Our impact on and relationship with the environment has become an important theme for our students. The current generations in our school, Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) and Gen Alpha (2013–2025), are expressing real concern for the future. They are finding their voice and challenging us all to do better and seeking the opportunity to learn more about how we will meet the challenges of the future.
We’re also seeing that these concerns are supported by current research. The recently released Australia State of the Environment 2021 report identifies a ’rapidly changing climate with unsustainable development and use of resources’. It describes the state of the environment of Australia as ’poor and deteriorating as a result of increased pressure from climate change, habitat loss, invasive species, pollution and resources extraction’.
The CSIRO’s ’Our Future World’, July 2022, echoes these concerns. These headlines instil a sense of fear, especially for our students who are wondering just what kind of earth they will inherit.
As such, education has a key role to play in building hope and optimism about the future and showing our students that there are solutions to some of the challenges we face. Action can be taken to respond to the state of our environment.
It is critical to develop opportunities for students, and the community more broadly, to effect change now.
Sustainability was one of the strong themes which emerged from the feedback received through the community inquiry we undertook throughout 2021. The report was released to the community last term. In response, this year we have undertaken a series of sustainability workshops to assess our impact as a school from an environmental perspective, including an audit of our usage and opportunities for change. We are gathering baseline data to be able to track improvements in the future, and we plan to share this journey with our students. Already, with the development of new facilities, there has been a significant reduction in power consumption because of better building management systems and more efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems.
One of our next projects is to make Toonallook an example solar energy site with the installation of solar technology to meet the power needs of the campus.
Our students also identified the issue of waste around our school and we are keen to address that. Our student Environmental Group has swelled in recent months and we look forward to harnessing their energy to tackle this and many more challenges before us.
Following the findings of our audit, we look forward to developing a plan with the support of our students which will lead us towards our ultimate ambition of becoming a carbon neutral school.
We have a variety of programs running throughout the School that provide opportunities to connect with the environment, build our understanding of our dependence upon it, develop a relationship with it and ultimately respond to some of the challenges we face. This starts with our Year 3 and 4 environmental programs and is supported by the extensive Outdoor Education offering and programs in the Middle School which see our students explore various land uses across our state. They provide a wonderful foundation of experiences which connect our young people to the natural world and develop an understanding of their place in it. This year, we have developed a further
experience to be run in future with our Year 10s called the Zero Program.
Our Zero Program is a journey into Far North Queensland. The program extends and expands on student experiences in our existing Outdoor Education and co-curricular programs in Junior and Middle School and provides a culminating experience for our students. Students will learn and work on the Great Barrier Reef, at Mount Zero on a wilderness sanctuary run by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) in partnership with Mungala Station and the Nywaigi community. It is an extended journey into some of northern Australia’s most pristine coastal and hinterland environments where our students play an active role in research and conservation work on the Reef and at Mount Zero, in support of AWC’s goal to re-wild areas of the Australian landscape to preserve some of Australia’s most critically endangered mammals.
A pilot Zero Program was run for this year for a group of 42 students. I encourage you to read the ’Find your place’ article on page 6 which details their experience as trailblazers and co-creators of the program. We look forward to developing it further in 2023 and offering it to all students in Year 10 from 2024 onwards.
Throughout this edition of Torch, you will also read about how each school section has integrated education about the environment and our responsibility to it. This education is powerfully reinforced and demonstrated in Outdoor Education (page 12), and Junior School students learn about caring for the earth from a young age (pages 10 and 14). On page 4, Julie Harris-Wetherbee, our Program Leader – Experiential Learning and Sustainable Practices, explains how the School’s strategic directions have been built around sustainability.
Education has a key role to play in building hope and optimism about the future and showing our students that there are solutions to some of the challenges we face. Action can be taken to respond to the state of our environment.
Carey’s commitment to sustainability was established some years ago with the articulation of its five strategic priorities. These include a specific commitment to Sustainable Operations, and the promotion of social, environmental and financial integrity across all levels of the School’s governance, management and engagement with the educational, pastoral and community-oriented aspirations of the School.
Much of the effort in this area has been directed to the management of waste; enhancing our buildings, landscapes and recreational spaces to become more efficient; and the establishment of targets and monitoring systems to reduce our consumption of water and energy. There has also been investment in curricular and co-curricular programs with a focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Next year, we will launch our strategic priorities for 2023 onwards, including
our renewed focus on Sustainable Futures and ensuring that we preserve both our school and our planet for our future students. This represents a greater emphasis on taking action to make a significant difference and is based on our community’s feedback, current available about the state of our world, and what we have learnt as a school about how to make effective and long-lasting change in our community.
Looking to the future, and particularly the future of the students in our care, Carey is aiming to expand both the way in which sustainability is understood across our school community and the way it is expressed through the daily ritual of sustainable practices within the school. This will include a focus on the amplification and valorisation of student voice in the development of priorities for sustainable management of the school, and more open and active engagement with the world outside
of Carey, especially as it relates to our natural environment.
To this end, Carey has engaged engineering specialists erbas to assist in formulating a clear vision and strategy for the future development of our sustainability goals – social, environmental and governance related – and to ensure that our built environments support and promote our progress in achieving these goals. Staff and students from all areas of the school with specific interests, experience and expertise in these areas have also been engaged to participate in the development of these goals.
Much of the emphasis for the future development of our vision for Carey involves creating a shared understanding of sustainability that captures the unique nature of Carey’s focus on a holistic education, particularly its emphasis on student wellbeing. Part of this process will involve a review of our curricular and co-curricular programs and the way sustainability priorities are reflected in our approach to teaching and learning. We are also working to support the aspirations of staff and students who are providing leadership in the development of sustainability initiatives. Some examples of these include the Year 3 Kitchen Garden Program in Junior School Kew, the Year 4 Environmental Program in Junior School Donvale, and the student-led Environmental Group in the Middle and Senior Schools, as well as the new Zero program in Year 10, which you can read about on page 6.
Junior School students learn about the environment practically as well as theoretically, like in the Kitchen Garden program. Read more on page 12 and 16.
We asked some of our students about their take on sustainability and what we can do to help. Their responses, represented by this sample of five students – Darlene in Year 3, Lucas in Year 6, Claire in Year 8, Fiona in Year 9 and Josh in Year 11 – are a poignant reminder of how our students understand sustainability and its implications for their futures. They also provide a valuable point of reference against which to measure our future progress.
How do you think we can be more sustainable at Carey?
Darlene: Putting rubbish in the bin and putting soft plastic in the soft plastic bag or bin. Bring lunch and snacks for recess in containers.
Lucas: Picking up rubbish as we see it.
Claire: Using less lights, lowering our use of electricity and implementing compost and soft plastic bins to reduce the volume of landfill we produce as a school.
Fiona: I think that what I want for sustainability at Carey is to be seen as a school that takes action on reducing carbon dioxide and a place where we are solving the world’s issues.
Josh: We need an informed student body and systems that facilitate sustainable growth and the functioning of the school.
What does sustainability mean to you?
Darlene: Not littering and always putting rubbish in the bin or recycling. Keep the earth clean.
Lucas: To proceed with an action without harm to the environment.
Claire: Creating and using items that can be sustained and are a positive addition to the environment.
Fiona: Doing things that are good for the environment and reducing our carbon emissions and our footprint.
Josh: Maintaining the beauty that surrounds us and that we make up. It’s about holding on to what we love and cherish!
How do you think students can help us to achieve our sustainability goals?
Darlene: Posters to remind people what to do. Or younger students that have siblings in Middle or Senior School, they can tell them, and they can tell their friend to help be sustainable.
Lucas: Come up with plans as a cohort and execute them until we find something that works.
Claire: Students can get involved by helping develop more rubbish bin stations to make disposing our waste an easy process.
Fiona: We can give our opinion on what we should do to help the environment so it helps everyone in the community.
Josh: Voicing ideas. Taking responsibility for actions. Educating ourselves and others.
The Zero Program was based on the belief that students need to feel empowered to make change before they can begin to do so, and in order to take ownership of their country and its future, they first need to connect with it.
Peter Robson
Katherine Cameron Deputy Principal -- Student Wellbeing Head of Middle School Newnham House Zero Program Co-creator Zero Program Co-creator
One of the core tenets of belonging to the Carey community is believing in the power of possibility. Ours is a school that celebrates diversity, welcomes change and encourages innovation. Throughout the pandemic, we were all undeniably challenged, but at Carey we were also invited to imagine how things could be different, how things could be better. We want to equip students with the skills to not only navigate their future, but contribute to the solutions that will help secure the future of their generation. The development of the Zero Program was based on the belief that students need to feel empowered to make change before they can begin to do so, and in order to take ownership of their country and its future, they first need to connect with it.
The Zero Program takes students on a 21-day immersive journey to Far North Queensland with three key focusses: the People, the Land, and Australian Coastal Environments: PLACE.
Drawing on a developing partnership with the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), students will have the opportunity to spend time on the land at AWC’s Mount Zero-Taravale Wildlife Sanctuary. The natural wonders of Mount Zero’s pristine environments allow students to connect with and take responsibility for the planet in a way that city life doesn’t often permit.
To further empower students about the positive impact their actions could have on Australia’s coastal environments, the students will explore and learn about the Great Barrier Reef at James Cook University’s Orpheus Research Station. The experiential learning that happens in these environments is what makes the Zero Program so invaluable.
Underpinning the learning from both natural environments is the importance of recognising Australian First Nations people. Carey’s commitment to contributing to Australia’s reconciliation journey means providing students with opportunities to hear a truthful retelling of their country’s history from a First Nations voice. Spending time at the Mungalla Cattle Station, a property owned and run by the Nywaigi Aboriginal people, allows students to
develop a deeper understanding and respect for First Nations history, land management and culture.
With a strong focus on a technological detox and the importance of connection through the 21-day immersion, the Zero Program ensures that every student will have the opportunity to know themselves and others.
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In the winter holidays of this year, 42 Senior School students, along with a group of staff, piloted a two-week version of the Carey Zero Program. Six students – Lily, Josh, Charlie, Beppe, Spencer and Mercy – reflected on their experience.
