VOICE
Twelfth Edition
Editors
Basel Hindeleh Nicole Cairney
Harbour
Halloween has its roots in the ancient, pre-Christian celebrated on the night of October 31. The that is northern Ireland, the United Kingdom returned to earth on Samhain.
Halloween essentially is a time of celebration people of Samhain lighting bonfires and We now play trick or treat as an excuse to
From tourists, to Cat/Dog, to pad men: Halloween blood, nor booze. As a variety of costumes one thing was for sure: it was time to party RMCSA Social Event of the year.
Harbour Cruise
pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain, which was The Celts, who lived 2,000 years ago in the area Kingdom and northern France, believed that the dead celebration and superstition. Due to its origins of the wearing costumes to ward off roaming ghoststo get dressed up and scare our friends.
Halloween Harbour Cruise was not short of fake costumes aboard the cruise Friday the 26th of October, party and celebrate not only Halloween but the last
Valedictory
Thursday the 2nd of November marked an leaving Robert Menzies College. The night was goodbye to our Master, Bruce Pollard.
The clutter of food utensils and laughter bounced familiarity filled the air with the sense of the great year that has gone past. 2017 for it marked 5 years of living at Menzies (Avanti
On behalf of everyone, we wish you the best
Valedictory Dinner
an evening to say farewell to residents who are was even more significant with a chance to say
bounced off the walls of the Dining Hall. This reflection as the dinner signalled celebrating for some was their first year out of home, others (Avanti Joshi).
best of luck for the future.
Maintenance man
Verse 1
Working hard to make a living
Money to pay my fees
Changing lights, cleaning fans, Orange shirt on everyday
Oh oh oh he’s a maintenance man
He’ll clean up your vomit
He’ll scrub the urinals
He’s plunging like a trooper through all the shit n grime
Oh oh oh he’s a maintenance man
Verse 2
He believes in old Petho
Making suggestions as he can
He did his time at ubar
flip the bird to Dunmore Lang
He’s a simple man
With a heart of gold
And a complicated life
Oh,… he’s a maintenance man
[Musical interlude] --> DRUMS
*Knock knock knock*
“Maintenance”
*Knock knock knock*
“Maintenance, Coming in”
Verse 3
Well they love morning duties like waking you up at nine
Saving all the overtime
For the one love of his life [Beer]
He ain’t worried if you’re asleep
Cause morning tea is on his mind
The shifts too short for wasting time so one job at a time
Oh oh oh he’s a maintenance man
Oh oh oh he’s a maintenance man
Oh yeah
Yes he is
Well he’s a maintenance man
Oh
Ma ma Ma ma Ma ma Ma ma Ma ma,
I tell you he’s a maintenance man (chorus echo)
Maintenance man
Maintenance man
Yes he is (chorus echo)
Maintenance man
Maintenance man
I want to tell you he’s a maintenance man!!!
*The song was originally called Working Class Man by Jimmy Barnes of Cold Chisel fame. The lyrics were given a workover by a team led by Elle Yeo and some of her friends helped.
The Inspiration
The Maintenance Man Himself
DodgeBALL
The objective of dodgeball is to eliminate all players by throwing a ball at the opposing team hoping to hit them below the shoulders on the fly. Menzies aced this through their quick moves and tactical skills in the last ever game in the Inter-college cup.
Although we lost, it was a great end to the 2017 competition. Next year will be our year, that’s for sure.
Extra shout out to Sport Representative Pasi for leading a great year of Intercollege sport.
The Mark Drama
‘You don’t get crucified as a criminal and worshipped as a god without having a story….’
Our very own Trinity Chapel performed The Mark Drama, a 90 minute, immersive theatre-in-the-round telling of the story of Jesus of Nazareth.
As the actors intertwined through the audience, it was a very engaging and almost hard to stop watching performance. It felt as if the audience members were there themselves, and if they weren’t involved they were told, “get into it more”.
2017 Highlights
Highlights
How did you first hear about the Job?
A friend, the Pastor of the Church I was attending, and who had been Chaplain at RMC, told me the job had been advertised. He suggested to me that I was well qualified for the job and suggested I should apply. I said I was very happy doing what I was doing at the time, which was Dean of the Sydney campus of a private Business School. Alison didn’t really want me to apply to be Master of RMC. I had already been the Head of three other University Colleges, in England and at ANU, and Alison knew how stressful being a head of a college is. She also knew I was happy in my work, and that she was happy in her work.
