COCA News August 2008

Editors • Denis Brosnan & Rebecca McEwen Smith • Volume 8 • Issue 2

LIVING with an Attitude N ews

C r o m w e l l

C o l l e g e

Within The University of Queensland

AUGUST

2008

Why is it that someone who has so much to lose, namely their life, can very easily put the rest of us in the shade with their positive attitude to life? We who are not suffering are often humbled by the strength of their resilience and infectious smile.

We have one such person at Cromwell. First year student, Montague (Monty) Summers, has spent the last two and a half years fighting Leukaemia and is still undergoing treatment.

Recently Cromwell students got behind Monty to take part in the annual Leukaemia Foundation’s ‘Shave for a Cure’ to raise money for this worthwhile cause, especially as one of their own was suffering from the disease.

Courageously Monty spoke at Formal Dinner to inform the College community of his fight, after which four of the guys ‘did their bit’ for the cause.

Here is Monty’s story.

“If all were rain and never sun, No bow could span the hill; If all were sun and never rain, There’ll be no rainbow still.” (a poem by Christina Rossetti, from ‘Sing-Song’, A Nursery Rhyme Book, 1893)

Monty Summers – “I have an

attitude”

pride as my better half (Tighe) accomplished what I couldn’t and showed everyone how a Summers finishes.

There was also an effort made to smile and to laugh, usually through smart-ass comments towards the doctors which commonly ended up with just me laughing. But hey, I got a giggle out of it so that’s all that I was concerned about.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen of Cromwell College, I am here to speak to you all tonight about the Leukaemia Foundation and their fundraising event, World’s Greatest Shave, but first a brief abstract of my story.

Now we all fight many battles in our lifetime; mine was Leukaemia. In 2006, half way through my Senior year, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. But due to what it is associated with and the depressing thoughts that it came with, my family and I changed the name to Attitude Love and Laughter to remind us all to keep a positive attitude, to remember those you love and who love you and most importantly, laughter at any expense, even if it’s at my own.

At the time I fell ill I was running an easy 90kms a week, but for a long time I would return to the dormitories (at school) more fatigued than I should have. So, thinking that I was unfit and of the possibility that Tighe (my twin brother) might beat me, I put my shoes back on and kept running. Now there’s a definition of ignorance for you.

But the ignorant thoughts didn’t stop there.

When the diagnosis first came through, my first and last word to the doctor for that night was ‘Bugger’ - all due to a lack of knowledge and a want to create a sense that all was going to be good. From there on in, there was a lot of agony and frustration but also a continuous supply of

A Magazine for Old Collegians, Friends of Cromwell, Current Residents and their Families

Continued page 2

What’s I nside

From the Principal

3

UQ Student Recruitment Student Ambassador Program

4

The DOS Report

5

Formal Dinners: a Wealth of Information

6

Memories of 1973 at Cromwell

7

Who was Who in 1973

8-9

1973 - the year that was

10

Chit -Chat Round Up

11-14

Reconnecting Crommies

14

Filled to the Brim with Conferences

15

CROMWELL COLLEGE Walcott Street ST. LUCIA, QLD 4067 Ph: (07) 3377 1300 Fax: (07) 3377 1499 Email: friends@cromwell.uq.edu.au Website: www.cromwell.uq.edu.au Mission Statement To provide a vibrant community for students in a caring Christian environment that enables them to grow in knowledge and character and the desire to serve.

Vision Statement Accept diversity Create community Strive for excellence Pursue spiritual, academic, cultural and social maturity Serve Society Care for the environment.

Coat Of Arms When the College was able to adopt its arms, it secured permission from the surviving head of the Cromwell family to bear Oliver Cromwell’s personal arms, a lion argent rampant on a field of sable.

Motto VBI SPIRITVS IBI LIBERTAS – This motto comes from the Latin version of the Second Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, Ch 3, Verse 17. “Now the Lord is Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

LIVING with an Attitude cont’d Day after day, week after week and month after month, I faced the decision to either make a stand and fight or just to lie down and start saying my goodbyes.

I’m here now so you know the decision that I ended up making. But continuously trying to find my feet and keeping focus after being knocked down time and time again was a full time job - and that’s where the Leukaemia Foundation came in.

With what had not just been a devastating effect on me but on my family as well, the Leukaemia Foundation was there to lend a friendly hand. They provided education, information, accommodation, practical assistance and if need be, transport and financial support. By taking a lot of the worry and stress off the little things, my family was able to constantly be by my side, encouraging me to fight.

The World’s Greatest Shave is an event organised by the Leukaemia Foundation to raise much-needed funds to continue to support the families who are facing a difficult

Editors Denis Brosnan, Dean of Students & Rebecca McEwen Smith, Development Manager Graphic Design & Printing Westminster Printing 31 Stevenson Street PADDINGTON, QLD 4064

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For reason has always existed, but not always in reasonable form. So I ask of you all tonight for two things and two things only. The first being an unreasonable request by parting with your precious money and giving to a good cause and the final request is that you keep smiling because it’s all good.

[And thanks to the generosity of the residents of Cromwell College, $700 was raised for the Leukaemia Foundation.]

Rebecca..

Dear Friends, I have an old serving plate at home that I acquired, somehow, and it was only recently that I looked closely at its design.

The plate is titled ‘Abundant Living’ and in the centre are the following words, which I’m sure we have all read at some time or another… ‘

I shall pass through this world but once.

Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show any human being Let me do it now.

But let me not defer or neglect it: For I shall not pass this way again……’

Collating & Distribution Work Solutions (Wesley Mission) P.O. Box 6402 FAIRFIELD GARDENS, QLD 4103

ong S e g e l l o C l l Cromwe st College,

I’ve never asked myself the question, “Why Me?”, for I know and trust the strength of the people behind me and I can see and prepare for what is to come. So for all I’m concerned, leukaemia is just a statistic and if it wasn’t me fighting this fight some other poor bugger would be. I couldn’t let that happen now because giving up was, and is not, an option.

For the only outcome I can see is for me to be standing right here, smiling and trying to look out for all of you.

From

Thanks Thank you to all the staff, students and Alumni who have been contributors to this issue of COCA News.

Printed around the outside of the plate are the ten steps to achieving an ‘Abundant Life’. They are • • • • • • • • • •

Save: it is the secret of security Work: it is the price of success Laugh: it is the music of the soul Play: it is the secret of perpetual youth Give: it is too short a day to be selfish Be Friendly: it is the road to happiness Think: it is the source of power Read: it is the fountain of wisdom Love: it is a God-given privilege Pray: it is the greatest power on earth

As I read these words I realised that there should be one more – •

Thank those who give: their generosity should be rewarded

On behalf of the Cromwell College Foundation I wish to thank those of our Alumni, Friends of the College and Parents of Residents who have been generous enough to support the College and its Foundation during its recent annual appeal.

From the

Principal

time. So be brave and shave, colour your hair or just donate to the brave people that are.

