Inspiring Old Girls

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Life writes the best stories...

Rarely a day goes by without someone making mention of one of our remarkable ‘Old Girls’. Over the past 125 years, many thousands of young women have graduated from Collegiate.

They are scientists, educators, media personalities, artists, community advocates, engineers, musicians, carers, authors, lawyers, volunteers, doctors and Olympians. We celebrate them for making a difference and for inspiring future generations to do the same.

Here we share a gallery of some of Collegiate’s inspiring women. Each has her own unique story.

 

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    Her Excellency, Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC, Governor of Tasmania

    Collegiate 1953-1965

    Governor of Tasmania

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    Alison Watkins (née Lester)

    Collegiate 1974-1980

    Group Managing Director at Coca-Cola Amatil

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    Dr Jane Sargison

    Collegiate 1988-1993

    Managing Director of JSA Consulting Engineers

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    Right Reverend Doctor Sarah Macneil

    Collegiate 1966-1971

    Bishop of Grafton in the Anglican Church of Australia (1 March 2014 - 3 March 2018)

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    VALE- Dr Vanessa Goodwin

    Collegiate 1972-1986

    Member of the Legislative Council, Tasmania 2009-2017; Tasmanian State Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for the Arts, and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council 2014-2017

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    Professor Katharine Gelber

    Collegiate 1976-1982

    Professor of Politics and Public Policy, The University of Queensland. BA (Hons) USyd, PhD USyd

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    The Honourable Justice Katrina Banks-Smith SC

    Collegiate 1978-1983

    Supreme Court of Western Australia

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    Abigail Trewin (née Blundell)

    Collegiate 1986 - 1993

    Director Disaster Preparedness, National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, Darwin NT

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    Rebecca Cody

    Collegiate 1983 - 1990

    Principal, Geelong Grammar School

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    Liz Gillam (née Webber)

    Collegiate 1959-1968

    LLB, Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women, Co-President of the Collegiate Old Girls Association

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    Miriam Handsworth (née Butler)

    Collegiate 1980-1990

    Professional Musician

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    Katherine Butler

    Collegiate 1980-1991

    Clinical Specialist in Hand Therapy, London Hand Therapy, B.Ap(Sc)OT, AHT(BAHT), A.Mus.A(Flute)

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    Dr Fiona Kerslake (née Chopping)

    Collegiate 1990 - 1997

    PhD UTAS

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    Dr Mel Irons

    Collegiate 1990-2001

    Psychologist & University Lecturer

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    Kate Gaul

    Collegiate 1973-1980

    Theatre Director

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    Rebecca Coote

    Collegiate 1989-1991

    Glass Sculptor, Installation and Design Artist

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    Professor Anne Cutler FRS

    Collegiate 1956-1960

    Research Professor at the MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney

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    Emma Hodgman

    Collegiate 1973 – 1985

    Partner and Chair of the Board, DibbsBarker Lawyers

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    Clare McShane (née Jackett)

    Collegiate 1966

    Teacher and Entrepreneur

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    Julie Warn AM

    Collegiate 1958-1970

    Professor, Dean of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and member of the Executive at Edith Cowan University

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    Nan Chauncy (née Masterman)

    Collegiate 1912-1920

    Children's Novelist, Awarded for service to the arts and environment

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    Betty Rigg (née Sale)

    Collegiate 1905-1921

    Champion Golfer, Commander in British Red Cross Ambulance Service

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    Eve Masterman, AM

    Collegiate 1914-1925

    BA, Member of the Order of Australia

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    Alison Whyte

    Collegiate 1977-1985

    Actress

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    Patti Warn

    Collegiate 1950-1961

    Political Advisor and Social Justice Advocate

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    Fran Bladel (née Payne)

    Collegiate 1946-1948

    Teacher, volunteer, advocate and member of Tasmanian Parliament

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    Jane Burrell

    Collegiate 1962 - 1968

    Scientific Illustrator and Graphic Designer

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    Dr Kate Burbury

    Collegiate 1982-1988

    Consultant haematologist and chair of the senior medical staff at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in Victoria

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    Dr (Sally) Ursula Salmon

    Collegiate 1987, 1989-1992

    Environmental Engineer

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    Alison Napier (née Fergusson)

    Collegiate 1978 – 1984

    Grazier and Businesswoman

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    Dr Anthea Rhodes (née Goodman)

