Servire Regnare - Volume 83

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

As the school year comes to a close, I am honoured to reflect on my time as the President of the Past Student Committee. It has been a year filled with memorable moments and significant achievements.

I am thrilled to report on the highlights of the year as the recently appointed President of the Past Student Committee. I took over presidency from David Muguira in October and I am grateful for his years of dedicated service. Not only did I take over presidency, we also appointed a new Vice President, past student Ky Banset.

EARLIEST PHOTO OF OUR ORIGINAL SCHOOL POOL (1925)

CONSTRUCTION OF OUR NEW SCHOOL POOL (2023)

One of the highlights of the year was our successful Burry Weekend where past students, present students, staff and parents gathered to lend a hand in preparing the school grounds for the new year. This event has become a cherished tradition and I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the volunteers who dedicated their time and effort to make it such a success. This weekend epitomises what our school motto is all about – Servire Regnare.

If you are looking for a social event in January, we would welcome your help on this very important weekend of the Souls family calendar. The projects that are undertaken whether they are big or small are very much appreciated by the school on their commencement of the school year.

Our school has once again excelled in various sports throughout the year. We witnessed outstanding performances from our ASSG netball and rugby union teams in the 2023 Champagnat Cup. Their dedication and hard work paid off with both teams finishing runners up to Marist College. Congratulations to all students who represented our school with pride and commitment.

Both the 15s and the Firsts rugby league teams participated in the highly competitive North Queensland Independent Secondary School Rugby League Competition. Making it to the grand final is an incredible achievement and I commend our teams for their resilience and teamwork. Though we faced tough opponents our 15s emerged victorious against Ryan Catholic College. The First XIII put up a valiant fight but were ultimately defeated by Columba Catholic College. Well done teams, your dedication and sportsmanship have done us proud.

The annual QISSN & QISSRL carnivals in Brisbane provided another opportunity for our students to showcase their skills and compete at a higher level. I want to commend all students who represented our school at these events. Your commitment and passion for your respective sports are truly inspiring. I am thrilled to announce that our long-awaited reunion has finally arrived. After months of planning and preparation we are eagerly looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and reliving cherished memories we shared at school. The reunion promises to be a joyous occasion filled with laughter, reminiscing and a sense of belonging. I extend my gratitude to our committee and the school for their hard work in making this event possible.

Friday night was a fun family affair featuring cricket and netball games under lights on O’Keeffe Oval followed by entertainment by the ever so talented local, Kelli Shun. We arranged transportation back into town once at the closure of out event for your convenience. Additionally, we also held the P& F Fete this year for the first time since 2018.

I personally had a great time reconnecting with all of you and reminiscing about our cherished memories from the past.

As the school year draws to a close I want to express my deepest appreciation to all past students, teachers, staff and current students who have contributed to the growth and success of our wonderful school. Your dedication and commitment have made ASSG the extraordinary institution it is today.

Thank you.

Bianca Mason (nee Hastie) 2000-2008

OLD GIRLS BRISBANE

What a difference a day makes, as they say.

With so many lunch cancellations during Covid our November 2022 Christmas lunch was a wonderful occasion with 21 in attendance and 17 apologies. For the 1962 Junior Class it was extra special as we had Marcelle and Alan Wheatley join us. We had not seen Marcelle (Vorby) since leaving school at the end of 1962. How wonderful it was and though we may lose touch, the Gabes link stays strong.

Our 2022 Donation was for the Museum and we had much pleasure in sending a cheque for $ 500 to Howard Lowe. I know that this money will be put to good use.

March was our first luncheon for the year with a very good attendance. We were thrilled to have members of ASSG join us. It was wonderful for Headmaster Shannon Lee to be with us for the first time, and to welcome Erin Blennerhassett, Girls School Captain and Annabel Rug, Girls Vice Captain, along with Staff member Janey Dickson who is a Gabes Old Girl. What a joy it was to meet Erin and Annabel and to hear of what is happening at ASSG and enjoy their company. What poised and wonderful young ladies they are. A presentation was made to Erin and Annabel of a cheque for $ 300 for the Gabes Z- Club, to assist with projects they have in place for 2023

Sadness was with the Old Girls again with the death of Jean Heath and Prue Clarke OAM both in August 2022. Jean was a Richmond girl and Prue Head Girl in 1957. Norma Perry died in January 2023 and Betty Donohue in April. For many years Norma along with her best friend Carol Milton looked after the raffles at our lunches. Betty’s home town was Boulia and Bet attended Gabes from 1949 to 1952. They will be sadly missed.