As you all know, the funds received go to a number of different causes including Bursaries and Scholarships, upgrading of existing residential facilities, providing additional facilities necessary for students in today’s economic environment and in making additional accommodation places available.

So to all of you who have been generous enough to include Cromwell as part of your ‘Abundant Life’, Thank You, we can’t do it without your support and for that we are eternally grateful.

Until next time, may your plate be filled to overflowing and your life be abundant.

‘The Age’ comments on his work in this way:

“Poodleosophy” I was walking my eccentric standard poodle earlier this year when I saw a magazine on the ground. Leaping out at me, grabbing my attention like Binna Burra lawyer vine, was a full page advertisement for Wintergarden sales.

There, staring out at me with large, inviting eyes was the mandatory female model splendidly dressed in Wintergarden fashion set against a dark background image of a mall. There too, in big white print striding across the page beside her, was her motto, her religion, her hymn to life, her way of looking at the world. In a font big enough to give you biceps if you tried to move them were the words, “I AM” - two little words that reveal a great deal, not only about Wintergarden and their brown-eyed model (or was it blue?), but about the Western world and the foundation of its beliefs and actions.

To be fair, Wintergarden is not alone in their use of the first, person, present tense of the verb ‘to be’. If you Google the words ‘I am’ you will find an ‘I-am’ branding consultant, ‘I. am’ clothing, ‘I am’ accessories, ‘I am’ short URL redirect and forwarding services and how to write ‘I am’ poetry. But most of the entries remind us that our ‘I AMness’ is defined (or we try to define it) by other people, events and how we feel. So you will find ‘I am beautiful’, ‘I am bored’, ‘I am human’, ‘I am an artist’, and ‘I am trapped in a marriage’.

These web pages reflect our Western obsession with self esteem and personal identity, an obsession which, in my view, can be unstable as so often it places our identity in the hands of people (who are not always trustworthy), or in outcomes over which we have no control and which are often passing fashions, fleeting temptations of the world of the marketer.

The struggle with personal identity can be more sophisticated. A painting by Gordon Bennett illustrates our struggle to find definition caught between different cultures and histories. Bennett focuses many of his paintings on the ambivalent relationship between European and Indigenous Australia as reflected in his self portrait below.

Rebecca McEwen Smith Development Manager Cromwell College Ph: (07) 3377 1235 Fax: 07 3377 1499 Email: r.mcewen@cromwell.uq.edu.au friends@cromwell.uq.edu.au Self Portrait (But I always wanted to be One of the Good Guys) by Gordon Bennett

‘His large oil painting Self Portrait (But I Always Wanted to be One of the Good Guys) presents a truth that is fractured and complex. The painting features a picture of Bennett as a four-year-old in a cowboy suit. “The colonial subtexts of the western were already working on me,” Bennett says. The words “I am light” and “I am dark” appear on either side of the costume-clad boy.

Quoting New Zealand artist Colin McCahon, who was preoccupied with issues of morality and religion, Bennett overlays his self-portrait with the words “I AM” writ large. Within these words, Bennett reproduces stylised pictures from old school texts showing American Indians with spears fighting white men with rifles.

‘When I create a work, I am not thinking of an audience,” Bennett says. “My approach is very personal. You might even say that every work to date has been a self-portrait, in that what inspires each work is my own day-to-day experience of living in Australia - from my own life experience through to the speaking position of texts and orations about Australia and Australians in the past and present and their relationships and continuities. So I am working through things in my own mind and on canvas and it is only later that I think of an audience, when the work is sent to a gallery for exhibition. Then I freak out with having exposed myself so much!’

It is interesting to compare the modern struggle with ‘I AMness’ and identity with the Biblical understanding. In the Old Testament, in Exodus 3:14-15, Moses meets God at the burning bush.

During this extraordinary encounter Moses asks for God’s name. This is the answer he was given:

the outpouring of his Spirit, we are connected eternally to the one who has risen from the dead on our behalf.

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written; For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:31-39).

In the Bible our life and meaning come from God who is trustworthy, the source of life and truth and the one who reveals to us in Scripture the true things we need to know.

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: `I AM has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, `The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.’

This is my name for ever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”

Painting by New Zealand artist Colin McCahon

The Jewish people often wrote the name we translate “I AM WHO I AM” (we call it Yahweh) but they never spoke it, using instead the name ‘Lord’. So every time we see the title ‘The Lord’ we should remember that it refers to the God who alone can be described as “I am”. The Biblical view of mankind is that we are never “I am” – we are contingent beings – who come from dust and to dust return (Genesis 3:19), but the ‘I AM’ from whom we come is reliably sovereign, gracious and good. The New Testament builds on this hopeful understanding. Jesus dares to call himself ‘I am’ when he says: “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) and Paul reminds us not only that we come from God ‘in whom we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28) but that while in this world we remain dust, through faith in Jesus and

Colin McCahon, a New Zealand painter, reflects this way of thinking in his painting pictured above. But this transcendent way of looking at the world stands in contrast to our society today which has been deeply affected by post-Christian philosophers. In the 17th Century, René Descartes wrote as one for whom rationality was the basis of confidence and truth. His mode of thought suggests that the human mind can, without the input of revelation, discern and discover truth and that our meaning rises out of our capacity to think. Descartes’ classic saying was: ‘I think, therefore I AM.’ In the Christian framework, certainty, being and identity come from God. In the rationalist world, it is our thinking that provides for us the basis of our existence. Sadly but inevitably, philosophers began to realise the

Continued page 4 COCA News 2008 • Page

From the

UQ Student Recruitment Student Ambassador Program

Principal cont’d

Continued from page 4

And so we return to the Wintergarden sales.

Here, at long last, we have reached the pinnacle of human understanding and the search for truth. In large letters, wet with dew, staring up at me and my eccentric standard poodle is the Wintergarden story of life: ‘I buy from Wintergarden, therefore I AM. Or more simply, ‘I shop, therefore I AM. ‘

-1650

René Descartes 1596

limits of reason and the slippery nature of truth.

So in the fullness of time we found ourselves with another version of ‘I AM’, the existential one. Key players here are Nietzsche and Kierkegaard and for them individuals create their own meaning by acting, doing things in the world. In other words, instead of ‘I AM and act only by the grace and goodness of the great ‘I AM’ (the Christian version), or ‘I AM because I think’ (the rationalist version), this story says ‘I AM because I do and act in the world.’

As crass as it seems, these words reflect the truth that our society is now dominated by a secular humanist way of looking at the world (it all starts with me), sometimes rationalistic (science can solve everything), sometimes existential (I make my own truth; if it feels good, do it), sometimes purely materialistic (I am defined by what I own), but mostly individualistic and nearly always with God (if He exists) relegated to the sideline of life.