    Collegiate 1990 - 1996

    Paediatrician at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, and Director of the Australian Child Health Poll

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    Dr Joanna Jones (née Heazlewood)

    Collegiate 1990-1995

    PhD and lecturer at UTAS

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    Penny Griffits

    Collegiate 1987 - 1995

    Head of Commercial - Manufactured Chemicals, Ixom

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    Tammy Chu

    Collegiate 1989-1994

    Managing Director at Entura

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    Dr Sally Abell

    Collegiate 1994-2001

    Endocrinologist, Monash Health, Melbourne, Post-doctoral research fellow, Monash University

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    Julia Mitchell (née Leeson)

    Collegiate 1990 – 2003

    Space Engineer and Program Manager

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    Sarah De Jonge

    Collegiate 1990 – 1993

    Psychosocial Team Leader, CanTeen

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    Dr Erin Kelly

    Collegiate 1992-2001

    Clinical Psychologist & Director of Therapeutic Programs at St Helen's Private Hospital Hobart

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    Courtney Barnett

    Collegiate 2003 - 2005

    Musician

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    Dr Mary Stannard

    Collegiate 1942-1955

    Consultant Physician, Medical Administrator

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    Julie Heckscher

    Collegiate 1975-1980

    Corporate Counsel, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade

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    Leah Cameron (née Brown)

    Collegiate 1995 - 2000

    Owner of Marrawah Law

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    Helen Cumpston (née Dunbar)

    Collegiate 1921-1926

    First woman to graduate in Law from the University of Tasmania

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    Beth Roberts (née Downie)

    Collegiate 1936-1942

    Children's Book Author

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    Dr Alison Alexander (née Pillinger)

    Collegiate 1955 – 1967

    History Writer and Author

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    Dr Vanessa Solomon (née Marsden)

    Collegiate 1984-1995

    Science communicator, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

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    Diane Tompson (née Sim)

    Collegiate 1963-1970

    Entrepreneur, Mentor, Managing Director The Powercom Group

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    Dr Kathleen Blackwood

    Collegiate 1925 - 1931

    Missionary and Doctor

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    Diana Butler OAM (née Allwright)

    Collegiate 1973 - 1978

    After Hours Manager Launceston General Hospital. Co-founder of Care for Africa

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    Elizabeth Sharland

    Collegiate 1943 – 1948

    Actress, Author, Playwright, Producer

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    Captain Emma Kadziolka

    Collegiate 1999 – 2006

    Nursing Officer, Royal Australian Army

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    Lillian Powell

    Collegiate 1926 – 1931

    Educator

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    Tori Lipscombe

    Collegiate 1994 - 2003

    Makeup artist, Columnist

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    Matron Jean Walker RRC

    Collegiate 1893 - 1896

    Matron, Australian Army Nursing Service

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    Hannah and Rachel Vasicek

    Collegiate 2005 - 2013

    Francesca Collections

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    Monique Brumby

    Collegiate 1987 - 1992

    Performer, Songwriter, Producer

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    Dr Elizabeth Murchison

    Collegiate 1992 - 1998

    Cancer geneticist

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    Catherine Grealish (née Langlois)

    Collegiate 1991 – 1996

    Film and Video Game Composer

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    Georgia Nesbitt

    Collegiate 1996 – 2009

    Professional Rower & Lawyer

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    Dr Sharn Perry

    Collegiate 1999 – 2006

    Lecturer

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    Georgia Forbes-Smith

    Collegiate 2000–2009

    Architect

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    Dr Thanuja Dharmadasa

    Collegiate 1992 - 2002

    Consultant Neurologist & Neurophysiologist; Clinical researcher in MND; Pianist

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    Bridget Rheinberger (née Cannon)

    Collegiate 1979 - 1986

    Wills and Estates Lawyer at Tremayne Fay Rheinberger Lawyers

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Her Excellency, Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC, Governor of Tasmania

Collegiate 1953-1965

Governor of Tasmania

Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner AC was sworn in as the first female Governor of Tasmania on 10 December 2014. She was also the University of Tasmania’s first female Dean of the Faculty of Law (1992) and first female Law Faculty Professor (1996).

Professor Warner graduated from the University of Tasmania with an Honours degree in Law in 1970 and was admitted to the bar in 1971. After working as Associate to the Chief Justice of Tasmania and gaining her Master of Laws in 1978, she commenced her distinguished academic career.