With devices left behind, the students were able to be present and look inwards. The disconnect from technology immediately invited a closer connection to self, and to others. For Lily, it enabled ’deeper and more coherent reflections due to the lack of distractions’. Charlie felt that it was ’probably the safest environment I’ve ever been a part of and allowed me to be who I am’.
For the duration of the experience, students were randomly placed in three separate teams, without the guarantee of being put with friends. The students made new friendships easily. ’All those students from different friendship groups coming together in one new group made it easier to connect,’ Spencer says. ’If you’d gone with five of your best mates it wouldn’t have been the same, it wouldn’t have been as special.’
Beppe echoed this sentiment. ’Sitting around the campfire and being able to open up was so valuable,’ he says. ’Just being comfortable sharing with my own group and feeling like I wasn’t being judged by anyone.’
Reflection is valued highly in the student journey through Carey. We teach students to pause, slow down and contemplate as a key to wellbeing. The trip deliberately made time to simply appreciate the surrounds, and Mercy aptly summed up the observations of many of the other students.
’Back home, we are usually thinking of the next thing, but the time away has allowed me to sit back when I’m going
Josh, Year 11: Seeing the beauty, I became aware of what I wanted to protect. When you’re working towards something bigger, like when you’re at Mount Zero, it helps you to be present.
through a really fast-paced week and take a moment to reflect,’ she says. Slowing down enabled many students to have their eyes opened to what they now know are issues in need of urgent attention. They each experienced a sharpened sense of purpose through their study of the land and time with the Traditional Owners.
The program allowed each student to spend time exploring Australia’s remote natural coastal environments, including coastal wetlands, rainforest and coral reef habitats along the coast of northern Queensland. Their time on the Great Barrier Reef, including trips to Orpheus and Magnetic Islands, was as beautiful as it was educational.
An important aspect of the program has been partnerships we have established with James Cook University’s Research Station on Orpheus Island and AWC, who have
enabled access to the Mount ZeroTaravale Wildlife Sanctuary. At Mount Zero, the students undertook a magnificent bushwalk into spectacular waterfalls and engaged in conservation work on the sanctuary.
The students spent a great deal of time with ecologists Rhi and Oli of AWC, assisting with the important conservation project of removing the non-native lantana plants from the Mount Zero property, and they learnt the benefits of re-wilding parts of the country. In future, students will be part of monitoring populations and maintaining the habitat of the endangered northern bettong.
It is difficult to capture in words or pictures the natural beauty of Mount Zero. ’Seeing the beauty, I became aware of what I wanted to protect,’ Josh says. ’When you’re working towards something bigger, like when you’re at Mount Zero, it helps you to be present’.
All students were struck by the natural landscape, the ’untouched beauty’ as Mercy described it, and felt motivated to preserve it. ’Rather than talking of what climate change is ruining, it was the surrounding beauty I noticed,’ Lily says. ’It inspired a need to protest for change in how we live on our planet.’
The Nywaigi people have lived on the land of Mungalla Station for 60,000 years. Most of that time has been peaceful and productive, with caring for Country a significant focus throughout. It was both interesting and inspiring to hear from Nywaigi man and Mungalla Station Director, Jacob, but it was also confronting to learn the history of the Nywaigi people.
The students explored the museum on the property and had the opportunity to ask questions of Jacob and his family. Lily felt moved and shocked at some of the treatment of First Nations peoples since the settlement of British colonials, remarking that, ’historical
events being kept under wraps is ridiculous’, and Charlie felt driven to take action and learn more.
Listening to the stories and experiences of First Nations peoples not only helps us understand more about the history of Australia, but there is also so much to be learnt from generational knowledge of how to take care of the earth. Jacob’s passion for and connection to the land motivates him and teaches us that Traditional Owners can help guide us to true sustainability.
It is clear that the experience of the 42 students represented more than just a school trip during the holidays. It is one that will continue to ripple through aspects of their home and school life; as Spencer says, ’The camp ended but it wasn’t the end of the learning’.
Josh has since reflected on the impact of the trip. ’If ever I feel stressed, I know I can go back there, in my mind, and be centred,’ he says. Mercy, Beppe and Charlie are now driving change through the student Environmental Group, and Lily, as part of an art project, is calling on the Carey community to be more effective recyclers.
The students were exposed to different environments and customs, and were given a personal challenge to consider how their life is best lived in order to enhance life for all. Our planet is precious, and Australia has a unique environment that must be preserved. These students were fortunate to have the opportunity to pause and appreciate, listen and be inspired, work and make a difference, and we are excited to extend this opportunity to more students in the years to come.
The Enviro Program at
Donvale is a signature learning experience for all students as they journey through Year 4. Situated alongside the Mullum Mullum bush corridor, Carey’s Donvale campus is uniquely placed to capitalise on the wealth of flora and fauna on its doorstep. Key parts of the Enviro Program include the vegetable garden areas, various composting stations, large greenhouse workspace, the apple orchard, worm farms and lessons about the environment.
Learning within the Enviro Program is hands on, collaborative and fun. It is also intrinsically linked to Mathematics, English and Science. At the beginning of each year, children are placed into gardening groups and allocated a specific vegetable garden plot to manage, from planting seed to harvesting produce. When planning their vegetable gardens, students work collaboratively to map out their chosen seedlings to maximise the growth of their produce. The benefits of mulch and fertiliser at the different stages of plant growth are also explored.
Children problem solve how best to deal with potential bugs and pests. Groups formulate their own pest control measures with different bug sprays and repellents using natural ingredients from the garden area such as rosemary, chives and garlic. These science experiments have students hypothesise, experiment, analyse and draw conclusions. Most importantly, the gardens are 100% the responsibility of the students. They take great pride in their efforts and many choose to continue their work outside timetabled Enviro lessons, working on their garden at recess and lunchtimes. The camaraderie, student engagement and pride created by this ongoing experience are some of the many highlights of the program.
Children are also allocated Compost and Recycle partners. Each pair manages the collection of fruit and vegetable scraps, and recyclable materials from classrooms around the school. The fruit and vegetable scraps are either composted or fed to the worm farms, which in turn nourish the gardens. Students demonstrate a high level of independence and responsibility by working with their allocated class.
Year 4s reflect on the Enviro Program:
diversity by constructing animal boxes for our native wildlife. The project, which covered 10 concepts of mathematics, was submitted as an entry for the Mathematics Talent Quest and was awarded a High Distinction and selected to represent Victoria for national judging. Most importantly, this ever-popular project has continued and evolved to make a genuine difference to the environment at Carey Donvale. It has provided new habitats for animals including microbats, rosellas, parrots, owlet nightjars, lorikeets and possums.
The Enviro Program for 2022 has also seen Year 4 students participate in a mathematics project initiated by Thomas Cook University, Queensland. This opportunity empowered students to practice their mapping skills to calculate the percentage of green shade at our campus. Using digital mapping technology and drone imagery captured by Mr Finger, students mapped the property boundary and all tree and shrub
the total property. This project has informed students’ discussions about where new propagated seedlings and rootstock should be planted to increase biodiversity and the percentage of green shade available on campus.
Looking forward, students are eager to continue the expansion of the Enviro learning space to regenerate a disused area of the garden space into a tiered embankment of citrus and stone fruit trees. These trees will be underplanted with a cover crop of indigenous grasses that will help feed and stabilise the soil, prevent water run-off and erosion and further increase biodiversity in our local environment.
We regularly seek feedback from the students about their experience in the program, and it is affirming to know how valuable they find learning about the environment and being immersed in our surrounding greenery. It highlights the central role of the physical environment at Carey Donvale.
I enjoy planting and using
when
It was a challenge to control the bugs and to water all the plants with a suitable amount without wasting any.
I am looking forward to getting my own garden bed at home and for the world to be a greener place.
Fiona Sherar Outdoor Education Teacher
Carey students have been visiting the Hattah-Kulkyne National Park since the 1960s. Programs have changed over the years, but we currently take our Year 8 students there for a sixday Outdoor Education program in July/August each year. The program focusses on educating students about the environment, sustainability
and community connection. What better way to teach students about a place than by walking through it? Visiting sites significant to the Latji-Latji people, learning about local industry while picking oranges straight from the tree or seeing firsthand the impact humans have had on the Hattah lakes system through environmental watering programs.
Sometimes these experiences are uncomfortable. Students are taken away from their creature comforts, deal with all sorts of weather conditions, carry their limited possessions on their backs and get their hands dirty planting trees. But these experiences can also be immensely rewarding, like a climb up a sand dune that results in a fantastic view over Mallee landscapes, a rainbow on the horizon after a rain shower or the knowledge that a tree planted by our hands may stand tall for the next 100 years. Our students need to have these experiences if we are to inspire them to take on the responsibility of caring for the environment and advocating for the preservation of these places in the future.
Our students have planted more than 350 trees on Raakajilm this year ... Phil and Fiona have plans for Carey students to keep planting trees each year and have named the next planting location ’The Carey Dune’.
The many years we have spent at Hattah have allowed us to connect and engage with the local community and build partnerships with people and organisations in the area. We buy our citrus from local growers, the Mansell family, who allow our students to hike through their orange grove and pick the fruit from the tree. This simple experience is a highlight of the program for many students and allows for a rich contextual understanding of the importance of buying local produce and supporting local businesses.
Another key local partnership we have is with Phil and Fiona Murdoch who run Mallee Conservation, a social enterprise which aims:
’To build a wider appreciation of the plants, animals and habitat of the Mallee of northwest Victoria through a digital presence, and by providing volunteering opportunities and citizen science projects.’
Their 490-hectare property, Raakajilm, sits on the northern border of the Hattah National Park and is Mallee Conservation’s first Sanctuary. During their time at Hattah, students spend a
night camping on Raakajilm and taking part in conservation work, benefitting from the in-depth knowledge that Phil and Fiona have of the Mallee landscape and the history and culture of the region. During our Hattah programs this year, Phil and Fiona dedicated a huge amount of time and effort engaging our groups in tree planting, weeding and seed bowl making works. Our students have planted more than 350 trees on Raakajilm this year. These trees were donated by an organisation called Fifteen Trees and grown by the First People of the Millewa Mallee at a new local nursery. Phil and Fiona patiently explained to our students why they are planting the trees and showed them how to do it properly. It is a slow, mindful process and we hope that a portion of these seedlings will survive and flourish. Phil and Fiona have promised to post photos of their progress on their website and social media platforms but have given a warning that ’things grow slowly in the Mallee’. Phil and Fiona have plans for Carey students to keep planting trees each year and have named the next planting location ’The Carey Dune’.