We are in potentially dangerous times. Who knows what the future will bring? But whatever happens, I cannot help but ask the question: If things turn ugly, if the waters turn rough, does the ‘Wintergarden Faith’ have within it the resilience, the deep sense of truth to provide for its followers the courage and hope necessary to cross over troubled waters?

Friedrich Nietzsche 1844-1900

Jesus tells the story about building one’s house (life) on rock and not on sand. Such a house can withstand storm and tempest and changing times

because its hope lies with the one who stands sovereign and transcendent above the fray but who, in Jesus, the suffering, dying and rising I AM, knows intimately the vicissitudes of our life, caring deeply for those of us blown by wind, driven by surges of the sea, afraid, alone, bloodied and mortal and who in Jesus, has provided the ‘bridge over troubled waters’.

My eccentric standard poodle was not impressed with the Wintergarden message – she walked right on by (it could have been worse). Perhaps we should follow her doggy wisdom and seek our being in the true rock rather than in the passing sand of human fashion. Certainly for me, as the aging process and the challenge of being alone cut deep into any resistant, defiant ‘I AMness’, I want to attach my anchor to that rock of which Jesus speaks in Matthew 7:24ff.

Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Hugh Bebgie Principal

UQ Student Recruitment Student Ambassador Program One of the many opportunities Cromwell Students have to earn some money and still contribute to their University experience is to apply to become Student Ambassadors for the UQ Student Recruitment Team.

The UQ Student Ambassador Program was launched in 2003 and at present there are about 40 Student Ambassadors from a range of backgrounds, studying a variety of programs spread across the University’s faculties.

Student Ambassadors provide support to the Student Recruitment Team by offering a student face to UQ and participating in the University’s face-to-face recruitment activities including schools visits, expos, campus tours, careers markets, Open Days and other related events throughout Queensland and interstate.

They speak about their transition from high school to university as well as their experiences at UQ with their input always very well received by secondary school students and staff. Student Ambassadors may also assist with bulk mail-outs and distribution of publications to schools along with general administrative tasks.

COCA News 2008 • Page

SAs are expected to wear a uniform which consists of a blue polo shirt with UQ logo and name tag (first name only). The Student Recruitment team hosts 3 - 4 training sessions each year so that Ambassadors are able to enhance their knowledge of UQ’s programs and facilities and gain a better understanding of recruitment events. The sessions also provide an opportunity to share information with other SAs and to develop presentation and communication skills.

Two Cromwell Students, Kimberlee Ciranni and Carl Smith, are part of the SA program this year. Carl has written about his experiences as an SA and the rewards he has received in following up on this opportunity.

Continued page 5

cont’d

Carl Smit UQ Student h – Ambassador 2008

– ranni rlee Ci sador 2008 e b m i K Ambas udent t S Q U

Since March of this year I have been working with the Student Recruitment team of UQ as one of around 40 Student Ambassadors. The position basically entails my helping prospective students to make an informed decision about which degree they would like to do and which university they would like to attend by sharing the experiences I’ve had so far at UQ. It’s a very social and active job and often leaves you with sore cheek muscles but there are a huge number of benefits associated with the job – in addition to the great pay. I’ve helped with a variety of different events from career expos to showing school groups around campus to visiting other schools and speaking to them about ‘My UQ experience’.

Probably the best thing about the job so far for me has been its variety: I am sent a roster every fortnight and am then able to choose not only when I work but also what sort of events I would like to attend. However, as very few Science students are able to work with the Recruitment team because of their heavier schedules, I often get to help out with areas that are directly relevant to my program and potentially my career.

As an example, I have helped out with a titration competition and several science faculty events where I have met people who are in their final years of my degree, have had the opportunity to talk oneon-one on an informal basis with my lecturers and course coordinators and have even met people who are affiliated

with some of the big organisations within my field, Environmental Science.

So far, the experience has been exceptionally rewarding to me not only because of its casual nature but also because of the people I’ve met and the experience I’ve gained – especially in public speaking. I would highly recommend applying for a position as a Student Ambassador if you ever get the chance or even just helping out on an informal, but still well paid, basis for some of their bigger events such as TSXPO or the UQ Open Day. Carl Smith UQ Student Ambassador (Cromwell)

The D.O.S. Report

All in a Days Work . . .

As I write this, typing away at a speed that leaves most Crommies gasping – it’s true, I really am as slow as that – I have just farewelled the Mother of one of our residents. We ran into each other by chance, since she had come to drive her daughter home for the weekend and she had an hour or so to wait. I had not seen her since “O” Week and then only fleetingly, and before that, a few months earlier, when she had joined me during her daughter’s interview for residence. She spoke emotionally and sincerely of how much Cromwell had meant to her daughter; how excited she had been when she called to tell her parents to say she had a place here - she had been far more excited than when she received her excellent OP; how much she had grown in only six months; the easy-going, real new friends she had made; and how students who do not have the College experience have missed out on something beyond price. (Mum knew this from her own experience of College life in another country, and had been determined that her daughter should have every chance to try it too.) I could only agree with her and I thought how lucky I was to be able to live as part of this environment every day.

I then reflected on a couple of recent highlights at Cromwell; some stand-outs since last I wrote.

Last week’s Academic Dinner, for example.

How blessed we are to have so many bright and confident scholars: 51 residents out of 203 had a Grade Point Average of 6 (Distinction) or better, and six had straight 7s. And even those who were the most disappointed with their results, for a variety of reasons, have virtually all had an open mind and a positive attitude when I’ve sat

down with them to see what they might do to get stronger grades from now on. That openness, that willingness to share, is not something which I have always experienced elsewhere. Or at least not to such an extent as here. Not that it’s a miracle; there just seems to be in Cromwell, with all the ups and downs we expect in life, an especially well-developed feeling of mutual respect and constructive support which I have been fortunate to tap into. It is something which does not just happen. It takes years to develop and it needs to be nourished constantly, so I pay tribute to all those who have prepared the ground for me to work on.

The other experience which was uplifting was a graduation ceremony I attended on 18 July.

There were five Crommies graduating that day and between them they represented a good cross-section of the strengths which I have seen here. One was a Masters student from Japan who was without a doubt the most tenacious fellow I’ve met in many years. He threw himself into a demanding program, obtained strong results in graduate courses well outside his first degree and wrote a stunning, rigorous thesis in a very short time. He was also a superb, evocative pianist. Another graduate came from Singapore and completed courses which she felt were far tougher than what had been required of her at home. (While I may be wrong, and I should not generalise, I do not believe you will hear too many Singaporean students say that they have had to work harder in Australia that at home.)

And she said she was half-frozen - by Sing standards – for much of her time here. Then

Denis gets right into the ‘fee l’ of Cromwell ‘At Home’ with Glenden Ap rile (left) and James Rowland (right) . there were two sisters who were born in Kenya and who I am confident will make big marks in their professions here. I had met them and their charming, gentle parents some years ago in another context, before Cromwell, and it was a delight to be able to see them all together at the one ceremony. And then there was one Aussie, another fellow who had left Cromwell before I came here. Not that it made any difference: I knew that all I needed to say to him was “I’m at Cromwell” and that was all that was necessary for us to hit it off.