An internationally recognised expert in the fields of criminal law, criminology and sentencing, Professor Warner taught and published extensively in these areas for over 30 years. She also has a strong interest in law reform and human rights and was a foundation Director of the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute.

Professor Warner has served as a Commissioner of the Tasmanian Gaming Commission and Director of the Centre for Legal Studies, and as a member of the Tasmanian Sentencing Advisory Council, the Board of Legal Education, the Council of Law Reporting and the Parole Board.

In 2013 Professor Warner received the Women Lawyers Award for Leadership and in the same year she was honoured with the rarely-awarded University of Tasmania Distinguished Service Medal. She was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2007 and was awarded a Visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford University, in 2009. She was also President and Chair of the Alcorso Foundation, supporting the Arts, Environment and Social Justice in Tasmania, and was a member of its Social Justice subcommittee.

Professor Warner has been nominated as a finalist in the Tasmanian Australian of the Year Awards for her contributions to the law, law reform and legal education.

Professor Warner has published numerous journal articles, book chapters and law reform reports. She first published Sentencing in Tasmania in 1991, which has since become an indispensable tool for judges and magistrates. She is a member of the editorial boards of Current Issues in Criminal Justice; Women Against Violence; and the Criminal Law Journal.  She contributed the annual Sentencing Review to the Criminal Law Journal from 1998 until her appointment as Governor of Tasmania in 2014. Related to her role with the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute, she has written a number of papers and reports for the Board.

Professor Warner was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2014 for significant service to the law, particularly in the areas of legal education and reform, and to the community.

As Governor of Tasmania, Her Excellency is an advocate for the empowerment of women, gender equality in the workplace and addressing the issues of sexual and domestic violence. Professor Warner chairs the Advisory Committee of the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment.

 

Alison Watkins (née Lester)

Collegiate 1974-1980

Group Managing Director at Coca-Cola Amatil

Alison Watkins currently holds the position of Group Managing Director at Coca-Cola Amatil, one of the top 50 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. Coca-Cola Amatil is the power behind the region’s favourite brands working across a diverse group of businesses, in six countries, with a leading range of ready-to-drink non-alcohol and alcohol beverages, coffee and ready-to-eat food snacks.

Previously, Alison held the role of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ASX listed agribusiness, GrainCorp Limited from 2010 to December 2013.

Alison has been an executive, a director and an advisor across a range of businesses, including food and beverages, agriculture, retail and financial services.

She began her career with Chartered Accountants, Touche Ross then spent a decade with international management consultants McKinsey & Company where she was appointed as partner in 1996. In 1999 she moved to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) as Group General Manager Strategy, reporting to the CEO.

Alison was soon after appointed to the role of Managing Director of Regional Banking at ANZ, before taking on the role of Chief Executive Officer at Berri Limited, the market leader in Australian juice. After Berri was acquired in 2006 Alison worked with private equity owners Ironbridge and Bennelong Group before joining GrainCorp. Alison has served as a non-executive director of ANZ, Woolworths Limited and Just Group Limited. She is a former Victorian President and National Board Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Alison is a Director of the Centre for Independent Studies and the Business Council of Australia, and has previously been a member of the Australian Government Takeovers Panel. Her other community roles have included being a Director of the World Swimming Championships in 2007 and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

Alison holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Tasmania, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, the Financial Services Institute of Australasia, and the Australia Institute of Company Directors. She is also a member of Chief Executive Women.

Alison is married to Rod and they have 4 children, Grace (23), Elliott (21), Ilsa (18) and Meg (14). Alison and her family enjoy farming, swimming, golf and skiing.

There have been several leaders, male and female, who have inspired and supported Alison during her career, and Alison seeks to play a leadership role for other women across the business community as a speaker, panellist, mentor and through promoting change at CCA.

During her Occasional Address at Speech Night in December, Alison reflected that St Michael’s Collegiate School shaped her in ways she certainly didn’t think about at the time. Her five pieces of advice to the girls were: challenge yourself to be your best every day; be true to yourself; just give it a go; connect with great people; and strike a balance. An extract from Alison’s address detailing her excellent advice is available here.

Dr Jane Sargison

Collegiate 1988-1993

Managing Director of JSA Consulting Engineers

Jane Sargison graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1997 with a Bachelor of Engineering, First Class Honours and the University Medal. She worked for WBM Consulting Engineers during 1998 when she was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to complete her DPhil at the University of Oxford between 1998 and 2001.