As well as tree planting and weeding on Raakajilm, each expedition group spends time with Yithi Yithi man, Will Hannah. Uncle Will loves to chat and has a passion for educating young people about his culture. He has a soft spot for anyone who shows a keen interest in his sessions, often sneaking the student a gift of a homemade boomerang at the end of the session. Will spends a couple of hours with each of our groups of students at some stage during their week at Hattah. He isn’t shy about students asking questions and they walk away from his session with a greater understanding of not only the traditional ways of First Nations peoples but also the hopes that Will has for his culture in the present day.
The Hattah program is a long standing, fundamental experience for our Middle School students. We hope that they walk away from the program with an appreciation of the environment and a sense of pride in their contribution to the work happening through Mallee Conservation. It is a relationship that we hope to continue and build upon for many years to come.
Year 3 students play an integral role in the ecosystem of Junior School Kew. From the beginning of the year, the students start collecting food scraps from classrooms and the staffroom to fertilise their produce garden along the side of the Fairview Building. They nurture the soil and plant seeds which will eventually become the food they learn to cook with. The entire year is underpinned by a focus on recycling, learning about environmental sustainability and discovering how to have a positive impact on the planet.
The Year 3 program is an important step in shaping environmentally conscious and culinarily capable young people who understand the life cycle of food and waste and the necessity for our community to take responsibility for our planet. Current Year 3 student Freya and Co-ordinator of the Kitchen Garden Program, Eleanor Burns, explain more.
This year, we have been learning about sustainability. In Term 1, we went to CERES Environmental Park. While we were there, we learnt a song called ’The six Rs’ (reduce, reuse, recycle, respect, replenish and refuse). We also learnt how to compost, made recycled paper and picked up rubbish at the Yarra River. It was lots of fun. There was even a big, recycled playground!
This year we have also been doing our gardening program. Miss T shows us instructional videos and tells us about plants. We put on our art smocks to protect our clothes and then plant seedlings in the garden.
The Year 3s collect all the food scraps from all the Junior School classrooms and the staffroom and place them in the big compost bins in the Year 3 garden so the scraps can decompose. The compost makes the soil healthier. It also means that less food scraps end up in the general waste and landfill.
The Year 3s used to collect the paper bins from the classrooms and the staffroom, then place the paper in the big paper bin near reception, but now we have encouraged the classrooms to do their own paper recycling. We still help the Preps because they are too little to carry the heavy bins.
In Term 3 we went on an excursion to Replas Recycled Plastics Products Company. We did activities like colouring, sorting and Jenga to learn about recycling. Replas makes lots of benches and gym equipment out of recycled plastic. We got to play on the recycled gym equipment. We learned that some balloons never decompose so we should recycle them. We saw sad photos of sea life that had eaten lots of plastic and died. I would like it if you learnt more about recycling and shared it with your family and friends!
Freya, Year 3
Plant, nurture, harvest, cook, eat, repeat. Through this cycle, our Year 3 students learn to understand the interconnectedness of where their food comes from, how food waste is composted and how to handle the produce in the kitchen. During their regular time in our kitchen garden, they learn about healthy soils and sustainable and regenerative food production. They not only learn theoretically but through hands-on preparation and maintenance of an organic garden. On the morning of their cooking session, they relish the opportunity to harvest the fruit and vegetables they have grown alongside their classmates.
In the kitchen, students make a variety of sweet and savoury dishes from the morning harvest. We develop a heightened awareness of food through the sensory nuances of taste, smell and texture. At the end of each cooking lesson, students and parent helpers come together to share the meal they have prepared. Students are regularly challenged to try unfamiliar foods and many share their new found love of cooking with their families. We aim to develop positive relationships with nutritious food and long-lasting knowledge about how sustainable practices can reduce our impact on the earth.
From a personal point of view, I never stop feeling joy when I see the students’ faces on their cooking day. They collaborate beautifully, sharing the ’fun’ jobs such as using a mezzaluna to chop an assortment of herbs or taking pride in cracking the eggs without any shell pieces falling in the mixture. I see their curiosity, their willingness to be brave with flavours and their excitement to share knowledge, wondering about the earth and worms and bees. These are formative experiences, which we don’t take for granted.
Eleanor Burns Kitchen Garden Program Co-ordinatorThe BE LIKE HER LIVE initiative is a real-world, modern media project that has students in Australian schools co-hosting radio interviews with female alumni, staff and parents who have excelled in male-dominated industries. The Carey Community Engagement team, in conjunction with teaching staff, were excited to get Carey students involved in this unique project. Through the interviews, our students explored and created their own narrative of the positive and powerful impact Carey women have had on their community and world around them.
Over two consecutive days, 20 students across our Senior and Middle School were given media and radio training along with lessons on how to convey their messages in a powerful way to resonate with their audiences.
On the second day, working in media teams, students put their training into action and conducted interviews with female Carey alumni, staff and parents who currently work in professions where men have traditionally dominated, such as construction, health, sports and business.
Sharing stories of women in male-dominated industries is an important way to encourage young people of all genders to pursue their passions and interests, regardless of any perceptions that some work is gender-specific.
Students asked Belinda Coates (1995), Director, Clients & Strategy at property and construction advisory firm Slattery, what inspired her to pursue her line of work. Belinda explains that,
in the property industry, ’we’re all part of a beautiful ecosystem, collaborating to create spaces where people live work and play,’ she says. ’You can really make an impact on the way that future generations will enjoy their cities and the world.’
But it wasn’t until Belinda completed work experience that she realised there was an opportunity for her in the property industry.
’Throughout high school we probably thought of property as being one of the boys’ jobs,’ Belinda says. ’I always had a passion for marketing which is why I followed that pathway – we all hear the term “you can’t be what you can’t see” and I didn’t know any women in property, so marketing was all I could see in front of me.’
ignorance of some male executives and higher-ups in her industry to get where she is. She doesn’t hesitate to stand up for herself and others against sexism or any other prejudices. She sets a great example for me and my siblings.
Students were also asked to talk about the women in their lives they admire the most. Year 11 student Ben says his mother is an inspiration to him: ’She currently runs a medical practice with other doctors and runs clinical trials for specialised, new cancer treatments. She has had to fight the biases and ignorance of some male executives and higher-ups in her industry to get where she is. She doesn’t hesitate to stand up for herself and others against sexism or any other prejudices. She sets a great example for me and my siblings, particularly for my younger sisters. I try to follow her example where I can and call out sexism where I see it and I’m not
always great at it but I do my best. She is the reason I am sitting here and volunteering for BE LIKE HER.’
Year 8 student Sam is inspired by former Captain of the Australian Women’s Cricket team and 2021 Carey Medallist Meg Lanning (2009): ’Meg exhibits success traits, like compassion, ambition and leadership, that I inspire to show now and as I grow up. As a 13-year-old boy with a cricket obsession, I emulate her attributes like compassion and leadership as the captain of my cricket team, but I also implement her success traits like ambition to help me prosper in environments like school and my local sports club.’
What’s most exciting about this project is that the interviews will be broadcast to the world on Live FM in October, and podcasts will be made available to listen to soon after.
Through the BE LIKE HER LIVE project, Live FM and Carey aim to engage our community in discussions about gender equity, respect for women and female empowerment. Students involved in the project also gained an appreciation of the responsibility that comes with 21st century media and the role it plays in telling our stories and promoting impactful and life-changing messages. The students involved in the project should be extremely proud of their role in telling the stories of successful women in the Carey community and providing us with female role models we can all aspire to. We hope many of you will listen in to hear these incredible and inspiring stories – keep an eye on the news on our website for updates: carey.com.au/news-events
For many LGBTIQ+ students, school can be an unsafe place. In June last year, a survey of more than 2370 Australian high school students who identify as gender diverse and/or sexuality diverse was conducted by Western Sydney University. It revealed some alarming statistics from schools that do not actively support their LGBTIQ+ population, including the 93% of students who had heard homophobic language at school, and, of those, 37% who heard it ’almost every day’. Students noted that often teachers did nothing to stop it, with only 6% of students surveyed saying adults ’always’ intervened. Some of the case studies were shocking – one student explained that another had thrown an apple at his head after telling him the classroom was for ’normal straight people only’.
Importantly, this contrasted with the experience of LGBTIQ+ students attending schools that are proudly supportive of them, like Carey. Not surprisingly, they expressed higher rates of wellbeing which led to better academic prospects, with a significantly higher number of LGBTIQ+ students reporting that they plan to attend university.
Carey is a safe school where we aim to protect LGBTIQ+ students by
ensuring our environments are inclusive spaces for them. We recognise that all students deserve to feel safe while at school. LGBTIQ+ students require our support because they are at a higher risk of bullying and the mental health concerns that can occur as a result.
In acknowledgement of the difference we can make by supporting our LGBTIQ+ community, 250 students from 20 Safe Schools
This school proudly supports our LGBTI students
around Melbourne came together for the student-led Interschool Conference on Sexual and Gender Diversity. This was Victoria’s first interschool LGBTIQ+ student conference, and Carey eagerly embraced the opportunity.
Guest speakers included The Hon. Harriet Shing MP, Minister for Equality, who enthusiastically supported the conference and reiterated the Victorian Government’s strong policies and values in supporting all LGBTIQ+ students across all school sectors in Victoria. Daniel Witthaus, facilitator of a regional support service for LGBTIQ+ youth, provided the audience with tips and anecdotes from his experience as a queer writer and youth justice advocate. His experience and knowledge brought both laughter and sympathy to the auditorium as he spoke honestly and sincerely about his own life and stories from some of Victoria’s most remote communities.
The Carey Pride Group eagerly and actively involved themselves in the student-led workshops for rigorous debate and discussion, including:
• transiting in a single-sex school
• establishing a student committee to support LGBTIQ+ students
• developing networks and allies
• using pronouns in a diverse world
• intersectionality – race and sexuality.