Our lunches will continue in March, August and November on the 3rd Thursday of the month at The Garden Room

Roma Street Parklands

Brisbane

11.30 am for 12 noon

Once again, as always, our thanks to our Gabes Old Girls for their loyal support. To Shannon and ASSG, we thank you for your continued support of our group. What you do for us is greatly appreciated and noted.

With every best wish to all at ASSG.

Jacki Clayton 0447 766 765

Pat Pepper 0458 696 267

WE NEED YOUR HELP...

Attendance numbers at our Reunion Weekend this year were down in comparison to previous years, with around 50 attendees on both the Friday & Saturday Night events. Subsequently, these low numbers also meant that we had to cancel the Great Debate this year.

In order to keep our Reunion Weekends going we need participation from our Past Students, so we are asking for feedback on what you might like to see from us at future events.

If you have any feedback on past events or recomendations for future events, please send the Past Students Association an email to paststudents@allsouls.qld.edu.au we would love to hear your suggestions!

FROM THE MUSEUM

• The School’s Museum continues to attract visitors and considerable items of memorabilia: WW2 replica medals of Walls of Fame member Colin Scott, the School’s first recipient of a Duke of Edinburgh Silver award - Paul Thomas, early football guernseys from Jack Mann just to name just a few. We cannot display everything we get immediately, but try to do so on a rotation basis.

• The Museum Care Group has been joined by long-serving member of the teaching staff, Mac Horne – now retired. He has been very useful in providing missing names of many photos of his time from 1986 and is sorting through other archival material from his time.

• There are still many centenary books “A Remarkable Tribe” and centenary blazers available at much reduced prices as well as Past Student and School merchandise

• It is hoped the long awaited research book on the School’s War Dead Honour Roll will be published in the near future.

• Elna Kerswell’s donation to the museum will be much appreciated with the long process of cataloguing and/or digitizing our records – making wider access to our records. We receive quite a number of research requests from members of our school family.

Howard Lowe

WORLD WAR TWO ROLL OF HONOUR RESEARCH PROJECT

The final write-up of research on the 72 known former students of All Souls’, who were casualties of WW2, continues and is now over half-way. It is very exciting to bring the boys’ lives and family history to public view.

This list of 72 does not include those who may have died several years later as a result of wounds, injuries, or illnesses connected to war service. As per Australian War Memorial guidelines, those who died within two years of their active service being terminated, in circumstances or of conditions directly caused by that service, are included. Similarly, any civilians known who died as a result of war events e.g. being taken captive by Japanese, are not included. Those persons will, however, appear in a separate list at the end of the book.

It is estimated that 550 former All Souls’ students served in WW2. That equates to between a quarter and a third of students to date. It is not yet known how many St Gabriel’s students served.

As a result of this research project, school students are now provided with information on selected members of the honour roll in the lead-up to Anzac Day and welcome the information and photos. Many feel great connection with the young men who lived in the same district, or played in the footy team, or represented their house in athletics. This contributes to the All Souls St Gabriels School spirit and continues students’ understanding of the school’s identity as a war memorial school.

Roberta McPhail-Hogg Historical Researcher - WW2 Project

Past Students Association

FROM THE CAPTAINS

The 2023 school year began with much excitement across the entire student body. With a jam packed year ahead of us the ASSG family were ready for what 2023 brings. It's always good returning to school after the Christmas break and seeing the familiar faces as well as some new ones looking forward to joining our community.