Dr Sargison is the Managing Director of JSA Consulting Engineers, in Tasmania. Her business employs 10 people and is a niche consultancy specialising in Civil and Structural Engineering design for residential and commercial building projects.

She is currently a Director and Chairman of the Audit and Compliance Committee for TasNetworks, the Tasmanian Distribution and Transmission Network Government Business Enterprise.

During her studies at Oxford developed cutting edge technologies used in Rolls Royce aero engines. Her business and research interests in renewable energy included a project aimed at generating energy from biomass resulting in low cost carbon sequestration. In 2011 Jane was named National Professional Engineer of the Year in recognition of her contribution to the profession, her innovative approach to engineering projects, communication and work in supporting young people to study engineering.

Her recent roles have included Director of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, (a government agency established to consolidate $3.2 billion in funding to support the research, development and deployment of renewable energy technology in Australia). Other recent roles have included Director on the boards of the Australian Institute of Energy, National Mechanical College of Engineers Australia, Southern Water Tasmania and TasWater, and a member of the AusIndustry Clean Technology Innovation Committee, Building Regulation Advisory Committee and the Tasmanian Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee

Other former roles have included Deputy Director of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Power Systems and Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tasmania. As a former Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Tasmania, Jane’s research interests included experimental and computational fluid dynamics, thermodynamics and heat transfer.

Jane was the Tasmanian State Finalist in the 2013 Australian of the Year awards.

Right Reverend Doctor Sarah Macneil

Collegiate 1966-1971

Bishop of Grafton in the Anglican Church of Australia (1 March 2014 - 3 March 2018)

The Right Reverend Dr Sarah Macneil was the first woman to lead an Anglican Diocese in Australia. She was consecrated and installed as the eleventh Bishop of Grafton on 1 March 2014 and retired on 3 March 2018.

Dr Macneil studied Arts at the University of Tasmania, where she was awarded a First Class Honours Degree in French. She then moved to Canberra where she joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and took up a diplomatic post in Stockholm from 1978 to 1982. Following this Dr Macneil became a policy officer in the Department of Trade and completed postgraduate study in public administration at the French National School of Administration in Paris.

Dr Macneil began her theological studies at St Mark’s National Theological Centre and was ordained as a deacon in 1993 and as a priest in 1994. Over the next few years she worked in a variety of positions in the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, including as Rector of All Saints, Ainslie, as a school chaplain and as Diocesan Archdeacon. Dr Macneil also followed her interest in Anglican ecclesiology and was awarded a PhD for her thesis on the nexus between Anglican identity and governance.

When Dr Macneil was installed as Dean at St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide, she was the first woman to be appointed Dean of an Australian capital city. She then moved to the nation’s capital and it was in 2013, while serving as Senior Associate Priest in Canberra, that Dr Macneil was unanimously selected by the nomination board to become the first female Bishop of Grafton. Dr Macneil is the 11th Bishop of Grafton

VALE- Dr Vanessa Goodwin

Collegiate 1972-1986

Member of the Legislative Council, Tasmania 2009-2017; Tasmanian State Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for the Arts, and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council 2014-2017

The Honourable Dr Vanessa Goodwin, MLC was Tasmania’s Attorney General and the first female Liberal Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. Prior to being elected as the Liberal Member for Pembroke in August 2009, Dr Goodwin worked as a criminologist for the Department of Police and Emergency Management for over 11 years, with responsibility for conducting research, managing crime prevention projects and developing policy advice. Dr Goodwin’s research interests have included burglary and repeat victimisation, and intergenerational crime.

Dr Goodwin graduated with a Bachelor of Arts and Laws (1993) and a Graduate Certificate in Legal Studies (1994) from the University of Tasmania.

In 1995, Dr Goodwin was admitted and enrolled as a practitioner in the Supreme Court of Tasmania, and completed a Master of Philosophy in criminology at Cambridge University in 1997. She was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy in law and criminology from the University of Tasmania in 2006.

Dr Goodwin’s career has included working in the family business, the offices of the Governor of Tasmania and the Chief Justice of Tasmania, an industry association, and the public sector.  She brought a broad range of life and employment experience to her roles as Attorney-General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Corrections, Minister for the Arts and Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, which she held from 2014-2017.