’Meeting students from other schools and talking about each school’s version of Pride made me realise how incredibly lucky Carey is to have such a prominent and supported group,’ says Year 12 student and Carey Pride Group Captain, Marisa. ’While other schools have teachers and administration squashing their voice and presence, Carey welcomes and listens to all of its students.’
Marisa says her favourite session of the day was about intersectionality. ’Essentially, each facet of our identity influences the way we experience certain events. Even if we share one facet with another person – for example, being queer – that doesn’t mean that we experience each event the same way. As a school, we celebrate our diversity, so the idea that it’s impossible to lump people into a single category is a great message for us all to remember.’
Elodie, also Year 12, felt that she was able to learn a lot about experiences outside of her own and was inspired by the student presenters. ’My biggest
takeaway from the whole day was how important it is for the schools themselves to not just condone pride groups and trans students, but to actively make an effort to be supportive,’ Elodie says.
The conference was an incredibly rewarding experience and it was reaffirming to see the Carey Pride group, now in its sixth year, providing advice and leadership to other schools. Our participation in the conference represents a small part of our work to engage with and providing a safe space for LGBTIQ+ students at Carey. For example, our Pride Week this year was full of engaging activities for everyone to participate in, including guest speakers and a lively panel discussion where some of our LGBTIQ+ alumni returned to share their experiences.
As a member of the Carey Pride Group said at the end of the conference, ’We are so fortunate at Carey that our Pride Group forebearers provided us with the values and structures to support us today. This was their legacy.’
Marisa, Year 12: As a school, we celebrate our diversity, so the idea that it’s impossible to lump people into a single category is a great message for us all to remember.
In early 2019, Helen Penrose was appointed Carey’s Centenary Historian and tasked with writing a robust history of Carey’s 100 years. After three years of research, writing and building connections with the Carey community, Helen is finally finished and excited to publish Torchbearers, which will be available to the community after Carey’s 100year anniversary on 13 February 2023. In this article, we find out a bit more about Helen and her company, HistorySmiths. With 30 years’ experience in writing community histories, Helen explains what led her to taking on this colossal project and how she approached it.
Have you always had an interest in history?
Helen: I have. It largely came from my mum, but I also had some terrific history teachers at school who really ignited my passion. Once I finished my studies at the University of Melbourne, I did some research work and got a job as editor and co-ordinator of a community history of Brunswick, and I loved it. It was the lightbulb moment for me, I realised this is what I want to do: I want to make histories with communities and organisations. So, in 1994, HistorySmiths was born – and the rest really is history!
What is it about school histories in particular that you have enjoyed?
I think schools really value their heritage and their history, because they’re learning institutions. By the very nature
Carey had a really rough go in those first couple of decades. It was an enormous struggle financially, but the founders had a burning passion to make it work. I think that’s very inspiring. If modern communities can find those inspiring stories, it can help them through the tough times and provide milestones to celebrate.
of what they do, they’re engaged with learning in a deep and rigorous way.
I have found that many independent schools have a fabulous archives and they draw on their history as part of their culture. They’re proud of their history and they want to understand it, too, which is very important.
Why is it important for organisations to understand their history?
It really is true that if we don’t know our past, we can’t plan our future. People do repeat mistakes when they don’t know what hasn’t worked in the past. I think it’s enriching to understand your cultural background, and the challenges your organisation has faced. Carey had a really rough go in those first couple of decades. It was an enormous struggle financially, but the founders had a burning passion to make it work. I think that’s very inspiring. If modern communities can find those inspiring stories, it can help them through the tough times and provide milestones to celebrate.
Whenyouhavesomanyvarying perspectives,howdoyoufindthetruth ofanevent?
Sometimesyouneverdo,andyou’re onlyabletopresentaversionofthe truth.Whentheoralhistoriesdiffer fromthesourcematerial,Igooff and dosomemoreresearch.Ialways tryto ensurethatI’veheardallsides ofa storytotryandpresentitina balanced,objectiveway.Inevercall abook’theofficialhistory’,itis’A centenaryhistoryofCareyBaptist GrammarSchool’ It’swrittenwith authorityandascarefullyaspossible, butIlookforwardtotherobust discussionsthatmightcomefromthe book,Ithinkthat’sahealthything.
Whatwasyourapproachtowriting Carey’shistory?
Isetoutareallydetailedprojectplan sowemakesurewesendeverythingto theprinterontime,twoorthreeyears downthetrack.Itconsistsofthree mainstages.Stageoneisresearch. Ialwaysstartintheorganisation’s
archives. I scope what’s there, think about how much time to apportion to each major source, I read and research, and that helps inform the oral history interviews. Then I move to the writing stage and go through several drafts, working with the book committee, hearing their feedback, rewriting and doing all of that a couple of times, and deciding what stays and what goes. It is a big book, it’s 480 pages, 100,000 words, it’s a relatively detailed look at the School’s history. But there’s an awful lot that’s been left out too, because you have to draw the line somewhere. Stage three is production. It’s a big job handing it all over to the designer. There’s 500 pictures, so it’s a lot of work selecting them, writing captions and organising them so the designer knows where to put each picture in the text. We go through six or seven stages of the proofs to finalise the design, and then the indexing and proofreading is the last job. And then we send it off to the printer which is where it is right now.
Do you have any favourite stories from the book?
I explain this in the preface to the book, but I discovered that I’m related to one of Carey’s founders, Joseph Newnham, Newnham House’s namesake. He was the minister at the Kew Baptist church, President of the Baptist Union of Victoria and he was on the School Council. I recognised the name and I found out that one of his cousins was actually one of my cousins. I loved that I had this deeper connection to the School, and I would never have known that had I not been working on this book.
Can you please explain the meaning of the title, Torchbearers.
Torchbearers seemed to me to be the obvious title, right from the very start. Partly, it’s because of the school crest, but the imagery of the torchbearer is a powerful symbol that has rolled through the School’s history. So many of the people I interviewed spoke about this as being part of their school experience. It starts from the lead-up to opening the School in 1923 with a passionate group of Baptists who worked really hard to make sure the School would survive. And it’s the people who made the big, courageous decisions, like introducing co-education: it’s the notion that there’s a linear history, and each person experiences a moment in that time and has an impact on this history. They inherit it from people before them, and then when they leave the School, they will pass that on. Torchbearers represents those moments and the people who have contributed to the Carey we have today.
What’s your next project?
I’m already working on them: PLC in Melbourne and Brisbane Girls Grammar School, both of which will be 150 in 2025.
How do you store everything you learn about these schools in your brain?
It’s really tricky. I have a pretty good memory, but you do have to let go of some of the detail to be able to be immersed in the next projects. But I go back to all of my books to reference things that have happened or people who have been at multiple schools that I’ve written histories for. Over the years, I’ve been able to build up a general knowledge of what’s happening in Australian independent schooling, and I can draw on that for these projects as I go forward. But each institution is very different, and I think that’s what I love the most.
Click here to pre-order your copy of Torchbearers.
Each year since 1945, the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) has brought children and books together across the country through CBCA Book Week.
Awonderful celebration of Book Week took place across the ELC and Junior School, Kew in late August. We spent two glorious weeks celebrating books and Australian children’s authors and illustrators.
Year 5 and 6 students spent time developing activities for all JSK students, ran competitions and highlighted the importance of reading. There were parades in House and across the ELC, with students dressed as their favourite book character. What a wonderful way to celebrate reading!
Here in the Junior School library, we have been on a mission to enhance these valuable classroom literature collections. In every Junior School classroom we endeavour to provide a wide range of fiction and non-fiction literature catering to all interests and reading abilities. A good classroom collection will have enough high quality books for students choose from to satisfy even the most avid young readers.
While the Junior School Kew classroom collections do provide a healthy range of interesting material, in order to get the most engagement from our students, we need to continue expanding them year on year. Extensive research has been conducted into the benefits of readily accessible classroom resources. Evidence shows that students who have immediate access to a range of literature in the classroom are more motivated and engaged in reading, borrow and read more, and achieve higher outcomes in all aspects of their schooling.
The classroom collections will also support reading instruction for Prep to Year 6. Well established classroom collections support students to learn how to self-select appropriate material to read depending on their purpose.
In early August, together with the Junior School Parents Association, we hosted a wonderful evening for parents to come and peruse an extensive range of non-fiction literature. Parents had the opportunity to purchase books in their child’s or family’s name to feature a personalised bookplate, complete with a current
photo of the children. The parents carefully selected texts that suit their children’s interests to be added to classroom collections across the school, leaving a literature legacy for future generations to enjoy.
The evening was a fantastic celebration of all aspects of literature and a great way for parents to connect with each other and the Junior School Library. We are truly grateful for the incredible generosity from the community across Junior School Kew and for the amazing support of the literature program.
You can still help to add to our classroom collections through our preferred book supplier, The Little Bookroom. The library staff have curated a selection of quality nonfiction texts that we are hoping to include. Books will be delivered to your child’s class or added to the collection in the Little Library. Alternatively, you can call The Little Bookroom and make a donation towards books that we will select on your behalf.
To access the Carey non-fiction book purchasing page, click here.
In this feature of Torch, we highlight some of the many dynamic duos in our community. Despite their competitive nature, Year 9 students Josiah and Moses do everything together, from sport to musicals to aiding refugees in their local community.
Having a twin is just like having a regular sibling, except that they were born a few minutes after you, share your birthday and look a lot like you. Nothing too different on the surface, but the great thing about having an almost clone is that you always have that feeling of never being completely alone. There’s always someone on your side.
rom the youngest age, Moses and I would always be getting up to all sorts of mischief together. I remember as a toddler dragging a large stool over to the pantry shelves for Moses so he could climb up to the top shelf where the treats were hidden. He would then pass them down to me and I would help him down so we could eat them together. We clearly enjoyed keeping our parents on their toes! For every second of the day, we would be finding somewhere new and dangerous to climb up or a new mud creation to present to Mum and Dad. It was great having someone to lean on and trust. As we grew older, the competitiveness between Moses and me became very evident. We would make absolutely everything a competition, even including getting the dentist to tell us who had the best teeth each visit. Our skill level across the board has always been very similar though. For example, at the swimming carnival in Year 4, there was only one race we both
competed in, and we came equal first! The fact that we are so similar in every way has led to a lot of comparison by other people, which I sometimes feel self-conscious about. I have definitely had to develop self-esteem and remind myself that we are two completely separate humans. But still, every time our reports come out, I will always print them both out and put each subject page side by side to see who achieved the highest score! But the scores are usually basically the same anyway. However, despite our competitiveness, we make a really great team and are able to combine each of our skillsets to reach the best outcome.
