HILDA’SNEWS
TheYearSoFar
As we approach quarter time in our 60th Anniversary Year, we have already welcomed 118 new students and their families to St Hilda’s College and over 150 alumni and friends to events in February and March.
This has included Welcome Day for incoming Freshers and their families, Young Alumni Bowls, The 60th Anniversary of the First Dinner at St Hilda’s, and our International Women’s Day Luncheon
Our 60th Year is an exciting time to be involved with St Hilda’s College and we hope you can diarise some of our future events to attend, not least our 23 November Family Day at the College, and Ball at San Remo Ballroom!
2024
YoungAlumniBowls
As a part of our 60th Anniversary Year, Hildarians from the 2018-2022 peer years were invited to be a part of the first alumni celebration of the year.
Making the most of the warm February night, the group came together to roll down a few bowls and partake in some light refreshments at the Fitzroy Victoria Bowls Club.
This event provided previous students with the opportunity to reconnect, and reignite the sense of Communitas which is entrenched in the St Hilda’s community.
And no party would be complete without a cake!
Photos from this event can be seen on Flickr
2024 is our 60th Anniversary year and we want YOU to be part of the celebration!
WelcomeDay&O-Week
On Saturday 17th of February, we welcomed a new cohort of 118 students and their families to the St Hilda’s Community!
Following months of organisation from the excited O-Week Leaders (pictured right), they were finally able to begin connecting with the keen new students.
The theme of O-Week was Superher-O week, with many of the events and outfits of the week following this theme. The new students developed their connections with one another and the college through a series of well planned out events, helping them to feel a sense of community and adjust to this new environment.
Have a look at other photos from the OWeek flickr album here
Read an in-depth recollection of Welcome Saturday and O-Week, written by our Community Engagement Intern (and OWeek Leader), Georgie Macho.
IntroducingourGC&Exec
We welcome our new Executive Team and General Committee of the St Hilda’s Student Club for 2024.
President: Paddy Ryan
Vice President: Bryce Junk-Gibson
Secretary: Tobias Miliankos-King
Treasurer: Joshua Lee
Cultural Director: Sharon Anthony
Communitas Director: Jesse McDougall
Developmental Director: Abbey Miller
Social Director: Ciaran Noble
Sports Directors: Amy Li & Ben Mithen
International Representatives: Jade
Busch
Queer Representative: Alison O’Brien
Fresher Representatives: Ashna Sharma & Dillon Lane
CommencementDinner
On the sunny summer evening of February 29th, a team of students and staff transformed the front quad into a gorgeous outdoor dining area where our Commencement Dinner for 2024 was held.
The dinner involved musical acts, speeches from the Principal James “Jimmy” Hardiman, Student Club President, Paddy Ryan and our Dean of Students, Fiona Cadorel.
The evening was taken as an opportunity to recognise the outstanding academic achievements of our 2023 students, and marked the welcoming of both new and returning students as the St Hilda’s student community for 2024.
See more photos from the evening on the Flickr Album
Re-creationoftheFirstDinner atStHilda’s...60yearsago!
An emotional reunion of 38 founding alumnae & guests
On Monday 26 February 2024, we invited our founding alumnae to join together in Sugden Hall to celebrate 60 years since the first dinner was held at St Hilda’s in 1964.
Following on from canapes, drinks and a collection of memorabilia in the Junior Common Room, our guests were surprised, delighted and quite emotional at the student honour guard that greeted them as they walked into the front quad.
Principal James Hardiman welcomed our guests and spoke of the shared history that connects our current and founding students. Communitas is a motto alive and well in 2024 as it was in 1964 and the 60 year enduring friendships present were a clear sign of this.
Photographs of our founding alumnae and former student leaders were taken before moving into the Dining Hall. We were all taken back to 1964 by Cheryl Iser’s speech (Cole, 1964) and 2024 Student President Paddy Ryan spoke of his connection to Susan Henning (1964) who he recently visited in the USA when he was on exchange in 2023.
Musical performances from Nathaniel Elijah, Marc Silins and Regina Laletha entertained our guests and our student general committee members invited to dine with our alumnae were greatly appreciated for their stories of current St Hilda’s happenings and traditions still alive.