So what is my message? I just wanted to share with you my feeling about how lucky I am to have a vocation and the chance to practise my calling at a place as special as this. I hope you have warm memories of your College and that you will stay in touch and give Cromwell all the support you can, in whatever form that may take, whether it be now, in 10 years, or fifty.

Denis Brosnan COCA News 2008 • Page

Memories of 1973 at Cromwell

Formal Dinners a Wealth of Information The line- up of special guests to speak at our Formal Dinners this year has been varied and inspirational. Our guests have ranged from members of The University of Queensland Staff, members of the public as well as some of our own students.

The UQ staff has included Dr Jessica Gallagher, Manager of Student Recruitment, Mr Stephen Heydt, Senior Counsellor with Student Services, Dr Ann Stewart from the UQ Equity Office, Mr. Craig Hutchings from UQ SPORT, Ms Jan McCreary, Manager of UQ Study Abroad and Exchange and Professor Jenny Strong who spoke about her ongoing Painful Words research which she began last year.

Other guests have included Mr Dan Nicolau and Mr Drew Sonne, UQ Alumnus and Student respectively, who spoke about their re-creation of the famous overland odyssey of the 1950s, Mr Kerry Herron, Founder of Herron Todd White Property Valuers, Ms Lizzie Brown, Director of Education, Training & Research with Engineers without Borders,

and Mr Tony ‘Bomber’ Bower-Miles and Gerry Lyle of the Vietnam Veterans Mine Clearing Team – Cambodia to speak about de-mining Cambodia.

We would also like to offer an open invitation to any of our Alumni and friends of the College to attend any or all of our Formal Dinners. It would give both current and past students an opportunity to meet and enjoy each other’s company in familiar territory. We hope some of our Alumni can take up the invitation as we would love to see you again.

Cromwell student guests include Sam Pocock who gave an account of his semester of study spent in Denmark, Toby Gordon, Amie Raymond and Sheree O’Dwyer who spoke about their experiences at the 2007 Queensland Student Leadership Forum and Adam Bartels, Gavin Edgley and Laura Skilleter who will be speaking about their experiences at the recent National Association of Australian University Colleges (NAAUC) Conference and applications for the Cromwell Student Association for 2009.

Formal Dinner guests, from left, Ms Jan McCreary, Manager, UQ Study Abroad and Exchange, Mr. Sam Pocock, Cromwell College resident, Mr. Lars Kirk, Honorary Consul, Royal Danish Consulate (Qld), Mrs Dorté Kirk and Ms Jette Kristensen.

Open Invitation to Attend Formal Dinners To all Alumni & Friends of Cromwell College As you all know, Formal Dinners at Cromwell are held every Tuesday evening during semester and on these occasions we invite special guests to speak to the residents.

We would like to extend an open invitation to any of our Alumni & Friends who either live in Brisbane and surrounds or who might be visiting at any time in the future, to attend any or all of these functions.

What:

Cromwell College Formal Dinners

When:

Every Tuesday evening during semester

Time:

5.30pm - Drinks & Nibbles in the Sir Ernest Savage Junior Common Room 6.00pm – 7.00pm – Dinner

RSVP: By 3.00pm the Friday before Formal Dinner (for catering purposes)

Contact:

Rebecca McEwen Smith, Development Manager

Ph: (07) 3377 1232, Email: r.mcewen@cromwell.uq.edu.au

Please know that all of you are very welcome to come back & visit at any time.

COCA News 2008 • Page

1973 was a very important year for Cromwell College – the first female residents moved in and from then on the whole world, as Cromwell knew it, changed.

Cooper, Roslyn Creaghe, Delwyn Dalton, Denise Dunn, Debby Frawley, Kay Giles, Diana Greenhalgh, Louise Hand, Jane McGrath, Vicki McKain, Rosemary Meyers, Carmel O’Brien, Jan O’Sullivan, Deborah Rasmussen, Alice Raward, Linda Roberts, Yvonne Ross, Violet Sampra, Helen Spreadborough, Beverly Sutton, Linda Warren and Robyn Wenck.

Who were those 27 female freshers who stepped into Cromwell history and added a new dimension to life at Cromwell?

Those ladies were – Debra-lee Bond, Leanne Heidke, Sarah Bradley, Sharon Carmichael, Susan Clarke, Elizabeth

Eric Wong, President of the 1973 Student Association put it so well – ‘Their

femininity has added to the College the finishing touch to a well-balanced community.”

That well-balanced community has grown stronger each year since 1973 and today more than half of the College residents are female. As a tribute to that earlier decision to allow female residents into the College, their presence has become an integral part of the Cromwell College of today.

Calling all Alumni who resided at Cromwell College in 1972, 1973 & 1974

Invitation to attend

The Cromwell College

Reunion of 1973 Residents (The first year of Co-ed at Cromwell)

The invitation is also extended to those who were resident in 1972 & 1974.

Come and enjoy the memories of the before, during and after of co-ed life at Cromwell with your fellow Alumni.

When: Where: Time:

RSVP:

Saturday 29th November, 2008 Cromwell College 11.30 am - Drinks & Nibbles 12.00 Noon - Lunch & Reminiscences 2.30 pm - Tour of College Wednesday 19th November, 2008

(please reply to Cromwell College via one of the following:ph: (07) 3377 1300, fax: (07) 3377 1499, email: stay@cromwell.uq.edu.au

Coming to the 1973 Reunion?

Need Accommodation?

Would you like to stay in a student room or one of our visitor rooms?

We have a number of accommodation options for you to choose from.

Check out our website for prices – http://www.cromwell.uq.edu.au Or phone (07) 3377 1300

COCA News 2008 • Page

o h Who was Who in 1973 o W h s a o W w h sa o h W s W o wa h s a W o ho w hW W s a w o h o W h o h W W s o a s h a w w W o h s a w COCA News 2008 • Page

Who was Who in 1973

COCA News 2008 • Page

1973

the year that was . . .

Australia in 1973 In General • • • • •

Patrick White wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The legal age for voters in federal elections is dropped from 21 to 18.

The Sydney Opera House opens.

Maternity leave for Commonwealth Public Servants is introduced.

Australians develop the "pop-top" can.

