General News
Mr Hodges
Mr Purves
The School Foyer For those Past Grammarians who have not visited the School for some years it would be a surprise if they were not impressed when they walked in the School foyer situated in the MAURIE BLANK ADMINISTRATION BUILDING. Guided by the vision of the Principal, Mr RICHARD FAIRLEY, and funded by such diverse groups as the Past Grammarians’, Year 12 students, School support groups and individual parents the foyer has become a most welcome and wonderful focus for the history of the School. All the Honour Boards have been re-polished and brought up to date. The trophy cabinet has been re-situated and trophies going back to the early 1900’s have been cleaned and placed in the cabinet. A new Honour Board setting out winners of The Governor’s Cup [started in 1905] and the Mary Agnes Donald Prize [started in 1935] will be ready by August of this year. Photographs of all School Principals are also to be found in the foyer as well as plaques honouring some past students who have died in unfortunate circumstances. The latest addition to the foyer is photographs of two paintings of Mr HODGES [Headmaster 1888-1900] and Mr PURVES [1890-1898]. Mr Purves was the Second Master and then became Headmaster of Toowoomba Grammar before following Mr Hodges as Headmaster of Sydney Church of England Grammar School. Mr Purves is best known at Townsville Grammar for writing the words of the School song. The School would like to thank SHORE [SCEGS] for copies of the two paintings.
becoming the inaugural winner of the University Medal for Medicine. Her sister TANIA ZAPPALA [1996] is presently at James Cook University undertaking a postgraduate degree and researching skin cancer. She will be tutoring in the Anatomy Faculty in Semester Two. MARK WARNOCK [1994] has returned from a year in France as a Rotary Scholar. Mark was recently awarded a $16,000 Economics’ Scholarship to the study at the University of Queensland. Grammar is renowned for its drama and music teaching and this is reflected in many past students being successful in this area. NATALIE WEIR [1983] recently directed the world premier for the ballet version of Puccini’s opera Turandot. The performance occurred in Hong Kong. Natalie who is married to PETER MARSHALL [1982] recently gave birth to their second boy. Congratulations to both Natalie and Peter. SCOTT SHEENS [1999] has been accepted into NIDA as has LUKE EDE [1998]. Scott is the son of Tim Sheens, the coach of the West Tigers’ Rugby League team. Scott’s mother RONDA KELLY [1971] was a student at Grammar. TIM COLEMAN [2000] is doing well as a dancer with the San Diego Ballet Company and is hoping to win a contract with the Royal Ballet Company in the near future. KIM DEGENHART [2000] has returned recently form Paris where she danced with the famed Moulin Rouge Company for a year. CARLA DE JONG [1996] and LORI WEIGHTMANN [1993] have both produced shows for Channel 10 in Brisbane. Carla produced the popular afternoon show Scope while Lori was a producer and writer on the show Totally Wild. Lori is currently with the BBC in London. Grammarians continue to perform on the sporting field both locally and nationally. MATTHEW ELLIOTT [1981] completes the year as the coach of the Canberra Raiders before moving on as coach of the Penrith Panthers. DANNY McKELLAR [1993] has been on contract with the Queensland Reds’ squad while JOSH HANNAY [1997] and MICHAEL LUCK [1997] continue with the Cowboys and New Zealand Warriors respectively. PHILIP REHDER [1984] visited recently from Lae. Philip’s father K.B.REHDER [1947] was a past student and Philip is keen to have his children enrol at Grammar when old enough. A good athlete at School, Philip is the SecretaryGeneral of the PNG Athletics’ Association, a position he enjoys as it allows him to travel the world fostering athletics in his country. Two long standing past students made contact recently. BOB SMITH [1959], known as “Big Zebu” at Grammar has had a successful career as a Land Engineer and Mining Surveyor. Bob comments that MAURIE BLANK [Headmaster 1948-64] told him he would never make it as a surveyor because his mathematics’ ability was not up to scratch. ROBERT FOX [1961] is enjoying his retirement in the Northern Territory. He is an executive member of the Australian Clay Target Association and is an advisory member of the NT Parks and Wildlife Council. His area of expertise is in the caring of the critically endangered Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat. BIANCA POWER [1998] and SCOTT IRONSIDE [1993] are two younger past students who are doing well in the world of business. Bianca won the $10,000 Philip Leong Business Incentive Prize in 2005 and is now doing postgraduate study at James Cook University. Scott was recently nominated by the Townsville Chamber of Commerce as Young Business Man of the Year. Scott is an engineer by training.
Past Grammarians
Past Grammarians continue to do well in many facets of academic, sporting, cultural and community life. Congratulations to LISA ZAPPALA [1999] on graduating with 1st Class Honours and
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