We are humbled to have had guests travelling from as far as Toowoomba, Sydney, Canberra and regional Victoria to attend an evening to remember!
InternationalWomen’sDay
When your Dean of Students Fe Cadorel went to Uni with the woman who is now the National Chair of Women in Economics, Dr Angela Jackson, you know you’ve got an excellent guest speaker!
Angela has also been an economic advisor at the highest levels of Australian government and spoke to the theme of IWD this year, Invest in Women.
Georgie Macho, Communications Intern, 3rd Year Arts, has written an article on her reflections and the energy that was in the room
65 guests including alumni from almost all decades across our 60 year history attended, as well as 15 current students and staff.
For all the photos from the event, head over to our Flickr album to see what our student photographer Annika Rasmussen captured
UpcomingEvents
Saturday 20 April, 2024
The Marjorie Smart Oration and Commemoration of the Official Opening of St Hilda’s in 1964
Saturday 4 May
Intercollegiate Rowing Regatta Yarra River
Saturday 4 May
Gold Leaf Dinner for our past student leaders and honour board recipients.
SavetheDates
26 October, 2024
Founders & Benefactors Dinner
23 November, 2024
Family Day at St Hilda’s
23 November, 2024
60th Anniversary Ball at San Remo Ballroom
ValeMargotHallam(1964)
We advise with sadness that Margot Hallam (1964) passed away peacefully in Camberwell on 12 March 2024.
The much-loved Sister, Auntie, Mother, Grandmother, Teacher and Friend is fondly remembered and sorely missed by friends and family in Tasmania and Victoria.
To celebrate Margot’s life, a memorial service will be held in the coming months at a date to be decided
For enquiries, please contact margotmemorial44@gmail.com
PaddocktoPlate2024
INVITATIONTOCONTRIBUTE!
Celebrating our regional and local farming communities, Paddock to Plate is a formal dinner that will feature fine wine, music and a sumptuous three-course meal. The event gives the families of our current students a sneak peak into life at college. It is also a flagship charity event for our student club and will include an in-person charity auction, lucky door prizes and raffles.
In recognition of our founding mission to serve students from non-metropolitan parts of Australia, we also try our best to use produce from the St Hilda’s community to create our menu for the event. If you, or anyone in your community, has capacity or interest in providing any supplies (meat, grain, fruit, veg, dairy products, wine, cider, beer, honey, flowers, etc.) for Paddock to Plate, we would love to speak to you. We will of course pay for the produce!
Finally, we have teamed up again this year with our Student Club Communitas Director, Jesse McDougall and the Charity Convenors to support a charity of their choice This year, the Student Club has opted to raise funds for Rural Aid. We believe this a particularly fitting partnership for our 60th Anniversary year given the important links that Hilda's has shared with our rural and regional communities throughout our history.
Items from last year's auction/event included:
* Weekends away at Hotels and AirBnBs
* Restaurant vouchers
* Sports Memorabilia
* Big Bash League season tickets
* Formula 1 tickets
* Wine hampers
* Retail vouchers
* Artwork
* And more!
If you (either as an individual/family/as part of a business) would like to donate an item, experience, etc. to be auctioned off or included in our raffle as part of the Paddock to Plate event OR if you are interested in being one of our featured primary producers, please reach out to our Community Engagement Manager, Carly at carly.damen@hildas.unimelb.edu.au, or call the office at (03) 9248 8400.
Anyone who donates good/services as part of the fundraising or who takes part as one of our featured primary producers for the event will have the option to be recognised publicly via our website, social media channels and/or the event program. This includes, where appropriate, the use of business logos and social media handles.
ST HILDA'S COLLEGE, 19-27 COLLEGE CRESCENT, PARKVILLE, VIC., 3052
COMMUNITAS@HILDAS UNIMELB EDU AU
+61 3 9248 8400
SUPPORTING ST HILDA'S
We are always humbled to hear from people who want to support St Hilda's College financially.
Please don't hesitate to reach out for a confidential discussion with us if you are interested in supporting St Hilda's in any of the following ways:
Supporting student access through making a donation to the Scholarship Fund
Supporting our various Enrichment Programs
Remembering St Hilda's College in your will