Archives

From the ARCHIVE Collection

Restored to Former Glory

The St Aidan’s School Banner, first created in the early years of the school, once glowed in glorious blue and white with gold thread embroidery.

The banner features Saint Aidan dressed in robes of gold holding a burning torch and his crozier, or shepherd’s staff, with a deer resting at his feet and the side panels showing white lily flowers, which symbolise purity.

The banner was first dedicated and blessed in the school chapel by Dean Barrett on 16 August 1949 and it hung in pride of place at the front of every school assembly, for the next 40 years. In 1993, a new embroidered school banner was presented to St Aidan’s, made by Miss Evelyn Heath, Headmistress of St Margaret’s School and the original banner was placed in the School Archives. This is where it remained until 2015, when St Aidan’s decided it was time for the original banner to be restored as an important part of our history.

Our St Aidan’s Archivist, Mrs Wendy Biggs, has worked with Mr Michael Marendy, a freelance conservator who currently works for the Queensland Museum, from start to finish on this project. Originally it was anticipated the project would take 18 months and the banner would be well and truly ready to be on display for our 90th birthday celebrations in 2019. But, all good things are worth waiting for, and the banner restoration ended up taking 4 years, due to the materials required to restore it authentically and for future preservation.

The restored St Aidan’s banner has now been installed outside the Auditorium in the Science and Technology Centre for all to enjoy, for many years to come!

Did you know the Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Advent made the wafers for Holy Communion services?

The Sisters began producing wafers with the help of local parishioners in 1948, when Sister Ruth, Sister Clare Elizabeth and Sister Mary Katherine joined the SSA, bringing with them new skills.

The “Wafer Room” was first installed beneath the Sanctuary of the Sisters’ Chapel at Albion. The motto of the workers was “Patience, Perseverance and Perfection” and it must have brought success because the business expanded so much that it required a new room to be built in 1964. Each year saw an increase in output and gradually new equipment, electric ovens and cutting machines were added. At its peak they were sending out 8.5million wafers per year to parishes throughout Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

Mother Eunice was in charge of the Wafer Room at Community House for some years. She remembers how Mrs Ahearn, the Head of St Margaret’s primary school used to take the smaller Primary girls to show them the Wafer Room. Mrs Ahern had a long rope which she held at one end while the girls followed behind her, in crocodile fashion, holding on to the rope tightly so that they would not get lost.

Unfortunately, by the late 1980s a combination of factors including the expense of replacing the ageing machinery, forced the closure of the Wafer Room. The building was turned into a Conference Room for groups on retreats.