Visual Arts • • • •

Janet Dawson's portrait of actor-writer Michael Boddy wins the Archibald prize John Olsen's mural Salute to Five Bells is installed in the Sydney Opera House John Coburn designs the tapestry curtains for the Opera House stages Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles is acquired for the Australian National Gallery for $1.3 million

Radio •

the Australian content quota for radio is increased to 10%

Film & Television • • • • • • • •

Quiz show host Tony Barber wins the Gold Logie 27A and “The Child” episode of Libido share the AFI award Tim Burstall's Alvin Purple Libido, directed by John B. Murray, Peter Weir, Fred Schepsi and David Baker Bert Deling's Dalmas Albie Thom's Sunshine City Albie Falzon's Crystal Voyager Australian Film & Television School established

Theatre •

Peter Kenna's play A Hard God

Literature • • •

•

no Miles Franklin Award is made this year Patrick White publishes The Eye Of The Storm and wins the Nobel Prize for Literature the Literature Board of the Australian Council for the Arts replaces the Commonwealth Literary Fund Aboriginal author and artist Dick Roughsey publishes his first children's book, The Giant Devil Dingo

Society • • • • • •

the means test on pensions for people 75 or over is abolished the Whitlam Government appoints the first adviser on women's affairs, Elizabeth Reid all 1,300 entries in the National Anthem competition are rejected child endowment extended to children 16-21 in full-time education inflation skyrockets to 13.2% the Commonwealth bans the export of kangaroo products

COCA News 2008 • Page 10

CHIT CHAT

Round Up

I Followed my Heart

I lived in Cromwell (Top Cock and Top North) from 2004 to 2006 and can definitely say that I absolutely loved the whole experience!

After growing up on a farm in rural Zimbabwe, going on a Rotary Exchange to Brazil and then moving to Brisbane, College life really was quite an eye opener. No sooner had I arrived than Cromwell became my second home; the new friends I had made became my second family and I really didn’t want to leave. I love to get involved in everything, and Cromwell provided the perfect chance for me to do this; through a wide range of Sport, Social, Cultural and Leadership Activities which I had never even dreamt would be available to me before.

Highlights from my time at Crommie include: Bunkers (best ever), Recoveries, Girls Hockey (after a big night out!), Swatvac Socials (Sitting on the Hancock window sills – sorry, Hugh!), Shop Boy Parties (Mexican Shop), Chilling on the stairs in Hancock, Ball (!!), Asks, O-Week (running it and naming freshers) and of course, most of all my friends. Being a Zimbabwean, my family really was far away and still I will be forever grateful to my special friends (and their families) in Aussie who took me under their wing and invited me to family lunches, 21st birthdays and Easter holidays, I can’t tell you how much it meant to me and I hope that I can offer this to your children one day.

When I moved out of college I missed having all my friends on my doorstep, the wild nights out and all the shenanigans we got up to; but I loved the feeling of a different sense of freedom.

It was so exciting for me to do my own grocery shopping in fancy supermarkets, cleaning and cooking. I moved in with the best group of Crommie mates and we had a crazy year of good house parties, being ‘Dodgey’ Old Girls and finally making it to the Ekka Day Races – sweet!

Moving out of college made it much easier to prioritise Uni and it encouraged me to get even more involved in what UQ had to offer. I became a member of UQ Oxfam Group, UQ United Nations Students Association and the student representative of the Oaktree Foundation (a youth run Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to implementing Sustainable Development through Education in developing communities). My dream had always been to work for the United Nations Children’s Fund.

At the end of 2006, I was fortunate enough to travel back to Africa with a wonderful group of Aussie mates from Cromwell on an overlander truck. After our amazing trip, I stayed in Zimbabwe and volunteered with Save the Children U.K. in their Child Protection and Nutrition Program in Northern Zimbabwe and Southern Zambia where I worked with child abuse, starvation, public health and regional immunisation programs.

This really gave me a good insight into humanitarian work in Southern Africa and made me realise what an important part university graduates play in the working world, and that we are actually full of the right information that we can apply on a day to day basis in the real world.

In February 2007 I returned to Brisbane and completed my degree in Journalism and Political Science (Development and Peace Keeping) at UQ which I found extremely fascinating. The work I had completed in Africa complemented my studies hugely, enabling me to benefit from knowledge and experiences which I could apply to the final stages of my degree that not many other students could; I would strongly recommend this to anyone who has been thinking of travelling and volunteering to stop thinking about it and instead get out there and do it! It is an incredible experience.

While I was in the final stages of my studies, it was really stressful as I was applying for jobs all over the world at the same time as completing

My favourite school: Maanu Mbwami Community School, Livingstone, Zambia - we recently built that class room which now accommodates up to 80 children who attend class on a ‘hot seat’ basis. my final thesis and exams. My heart was set on working for the United Nations in Africa and as one of my professors told me, the best place to find a job was on the ground. So I finished my degree and set off for Africa! As soon as I arrived I started job hunting through Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi in the Aid/Development sector. By the middle of December 2007 I was lucky enough to find a job in sustainable development, exactly what I had studied at UQ. Since January 2008, I have been working with The Happy Africa Foundation (www. happyafricafoundation.org) and African Impact, a ‘Voluntourism’ organisation (www.africanimpact. com).

The Happy Africa Foundation is a UK Registered Charity and as a foundation established in Africa, Community Development and Conservation are at the core of our guiding principles. I work as The Happy Africa Liaison, and so I am involved in the assessment of projects that apply for grants and funding from our charity as well as the higher

Me and the kids of Masiphumelele Community School, Red Hill, Cape Town, South Affrica. levels of decision-making regarding funding, accountability and corporate social responsibility.

I spend most of my time visiting projects all over Africa, meeting with Government Ministries and relevant Government authorities in the countries we operate in and checking on our projects which include orphanages, schools, clinics, Home Based Care Programs for HIV Positive patients and their families and our Youth Sport Projects.

African Impact places volunteers from overseas in developing communities where their skills and expertise are used to assist the people in the communities in reaching their goals of achieving sustainable development. My job there is to research, plan, structure, monitor and report on the programs that African Impact and The Happy Africa Foundation support. My job now involves a lot of travelling to really exciting places through-out Southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe up to Kenya and Zanzibar), that are often many hundreds of kilometres away from any towns or cities.

I have been fortunate enough to play an integral part in establishing community clinics and hospitals, orphanages, schools, maternal health projects, AIDS/HIV Awareness, advocacy and counselling as well as soccer coaching programs for youth who were previously on the street or in juvenile detention centres. I am proud to say that in 2008 I have, with my great team, built or renovated over 22 classrooms through-out Southern Africa – a great experience and an achievement!

I must say, I do miss my days at Crommie, but I love what I do. I have seen things I never thought I would, from babies being born in the middle of nowhere, to houses being rebuilt, sharing in joy and pain with people who have lost everything or gained a new child. The total experience has been soul-searching, challenging, uplifting and rewarding all in equal measure. I feel as if my heart has grown in a way I never imagined, it’s somehow bigger and filled with more love.

I would give anything to go back and hang out with my mates at Crommie!

Love you Crommie!

Justine ‘Pembo’ Graham (2004-2006) P.S. I am more than happy to chat to anyone who wants to find out more about what I do.

Email me: justine@africanencounter.org

COCA News 2008 • Page 11

cont’d

Hello from....

