StHilda’sNews
As we wrap up for another year, everyone here at St Hilda’s College would like to wish you and yours a happy, safe and relaxing festive season.
2024 has been a wonderful year for us here at the College and we have been so thrilled to celebrate our 60th anniversary with so many members of the wider community.
For those who have been able to attend one or more events this year, we hope to see you again at events in 2025. For those who missed out this year but would like to visit in 2025, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We love to welcome all of our past Hildarians back to the College and would be delighted to show you around next year.
To those who celebrate, we wish you a Merry Christmas and to our entire community, may 2025 be happy and healthy after a restful summer break!
Kind regards, Kate Abraham & Carly Damen, Community Engagement Team
TheCommunitasBall
The final event in a jam-packed calendar, The Communitas Ball was held at San Remo Ballroom on Saturday November 23rd and saw almost 270 Hilda’s alumni come together for a night of celebrations.
There was plenty of dancing and, in what was perhaps the most memorable part of the evening, there was a spontaneous spoon bang for Barbara Green that may have been the most vigorous spoon bang Hilda’s has ever witnessed!
The feedback we have received certainly indicates that everyone had a wonderful time with plenty of reminiscing and we encourage you to check out all the photos online!
A huge thank you to all the staff at San Remo Ballroom, Craig Francis Band, Tribal Rose Florist, Organic Photo, PIKT Entertainment and our speakers for the evening!
It was a Hilda’s spoon bang for the ages in recognition of Barbara Green
After 27 years as our Accounts Manager Carol Briggs was awarded life-time membership of Streoneshalh alongside former Dining Hall Supervisor Vicki Trakelidou (in absentia)
MC for the evening, Tim Chenoweth (2015 PY)
Cheryl Iser (1964 PY) and John Iser wasted no time getting onto the dance floor!
Gab Ebsworth (2016 PY) delivered a heart felt Acknowledgment of Country
enlightened the crowd on what College was like in the early to mid-90s.
Our incoming 2025 Exec represented the next generation of Hildarians
The 360 degree photo booth proved popular as the night went on
Bridget Horsley (1993 PY)
Kim MacMillan (1980 PY) gave us all a laugh with some highlights of O Week in the early 80s.
The roll call of table years was a big hit!
Family&FriendsDay
The work in the archive space this year has allowed for the publication of two exciting pieces, both of which debuted at the Family and Friends Day on Saturday November 23rd.
Earlier this year, the Community Engagement Team welcomed University of Melbourne Master of Curatorship student, Pascalle Bailey to the team to complete a project cataloguing St Hilda’s College’s art collection.
After many months of unearthing and researching the various items that we have here at the College and after having completed their postgraduate studies, Pascalle has delivered a wonderful overview of our collection entitled, Creating Communitas.
This publication has been designed to be able to grow over time and we thank Pascalle for the dedication and enthusiasm that was put into this project. Those who visit our college moving forward are now able to use Creating Communitas as a selfdirected guide to our college art collection and it can also be viewed via our website using the link below.
Access Creating Communitas here
Alongside the art catalogue, a smaller publication was also launched at the Family and Friends Day that allows our alumni and various friends of St Hilda’s to take a trip down memory lane via a self-guided tour of the College grounds and buildings.
Congratulations to Development Intern, Olivia Malouf (PY2023) who pulled this tour booklet together. We have no doubt it will continue to be a popular piece for visitors to St Hilda’s over the months and years to come.
As you can see from the accompanying photos here, there were lots of snippets on display for people to look at while wandering the grounds on Family and Friends Day. We very much enjoyed welcoming alumni and friends back to St Hilda’s for this event, many of whom had not set foot on the campus for many years.
This is an event that we hope to replicate over the years to come and we encourage all of our alumni to update their details (particularly email addresses) with us so that we can be sure to let people know in advance when these types of events are being held.
If you have friends from your college days who may wish to be connected with us, please direct them to the website to update their details. Access tour booklet here
Communitas:TheFirst60Yearsof StHilda’s
One of our exciting 60th Anniversary year projects has been the creation of a publication charting the first 60 years of St Hilda’s College in words and many pictures!
Below is a preview of the cover of ‘Communitas’, a coffee table book we hope you will be proud to display and that will be available to collect from the College in 2025. Stay tuned for the launch date!
KeyDates
As our 2025 calendar of events is being finalised, please put some of our key events in your diary now!
Young Alumni (past 5 years) Event - Saturday 15 February, 2025
Alumni Reunion | Family & Friends Day - Saturday 25 November, 2025
Seeking Expressions of Interest
2024 has been a big year for alumni engagement courtesy of our 60 year celebrations. Alongside a number of events that have been specifically for our alumni community, it’s also been wonderful to see the many opportunities for our current student community to connect with our alumni.
As well as the 60th specific events, 2024 saw our usual calendar of events allow for alumni visits across academic dinners, fireside Friday chats, Whitby Dinners and a variety of workshops.
A massive thank you to all those alumni who have volunteered their time and expertise across 2024.
Since The Communitas Ball and the Family & Friends Day, we have had a number of people reach out to chat to us about how they can reconnect with the College community, especially in regards to our current student cohort.
If you are an alumn who wants to consider connecting with the next generation of Hildarians, please use the form below to register your interest. Your commitment could be as structured as involvement in our mentor program or as little as an hour or two, but the impact that you could have on a young person simply by having a chat to them could be enormous!
Whether you are starting out in a career, are enjoying retirement or are somewhere in between, we look forward to hearing from you!
Tara Tiffin (2024) A
