Thank you Korowa Parents’ Association

Staff News Farewell

At the end of Term 2 we said farewell to Grace Kinch after 18 years of dedicated service to Korowa. Throughout her time at Korowa she held a number of positions such as Director of Studies and Learning, Dean of Studies and most recently, Director of Curriculum. Grace is making a career move out of teaching to join Become Education as an Education Consultant working with schools in the design and delivery of the Become Me program which is a careers platform for schools. We thank Grace for her many years of dedication to Korowa and acknowledge the positive impact she has made on the lives of our students. In honour of her years of service, Grace was made an Honorary Korovian by the Korovian Club. Winsome (Thomas) Clark (past staff) was Head of Junior School from 1983 to 1990. Since leaving Korowa, she worked briefly in the tertiary sector and then became a psychologist. She is now in her final year of a PhD of Divinity. Her research is focused on exploring the contribution of pastoral care to people with intellectual disabilities and their carers.

Tributes The School extends its sympathy to family and friends of the following: Margaret Holmes (Past Staff)

on 23 April 2021. Margaret was a member of the teaching staff in the Mathematics Faculty from 1990 to 2002 and in her time made a great contribution to Korowa. She was a Year 8 Coordinator and for some years, a much respected Year 12 Coordinator. She also served a time as President of the Staff Association. The Korowa rowing community also very fondly remembers Margaret as the Teacher in Charge of Rowing – a role to which she brought her considerable organisational abilities and passionate interest.

Ann Hollingworth (Turner, Class of 1953)

on 13 April 2021. Ann’s sisters, Joan West (Turner, Class of 1955), Wendy Ault (Turner, Class of 1958) and Sue Hollingworth (Turner, Class of 1959) also attended the School. Ann was a Prefect in 1953, Vice-Head Prefect in 1954 and Captain of Akehurst in her final year. She went on to become a physiotherapist. During the course of her life, she moved to Brisbane when her husband, the Right Reverend Dr Peter Hollingworth AC OBE became Anglican Archbishop and later to Canberra when he was appointed Governor General of Australia. Ann officially opened The Cripps Centre in 2002. For some years, Ann kindly hosted Korowa reunions in Brisbane and was patron of the Korowa Foundation’s Jessie Patrick Bequest Society.

Lucia Bergman (Fabinski, Class of 1954)

on 11 November 2020.

Ruth Carlton (Eddy, Class of 1946)

on 1 July 2021. Ruth was Head Prefect in her final year.

Marion Hawker (Ormsby, Class of 1945)

on 23 April 2021. Marion was very proud to have attended Korowa and was featured in our August edition in 2020.

Emma Roberts (Class of 2002)

on 27 August 2002 as a result of a tragic accident. Members of the Class of 2002 paid a heartfelt tribute to her when they collectively gathered their memories of Emma and sent them to her family. Emma was a much loved daughter of Tony and Glenda Roberts and beloved wife of Derek Keegan.

Janice Lumsden (Reader, Class of 1951)

on 23 March 2021. Janice’s daughter, Elspeth (Class of 1986) also attended Korowa. Janice was a lifetime supporter of the School. She was a member of the Korovian Club Committee for decades and served as its Secretary from 1980 to 1983 and its President in 1988 and 1989. Norma Miller (Wright, Class of 1946) on 17 June 2021. Norma was a boarder and a Prefect. Her sister, Dorothy Timmins (Wright, Class of 1954) also attended the School.

Wendy Reeve (McCausland, Class of 1945)

on 30 December 2020. Wendy’s sister Peggy (Class of 1949) also attended Korowa.

Dr Carolyn Royce (Schult, Class of 1981)

on 16 April 2021. Carolyn’s sister Elizabeth Schult (Class of 1985) also attended Korowa. Carolyn was a lifelong friend of Wendy Scott (Mackay, Class of 1981) who spoke of Carolyn’s life and final illness at the Class of 1981 40 Year Reunion held in May – a reunion that Carolyn had hoped to attend.

Community News

Valerie Stanton (Hands, Class of 1950)

on 8 January 2021. Valerie lived in Hobart.

Helen Spencer (Harvey, Class of 1942)

on 4 February 2021. Helen was a boarder at Korowa.

Elizabeth Thompson (Palmer, Class

of 1946) on 29 April 2021.

Rowena Thomasson (Israel, Class of 1993)

on 13 May 2021 as a result of a tragic accident in her home. Rowena, amongst other things, was a keen participant in the School’s music program playing both the trumpet and piano. Rowena is the daughter of Margaret Israel (Bremner, Class of 1962).

Births Kate Bocskay (Sellars, Class of 1996)

and her husband Nathan, welcomed a daughter Mikaela Sarah Sellars Bocskay on 30 December 2020. A sister for Archer. Libby Connell (Class of 2004) and her husband Michael welcomed their first child, Penelope on 13 January 2021 Kate Macciotta (Class of 2007) welcomed a daughter Pippa Hill on 28 January 2021.

Marriages

Jikara Calcagno (Liddy, Class of 1991)

married Alex Calcagno in August 2019 in Port Douglas. They live on 2.5 acres in East Trinity. Since 2003, Jikara has been working for Telstra as a Compliance Analyst.

