2024 St Gabriel's Old Girls Newsletter

Hello Everyone

2024 NEWSLETTER

Thank you for another great year with the Old Girls – always interesting as we meet, catch up and enjoy wonderful friendships. And 2023 was kind to us all.

Our March luncheon was a great success welcoming our Northern ASSG visitors once again. It was wonderful for Headmaster Shannon Lee to be with us for the first time, with Erin Blennerhassett, Girls School Captain and Annabel Ruyg, Girls Vice Captain, along with staff member Janey Dickson, who is a Gabe’s Old Girl. What a joy to meet Erin and Annabel, also hearing what is happening at ASSG. What wonderful young ladies they are. We had the pleasure in presenting to Erin and Annabel a cheque for $300 for the Gabes Z-Club, to assist with projects they have in place for 2023.

Our end of year donation for 2022 was for the Museum, and with thanks to the Brisbane Old Girls and those attending our November lunch, we sent a cheque for $500 to Howard Lowe. I know this money will be wisely spent.

The 2023 Past Students Reunion, which was held in September, instead of October was a great weekend.

While numbers were down, for those who did attend it was a special time to be with mates and be back at our school. The Friday night was the fun night of catching up, cricket and netball games, while the tradition of the reunion was held on the Saturday night. ASSG is a school built on tradition, something we must never lose sight of. Saturday evening saw the induction of two past students to the Walls of Fame. Dr Anthony Morton MD;MS and Reverend Professor John Moses, Dr. Phil. I have attached a profile of each of these gentlemen with this newsletter.

The Reunion dinner followed a very successful ASSG Fete. It was delightful to see so many people and children enjoying themselves and thanks must go to Tracy Maff, President of the P&F, her committee, every person, including students who helped set up and everything else that makes these events a success.

Your contribution was greatly appreciated.

The Sisters afternoon tea for the Northern SSA Old Girls will again be held, and Sisters Gillian and Sandra have invited us to join them on Sunday 28th April 2024 at the Sisters Units at Symes Grove. Time is 2:00pm There is now a slight change to our 2024 lunches. The numbers for our August lunch have fallen off to the extent that it has been decided to only hold a March and November lunch. Should anyone wish to meet for coffee in August, we will just do a ring around.

Lunch dates for 2024 are as follows: March Thursday 21st 2024 November Thursday 21st 2024 The Garden Room Roma Street Parklands Roma Street 11.30 am for 12 noon.

To all St Gabriel’s/ASSG Old Girls, we welcome you all to our lunches and would love you to join us. Our enthusiastic group is buoyed by the desire to keep our precious friendships alive, while still making a worthwhile contribution to the present day ASSG students.

Thank you once again for your loyal support throughout the year. These gatherings would not happen without the support and loyalty of you all.

In closing, I wish to especially thank Pat for her continued help and support to me during the year. Thank you, Pat. May we wish you and yours a Happy and Holy Christmas and every best wish for the New Year.

Jacki Clayton – 0447 766 765 rcl43539@bigpond.net.au Pat Pepper – 0458 696 267 pepperpat@bigpond.com

Doctor Anthony (Tony) Park Morton MD;MS (for distinguished service to medicine)

Tony Morton was born in 1933, coming from a cattle station near Urandangi to All Souls’ School 1944-1952. He excelled at school life, becoming school captain, dux, and senior CUO of the Cadet Corps. In Year 10 he won the state’s Byrnes Medal for the best pass in Junior with ten A results. In Senior he won a coveted Open Scholarship to university.

Tony also excelled at sport, winning the Ranclaud Cup as best all-round sportsman. He was captain of First rugby league and cricket as well as captain of athletics. Tony’s nickname was “Bulldog” for his aggressive style of play. Classmate and fellow Wall of Famer, Monty Morris, complained that “Bulldog” denied him a try by hauling him over the dead-ball line after touchdown.

At the University of Queensland he studied medicine and gained a MBBS in 1959.

He was also President of the Student Union and gained a sporting blue from St John’s College. In a rare double he gained a Doctorate in Medicine (MD) in 1980.

His service in public hospitals in Queensland was extensive with postings in Townsville, Toowoomba and Brisbane. He pioneered practice of intensive care medicine in QLD as Director of Intensive Care at Greenslopes Hospital 1968-1989 where he finished his career. He also served in 1 Field Hospital in Vietnam in 1970 and retired from the RAAMC with the rank of major.

Tony is one of Australia’s most eminent clinicians and researchers with over 100 papers (the first in 1967 and the latest in 2021) published in Australian and international journals such as The Lancet and the International Journal of Cardiology. He co-authored a textbook on hospital events and his statistical expertise has been used to analyse adverse hospital outcomes in countries as diverse as the USA, Mongolia, the UK and the post-Soviet bloc. With great generosity of spirit, he donated all royalties from this publication to fund students from developing countries undertaking advanced study at QUT Brisbane where he is Adjunct Professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences supervising postgraduate candidates.

Tony is Past President of the Australian Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering.

Tony’s achievements are not adequately measured by his higher degrees or publications, but in the medical students and junior doctors he inspired, and in the extraordinary esteem in which he is held by all he worked with, from security guards, orderlies and kitchen staff, to his most senior colleagues, for his quiet dignity, integrity and determination.

Reverend Professor John Anthony Moses DrPhil (for distinguished service to academia and the School)

John Moses was born in 1930 and attended All Souls’ School in 1944-1946. He came from Atherton and was a war-time evacuation student who lived at the Racecourse across the road and near the airfield while the school campus was commandeered by 116 Australian General Hospital until mid-1944. His lessons were often disturbed by the roar of B-24 USAAF bombers returning from raids on New Guinea.

John readily admits he did not excel at sport or scholastics at the time. But his perseverance in continuing with what seemed hopeless is a fine example to students today. He learned that one is not formed by past failures but by the promise of new possibilities. Having suffered rheumatic fever as a child he even left school with prized half-colours in gymnastics and then finished his Senior studies as a mature age student.

John Moses has reached the peak of his profession being recognised in Australia and internationally as a historian of repute. After studying for a BA (Hons) from the University of Queensland, he studied for a Masters degree in Munich while mastering the German language. Then as a Humboldt Fellow he gained a Doctorate from Erlangen-Nurnberg University.

As an academic, John has been the Head of History at the University of Queensland, editor of the Australian Journal of Politics and History, Adjunct Professor at the University of New England, and Professorial Associate at Charles Sturt University. John’s diverse areas of study include the Fischer Controversy and German war aims in WW1, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and army chaplain Canon David Garland who formulated our Anzac Day traditions. He has written many books and papers as well as numerous articles in current journals.

John has maintained close contact with the School. At the 1993 reunion he delivered the sermon in the Chapel and in 2000, at the reopening of the School, John voluntarily assisted in teaching for a term. In 2014 the Board of Governors commissioned John to produce the School’s centenary history which was published in 2019.

Having been influenced greatly by the Brothers of St Barnabas and Chapel, John was ordained priest in 1978 in the Anglican Church of Australia and served as honorary assistant in Brisbane, Armidale and Canberra. He took as his inspiration the transforming impact of the life of Jesus, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)