Term 1 kicked off with the Installation of our Senior Prefect Team, Captains as well as the Installation of our new Chaplain Father Philip Bentley. These installations all took place in the Chapel as the whole school congratulated our Prefects who were all ready and excited to serve. Across the 2023 school year we saw a number of students excel in swimming, cross country and athletics carnivals. Accomplishing clean sweeps once again for our 17th year cross country streak, students went on to participate and be selected in NQ State Championships where their talents greatly assisted in the overall win of the Inter-School Athletics Carnival.

Many amazing sporting opportunities were presented across the year with weekend netball and rugby union/ league carnivals versus Marist College Emerald. The First Rugby League team played an outstanding InterSchool round in the new NQISSRL competition playing teams from Townsville, and finishing up 2nd before then preparing for their Confraternity Carnival. The girls First Netball team continued to grow and improve each week as they played their club and Inter-School season. As prepared as they could be, both teams traveled down to Brisbane for QISSN and Confraternity, hosted by St James Lutheran College and St Lawrence College. During these exciting yearly carnivals our school’s values were without doubt demonstrated proudly on the courts and fields. Returning to school, the same efforts rippled into the continuing Inter-School seasons of debating, netball, touch football, cricket and softball, with teams excelling in each.

Off the sporting field and out of the classroom students thrived through their involvement in Rural Activities and in the Arts. Students were able to represent their school pride through the multiple shows, events, awards and other awards for their chosen area. The New Zealand ski trip was finally re-introduced this year to 10, 11 and 12 Students. 76 students and staff went on the 11 day trip that consisted of 4 days snowboarding and skiing on Mount Hutt, visits to hot pools, snow tubing, shopping and creating lifelong memories with each other.

A big congratulations to all the students who have represented and continue to represent our School throughout the year. We would like to wish all students well when approaching the end of the year through their final assessment pieces and we hope all students, staff and ASSG family have a good remainder of the 2023 school year in all endeavors. Thank you, All Souls St Gabriels School for a memorable and successful 2023!

Erin Blennerhassett & Seth Guldbransen

2023 All Souls St Gabriels School Captains

BELOW: 2023 Captains & Prefects

HEADMASTER’S REPORT

The School continues to enjoy a strong connection with the Past Students Association evidenced by the 61 volunteers who gave back to the community to start the year at Burry Work Weekend. After a couple of years of interruptions with COVID it was good to be able to have a Burry Weekend again. I see this weekend as a bit of a turning point and would forecast that we see a return to Burry weekends with more significant projects on the agenda in the future. That said, what we were able to achieve certainly set us up well to begin 2023.

Major projects included: replacement of the shelter over Scottie's table, removal of tennis hit up wall and surrounding concrete, repairs to Dining Hall furniture and doors and the refurbishment of many gardens. It is clear our School motto lives on in our past students.

The School has entered into its first year of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan and has shown clear intent towards continuous improvement.

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES Campdraft Clinic

Following its success in 2022 this is the second year we have offered the Campdraft Clinic.

Pleasingly we had double the number of students participating (28). The clinic was well received by the students and their families. It would not have been possible without the support of the Allingham family who generously provided the cattle and the work of David Atwell in bringing it all together. I know the students who were able to participate are grateful for the opportunity.

Emerald Trip

At the end of Week 4 in Term 1, we had a number of ASSG Netball and Rugby Union teams travel to Emerald to play in the 2023 Champagnat Cup. Our teams spent the weekend playing games against Marist College Emerald and Emerald State High School. ASSG finished up the weekend as Runners Up to Marist College Emerald. Special mention goes to our Under 15's Boys team who won their age division.

North Queensland Anglican Schools (NQAS) - Music Festival

The NQAS Music Festival was an inaugural event both for the Music Festival and NQAS. It is anticipated that this association will continue to grow in the coming years and will include sporting carnivals in 2024.