Professor Katharine Gelber

Collegiate 1976-1982

Professor of Politics and Public Policy, The University of Queensland. BA (Hons) USyd, PhD USyd

Katharine Gelber completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Tasmania, followed by an Honours degree at the University of Sydney. Katharine completed her doctoral studies in government.

Kath Gelber is an ARC Future Fellow in the School of Political Science and International Studies. She commenced an appointment as Associate Professor in Public Policy at the University of Queensland in January 2011, after nine years at the University of New South Wales where she held the position of Associate Professor of Political Science.

She conducts research into freedom of speech and the regulation of hate speech, human rights and public discourse. She is the recipient of several ARC grants on these topics. In 2011 she was invited by the United Nations to be the Australian expert witness at a regional meeting examining states’ compliance with the free speech and racial hatred provisions of international law. In 2009 she presented the Mitchell Oration in Adelaide on the topic “Freedom of Speech and its Limits”.

She is a former president of the Australian Political Studies Association and serves on its Executive Committee. She has published widely in these areas, including the 2011 book, Speech Matters, which was shortlisted by the Australian Human Rights Commission in the 2011 Human Rights Award Literature (Non-Fiction) Category.

The Honourable Justice Katrina Banks-Smith SC

Collegiate 1978-1983

Supreme Court of Western Australia

Collegiate old girl Katrina Banks-Smith (née Smith) departed Collegiate in 1983 having served as Deputy Head Prefect and Kilburn House Captain. Katrina graduated with First Class Honours in Law from the University of Tasmania in 1988. After completing her articles in Tasmania, Katrina accepted a job in a prestigious Western Australian law firm which later became the international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

In 1992 Katrina took a leave of absence to pursue her academic interests having been awarded a Commonwealth scholarship to attend Cambridge University.  She graduated with the degree of Master of Laws, first class.

Katrina returned to Perth, became a partner at Freehills, and specialised in commercial litigation. She was involved in many complex commercial litigation cases during her career, particularly arising out of the mining and resources sector.

Katrina then joined the independent bar as a barrister and was appointed senior counsel in 2013.

Katrina was appointed to the Supreme Court of Western Australia in July 2016. During the official welcome, The Hon. Chief Justice Wayne Stewart Martin AC remarked:

In appointing Justice Banks-Smith to this Court the government has been good enough to overlook the fact that her Honour was born and received her undergraduate education in Tasmania.

Katrina also sits on the advisory board to Notre Dame University’s Law School and the ethics committee for Perth Children’s Hospital, and is a proud mother of two sons.

Abigail Trewin (née Blundell)

Collegiate 1986 - 1993

Director Disaster Preparedness, National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, Darwin NT

Abi is the Director of Disaster Preparedness and Response for the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre (NCCTR) in Darwin and an Intensive Care Paramedic.

Abi began her Paramedic training in Yulara and Alice Springs after leaving a career in Hotel Management. She holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) degree in Paramedicine, a Graduate Diploma in Intensive Care Paramedicine and is currently undertaking a Post Graduate Certificate in Humanitarian Leadership. Abi also completed qualifications from both the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School, Leura NSW, and the International Hotel and Tourism Training Institute (IHTTI) in Neuchâtel Switzerland.

Abi has worked in Pakistan in 2010 as a Paramedic in the Australian civilian/military medical team following the devastating floods; in the Philippines in 2013 after super typhoon Haiyan; and in Fiji in 2015 as AUSMAT Mission leader for the AusMAT Fijian response after cyclone Winston. Australian Medical Assistance Teams (AUSMAT) are multi-disciplinary health teams incorporating doctors, nurses, paramedics, fire-fighters (logisticians) and allied health staff such as environmental health staff, radiographers and pharmacists. They are designed to be self-sufficient, experienced teams that can rapidly respond to a disaster zone to provide life-saving treatment to casualties, in support of the local health response.

Abi represents Australia as a Global Mentor/Verifier for the World Health Organisation to support Emergency Medical Teams to meet the global international standards – she is currently mentoring Fiji to reach these standards and is trained as an Emergency Medical Team Centre coordinator to support Ministries of Health affected by disaster.