As a family, one thing that has always been really important to us is helping others, and we take part in a lot of community work. Contributing to less fortunate communities is
an important part of who I am and reflects the values of what my family and I stand for. Moses and I contribute to our church community through the kids’ program, and we have had the privilege of helping out at a refugee church. This included, with the help of our mum, collecting baby clothes and toys to give to refugees in need. We also recently helped run a Church Community Fun Day which allowed us to give back to the community where our new church building is situated and get to know and build a stronger connection with the residents.
Not only is it way more fun doing these activities with someone else but, when we bounce ideas off each other, the outcome is always so much better. We may be super competitive at times but our strong desire to help others will always bring us together.
Josiah: We may be super competitive at times but our strong desire to help others will always bring us together.
MosesBeing a twin can have its ups and downs. From who has the better teeth to who is the faster runner at House Athletics, everything – and when I say everything, I mean everything – seems to be a competition.
But one of the great things about being a twin is having someone who really gets you. I always know Josiah will laugh at my stupid jokes and is an almost worthy competitor to wrestle with! We are very close and we have a lot in common, but one of the most common questions we get asked is if we have some kind of twin telepathy to communicate with each other – we are twins, not aliens! To all those who are wondering, the answer is no.
Even from the age of three, we were already up to trouble. From gnawing our way through the plastic bag to get to the loaf of bread to banging on the walls until we managed to smash a hole in it, we got up to a lot of fun growing up! However, as Josiah and I got older, we really grew a heart for the community.
Both sides of our family uphold strong values and faith which have really influenced who we have become. Growing up in a Christian household, there are values that have been instilled in me, such as a desire to help and serve our community, that I will carry through into my adulthood.
We came to Carey Donvale in Year 5 and have the best memories of our time there. Going to Carey has been an amazing experience for both of us and I am so grateful that I have had the opportunity. We have been given so much, so we really wanted to give to people who may not have the opportunities we have been given. An awesome opportunity Josiah and I had was volunteering at a church for refugees. One of the most vivid memories we had from helping out there was building friendships with kids who had had really traumatic childhoods, including growing up in war zones and hearing gun shots every day. It was humbling how grateful the children at the kids’ program were,
simply playing a game or just having a conversation with other kids.
During the peak of COVID-19 when everyone was locked down, Josiah had a really good idea to do something small to brighten up a few people’s days. We decided to make care packages for our neighbours. We made mini hampers of chocolates, toys and the trusty toilet paper roll and walked around delivering these bags door to door. It was so nice meeting our neighbours and seeing the smiles on their faces.
Even though, as twins, we can fight a lot (sometimes in public if you’ve ever seen us at a sporting event!) and be really competitive, at the end of the day we know that we will always be there for each other and that we are stronger when we do things and help others together.
It’s funny to think that I’ve been part of the Carey community for 13 years, even since that first day strolling into Prep at Donvale. I owe so much to my time here, especially considering the top-tier music program we have. The ensembles Carey offers, be it jazz bands, wind bands, choirs or orchestra, were a huge part of my Carey experience, and I feel properly lucky to be surrounded by like-minded musicians and such passionate staff. Recently I had the privilege of being invited to perform with the Daryl McKenzie Jazz Orchestra as a featured young artist on alto sax. Melbourne has a vibrant live music scene, and the Paris Cat was already a favourite venue of mine, so it was a proud moment to be able to perform there. To share the stage with some world-class Melbourne musicians was nothing short of thrilling. It’s a special, yet indescribable, feeling when you’re on stage, performing with people you
respect, creating music you love. With any luck, I’ll be back again.
The Paris Cat gig was just one of many musical highlights sprinkled across my time at Carey. I was also lucky to be able to organise a non-profit studentrun performance night with my fellow Performing Arts Captains, dubbed as Picnic in the Quad. Armed with a group of student ensembles, we put on a show to raise money for Support Act on a Friday night to a modest yet hugely lively and supportive crowd. It’s these precious memories, little pockets of happiness, that I think I’ll really miss when Year 12 is over.
People know me as a bit of a music nerd. Outside of school you’ll usually find me in my mini home studio producing or messing with some sort of sound, composition or beat. It’s where I go to escape, and simple pleasures like that have been instrumental (pun intended) in keeping me going through times like the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Post-school, music is definitely a contender for my intended career. Currently I’m looking a double-degree in music and law. Thankfully, with such a breadth of universities available, and the well-rounded education I’ve already received, I can keep my options relatively open.
Thank you to everyone who has supported, motivated and, most importantly, put up with me, particularly as a musician. A couple names that spring to mind are my instrumental teacher, James Bradley, and Jazz Band Conductor, Roger Schmidli, with whom I was able to share my invaluable Paris Cat experience. Also Sally Davis, Martin Arnold and Daniel Neal, all of whom continue to support my passion and I am overwhelmingly grateful to these fine folk. With only a couple weeks left of Year 12, it feels like the end of an era, but I’m quietly, or not so quietly, excited about what’s to come in the future.
My science journey began years ago in Geneva, Switzerland, when my father bought me my first microscope. As a seven year old, I was immediately fascinated by this instrument that opened a whole new world of exploration and inquiry into the unseen realm. I quickly fancied myself a discoverer!
At Carey I had amazing science teachers, like Mrs Tachas for chemistry and Mr Shutie for physics, who taught me that science was a tool to discover how the world around us works. Of course, my life at Carey extended beyond academic engagement. Carey taught me also how to be a better person and live life ’Animo et Fide’.
Fast forward 30 years: I have a bachelor degree in French, an honours degree in immunology and microbiology and a PhD in infectious diseases, all from Monash University. I followed this with several research fellowships at the University of Nice in France, then back in Melbourne with the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, the Baker International Diabetes Institute, and full circle back at Monash University in their Department of Diabetes.
I began to take an interest in type 1 diabetes research in Nice in 2009 when
I was awarded a French government fellowship to explore ways to reprogram adult stem cells to make insulin.
In July this year, in a world first, my research team at University discovered a pathway to the regeneration of insulin in pancreatic stem cells, which was a major breakthrough toward new therapies to treat type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Using the pancreas stem cells of a type 1 diabetic donor, we were able to effectively reactivate them to express insulin and functionally resemble beta-like cells through the use of a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration but not currently licenced for diabetes treatment. I am hoping this may lead to a potential treatment option for insulin-dependent diabetes.
In short, we have potentially found a cure for diabetes.
The new approach, though it requires further work, would in principle allow insulin-producing cells (beta-cells) that are destroyed in type 1 diabetics to be replaced with newborn insulingenerating cells. We discovered how to achieve this through the use of a
chemical compound which ’wakes up’ dormant stem cells so that they become able to complete their growth into fully-functioning, healthy, insulinproducing cells.
My discovery was published in Nature Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, and was featured on all Australian television news as well as in the print media. Type 1 diabetes is diagnosed in seven Australian children every day resulting in a lifetime of testing blood glucose and injecting insulin daily to replace the insulin no longer produced by a damaged pancreas. Currently, the number of people with diabetes worldwide is approaching 500 million. This breakthrough discovery provides hope that we can one day allow people to produce insulin again – effectively ending their struggle with diabetes.
Aside from the science, I am the proud father of Joseph (Year 2) and Sophia (Prep), whom I have with my wife of almost 10 years, Sara.
’Involve me and I’ll learn.’ –Benjamin Franklin
Over the years, I’ve developed a strong visual compass, seeing the big picture, learning holistically and valuing beauty around me. However, being expected to listen to a multitude of directions that aren’t written down can be my downfall. So don’t ask me to navigate unless I have Google maps because we’ll probably end up lost!
Being a spatial learner, unsurprisingly, I retain information best through visual communication. Initially, my family and early environmental childhood experiences nurtured this visual lens. My parents supported my awareness of the importance of being surrounded by nature to feel connected to nature. Growing up on a few acres nestled amongst the Australian gum trees and rolling hills in Eltham, I developed a respectful love for the bush, tranquil outdoor spaces, arts and crafts and the beauty found in nature.
My inherent visual learning style complemented my natural gravitation to school subjects including art,
graphic communication, photography, geography and mathematics. Discovering my love for details in print in my late teens and the influence of my passionate graphic communication teacher influenced my decision to study graphic design at Swinburne University. For over 20 years, I enjoyed a rewarding career as a graphic designer, working in various design studios, and for 17 years managed a small design business with my husband.
In my 40s, my career took a turn, and the chapter working in education began. This newfound passion was largely influenced by my mum who was an inspiring teacher working across a multitude of platforms throughout her career and studied to complete her master’s when I was a teenage girl. Her dedication and ongoing zest to learn is a personal characteristic that has influenced me. I completed university studies in early childhood and I was fortunate to land a job at Carey Donvale Early Learning Centre in 2015. Since then, I’ve had opportunities to share my creativity with the students, support their awareness and
appreciation of nature and our world using our visual lenses, and continue to guide each child to develop their own individual learning style.
My visual appreciation of the world extends beyond my profession and I enjoy collecting unique objects. I find joy in objects that resonate with a previous life, appreciating their visual beauty. Currently, I’m creating an art collage using vintage matchbox labels. When these labels are strategically arranged on a canvas, they retain some resonance of their former use, and present a new meaning as the juxtaposition of labels collide, honouring the past story and use of the product while revealing a new revived life.
In essence, my visual perspective on life has supported me in my education, profession and personal life and is part of my identity, stemming from both early natural and nurtured experiences. I value my visual lens because it helps me associate ideas, concepts and other information using images and graphical representations, and inspires me to continually learn and grow.
Athletics coach
I was drawn to sport at a young age, going along every weekend to watch the Hawks play and begging to stay awake at night to watch the Olympic Games. My childhood was always about being outdoors and active. Summer was for backyard cricket and winter was for kicking the footy, and in between it was skateboarding and riding my BMX. Running was something I did to catch people in PE class, it wasn’t my first sporting love. Growing up in a sporty family was a blessing. My grandad played a few games for Richmond, my dad sprinted at the Mexico City Olympics, my mum went to her first Commonwealth Games as a high jumper at 16, and my brother was the fastest kid in primary school and I wanted to be just like him! My family’s motto was to always have a go.