Phil Kearney (2003-2005) is now living in Melbourne and doing/planning on doing a graduate certificate in business. Phil says his career aspirations lie in the field of business consulting after a few years of construction engineering experience. While at Cromwell, Phil was a Senior, Student Association President, Shop Boy, on the O-Week Committee, a BOG rep, QSLF participant and the Civil Engineering Society Social Convenor.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil), with Honours and also took part in the Hogan Graduate Program 2007.

Greg Matthews (2003-2005) has also moved to Melbourne and is working for the Australian Sports Commission.

Amanda Buckley (nee Tucker) (2001) is now married and living in the US. “My husband (whom those who went to college with me would remember as ‘Buckles’) took up a job over here composing music for movie trailers. I get to spend lots of time embroidering (something my fellow Cromwellians will remember me for, too!) and studying my Information Systems Masters. I was at Cromwell for both semester 1 and 2 of 2001 (in Top Thatcher) and was studying BE at the time. Since then, I have graduated B Sc(Hons) and G Dip Ed(Sec) from UQ and am currently studying MIMS through Monash.”

Vicky Hermann (nee Goatham) (19801981) – “It is many years since I’ve made contact with Cromwell but I always enjoy reading COCA News. After reading Deb Hodges-Langford’s Chit Chat notes in your last issue, I decided it was high time that I made contact too. I completed my BA and a post-grad honours year in 1983. I then returned to my home town and did library research in local history. I married John Hermann in 1987 and had our only son Christopher in 1989. We divorced in 1997 and I gained my Bachelor of Education. I currently do supply teaching in Gympie.

Like the children of quite a number of Cromwellians of my era (1980-81), my son commenced university this year and is studying Applied Science at QUT. Like Deb, I have fond memories of my college days.”

Jade Brischki (2001-2002) has moved back to her hometown of Gladstone and is teaching at Chanel College Mark Dekkers (1986-1989) completed Medicine in 1991 and then completed his training as an Orthopaedic Surgeon in 2001.

COCA News 2008 • Page 12

cont’d

Nursing is in my Blood

An Old Cromwellian Writes . . .

It was while catching up with the last COCA News recently that I saw there’s a 1973 reunion planned for later on this year. I’m one of the original girls who first stayed at Cromwell in 73, when it went co-ed. Some oldies may also remember my brother Jack Frawley who was at Cromwell from 1974 - 76 or so. Jack was famous for running the college shop for some time, and very strict in refusing credit to serial offenders who never paid up on time.

I was at Cromwell from 1973-75 and then moved into a flat with some other Cromwellians in 1976. I started off doing Physiotherapy, but had such a good time at Cromwell in 1973 that I failed first year!! I eventually graduated with an Arts Degree and then did my nursing training in Rockhampton - my mother and two sisters are also nurses, so it runs in the family no matter what!! I continued nursing in Brisbane, Toowoomba & Melbourne for many years, and also spent a long time in Canberra at Woden Valley Hospital from 1989 - 1998, in the Maternity Unit.

Well now.

In 1993 I dusted off my old Arts Degree, and did a Graduate Diploma in Library & Information Management at Canberra University. This was something I’d wanted to do for a long time, and after becoming a librarian I continued to work in both nursing and libraries until a few years ago. A lot of the library work was contract or part-time, but after returning to Queensland in 1998, via Toowoomba, Brisbane, then finally settling back in Rockhampton in 2002 - I’m now working as a medical librarian at Rockhampton Hospital, which I really enjoy.

Everyone said I’d end up in a medical library, and it happens to be at the hospital I did my original nursing training at.

Those were great years at Cromwell in the early days - I can remember the uproar in 74 or 75 when the fees were raised to $22.50/week!!! A “pot” of beer down at the RE was 28 cents in early 1973. One of my more abiding memories is fronting up for the cold meat and salad lunch in the dining room every Friday, after my four hour Anatomy practical session. No matter how hard you scrubbed your hands afterwards, the smell of formalin was so strong that it couldn’t be got rid of. And worse still, the pinkish colour of the cold meat at lunch, reminded one very unpleasantly of the anatomy specimens one had been delving about in all morning!! I sure the food’s improved out of sight since 1973!!

Other memories include the almost nightly infestation of the girls’ showers in Top Thatcher with all sorts of reptiles, plus slugs, turtles, toads and eels, most thoughtfully undertaken by some of our male Cromwellians, after a good night’s catch down at the Uni Lake. A lot of this activity usually went on around Orientation Week for unfortunate freshers! Other tricks included placing a bucket of water above someone’s door, knocking loudly on it, and then running away quickly. The lucky recipient always got thoroughly drenched.

This is a vague essay glimpsing one person’s perspective of life at Cromwell in the seventies.

It is dreadfully incomplete, lacking in factual detail and devoid of any identifiable theme. In these respects it mimics the life of the author, who has spent the thirty five years since leaving school just generally mucking about. But, with due apologies to Maxwell Smart, I would add the sentiment: “And loving it”.

So this is what it felt like for me when I was mucking about at Cromwell in the seventies.

It seems that when I started, Cromwell College had only recently started accepting female students. Without doubt college life was freshened hugely by the influx of female members, many of whom immediately made their presence felt in the student union and the debating society. These were interesting times politically, with frequent student demonstrations and clashes with Bjelke Petersen’s police featuring prominently in the news. On some occasions, Coronation Drive was completely closed by crowds of protesters.

I never did this of course, but must admit to going on a late night raid of College with some other Top Thatcher girls in my third year! For some unknown reason we decided to stick vegemite or honey around the doorknobs of selected personages, and also stuck honey around the toilet seats in Top Thatcher. Several miserable early-morning risers fell victim to this, and their screams could be heard from miles away. Unfortunately we were spotted during our mid-night commando raid on the door-knobs by the President of the Students House Committee, and dobbed in to the Principal the next morning. We were summoned to his office - Ashley Utting from memory, and given a severe talking to, including being asked if “it was a random selection, or was there any more scientific reason for the particular doorknobs chosen for vegemiting!!” I could probably go on forever but will stop now!

I really hope to be able to attend the reunion later on this year.

Kind regards

Debby Frawley (1973-1975)

Baby News – Congratulations to . . . .

Andrew Mullens (19971999) and Amy (nee Boedicker) Mullens (1997) are happy to announce the birth of their daughter, Sophie Elizabeth Mullens.

She was born on March 5th, 2008.

Stu Bade (1993-1998) and wife Natasha recently welcomed baby Bade number three into their family.

Nicholas Samuel Bade was born on 16th June, 2008 weighing 9lb 3oz. They wrote about a month after the birth… “Our move to Melbourne has kept us quite busy and we have now been in our new home for almost 2 weeks so life is starting to settle down a little.

Stu and I don’t know how we would have managed it all without the help of Jack and Leone – Stu’s parents. They have been fabulous and Leone is still here helping out.

The kids are exploring new parks and have gone for a train/tram ride into the city and gone to the Museum.

