Chair of the Governing Council Speech Night Address

Shanti Berggren

Chair of the Governing Council CHAIR OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL SPEECH NIGHT ADDRESS

Welcome everyone. Tonight, we come together to celebrate the achievements of our senior students and to formally congratulate and farewell the Year 12 class of 2021.

We also come here tonight to honour and farewell an icon of Wilderness School, our Principal, Ms Jane Danvers. I have been toying with the idea that we should hand out tissues with tonight’s program, but we are Wilderness women (and Wilderness men). A couple of deep breaths and we’ll get through it. This year it is 40 years since I was in Year 12 sitting at Speech Night cross legged on the floor of the School Hall, now the Newman Theatre. What I remember the most from that evening was the crescendo of noise as we met as a school community for the last time in 1981 - the solemnity of our Speech Night ceremony led by the then Chair of Council, Mr Colin Thomson, followed by the rising quiet as we dispersed into the evening. It would be another 25 years before I learned the secret of those who serve on the School Council and came to understand my own ‘why’ in doing the same. To be honest, I have only been able to articulate it this year, captured in a wonderful Zulu word ‘ubuntu’, which means ‘I am because you are.’ Ubuntu captures the recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others. The three most powerful words that can be uttered to someone are ‘You belong here.’ Our girls, our Principal, our staff, old scholars, parents and friends, and our Governing Council have a deep sense of belonging to Wilderness School, but Wilderness School is not about the grounds, the beautiful buildings, or the Sparaxis trees. Belonging to Wilderness School is belonging to something greater than ourselves. It is a connectedness that exists between people. Over time each of us here tonight is part of an unbreakable chain of people going back and forward in time, back to the Misses Brown and forward into the future to the end of time. Each of us in this chain of people have our arms interlocked with those on either side of us. We are unbreakable together - even immortal. Jane Danvers you will always belong to Wilderness School. You have an abundance of ubuntu here. Your life’s work is here. Your daughters grew up here, and tonight we welcome Chloe Danvers back to Wilderness as our special guest. Jane, you have celebrity status inside the gates of 30 Hawkers Road. This year the Foundation Board honour you by renaming the Foundation Prize the Jane Danvers Foundation Prize which you will award for the first and last time tonight. You have been one of the greatest guardians of the vision of the Misses Brown and have reinforced their vision as an expression of the purpose of Wilderness School, ‘to make each girl the best she can be throughout her life.’ You cradled a dream of excellence in leadership until it has now sustained its own life and will seamlessly continue to serve the School. The Governing Council and I are optimistic about the future of this school. You have set us up well. So, Jane you go with our enormous gratitude. You go with our love.

In 2021, the Wilderness rituals and experiences tying us together have started to return, as the long shadow of covid slowly retreats. Saturday morning sport was back to its splendid self. I have heard entertaining stories

Belonging to Wilderness School is belonging to something greater than ourselves. It is a connectedness that exists between people.

of old scholars from the Class of 1984 umpiring at netball matches under modernised 2021 rules and only just keeping up. Glee was performed in all its gloriousness. The Year 12s walked the long and sacred goodbye in the Walk of Honour ending up in the expected pool of tears at the top of The Running Track. The School Council continued to do its work overseeing the School’s strategic plan including the development of the new Masterplan which will come to life next year and define a new era in Early Learning at Wilderness. I want to thank all Council members but, in particular, I want to thank members of the Principal Selection Committee who have worked carefully and thoroughly. The School Council is grateful and indebted to Mrs Belinda Arnfield for agreeing to the Council’s request to be Interim Principal for the first six months of next year. In June of this year, Wilderness was awarded the prestigious Dr John Mayfield Award for Educational Architecture for our Learning Commons. It was an exceptional outcome. I want to acknowledge the work of Mrs Paula Jolly, our Business Manager on this project. It is said that ubuntu will push one toward selfless acts. Supported by the Principal and the Sites and Services Committee, Paula has certainly given her all in the creation of this beautiful facility and it is one that our girls will continue to appreciate for many years to come. I also want to acknowledge the work of two other women on staff, Mrs Carmen Crocker and Mrs Mamta Losasso. None of what you do is taken for granted. We notice all of it and appreciate your efforts and your thoughtfulness, including leaving a box of chicken crimpy biscuits on The Boardroom table for an evening meeting at short notice. The Vice Chair was particularly appreciative. On behalf of the School, I extend my sincere gratitude to all members of the Wilderness community who give their time and energy to support school events and activities. You are the glue in our belonging story. I have spent much time this year in The Boardroom at Wilderness studying the portraits of the Principals of Wilderness School. In 137 years, we have had just nine headmistresses. Each has taken their turn in strengthening the Wilderness dynasty of delivering excellence in feministcentred education.

In acknowledging ubuntu at Wilderness, we are not only connected to this leadership dynasty. But we are also bound to the rich female first history of South Australia. The first state to give women the right to vote; the first state to pass legislation outlawing discrimination on the grounds of sex; the first state where an Indigenous woman earned her law degree; the first state to produce a female Minister of Foreign Affairs and, of course, the first and only state to produce a female Prime Minister.

It makes perfect sense that Wilderness is in the state of South Australia, and an integral part of this state’s proud feminist history. It makes perfect sense that Wilderness women are the leaders I have seen speaking at old scholar industry forums in STEM, in wine making and in medicine. The Industry Forums are a new initiative introduced this year by President of the Old Scholars’ Association, Ms Jacki Smith and our Old Scholars’ Liaison Officer, Mrs Emma Bishop. The old scholars participating are women that we are so proud to call Wildy girls, each thriving and leading in their own ecosystems. I look forward to attending more sessions next year and hope to see our current Year 12s sitting beside me as old scholars.

The thing is Year 12s, as Wilderness girls you have already made a contract with ubuntu. I hope you will always allow yourselves to be nourished by the values of this school. These values are your super strength. I know they are. I have been road testing them for 40 years. They will provide answers to challenges that you will face ahead. Remember that we are all connected. We grow and progress through the growth and progression of others. What you do affects the whole world and when you do it well, it has a domino effect. It is for the whole of humanity. Looking after one another plays a major role in the success of humankind.

In the kitchen of the house where I grew up, my late father printed a verse and stuck it in a frame. I think the act of framing the piece of paper made it an official creed for him, but I think it is an official creed for all of us and it simply read, ‘I shall not pass this way again; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.’ Go well Year 12s. I wish you all the very best.

Shanti Berggren Chair of the Governing Council