My journey into athletics began at school. School athletics was always fun as it had the element of team sport to it as well as trying to improve
individually. Making an Australian team at the age of 16 was my normal; however, I now realise looking back that travelling the world in Year 10 for a World Juniors in Portugal and a Commonwealth Games in Canada was probably a very different experience to most high schoolers. School work never took a back step though, as my parents always taught me that athletics was a hobby to do alongside my dreams scholastically.
I know how fortunate I was to be able to compete for Australia. It is something I will never take for granted and one I appreciate more and more the older I get. One of my favourite athletics memories is from the Sydney Olympics where I was so lucky to be Cathy Freeman’s roommate. To be able to watch and learn from one of the world’s greatest is an experience I am truly grateful for. In sport, the most important lessons we learn are often picked up from observing and listening to those around us on the journey. To
have great mentors is a gift and I was certainly very lucky to learn from some of the greats.
Outside of the track I have a Behavioural Science degree and work in various positions within the media. Working alongside Bruce McAvaney for Channel 7’s Olympic and Commonwealth Games coverage has been a bucket list opportunity and I see it as a real privilege to be able to tell today’s athletes’ stories and highlight their achievements.
One of my true enjoyments though comes with working with young people and seeing them improve their sport and enjoy it. I think exercise is a way to help the soul be happy. Sport doesn’t have to be elite. It’s for everyone and for me that’s why teaching athletics at a school level is so rewarding. Everyone can participate. Everyone can improve themselves. You just have to be willing to come along and try.
As darkness descended on the Donvale campus, small streaks of lights dart to and fro, but there was not a sound… except for the occasional whirring of a… printer?
It’s not the start to a murder mystery, but rather the Carey Donvale Parent Association’s (CDPA) Silent Disco! Held on Thursday 23 June, the day before school holidays started, it was the perfect way to get kids and parents into a jubilant mode.
The kids opened their glow-in-thedark packs – complete with goggles, masks, bracelets, balls and wands –and embellished their outfits, ready to hit the dancefloor. The Donvale Hall was dazzling with disco light rolling and quirky character lights (including a banana no less) to set the scene. The kids enjoyed a quick snack before busting a move or dressing up for a few funky clicks at the photobooth.
It was a fun evening for the kids and their parents, who watched children of all ages jump and dance without the normal ear-splitting noise – many were positively Zen! When DJ Ying provided the last few tunes, many voices were singing the lyrics in unison.
A big thanks to Ainslie Pettitt who organised all the logistics and the lighting, and to all members of the CDPA who supported in different ways, along with the many parent volunteers who helped on the night.
In 2023, Carey will celebrate 100 years since the enrolment of our first students. To mark this occasion, we are looking for partners to support us in providing a community-wide centenary celebration. We have sponsorship opportunities available at our Community sponsorship level which provides ongoing recognition of partnership across our centenary year, as well as Centenary Fair Supporter sponsorship opportunities for our fair on 1 April 2023. Sponsorships can be cash or in-kind support.
Partnering with Carey is a wonderful opportunity to not only benefit from significant exposure, but affirm the strength of our community as we begin our next chapter. To find out more, please contact Stuart Galbraith, Head of Advancement, stuart.galbraith@carey.com.au, +61 3 9816 1522.
In the lead-up to Carey’s centenary next year, Torch spoke with Chair of the Carey Heritage Committee (CHC) and member of the Centenary Book Committee (CBC), Carolyn Apostolou (1996), and former Chair of the CBC and CHC and current member of the CHC, David Morgan OAM (1961).
What is next for the CHC, post-centenary?
Carolyn: At the moment we’re working on a booklet recognising all the sporting achievements of the Carey community, and we’re hoping to have that ready for the centenary sports dinner on 20 October next year. Moving forward, we’ll be working hard helping Helen Wolff with the archives and the Heritage Trail. That’s going to be a walk around the Kew campus with insights into the history of certain buildings or interesting moments that took place around Carey. It’s a great experience we can give to the School and future visitors. But the future is evolving and we need to run with the ideas that the School has for us and the members on the committee have too.
What does the centenary mean to you?
David: The centenary means a great deal to me. I began at Carey in Year 7 in 1956, matriculated in 1961, and returned as a member of staff in 1974. I was also a member of the OCGA Council and Chair of the CHC until 2021 and Chair of the CBC until this year, so I suppose I never really left. There is a feeling of continuity, and, although 100 years is an
arbitrary number, there is a sense of this being a real milestone.
C: I started in Prep in 1983 and for about the past 12 years I’ve been working as a casual relief teacher at the School. More recently, I chaired the Carey Medal Committee and now am the Chair of the CHC, so I feel very connected to the School! I wouldn’t miss the 100-year celebration, even if I wasn’t so involved. I’m looking forward to seeing the community embracing the celebrations, and the launch of the centenary history book, Torchbearers by Helen Penrose.
What was your contribution to the centenary history book?
D: It was a great pleasure and privilege to serve as Chair of the CBC. The committee was chosen from various periods of the School’s history, each member with a special knowledge and expertise covering the entire period of its existence – except, of course, for the first 30 years. However, these were probably the most extensively recorded: the school had far fewer activities in the early days, and there was scope for detailed reporting in the Chronicle
C: I loved reading the drafts and seeing the book come together. It was
fascinatingtolearnaboutdifferent aspectsoftheSchoolandeventsfrom beforeIwasastudent TheCHC predominantlyworkedonaccuracyin thestafflistsandcollectedmanyofthe oralhistoryinterviewsovertheyears.
Anyfavouritestoriesordiscoveriesfrom Helen’sresearch?
C:Ihavesomanyvividmemoriesfrom mytimeatCareysothedifferent perspectiveswerereallyvaluable.When Iwasastudent,Iwasheavilyinvolvedin music.WhatIdidn’trealisewasthatthe principalatthetime,RossMillikan,hada musicbackgroundandisreallyknown forliftingtheprofileofandbringing aboutmoremusichereatthisschool.
D:Therearemanyfascinatingstories, buttherealeye-openerwasthe meticulousresearchandoutstanding historiographythataccompaniedthem. Ihadneverseenaprofessionalhistorian workcloseupbeforeandIlearntagreat dealabouttheprocess.Thetitlealso showsastrokeofgenius.Heleninsisted onTorchbearers,notTheTorchbearers, toimplythateverymemberoftheCarey communityisatorchbearer,carrying responsibility,delightandpridein playingapartinthestory.
The CHC is seeking your sporting memories (including photos and footage) or knowledge of any significant sporting achievements from your time at Carey and beyond, such as Carey staff or alumni who have participated in the Olympic or Commonwealth Games, represented their state or country, broke a record or anything of that nature. Please share them with us at communityengagement@carey.com.au
Our climate is changing, and it is everyone’s responsibility to have an impact, small or big, and take every opportunity to impart the importance of protecting our environment on the students in our care. Acting locally is the first step to making a positive difference.
Through our recent community-wide inquiry, we know that the Carey community values environmental sustainability and sees the need to drive practical actions embedded within student learning. Demonstrating to our students that we can all create real change that matters is at the forefront of our priorities for the School’s future.
It comes as no surprise then that this community-wide understanding combined with the immense generosity of our people, through our Community Giving appeal this year, has enabled the funding of new solar panels to be installed at Camp Toonallook.
This is a hugely important step towards becoming a more environmentally responsible school and preserving our precious natural resources, like Camp Toonallook, for students to enjoy for many, many years to come.
ince the generous donation of Camp Toonallook to Carey back in 1967, ’Toona’ has become one of Carey’s greatest assets. It is at the core of our Outdoor Education experience for the Junior and Middle School students and the venue for several leadership camps and retreats for older students.
’One of the key focusses of the Outdoor Education program across all year levels is sustainability. The addition of solar panels will allow us to engage students in monitoring energy consumption of their everyday lives and the impact that simple actions can have,’ says Tom Ziebell, Acting Head of Outdoor Education.
Tom Ziebell, Acting Head of Outdoor Education: One of the key focusses of the Outdoor Education program across all year levels is sustainability. The addition of solar panels will allow us to engage students in monitoring energy consumption of their everyday lives and the impact that simple actions can have.
S
’This will also allow us to put into practice the message we are teaching all students who come away on their Outdoor Education journey,’ he says. Over the last decade or so, solar power has become one of the fastest-growing renewable energies in the world, known for its reliability, efficiency and ability to be tailored to usage patterns with surprising flexibility.
The solar panels have the added benefit of reducing the School’s electricity bills, with the savings being directly fed back into important
educational programs. This project also builds on the comprehensive range of environmental initiatives delivered in our new Middle School building, including water tanks, solar panels and sustainable building design.
Just as our generous Carey community played a key role in establishing Toona
in its early days, with our community’s support, we can make this important sustainability project a reality.
For more information on how you can support Carey’s students, please contact Stuart Galbraith, Head of Advancement, at +61 3 9816 1522 or advancement@carey.com.au
Our years at school have a significant role in shaping who we are, and in our rapidly changing world, it is more important than ever that Carey continues its commitment to developing wise, independent and compassionate young people.
Your philanthropic support, in the form of a gift in your will, is an enduring way of empowering current and future Carey students and strengthening the School’s future. To learn more about becoming a Carey Torchbearer and how you can leave a gift to Carey in your will, please contact Petrina Burrill-Haslam at +61 3 9816 1250 or advancement@carey.com.au
Above Left: House Sports at Bulleen, 15 October 1962.
Above Right: Eric Dunshea’s car with Gadsden stand in background circa 1961.
Left: The great flood of 1971!
Below: The official opening of the Carey Sports Complex – Bulleen on Saturday 13 October 1962.
This month 60 years ago, 2000 members of Carey community gathered for the official opening of the new playing fields at Bulleen (Bolin Bolin).
In 1957, Carey was invited to join the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) competition. Despite fairs, fetes and fundraising to improve the School’s single oval, it was apparent that, as the Carey population grew, the sporting facilities at the Kew campus and the use of local venues such as Victoria Park were inadequate for competing on the big APS stage.