Danielle starts kindy next week and Andrew is starting at a fantastic day-care on the same day (he will go one day a week and Danielle has 2 half days of kindy a week).

Stu’s job at the Melbourne kid’s hospital is going great and he has already assisted with a number of operations

Cara Elms – “I can hear you”.

Baby Nic holas & D ad, Stuart dressed for , Melbourn e weather

and techniques he has never seen before.

Already it has been a worthwhile move! Tach is recovering from the Csection, the move took it out of her and so recovery is a little slower than usual and so having help has been invaluable.

All the best Stu, Tach, Danielle, Andrew & Nicholas Bade”

I’m an Audiologist

well It was actually during my time at Crom an me beco to College that I decided a had I if usly, Serio at?

Audiologist…..wh bad that tried eone som time every for dollar dy. For joke on me, I’d be a rich lady alrea is an ist iolog Aud an , know t those who don’ the with d erne conc nal essio Prof th Heal d Allie loss. ing hear of diagnosis and rehabilitation ing I am in my graduate internship year work s on focu a with ing Hear n ralia Aust for aids. I rehabilitation in the form of hearing ss the acro work and t Coas live on the Gold g the seein antly omin pred , NSW in er bord es. stori me tell to older clientele who like this e chos I act, cont le peop the Apart from ce and field because of the applied scien there that fact the it, technology aspect of

In the T.V. bunker, along with the news, we watched the new comedy show, MASH. Although ostensibly set during the Korean War, in our minds it was Vietnam we were watching and the anti-war themes of MASH echoed our own opinions.Likewise the outlandish humour of Monty Python seemed no more ridiculous than the real world, which struggled with massive social and technological change while increasingly awash with napalm, agent orange and radioactive fallout from nuclear tests.

As a dentistry student, I was compelled to conform to standards of dress and hair length dictated by the faculty which supervised a crowded timetable of clinical sessions. I would have preferred, like many others, to wear long hair, a beard and Indian clothes in the style of the Beatles circa Sgt. Pepper.

My girlfriend, on the floor below in Carmody Rd wing (which had previously housed domestic staff ) was studying sociology. She was free to pursue the whole anti-establishment hippy lifestyle which had arrived a decade late in Australia. London (where I am writing this) may have been swinging in the sixties, but for Brisbane it was the swinging seventies. would were jobs going, I could travel with it, cities, in ing work only not be restricted to too! g estin inter y prett be can and yes, ears that I Halfway through my B.Sc, I realised took I so , “be” to ed didn’t know what I want us. camp on r nselo Cou er Care a to myself off g that It wasn’t long before I found somethin fellow interested me. I got chatting with a ed turn it and ideas my t abou mate college g doin ntly curre out that they knew someone ng grilli after So y. iolog their Masters in Aud to do that person on their opinion, I decided felt I’ve then some work experience and since e.

I’ve found my nich wasn’t The learning curve is steep but if I se, diver is field learning I’d be bored. The and ants impl lear coch with including roles system diagnostic assessments in the vestibular I’ve role ual unus t and facial nerve. The mos dogs of ing hear the g testin had, involved ce. from UQ’s School of Veterinary Scien esting College is a great way to meet some inter These gs. thin g estin inter people studying met have ldn’t wou ably prob you le peop are iated assoc only and if you lived off campus same with people in your class studying the dships, frien g lastin from t Apar you. as g thin acts College contains useful networking cont ities. rtun oppo new to eyes your that can open they Ask people about what they do and how got there.

Study hard, Cara Elms (2003-2004) J

Whilst in full sympathy with the protestors and the radical environmentalists who predated today’s green movement, I stopped short of the crystal dangling, herbalism and astrology of the Age of Aquarius. It seemed obvious that the molecular biology of Watson and Crick, and the remarkable success of the space program were beginning to show us the amazing way the universe worked.

Speculative and science fiction by the likes of Kurt Vonnegut and Harlan Ellison spiced our conversation. And while we predicted environmental worries in the future, the seasons ran like clockwork on the blue-green planet that would one day send us to colonise the galaxy.

During four years at Cromwell I participated actively in college life, although, oddly, it didn’t feel like it at the time. Editing the college magazine meant driving to Herston every Friday afternoon in my 1959 M.G. to borrow an IBM typewriter from the printers. All the letters were on little golf balls which you changed to alter the font. And it was electric….very high tech.

In those days the drive from St Lucia to Herston on Friday afternoon didn’t involve much traffic. We had about nine cars in the car park at Cromwell. There was a wooden ramp on the edge of the hill where we serviced them.

Everything from oil changes to full rebuilds would be undertaken in the car park. There was a ready supply of students to lend a hand lifting out an engine or gearbox with a rope sling.

University debating was very lively, and the Cromwell team always did rather well. I enjoyed being part of the team, eventually as captain and finally convenor of the ICC debating and captain of the University team.

Griffith University had recently opened, so we challenged them to a debate in Mayne Hall.

Two of the Uni of Qld team members were from Cromwell. The Griffith team arrived in full Woodstock regalia, and sang their argument to guitar - Bob Dylan style. We lost, despite our skilled debating, victims of our perceived conventionality in an era of colourful dissent. (In fact nobody could really have been more subversive than us, despite the academic gowns.)

Oddly, the radical hippies of the seventies often became the most seriously business oriented of our generation.

In recent years I have spent time in India performing dentistry as a volunteer in refugee communities. Hardly a shrewd business decision, but I can wear those Indian shirts and grow the beard denied me during the years at university.

Keeping in touch with home prior to the invention of mobile phones and email involved letters, telegrams, and trunk calls from public phones. There raged a constant battle between the phone company and the electrical engineering students who would work out clever ways to make the phones operate without coins. Anybody with a meter

Continued page 14 COCA News 2008 • Page 13

All the Way to England cont’d Continued from page 13 of insulated wire and a couple of alligator clips in their pocket possessed an endless “my hour”.

We don’t realise what we have lost by no longer writing letters with a pen. Try it sometime, and you will see. Warmth and character exude from the hand written word. And the paper soaks up pheromones and wafts them up to the excited recipient.

College years were wonderful. Of course there were worries like exams, and the perennial shortage of funds, although we had no tuition fees in those days - a tremendous privilege. And the usual anxieties accompanying a variety of now sadly outdated mating rituals.

But my greatest anxiety at Uni was getting that bloody yearly college magazine written and published. To raise funds for this I had the bright idea of running a jazz night on a cruise boat.

(Jazz, as you know, was very popular in the hippy years!) A boat was hired, music arranged, and the bar stocked with beer and rum – traditional seafaring victuals.

Ten people turned up. It was the night of the state of origin football match, overlooked by me because I have never followed the football. One highlight of the evening involved holding the inebriated captain upright as we steered a wobbly course home to Hale’s Wharf around midnight.

(He had been drowning his sorrows over missing the match.)

