Moorcock which we featured in our last edition. The new strips, available in male and female fittings, saw their first outing in April, and have proved very popular with residents. With winter upon us, and the temperatures beginning to drop, we are also seeing a great uptake of our new blue-and-gold striped ruby jumpers, though our short-sleeved polo shirts remain a popular expression of the College spirit. Although there is no formal arrangement in place to supply the new design of merchandise to alumni, anyone who is interested in putting his/her name down for an item, and having it ordered along with our next batch, is welcome to contact us with details of what they would like, and an estimate as to size, and we will happily see what we can do about offering competitive prices as part of a bulk buying exercise.
new look to mmy footballers.
to mmy verses georges
brent kealy models the new footy gear.
our victorious netballers show their
peter klein in the new college
new to mmy sports tops.
rugby jum per.
the to mmy girls defe ated trinit y
J ORDAN BIGLIN WE ARING THE NEW POLO TOP
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The Utopian | winter 2010
Check it Out! A corner of the back quad now plays host to a large, life-sized Chessboard and associated pieces. Situated just outside G Block, and overlooked by a couple of the new garden benches which have been recently installed (each commemorating either an Archbishop of Perth or an early Rector ). the Chess-court promises hours of outdoor fun during the better weather, with at least one inter-college challenge already in the pipeline. Lessons for those keen to learn may also be possible, with at least one chess champion on the College roll at present, and plenty of room for more in the future. Top left: En j oying the Autum nal balm. top right: M aking the most of the new benches right: PREM A GIVES INSTRUCTIONS ON THE NEW CHESS COURT
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Mounts Bay Road, Crawley Western Australia 6009 Phone 61 8 9386 0111 Fax 61 8 9389 1104 office@stmc.uwa.edu.au www.stmc.uwa.edu.au
C ATHOLIC RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF PERTH WITHIN THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Our Partnership With Notre Dame, Indiana
St Thomas More College is celebrating the tenth Anniversary of a special relationship with Notre Dame University, Indiana. Since 2001, engineering and science students from Notre Dame University, Indiana, have been taking one Semester of classes in the Study Abroad program with the University of Western Australia. Since the beginning of this exchange program the Notre Dame students have been living at Tommy More. Each second Semester we look forward to thirty new students from the U.S.A. joining us. These students contribute so much to the life and culture of our College.
the 2009 group visiting kings park.
nick civetta, j on barry and andy mullen at cottesloe be ach.
our new arri vals waiting for fish ‘n chips at cicerello’s, fremantle.
About The Utopian The Utopian is intended to be an occasional publication, keeping our alumni and friends up-to-date on developments here at the College, and helping people to stay in touch with old friends and acquaintances in the process. If you know someone who might like to receive a copy of the magazine, or if you would like to contribute to a future edition yourself, please contact the College. Postal and e-mail addresses are available at the top of this page. As part of our ongoing committment to the environment, The Utopian is printed on Recycled, Australian made, Carbon Neutral paper.
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The Utopian | winter 2010