Margaret Duncan (Class of 1981)

established, her own law firm Duncan Legal in 2014. Over the last seven years, while working from home, she has developed a passion to support families with disabilities to set up protective trusts and provide for their loved ones in Wills and Powers of Attorney. In the process, she has also raised three children. She got married to Greg Muir in April. As Margaret says, ‘I am loving the life journey’.

Annabel Yencken (Martin, Class of 2006)

married William Yencken on 12 December 2020 in a small seaside wedding. Fellow Korovians in attendance included Stephanie Martin (Class of 2004) Milly James (Stockdale, Class of 2005), Nicole Breen (Craig, Class of 2006), Victoria Shaw (Class of 2006) and Natasha Anstee (Class of 2006).

News

Brittany Berger (Class of 2012) is living in Warrnambool and is a couture seamstress who is starting up her own bridal company. She is also studying to become a secondary school teacher in textiles in an online course with Southern Cross University. Noel Bond (Harris, Class of 1945) who wrote to say that she is 93 years young and still loves gardening.

Ann Brownlee (Stubbings, Class of 1955)

had a career in nursing in Melbourne and private nursing in London. She spent 15 years living on the Mornington Peninsula. She has come full circle and now resides in Burke Road at the end of Ranfurlie Crescent!

Tania de Jong AM (Class of 1982)

who recently released her new album Solitary Harmony – an album recorded at her home studio with Anthony Barnhill during the extended lockdown in 2020. It is an album to be used for finding harmony within and beyond for meditation, reflection, inspiration, ceremonies and more.

Aimee Fraser (Class of 2003) who is returning to work as a secondary teacher after looking after her two boys.

Lisa Saffin (Burrows, Class of 1984)

is currently Deputy Principal at Presbyterian Ladies’ College. She is enjoying reconnecting with girls’ schools across Victoria and empowering young women to be future leaders.

Dr Amelia Pappas (Class of 2001)

is married with two children. She is currently running a private chiropractic clinic, Flex Spinal in Glen Iris.

Margot Parton (Nelson, Class of 1958)

after 30 years of living on the Surf Coast and following retirement, has recently moved with her husband to Clayton in order to be closer to her youngest son and her grandchildren.

Bonnie Purbrick (McAllister, Class of

1946) married John Pubrick in 1952 and they raised three children. The Purbrick family have owned the famous winery, Chateau Tahbilk since 1925. Bonnie’s son is now the winemaker and manager of the winery. She has eight grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. Bonnie was a boarder at Korowa.

Sue Nelson (Stewart, Class of 1958) is now retired. She trained as a nurse at the Alfred Hospital, was also a Grief Counsellor at the Alfred in the Heart Unit and worked in the Oncology Unit. Sue has three children and seven grandchildren. Her daughter, Georgina Simpson (Nelson, Class of 1986) also attended Korowa.

Congratulations to Julie Holland (Butterfield,

Class of 1974) who has just released her first contemporary women’s novel, That Summer in Nautilus Cove. Julie now lives in Noosa and the storyline is loosely set on the Sunshine Coast as well as in Melbourne. Julie and her partner also own a gallery/homewares store in Hastings Street and always welcome visitors from ‘down south’. You can follow Julie’s writing at facebook.com/juliehollandauthor.

Congratulations to Jenna Strauch (Class of

2015) who competed in the Tokyo Olympics as part of our swimming team. Jenna swam in the 200 metres breastroke heats where she finished third, with a time of 2.23.30. Jenna said after the race that qualified her for the semi-finals, ‘I think it was smack bang on my PB so I am very happy’.

Congratulations to Ann Liang (Class of

2017) who has secured a book deal with Inkyard/Harper Collins for her debut novel If You Could See The Sun. Ann describes it as ‘an all-Asian book of my heart and my love letter to Beijing’. It sounds like quite a read! The novel will be published in 2022. Ann is currently in her final year of a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Melbourne.

Congratulations to Professor Jenny

Firman (Class of 1975) who was awarded an AM in the Military Division in the Queen’s Birthday Honours ‘for exceptional performance of duty in the field of military medicine’. Jenny has had an interesting and varied career. Having graduated in Medicine from the University of Melbourne, she joined the Royal Australian Navy when female medical officers were a rarity. She had various postings and promotions. She travelled the world and advanced her medical knowledge and career.

After 22 years, she left full time service, but remained in the Naval Reserve and was given the rank of Rear Admiral in 2015. Jenny is currently Chief Health Officer at the Department of Veterans’ Affairs in Canberra. In 2020, she assisted in the national response to the pandemic working in the National Incident Room. Jenny was one of our guest panelists at our International Women’s Day Breakfast in 2021.

TRY US FOR A DAY

Discover what Korowa has to offer by participating in our Try Us for a Day Program. Girls can attend a full day at Korowa, joining their peers to see what Korowa is like, make new friends, explore the School and meet the teachers.

Please contact our Enrolments Office for more information Mandy Andrews Director of Enrolments P: 03 8808 8888 E: admissions@korowa.vic.edu.au

10–16 Ranfurlie Crescent, Glen Iris, Victoria, Australia 3146