NZ Ski Tour

After a number of years not being able to travel overseas, the return of our NZ Ski Tour was well received by both staff and students. Throughout the last week of the holidays 67 students and 10 staff travelled to Mt Hutt, NZ. Despite considerable disruption to the flight plan over and less so on the return, our staff and students had a wonderful experience. Reports from staff and the general public were that our students were outstanding in the way they represented the School throughout.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS Campus Improvements

The School has been working diligently to enhance our campus facilities and create more enriching educational environments for all of our students, from Pre-prep to Year 12. Off the back of our 2022 Community

consultation process, it was overwhelmingly clear that the School community considers a swimming pool as a critical facility for an Independent School in North Queensland. Following the forced closure of our pool in January 2023, the School team has worked closely with the two School Boards to develop a plan to make this a reality.It is with immense joy that we announced our plans to construct a brand new, state-of-the-art, eight lane, 25 metre swimming pool.

The addition of a new pool on our campus is a significant milestone and it reflects our commitment to providing a well-rounded education for both our day and boarding students that encompasses physical fitness, water safety and recreational opportunities. We believe that swimming is not only a valuable life skill but a fun and engaging way for students to stay active and build confidence. It will also enable the School to engage with the local community.In addition to enhancing physical education, the pool will serve as a venue for various extra-curricular activities, school events and create even more opportunities for students to bond and thrive together.

Further works completed during 2023 include:

- upgrade to the Rural Activities Precinct which includes utilities, an office, open air classroom and new crush.

- fans installed in Halse Hall

- fans and lighting upgrade in the Chapel

UQ Partner Schools Program

As part of our Annual Improvement Plan we have entered into a partnership with the University of Queensland to develop a Teaching and Learning Framework informed by the most current research in this space.

Gateway to Industry Schools Program (GISP) - Agribusiness

The Gateway to Industry School Program (GISP) builds partnerships between schools and industry to enable young people to acquire the knowledge, skills and attributes to participate effectively in the Queensland economy and provides opportunities for industry and the education sector to work together to deliver outcomes for students, local communities and businesses. We have signed an MOU to become a GISP for Agribusiness and are investigating Hydrogen Energy and Advanced Manufacturing.

QUT Partnership

We are continuing to develop our partnership with QUT for preservice and beginning teachers. In 2024 we expect to be able to offer a Cadetship Program for preservice teachers from QUT.

Communication

In Term 4 we will be launching a School App to improve communication with our families. Each week I will share a 'vlog' a short video highlighting the opportunities and successes experienced by our students. Linked to the introduction of the School app has been a modification to the cycle and purpose of the Phoenix Rising. The Phoenix Rising is now a Termly publication celebrating the many opportunities and successes of our students.

Chaplain Installation

Fr Phil Bently has been a welcomed addition to our community, taking on services for Junior & Senior School, Boarding, St Paul's Charters Towers, St Aidan's Pentland, Eventide Nursing Home and Dalrymple Villa.

It is an exciting time for us as we continue to strive to provide outstanding educational and extra-curricular opportunites for our students. We look forward to welcoming you back to the campus.

Mr Shannon Lee Headmaster

BURRY WORK WEEKEND

Our annual Burry Work Weekend was yet again a great success and we were able to see the completion of many different projects around the school. A HUGE thank you to all of the Past & Present Students, Staff & Parents who volunteered their time to maintain & improve the school in time for the 2023 school year. It's weekends like this where our school spirit shines!

CELEBRATING SUCCESS

On the first day of Term 1 we acknowledged our Dux of School and Proxime Accessit (runner up to Dux). Our Dux of 2023 was Amelia Wearing, who also recieved the Morris Prize. Our Proxime Accessit was Caitlyn Elliott. Both Amelia & Caitlyn are decendents of Past Students.

2022 Proxime Accessit - Caitlyn Elliott

2022 Dux of the School & Morris Prize Winner - Amelia Wearing

Week 1 of the Term 2 holidays saw the First Netball & Rugby League teams travel to Brisbane to participate in the Annual QISSN & QISSRL Carnivals. The competition proved extremely tough this year in both competitions and our girls walked away with two wins and eight losses, finishing 6th in Pool 8. The boys finished the week with two wins and four losses, placing 6th in the Confraternity Bowl Division.

A big congratulations to our students who were recognised for their efforts at the closing ceremony awards: Anna Milton (ASSG Netball Best & Fairest)

Corey Musk (ASSG Rugby League Best & Fairest)

James Scott (ASSG Rugby League Spirit of the Carnival)