I think we lost about six or maybe seven million dollars from the student fund that night. Perhaps there is a plaque in the dining hall by now in commemoration. We couldn’t afford one at the time.

If you find a copy of that year’s college magazine I think it is stencilled on butcher’s paper and the covers are made from old beer cartons. (The following year a group of hippies produced the magazine, and turned a handsome profit.)

Post college life for me has been greatly varied and exciting in ways both good and bad. Like most lives. But those halcyon days at college are not something I return to often in my mind. Rather, they simply exist, still as part of my life. Like the friends of more than thirty years, who still read Ray Bradbury when he publishes a new book. Or go to a Joan Baez concert. Or phone to say Clint Eastwood has just directed another movie. That’s not to say we don’t watch South Park, or listen to the Last of the Shadowpuppets or text each other frequently. We are lucky enough to enjoy both old and new together.

So I rarely become nostalgic and say “It was great back then.” It still is great back then. And back then is somehow richer because it is part of the whole world’s here and now. And there is only one place to be. Here now. “And loving it!”

I graduated from UQ in December 2000 and sadly said good-bye to Uni, Cromwell and good friends for my ‘2 year’ trip to London (which has turned into 7 years and counting!). I worked with a construction company called Costain as an engineer for 5 years when I first came to London and while with them I had the opportunity to work on the construction of the new Eurostar Terminus in London - St. Pancras Station, which is where I met my lovely husband-to-be Chris (although I didn’t know it at the time!).

We got married on the 31st May 2008 in Crowborough, East Sussex which is where Chris grew up and luckily for us (because this is England) it didn’t rain! We had a fantastic day - it was great to have friends and family come from all over the world and a few Crommie buddies made it as well. (Thanks Jodes, Shelby and Porter!)

I’m now working for another company called ikon Services which is a professional housing and regeneration consultancy.

We hope to make it back over that side of the world at the end of next year so hopefully we’ll get to catch up with friends then.

Irene Hungerford (nee Chan) (1997-2000)

Reconnecting Crommies .....

Sister and brother, Sarah (1999-2002) & Thomas (1996-1999) Fuller are now both living in Canberra. Thomas is a trade lawyer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Sarah is a Project Co-ordinator with the Community Services & Health Industry Skills Council. Sarah is keen to make contact with any Crommies living in Canberra, so please send her an email on: sarahbfuller@yahoo.com.au

Reconnecting Cromwell Alumni

SKILLED PERSONNEL FOR VARIOUS POSITIONS

Cromwell College Board of Governors Position The Board of Governors provides the legal structure Description: behind the College, chooses the Principal, determines

policy and approves the budgets and major expenditure.

Personnel A range of good and talented people with a heart for Required: young adults and for the College.

Membership Members can be elected by the Board, appointed by the Process: Uniting Church Synod or be Alumni of Cromwell

College.

For further info contact: The Principal, Rev. Dr. Hugh Begbie, or The Chair, Mr.

Ben de Jong

From one beautiful day (Australia) to the next (England).

Monty receiving his Leukaemia treatment.

2010 Cromwell 60th Anniversary Committee Position The 60th Anniversary Reunion will be held in mid-2010 Description: and number of people will be required to help arrange

this event.

Personnel Required: Committee members, interested helpers

and Alumni detectives.

Talents An interest in/talent for organising large-scale events, a Required: connection to/Alumni of Cromwell College, a huge

interest in catching up with and making new friends

with Cromwell Alumni from all eras.

For further info contact: Mrs Rebecca McEwen Smith, Development Manager

FILLEDto the Brim with Conferences

Ken Gover (1974-1977)

Ross Wrigley – (1979 -1980) is now living and working in China and has his own consulting firm, WORLDView Consulting, there. Ross was formerly a partner and Chief Operating Officer for the Management Consulting Business of KPMG in the Hong Kong/ Chinese practice. Ross would like to make contact with any of those who were at Cromwell during his time here. He can be contacted on the following email: rosswsi@hotmail.com

d e t n Wa

The ‘Shave-for-a-Cure’ line-up - the ‘volunteers’ (seated from left) John Flett, Tim Potter and Gareth Mitchell, and the ‘hairdressers’ (from left) Colleen Ferries, Matthew Farr, Adam Bartels and Rebecca Smith.

Once again our rooms were filled to capacity with conference and accommodation bookings during the mid-semester recess in June and July. Our association with the Queensland Junior Rugby Union State Championships, the Queensland Aerospace Youth Forum and the Southern Skies Tournament groups continued. Over 400 students and coaches from all over Queensland and the world occupied students rooms during that period.

Hello from....

Natasha Coventry (nee Rickert) (19952000) – Dr Natasha and husband, Justin and baby Josh now call Cooktown home. Tash has been working part-time since the birth of Josh and they called in March to visit Cromwell on a trip home to see family in Toowoomba.

Would you like to reconnect with someone from your era?

Don’t know their address or email? Then I may be able to help.

Bandfest 2008 - The Dream Machine was electric.

s ern Skie ed South from all st o h ll e ts Cromw nt participan . me Tourna over the world

Just call or email me, give me the details of the person you wish to reconnect with and I will check our data base to see if we have the info. I will contact them for you and give them your details. They are then free to reconnect with you.

Please feel free to ring/email me at any time.

Rebecca McEwen Smith, Development Manager Ph: (07) 3377 1232, Email: r.mcewen@cromwell.uq.edu.au COCA News 2008 • Page 14

Dr Natash

a Coventr

Celebrating St. Patrick’s Day in style.

y & family.

Qld Junior Rugby Union State Championship participants wait to enter their rooms.

COCA News 2008 • Page 15

B l l a a l l B Ball Ball Ball Ball Ball B l a B At-Home ball

Ashlei gh S Toby G tuart & ordon

thew Mat & s Hill gin Hig Dané e s i Lou Farr &

The Dining Hall at its best.

Neel Menon & Rhiannon Cahill

Mitchell Ha Amie R rwood & aymond

The Extended Cromwell Community Uniting in Friendship for the College Future

4 Yes! I am pleased to send my gift to Cromwell College Foundation (ABN: 26 282 868 309) to help support young people now and for generations to come.

Please send your gift to Cromwell College Foundation, Walcott Street, St Lucia Qld 4067.

Phone 3377 1300 Fax 3377 1499 Email friends@cromwell.uq.edu.au Web www.cromwell.uq.edu.au

My gift is enclosed for:

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I enclose my cheque or money order made payable to Cromwell College Foundation (crossed Not Negotiable)

OR credit card

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Signature on card: ___________________________

IRI

SP

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Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms/Dr____________________________ Address _______________________________________________________________ Postcode __________ Phone (W) _________________________ Phone (H) ___________________________ Facsimile ___________________ Email _____________________________

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Please send me information on Leaving a bequest to Cromwell College Assisting with Alumni events and programs (If your details have changed recently please indicate in area above). Please note that all gifts are tax deductible - Your receipt will be sent to you.

ER

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