So, what changed your mind?
I felt God had given me certain experiences which prepared me for a job like this. If I was the person best qualified to be RMC Master, then I should do it. I recognised that being Master of RMC is a more important job than being Dean of a business school.
What do you feel you have accomplished during your time here?
I hope that in the six years I’ve been here that I have strengthened the RMC community. Sometimes keeping things the same is an accomplishment. RMC residents are very involved in college life, and care for one another, and treat each other well. That has remained a constant at RMC. Hopefully I have helped strengthened those aspects of College life. There have been changes such as the move away from only fully-catered/shared bathroom accommodation to having the three different room types and three different meal plans throughout college now. And the changes to the RT roles have been important. The buildings and grounds are also in better
Bruce’s Exit
shape now than when I arrived. But my emphasis has been on the people who make up the RMC community.
What would your message be for the next master?
The Master should be student centred, and understand that the College is the current group of residents. They should be prepared for the nature of the College to change from year to year, because the culture of the College will change over time. This is a usually good thing, but needs to be monitored and sometimes corrected.
ONE OF THE GREAT JOYS IS SEEING YOUNG PEOPLE COME TO COLLEGE AND GROW.
What has been your favourite part about being a Master?
One of the great joys is seeing young people come to College and grow as they spend three or four years here. They are usually away from home for the first time, and leave College as potential leaders of the wider community. That’s just amazing to witness! RMC is a place where people mature and learn about
Interview
themselves. They become more self-assured; know who they are and what they can contribute to others. They build up a set of skills here by being in a place where they’re allowed to make mistakes and try things out, and then move on into the next stage of life. So that’s a real joy.
Favourite formal dinner through-out the years?
I think end of year Valedictory Dinners are a great time. Residents are comfortable with each other at that point, and they occasions where we celebrate the contributions people have made.
The greatest fun nights are International Nights. They are just brilliant, with food from many nations and items from different cultures. At one we had a Bollywood dance, some Indonesian people on sticks trying to break your legs, African dances, and a several other items. Such fun!
What’s your favourite song to play?
I love singing the Proclaimers song, which everyone knows as “500 miles”, because residents get involved. One of the real joys of being here has been playing music with people who are so musically talented, way more talented than me. People like Alex, Jonty, and Francesco, who’s an amazing guitar player.
What’s next for you and Alison?
We’re going to move back to our own home in Ryde. Alison intends to work at Macquarie University for another few years, and I’m going to retire and look after my wife, prepare her
evening meals and potter around the house, improve my photography, and hopefully improve my guitar playing. I’ll also have plenty of time to take Cilla on long and interesting walks.
Will you be taking your wine collection with you?
We’re moving our wine collection into Kennard’s wine storage to keep it stored in perfect condition. We certainly won’t be leaving any of the wine behind for residents to drink!
What’s Cilla going to do now?
Cilla’s going to go for long walks with me. Alison has suggested we should have a daily morning walk to the Putney shops to have a cup of coffee. A group of older Italian men have coffee together there each morning, so perhaps I can learn Italian.
Last thoughts?
Well obviously, the college is going to miss Cilla more than they’re going to miss me. But I hope I have been here in the background doing some things that have made the RMC a great community for its residents to be part of.
Dear Menzies, What a year! When taking on the role of being Editors of The Voice,hadtwothingsinmindwewantedtoachieve,MultipleEditionsand Involvement. Without every single one of you, this wouldn’t have happened. As we hassled you and embarrassed ourselves in front of the dining hall, appreciate your commitment to each and every edition. It has been super fun capturing memories made throughout HighlightsbyfarbeingtheWiretapsandallthearticlescontributed SpecialmentiontoPatrickNewallformakinganappearanceinnearly edition one way or another. We are glad to hand over the responsibility to the very capable Jen for 2018. Good luck and may you take on the challenge with great Twelve editions credited to you all. Thanks again for a great year.
Love Basel & Nicole
Voice, we College As much as hall, we truly throughout the year. contributed by you. nearlyevery Jen and Zoe great pride.
FavouriteHuman: AlexeiMorozov
FavouriteWiretap: “They drink so fast!” *Bartender on the Halloween HarbourCruise.*
Favourite Edition: Tenth Edition
Best Contributions: PatrickNewall
Most Creative Contribution: CindyDiep
Animal Farm ft. the goat, Baby Finn
Stress
Less: Here’s a Page of Puppies
Is it an honour that myself, a slightly unfit, perhaps above average intelligence, very disorganised teenager from Newcastle has been asked to write a ‘Humans of RMC’ for the last edition of 2017? Or should I be offended, as perhaps I was asked out of desperation, seeing as though what appears to be half of RMC have already contributed. I think I’ll stick to the former.
