Where are they now?

Adrienne Harvey (1986)

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 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.

Nick Blitz (1969)

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 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.

Georgina Bing (2010)

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 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.

Prof. John Griffiths AM (1970)

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.

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).