Before the APS offer was even made, the School Council had already started looking for possible sites for expansion. Looking further afield, in 1959, they came across a potential site in Manningham, more specifically, Bulleen. Situated on the northern side of Koonung Creek, it was a strange shape, but on a main road, had Yarra River access for potential water supply and was just over six kilometres from the Kew campus.
With the support of the Carey community, funds were raised to purchase the 34-acre property for £22,100, and the project gained momentum. The hard work began in March 1961 to construct four ovals, an Olympic standard athletics field
with an eight-lane cinder track (a blend of fine ash, carbon and rock), two grandstands, changing rooms, a caretaker’s flat, and a dining room and kitchen to cater for visiting teams.
After three years of preparation and construction at a cost of £150,000, the opening ceremony was to coincide with the House Athletics Sports; however, heavy rain caused the athletics to be postponed. Despite the weather, Eric Dunshea, then President of the School Council, handed over the new and wonderful Carey playing fields to S L Hickman, the Headmaster. It was formally and officially opened by Mr (later Sir) Arthur Rylah as Deputy Premier of Victoria, who remarked that the complex was the ’best playing field set-up of any school in Australia, possibly in the Southern Hemisphere’. But they were indeed initially stark fields, open to the elements, with only a few trees. Despite extensive drainage and water reticulation works, the biggest issue was going to be flooding, which was likely to occur from the Yarra coming across the parklands and carpark and taking out all the ovals via the billabong. In the floods of 1971, Bulleen was under water for 10 days. The entire athletics track washed away! The track was resurfaced and used until 2006. From then on, curators instead marked out an athletics track on Dunshea Oval: an approach that continues to this very day.
Since its official opening 60 years ago, we have seen the construction of the Gerard Cramer Physical Education Centre (1987) and Geoffrey Stevens Swimming Pool Complex (1992) to further complement the wonderful facilities.
The name Bulleen originates from the nearby Bolin Bolin Billabong, which is believed by some to translate to ’lyrebird’. The Bolin Bolin Billabong was an important meeting place for the Wurundjeri and surrounding Kulin tribes. The tribes gathered here every February while eels were plentiful, to discuss issues such as marriage, justice, trade and land management.
Collection of approximately 600 original architectural drawings and plans from the 1990s of important Carey developments and new buildings (i.e. MGH, Donvale, S L Hickman Building, Bulleen) including accompanying register/index. Model of the proposed alterations and additions to the Memorial Great Hall, 1994–95.
Portrait of inaugural girl Janis May Clayton aged 16 years (1980). Digital photo of Janis May Clayton at home in Doncaster on her first day of Year 11 (1979).
Mrs Alison LangmeadCopies of A chaplain remembers: lifelong reflections on the educational and spiritual values shaping the William Carey Chapel (fitst edition) by Alan Wright (2006).
Approximately 200 35mm colour slides depicting Junior School life at Carey between 1960s and 1970s.
Henry Meeks Senior Award for Leadership, Scholarship and Co-Curricular Activity gold medal awarded to Ken Lyall (1944). Leather-bound copy of the New Testament with Carey embossed cover. Book: The outline of history: being a plain history of life and mankind by H G Wells, presented to Mr H G Steele from the Prefects (1932).
Black and white Junior School staff photo for 1959, 1961, 1967, 1970, 1971.
Book: Signed copy of Dicing with death: an airman’s account of his training and operations against Japan by Arthur Sandell (2001).
Above: Ken Lyall (centre front) with the 1966 Junior School Football Team Under 11A. Donated by Ms Alison Lyall.
Right: Detention card for Ken Lyall on 20 June 1946. Donated by Ms Alison Lyall.
Below right: Ken Lyall’s Scout’s Promise certificate from 1940. Donated by Ms Alison Lyall.
Opposite page, top left: Carey Fair badge stating, ’March 31st, 32nd’, as the event occurred on April Fools Day, 1950. Donated by Ms Alison Lyall.
Opposite page, top right: Jasper bookends with Carey crest. Donated by Ms Alison Lyall.
Book: The first twenty-five years: an account of the establishment and development of the Junior Schools Headmasters’ Association of Australia, 1952–1976 (1998).
Ken Lyall’s Preparatory School report dated May 1933.
The Australian College of Education Fellow Certificate, awarded to Kenneth Alexander Lyall on 17 May 1971.
Book: Carey was our home: the Carey Boarding House, 1923–1951 by Raymond S Reed.
Book prize (English essays of to-day) awarded to Ken Lyall, Leaving Pass, Third in Form (Gift on an Old Boy), from Headmaster H G Steel, December 1944. Copies of Torch (2013–15). Copies of Carey Chronicle (1936–46). Book: Directory of Old Carey Grammarians (1997).
Book: The torch is lit: a life of Harold George Steele by David Morgan (1997).
Book: By Courage and Faith: the first fifty years of Carey Baptist Grammar School by Stuart Sayers (1973).
Album of Toonallook photographs presented to Ken Lyall by Principal Philip Grutzner on 24 April 2012.
Collection of Chapel Addresses and Sermons given by John Sykes in the William Carey Chapel.
Book: Cookery from Carey (1977).
Program for the Senior School Anzac Memorial Service, Memorial Great Hall, 24 April 2012.
Three-piece teacup set with Carey insignia (date of issue unknown).
Various ephemera relating to William Carey.
Program for the 50th Annual Speech Night (1972).
Ken Lyall detention card, 20 June 1946.
CD of Camp Toonallook photos (c. 1970s).
Pair of jasper bookends with Carey crest. Carey fair badge (1950). OCGA tie.
7th Kew Scout Troop khaki shirt and neckerchief (c. 1940)s. Carey Cadet Corps leather belt (c. 1940s).
Various Carey blazer pockets. Various certificates, awards and correspondence relating to Ken Lyall’s time at Carey.
Fire report for the Camp Toonallook Committee, 16 January 1978.
Photographs of the launch of Lyall House at Donvale, 10 February 1990.
Mr David Morgan OAM
Piano score for the Carey musical Sherwood (1994). Sherwood signed program (1994). Reflections – a compilation of articles and addresses written over 43 years as a member of staff of Carey by David Morgan.
Various press clippings relating to Carey alumni.
Service booklet for the thanksgiving service for the life of Geoffrey Homan Thomas held on 7 January 2022.
Eulogy and service booklet for the funeral service to celebrate the life of Mick (George Michael) Boyes held on 3 May 2022.
Service booklet for the memorial service for Kenneth Alexander Lyall held on 12 February 2022.
Book: Copy this down, you: an appreciation of Bill ’Squizzy’ Taylor by Peter Mitchell (1997). Carey cap badge. Carey Heritage Committee documents (2021).
Centenary Book Committee documents (2019–21).
Wooden shield adorned with Carey crest and motto and inscription ’Sponsored by Lane Walker Rudkin’.
Mrs Sadie Newnham
Copies of Carey Chronicle (1933–46). Portrait photo of Lindsay Newnham (c. 1937).
Lindsay Newnham’s OCGA Life Member Certificate (issued on 1 January 1988).
Mr Mac Nicholl
Eulogy speech written and delivered by Mac Nicoll at the thanksgiving service for Geoffrey Homan Thomas on Friday 7 January 2022 at Holy Trinity, Kew.
Do you have any special Carey items that you would like to donate?
If so, please contact our Archivist, Helen Wolff, on 03 9816 1331.
From
Leading the OCGA into an exciting new era
As proud, passionate members of the Carey community, we are incredibly honoured to have recently been elected to lead the Old Carey Grammarians Association (OCGA). The direction of the OCGA is looking tremendously positive as we embark on an exciting period of renewal and revitalisation, perfectly timed as Carey approaches its centenary next year.
A lot of positive work has been done recently to reform the OCGA and ensure that the association and its activities proudly reflect the modern, progressive values of Carey. At the recent annual general meeting of the OCGA, a robust new constitution and a strong code of conduct, both drafted by highly regarded legal firm Moores, were introduced.
Additionally, a new council was elected that appropriately represents the rich diversity of our 19,000+ OCGA members. The new OCGA council has a female majority and an average age of 34. With a team of passionate, dedicated and talented individuals, we are buoyed with confidence about the future direction of the OCGA.
Ashima Mehta (2004), OCGA Vice-President; Jonathan Walter, Carey Baptist Grammar School Principal; and Sam Ponsford (2017), OCGA President.community, whilst also respecting each new Class of Carey that joins the OCGA and the increasing diversity prevalent within our association.
In the coming months, we intend to launch some exciting new subcommittees. If you are interested in joining any of these sub-committees, please email us! These include:
• Young Carey Alumni: social, networking, mentoring and wellbeing events for our younger members
• Careers and Networking: networking, mentoring and professional development events designed to assist Carey alumni advance in their careers
• Community Support: serving and supporting members of our community in need of assistance, providing financial support to
• Pride: events and initiatives proudly supporting LGBTIQ+ Carey alumni
• International Students: engaging and reconnecting with former Carey international students.
The OCGA belongs to all 19,000+ Carey alumni. As the OCGA enters this exciting new chapter, we want to hear your ideas for new events and initiatives. Please reach out to us with any ideas, big or small, that you may have: sam.ponsford@ocga.com.au or ashima.mehta@ocga.com.au
The OCGA has a bright future ahead and we hope that you will be a part of it.
38 | Torch
I was in the first group of girls to go through Carey Baptist Grammar School from Year 7. With two older brothers also attending Carey at the time, I felt at home, despite girls representing less than a third of the student population. Throughout my Senior School years, I developed strong friendships, many of which remain to this day.
After completing Year 12, I studied Physiotherapy knowing that I wanted to work in paediatrics. I began working at the Royal Children’s Hospital in 1992 and have been a part of the Melbourne Children’s Campus teaching hospital since that time, with a couple of stints overseas in the mix.
Although I never thought of myself as an academic, I completed a Master of
Physiotherapy (Paediatrics) in 1998 and a PhD in 2008. My research focusses on improving the lives of children with cerebral palsy, as well as the lives of their families. As a clinician-scientist, where I combine clinical and research
My family sailed from England to Australia on the troubled maiden voyage of P&O’s SS Canberra in June 1961, after my father was appointed Managing Director of Rowntree Australia and its new factory in Campbellfield.