Being asked to write a ‘short paragraph’ is easy enough if I’m writing an essay with the same cookie-cutter formula (meaning every intro for an essay I have ever done is exactly the same), but to write about myself!? Now that’s a treat rarely bestowed, so I’d better make good use of the space, which is funny as the more I think about it, the more I realise I have absolutely nothing interesting to write about.
I’m 19 just like a lot of us, I grew up in Newcastle which really isn’t that interesting yet is far more interesting than Bathurst, I somehow scraped through year 12 to later find myself knocking on Macquarie’s Door and being astounded when they metaphorically opened it. I’m not rich nor poor neither am I sane or insane. And just like a lot of us I’ve finished a year, my first year in fact, at university. So, if you’re one of the kids who enjoyed/could stand English in Year 12, perhaps you could analyse those
Humans
few sentences and take from it that I’m ‘content’ or perhaps ‘comfortable’ in which you’d probably be right.
Now unless you want to hear about how ‘hectic’ and ‘stressful’ writing my major essays in a week’s time was, I’m just going to stop here and relish in the fact I’ve told you guys just about nothing interesting, (and that I also have no exams).
Cheers,
Pat McCoy
of RMC
Living at Robert Menzies has enlightened all nine of my cat lives to many unanswered questions, and observations of the very persistent residents. Personally, I am not a big fan of being patted. I mean it’s hard to imagine that right? Being a cat and all…
I must mention I especially hate it when boys try to push me into the pond. And when the cleaners try to make me look at my reflection in the window… I mean I already know I’m cute as a button. Please.
Maybe I should mention some things I do like…. Maybe. I do like the sun in the courtyard. Oh and when I get food, like you uni students I am ALWAYS hungry. I am forever grateful for my pal, Hamsini. Climbing the trees is fun too, especially when I scare people at night, that’s the best….
I like the mystery behind my name too. I bet you still don’t know if I’m a boy or a girl hehe...
Sable
Since I’ve been harrassing about 99.9% of the Menzies population to write a Humans of RMC, I thought it seemed fitting that I should write one myself. Little did I know it was going to be hard to talk about myself. I now apologise for bothering you throughout the year (well kinda).
I guess I’ll start with a quote since my life basically revolves around poetry (as those who have me on snapchat and instagram know). As Taylor Swift says,
“Despite our need to simplify and generalise absolutely everyone and everything in this life, humans are intrinsically impossible to simplify. We are never good or bad. We are mosaics of our worst selves and our best selves…”
This quote doesn’t really have any relevance to my life- I just like the meaning behind it. It basically sums up the Humans of RMC section, residents have all had a shot at displaying to everyone a short summary of ourselves, but really the joy of getting to know each other, especially at college, there is so much more to an individual… Anyways guess I can’t avoid it any longer, here’s a little about me.
I am your average nineteen (almost twenty) year old uni student. I am currently a toy guru at Kmart, ask me anything and I can tell you if it’s in stock or what’s the hottest product (Beyblades, Ooshies, Slime…. The
Humans
list could go on). One day I guess I aspire to use my Law degree… In my spare time, I love hippie music, hippie pants, hippie patterns, oh and reading my poetry books of course. Like my hair, my life is pretty crazy, but I don’t nearly have enough words to explain that.
Peace out kiddies, it’s been a fun year being co-editor of The Voice. You’ll catch me next year commandeering A Block.
Nicole :)
of RMC
I live my life by the words “Que Sera, Sera”, I go through my daily life with no plan, I just go with the flow and see what happens. Most of the time that works for me, I’m flexible like that. But I’m at that point in my life where I need to know what I’ll be doing, or at least that’s what I keep getting told.
This being the last edition of the Voice for this year, means I’m done, I’ve completed everything there is to do at RMC, I should move on, find new adventures, especially that I gave a speech at Val and all. But that’s the tricky part, knowing what to move forward to, what adventures to find, and it’s a scary thing.
Talking to Dan Lee last night, discussing how one geological event could cause an extinction level event and end life as we know it, and that that event could happen in the next 10 years or 1000 years and no one knows which. That’s a scary thought, makes you wonder what it’s all about, if it’s even worth it.
