Remembering Miss Beatrice Lilias Rennie

Parents of students who are also alumnae may remember Miss Rennie in the library during their time. Some grandparents may remember her as their Headmistress between 1925 and 1962. Miss Rennie has been remembered for her air of strength and leadership and her infectious love of literature.

For our current families and girls, she is remembered as one of the school’s founders alongside Miss Lawrance. The School’s Birthday falls on the same day as Miss Rennie’s birthday and when the first students discovered this, they brought her flowers to celebrate.

Over the years this has become a lasting tradition, though Miss Rennie began to feel embarrassed receiving flowers on the School’s Birthday and requested they be gifted to ‘the School’ and then shared within the community. On one particular birthday, Miss Rennie was unwell and unable to attend the School’s festivities. The girls gathered beneath her window and held their flowers up so that she might see them and feel a little better for it. This gesture has been repeated through the years and now the ‘raising of the flowers’ is an integral part of the School’s Birthday ceremony.

The girls hold their flowers up towards the Medway Building and give thanks for the remarkable contribution of our founders. At the conclusion of the ceremony the flowers are still shared with local Retirement and Nursing Homes.

I hope you were able to share a cupcake with your daughter today to celebrate Miss Rennie’s legacy. In her forty-six years with Queenwood, working alongside Miss Lawrance and then Miss Medway, Miss Rennie guided Queenwood through countless successes and challenges. In 1962 Miss Rennie retired as Co-Principal, however, Queenwood remained her home and she continued to take part in Junior School prayers, greeting arrivals, and working in the library.

At the 1971 Thanksgiving Service for Miss Rennie, Miss Medway presented a speech that recalled her accomplishments as an educationalist and person. The speech ended with the reassuring truth that “we did not, and cannot, lose her. She is part of the living spirit of Queenwood.” 50 years later the contributions of Queenwood’s founders continue to guide future generations of young women. •

Queenwood Celebrations

Celebrating Queenwood’s 96th Birthday

MATILDA KEARNS CLASS OF 2018

Matilda ‘Tilly’ Kearns attended Queenwood for 13 years and is a Red Shoe Girl. Tilly is an Australian Olympian, competing at the recent Tokyo Games in the Australian Water Polo team.

Goodmorning Guests, Parents, Teachers and Students.

I cannot believe I’m speaking to you all here as a guest at the School’s Birthday. It’s only been 3 years since I too was celebrating Queenwood, with my excessively big bouquet of flowers.

I always listened intently and admired the guest speakers that spoke at school events. I always had full intentions of making my big dreams come true, so with every speaker I envisaged that one day it would be me sharing my very fond memories of Queenwood, and my big life journey that followed. The one thing I didn’t quite count on was it being like this, via video chat, and being so soon after I had graduated. Nevertheless, it is an absolute honour to be speaking to you all today. So thank you so much Ms Stone and Ms Hughes for asking me.

Now some of you might remember me from the 2018 graduating class – I was the one with a wet ponytail dripping down the back of my dress always.

But for those who don’t, I’m Tilly Kearns. I’m 20 years old. I’m a water polo player, and I am an Australian Olympian. But I am also much more then that. I am also a student at university, a part time employee at a sportswear company and a Red Shoe Girl.

Becoming an Olympian was something I had dreamt of, always. Before I even started playing water polo my mind was set on becoming an athlete. I think Queenwood hyped me up too much because after the school swimming carnivals I was convinced my destiny was swimming, and after the athletics carnivals I thought shot-put was my calling.

At age 13, I dabbled in water polo, playing for Queenwood in the IGSA competition, and the local Friday night club competition. Needless to say, I was hooked.

Not long after, I worked myself up the ranks and into my first Australian Junior team. I was in year 9. Once I had made this team, water polo essentially became a full time job. My schedule went a little bit like this – wake up at 4am, drive to Homebush, train in the pool for 2.5hours, drive straight to Queenwood, depending on the day; I would have school water polo training, then would drive straight to Sydney University for my club training, get out of the pool at 9pm, and wake back up at 4am, 5 days a week, every week. It was absolutely gruelling. Actually thinking of it now makes me feel a little bit sick.

Straight after graduating from Queenwood, I was given the opportunity to play water polo and study at the University of Southern California, in the United States. So I took the leap, knowing that it would be that point of difference between myself and the next girl vying for that Olympic spot. It worked! I was asked to come back and train in the squad for Olympic selection.

After living in the AIS for 4 months, our team took off for a tournament in Italy. We landed in Dubai, and was waiting at the gate for flight number 2, when we were told that while we were in the air, a global pandemic had struck, and we had to go back to Australia immediately. 30 hours of flying to land exactly where we started. Soon after, the Olympics were postponed. Then a whole year later, the team was finally announced, and I had made it.

I could talk forever about the Olympics, but I’d like to focus on how Queenwood’s core values have been supported in my journey. These values are defined, however they also have different meanings to different people. So this is my take:

In school, I went through all the things any young girl would – insecurities, friendship struggles, a detention for forgetting my panama hat. I was bigger and stronger then all of the girls in my year. My shoulders were, and still are, twice the size. I even grew out of my red shoes before anyone else. In the early years of school I did struggle with this. But as soon as my water polo took off, I came to absolutely love it. I could do all these things that others seemed to be amazed of! The Queenwood culture brought it out in me. Their direction made me feel proud of who I am, and opened my eyes to accept the world as it is, and not resist who I am.

There were SO many times where I just wanted to be a normal student at school, or just to at least get more then 5 hours of sleep. I missed birthday parties and formals, school camps and even the HSC trials, which I eventually had to do separately after a 26 hour flight. I remember having the conversation with the wonderful Mrs Macey, talking about how much I was struggling with the load, and her springing into action to get me the help I so needed. I owe it to all of my teachers, especially my unforgettable Year 12 teachers – Ms Saunders, Ms Harvey, Ms Cannon. Thanks for turning a blind eye to me sleeping behind my laptop up the back of the classroom, and for not batting an eyelid when I would slip into Period 1, as it was ending.

Fast forward to 3 years later. My team lost the Olympic quarter final, going down to Russia by one goal. This was easily the hardest moment of my water polo life so far. We were so absolutely set on winning a medal. And just like that, the prospect was gone. This is where courage comes into play. Courage is strength in the face of defeat. We had to get back up, and play two more games (4 more days) to determine who would come 5th , 6th , 7th and 8th . Trying to play when your dreams had been crushed is pain.

The feeling my team was feeling was the worst pain of all in the world of sport. So I stand here as a proud Queenwood girl, knowing that I pulled together, along with my team, so much courage to get that next highest position, being 5th. We beat the Netherlands, one of the best teams in the world, by 7.

Girls, COVID-19 has thrown you the biggest challenge Australia has had to face. Muster up all of the courage in the world, it truly is a powerful thing. You’ve got this, because Per Aspra Ad Astra, through Struggles to the Stars.

Please always feel free to reach out to me. I will drop anything for a fellow Queenwood student and all of the brilliant staff. Thank you and Happy Birthday Queenwood! •