I was enrolled at Carey in Tranter House and began my steep learning curve in 4A under Mr John Brown. I promptly amused the locals by being scared silly by enormous and grotesque spider shells, which I associated with Australia’s other horrors: man-eating sharks and funnel web spiders!
I went through to Year 8C with Mr Rodney Cummings and learnt a little French from Frank ’Typhoon’ Tyson. I expected to enter Year 9 in February 1966 – in time for decimal currency’s introduction! Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be; while we brothers voted to stay, shortly after Christmas our parents needed to return to the UK.
From April 1966 until July 1970 it was strict servitude for me: from 8.30am to 5.30pm, six days a week (plus compulsory Sunday chapel!) at St Peter’s School in York (est. 627AD).
After finishing school, I worked at a number of international banks in the UK and Australia, where I specialised in the area of global commodities trading. In 1972, I joined Sharps Pixley, a London bullion house which was an eminent member of London’s gold and silver market and subsidiary of the
work, my career has provided many opportunities to travel and work overseas as well as to contribute to improvements in the care of children and young people with disability.
I am currently a Senior Research Fellow in Neurodisability and Rehabilitation at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne. I feel incredibly privileged to do the work I do. It keeps me grounded and frequently takes me out of my comfort zone.
Outside of my challenging yet rewarding career, I appreciate taking time to relax with good friends, good food and good wine, and I try to maintain a sense of humour, even through the tough times.
merchant bank Kleinwort Benson. After three years, I began working for Merrill Lynch, heading up its London metalstrading unit. Two years on, I moved to fellow American investment bank EF Hutton, dealing in silver and copper. In late 1979, I moved back to Australia and re-joined Merrill Lynch as Sydney Gold Specialist, working on Macquarie Street and living in Darling Point for two years. After a disastrous move to Jackson Securities, I returned to my London lair in mid-1981.
I then spent some time on Swiss bank trading floors and later conducted research in the Middle East, most notably in Kuwait. I returned to York in 1996, serving in politics for the LiberalDemocrats. I was elected to City of York Council from 2000 to 2003. After retiring, in 2014, I moved to Easingwold.
I hope to be able to come back to Melbourne and join the Carey community to celebrate during 2023.
Beginning my time at Carey as a second-generation Grammarian, I knew great things were to come. My fondest memories are of lifelong friendships and never-ending sporting opportunities.
Academically, I was interested humanities and sciences, but for as long as I could remember, I had always wanted to be a vet. When I graduated, I began the pathway into veterinary school and undertook a Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne. I also worked part-time at a veterinary clinic, and soon I realised it wasn’t the career for me.
During my undergraduate degree, I was fortunate enough to spend a semester at the University of Helsinki. This unforgettable experience led to a passion for travelling. Once I graduated, I returned to Europe for
my post-graduate studies. I studied a Master of Biochemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. It was a life-changing experience and I was amongst world-class science institutes, working next to world-renowned scientists. After three exciting years, I
After completing my secondary education at Carey in 1970, I am convinced that it was the unpredicted winds of fortune that established my career, more than simple errors and accidents.
Without clear post-secondary objectives and with only modest Year 12 results, I found myself enrolled in an Arts degree at Monash. Majoring in musicology and Spanish, I didn’t realise that this would set up my life as a musicologist, performer and academic. During this time, I developed an interest in the vihuela, an extinct sixteenth-century Spanish predecessor of the guitar. I became the first vihuela player in Australia, and one of only a handful around the world. Years later, this has brought me worldwide renown. I perform and lecture around
the world, and the instrument is now played by thousands. It is a central part of my life, an adventure that has also made me an authority on music in Renaissance Spain, and on music for the early lutes and guitars.
returned home to begin my career as a scientist at CSL. CSL is a global leader in biotechnology, whose purpose is to develop and deliver innovative medicine that saves lives, protects public health and treats people with life-threatening medical conditions. Unsurprisingly, I am part of the Biochemistry Department working on early-stage drug discovery alongside many talented scientists.
As well as my passion for science, I love sport and I love to write. I have recently finished my first novel, which is in the editing stages and will be published next year. My journey continues to change direction, and I can’t wait to see where it will lead me next. The skills and opportunities I was taught during my time at Carey enabled me to grow and thrive as an individual, and will continue to help me do so into the future.
Starting work as a tutor in Music at the University of Melbourne in 1980 while completing my PhD, I became Professor of Music, and director of Early Music Studies until taking an early retirement in 2011 to dedicate myself to performance and research. I hold honorary research positions at the Universities of Melbourne and Tours (France), and I currently serve as Vice-President of the International Musicological Society and editor of the Journal of the Lute Society of America. Other career recognition includes appointment as an Officer of the Order of Isabel the Catholic (Spain, 1993), Member of the Order of Australia (2019), fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2006) and a Corresponding Member of the American Musicological Society (2014).
19 April 2021. A son for Amy Wagner (2008) and Zac Grieshaber.
7 June 2021. A daughter for Samantha Ho (2002) and Matthew Chan.
17
29 November 2021. A daughter for Adam Elzarka (2005) and Erin Rooney.
13 January 2022. A son for Sarah Blyth (Jeffress, 2004) and Andrew Blyth, and a brother for Jayden.
24 January 2022. A daughter for Yi Ting Natalie Lau (2006) and Glynn Edward Owen.
19 April 2022. A daughter for Caitlyn Roberts (2006) and Paul Kruger, and a sister for Madison.
12 May 2022. A daughter for Andrew Shedden (2003) and Lauren Turner, and a sister for Millie.
23 May 2022. A son for Mark Briers (2006) and Jamila Savoy, and a brother for Darius.
Carey receives a high volume of applications for enrolment. We encourage you to apply for your child as early as possible after birth. For more information about enrolment, and to apply online, go to www.carey.com.au
Bruce Murray (1960), past staff
Ralph
At the commencement of the 1933 school year, Mr Cecil Shinkfield MA was appointed to the Carey staff. His three sons – Maurice and identical twins, Des and Ralph –came along with him.
In1940,Ralph'sfatheraccepted a positionintheNavy–hehadgiven greatservicetotheSchoolandhe
went to his new responsibility with the School’s best wishes. He had started the Carey Cadets in 1940. There is a photo of the Officers in the Cadets (in the December 1940 Chronicle) with Captain Shinkfield and Ralph and Des in the front row. This was also the year Ralph played in the First XIII Football Premiership team.
Des, who died last year, enlisted in the Navy and Ralph in the RAAF (1943–46) as a Catalina pilot. Post-war, Ralph studied accounting and trained as a teacher in Perth and Melbourne.
alph’s 26-year teaching career at Carey commenced in 1959 when he joined the Junior School, under the leadership of Ken Lyall. He was to retire in 1984 as Senior Master of the Junior School having been a Housemaster for 23 years, Teacher-in-charge of Mathematics and Quartermaster at Camp Toonallook.
Bryan Marshall, past student (1964) and fellow staff member, wrote that in the period of 1966 to 1984, Ralph was one of the staff ’who has shaped the spirit and meaning of our camp’.
The following tribute to Ralph by past Carey student James Nixon (1977), who kept in touch with Ralph was published in The Age (24 August):
’WW2 RAAF Catalina pilot and teacher.
His campfire stories inspired me to fly. James Nixon Emirates A380 Captain (Ret)’
Ralph and his late wife, Jean, had four children, three of whom attended Carey: Murray (1967), Rowan (1969), Rosslyn and Jonathan (1978). To them and the extended Shinkfield Family, The Carey community expresses its appreciation for Ralph’s participation and contribution since he first entered the gates 90 years ago.
We extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of the following people:
Anthony Bristow (1963) on 29 August 2020
Gregory Romanes (1979) on 8 September 2020
Fiona Hansen (Webster, 1990) on 31 August 2021
Russell Carl Albert (1990) on 1 October 2021
Peter Hamilton Bailey (1943) on 7 November 2021
Antony Neil Harvey (1982) on 28 January 2022
Robert William Holdsworth Coventry (1948) on 15 March 2022
Gary Lex Bradley (Past staff) on 25 March 2022
Joseph Wilson Glass (1949) on 3 May 2022
Michael John Mollison (1950) on 12 May 2022
Neville Howard Crago (1956) on 26 May 2022
Suzanne Godwin (Past staff) on 9 June 2022
Edna Camplin (Past staff) on 10 June 2022
Derek John Davis (1950) on 8 July 2022
John Adamson (1953) on 16 July 2022
Nicholas John Styant-Browne (1975) on 17 July 2022
Ian Grant Jupp (1971) on 21 July 2022
Nigel Antony Jackson (Past staff) on 29 July 2022
John Pascoe (1963) on 2 August 2022
Charles David Bartlett (1973) on 3 August 2022
Barry Merton (Past staff) on 10 August 2022
(Harold) Ralph Shinkfield (1940, past staff, past parent) on 18 August 2022
Maxwell Course (1965) on 13 September 2022
28 Oct 2012 10-year reunion
4 Nov 2002 20-year reunion
6 Nov Community memorial service
18 Nov 1992 30-year reunion
1 Dec Christmas celebration
13 Feb Carey’s 100-year anniversary
24 Feb 1993 30-year reunion
10 Mar International Women’s Day event
17 Mar 1983 40-year reunion
1 Apr Centenary fair*
28 Apr 1973 50-year reunion
19–20 May Musicals through the years concert*
15 Jul Centenary gala ball*
4 Sep Centenary music concert*
20 Oct Centenary sports dinner*
*Carey community centenary events open to the whole school community. More information will be available next year on the Carey website, carey.com.au
Please refer to the OCGA website at ocga.com.au for the most up-to-date details relating to a particular scheduled event and for alumni events in the second half of 2023.
Senior School seniorschooloffice@carey.com.au
Middle School middle@carey.com.au
Junior School Kew jskew@carey.com.au
Junior School Donvale donvale@carey.com.au
Carey Sports Complex – Bulleen bulleen@carey.com.au
Principal Jonathan Walter principal@carey.com.au
Community Engagement communityengagement@carey.com.au
Archives archives@carey.com.au
Advancement advancement@carey.com.au
Admissions admissions@carey.com.au