My take on it? It’s not worth it. Because it could all end any second, so why worry about the future, or the past? I prefer to live in the now, in the moment, do what makes me happy right now. Because that’s what should be the most important thing, not the pleasure of others or your future self.
You might think that’s a bit a pessimistic view, but I think it’s just realistic, I do what makes me enjoy myself right now, and Que Sera, Sera, whatever will be, will be.
You’re probably wondering what I’m on about, I don’t really know myself, I just had to write down a Humans of RMC, and all I could write was what’s on my mind. Sure, I could’ve written a funny story about the past, but knowing me I would’ve written so much detail I would’ve needed a whole edition for it.
But maybe this way I can actually help someone else, another resident who doesn’t have a clue of what to do. Just letting them know that I’m in the same boat, and so are most of us, even the ones who think they’ve got their life sorted.
Thanks for reading this far, and thanks for reading the Voice as well.
Basel
Grooves Around College
Top tunes that have been blasted around college!
1. Days in the Sun - Ziggy Alberts
2. Delicate - Taylor Swift
3. Walk on Water - Eminem (feat. Beyonce)
4. One Last Song - Sam Smith
5. World Gone Mad - Bastille
6. Lemon to a Knife Fight - The Wombats
7. Happy Place - Alison Wonderland
8. I Miss You (feat. Julia Michaels) - Clean Bandit
9. Wait - Maroon 5
10. Figure It Out - Eliott
11. You Don’t Do It For Me Anymore - Demi Lovato
12. Selfish - The Kite String Tangle
13. Let It Happen (Cover Version) - Husky
14. Ms Dhu - Spinifex Gum
15. Wolves - Selena Gomez
16. Supernova - Marcus Alexander
17. Fight ‘Til the End - Jack Savoretti
18. Ride - Clans
19. Overwhelming - Jon Bellion
20. Silence - Marshmello, Khalid
Happening:
Nathan: If it’s raining, can we fly out?
“They drink so fast!” *Bartender on the Halloween Harbour Cruise.*
Nathan: I sometimes turn the radio off just to see how I go singing it.
Patrick Newall: I don’t have any friends.
Maddie: I like to get drunk on my own terms.
Toby: I time my bin runs around Ellie’s schedule.
Jonty: I keep my speaker in the bathroom because I like listening to podcasts in the shower.
Seb: I’ve got a really big booty, it’s fun.
Cindy: I only do it ironically and with girls.
*At the petting zoo, Liv is patting a goat*
Liv: It reminds me of Bambi
Grace: Bambi was a deer Liv…
Elisa to Ellie Rutter: furniture is not your friend
Abby: The food was like eating air, it’s so bland.
Sara S to Georgia M at dinner: Why does this lettuce leaf have two colours? You do sciencey stuffexplain this to me.
Jake reading about his favourite pastime
Keely: I just love looking at Alex Wall, what a babe. Do like dat booty. (Secret Alex Wall admirer) `
Basel on the restaurant decor: These remind me of those Jesus-cups they had at the secret dinner!
Dan to Jen: Are you coming to the petting zoo on Tuesday night?
James:Oh is that what you call it Dan?
Avanti: I have heaps of time sometimes.
Wiretap
Beth McInnes: Where does she sleep?
Pip: Oh she sleeps around. [In reference to Sable]
Cards Against Humanity: Heed my voice, mortals! I am the god of A slightly shitier universe, and I will not tolerate Basic human decency.
Avanti: Are owls mammals?
Pip: Someone should tackle Bruce, as a way to stop his speeches.
Beth Hadfield: So now you don’t need to wear pants anymore!
old grandma having her dinner out on the balcony
Korissa: Jack knows everything - he is like the Basel of the kitchen - except Basel works in the kitchen too.
Dan Lee: I found out i’m really good at hula hooping.
Basel: Oh really?
Dan Lee: Yes it’s the hips, they don’t lie
John: I don’t have any friends.... I mean on facebook.
Basel: Gotta picture the crowd naked to get comfortable.
Dan Lee: You can’t do that when you’re a primary school teacher.
healthiest RMC resident Sara
Thank you for sharing your voice with everyone!
Are you a creative soul and want to contribute to The Voice? Great! We can count on you to help Jen and Zoe with next year’s Voice by sending your work as a message on the Facebook page. Any kind of contribution is accepted. Drawings, Articles, Poems, Stories, etc. And don’t forget to send in any funny submissions for the Wiretap. #RMCwiretap