Rebecca Cody

Collegiate 1983 - 1990

Principal, Geelong Grammar School

Collegiate Old Girl Rebecca Cody is the Principal of Geelong Grammar School. She is both the first woman and the first Australian-born Principal in the school’s 162-year history. Rebecca believes that education “can transform the lives of those who are blessed to have it….as there are many children in our world who do not have access to the fundamentals that schools provide; regrettably, most of those who miss out are girls.” As a “highly engaged student, she developed a “zeal for learning and a fascination with remarkable endeavours” while a young student at St Michael’s Collegiate School.

A graduate of the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Education (First Class Honours), Rebecca’s teaching career began as an English and Drama teacher at St Michael’s Collegiate School and continued at PLC Perth, where she rose to Head of Senior School. She was appointed to her first Principal position at Woodford House, a leading boarding and day school in New Zealand, in 2004, at the age of 31.  Rebecca became Principal of MLC Claremont from 2009 until 2018, where she was a highly successful and dynamic leader, significantly building enrolments and confidence in the school. MLC currently has 1,200 students from ELC to Year 12, including over 100 boarders. Her initiatives included the introduction of co-education in the ELC, shared co-ed classes with Christ Church Grammar in Years 11 and 12, and an emphasis on professional learning and development for all staff, including the introduction of Positive Education.

She has continued her academic studies by commencing a PhD at The University of Western Australia and is also a graduate of the Cranlana Programme, which as an initiative of the Myer Foundation, is a forum for business, government and community leaders to reflect upon philosophical, ethical and social issues necessary in creating a just, prosperous and sustainable Australian society.

Rebecca’s philosophy on education and life is this:

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go…”.Dr Seuss, Oh, the Places You’ll Go.

Liz Gillam (née Webber)

Collegiate 1959-1968

LLB, Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women, Co-President of the Collegiate Old Girls Association

A Collegiate student for her Tasmanian school life, Liz rose to the position of Head Prefect.  She later graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Tasmania and is a Graduate and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Liz worked in the public sector, primarily in the area of policy development, for over 40 years in both State and Local Government.  Her roles included Deputy Director of the Office of Status of Women, Deputy Director of Local Government, Private Secretary to Government Ministers of various political persuasions and Policy Manager at the Local Government Association of Tasmania. This period covered significant policy development work relating to the status of women, including the Sex Discrimination Act, and major reforms in Local Government, including the reduction of the number of councils from 46 to 29 and comprehensive changes to the Local Government Act. Liz’s interest in Local Government continues as a member of the Local Government Board.

Liz was an inaugural member of the Tasmanian Electoral Commission, which advises the Minister on matters relating to elections and provides educational and information programs in relation to elections, and in 2016 completed a seven-year term as Chair.

Liz was appointed an inaugural member of the Integrity Commission, a reflection of her extensive experience in local government, procedural fairness and equity and continues to work to improve the conduct, propriety and ethics in public authorities.

As a Director of the Public Trustee, Liz works with the Board to provide quality, independent trustee services to the Tasmanian community and to ensure that the business and affairs of the Public Trustee are conducted in accordance with sound commercial practice and statutory obligations.

In 2015, Liz became a member of the Board of the Hobart Women’s Shelter, a not for profit organisation that provides accommodation and other services for homeless women and children and those escaping domestic violence.

In March 2017, Liz was inducted to the Tasmanian Honour Roll of Women.

A quiet achiever, Liz Gillam has embodied the characteristics of trust and responsibility throughout her professional life, as an adviser and influencer on major government policy in Tasmania, and a strong contributor on social justice issues. She was undoubtedly influenced by her father’s background and teachings as Dean of Hobart and School Chaplain. St Michael’s Collegiate School holds Liz in the highest esteem and is delighted that she continues to play an important role in the life of school, previously for five years as Chair of the School Board and now as a Foundation Trustee and Co-President of the Collegiate Old Girls Association.

Miriam Handsworth (née Butler)

Collegiate 1980-1990

Professional Musician

Born in Adelaide in 1973. Miriam received the Zonta Outstanding Young Fashion Designer Award in 1988 and won a World Vision Study Tour Scholarship to Zimbabwe and Zambia in 1990. She also completed her HSC at St Michaels Collegiate School in 1990. In 1993 she completed a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Design at the University of Tasmania. In 1997 she obtained a Bachelor of Music (Performance) at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

Granted a Queen’s Trust Scholarship for postgraduate studies in Europe, she studied in Freiburg, Germany and graduated from the Castelfranco Conservatorium of Music in Veneto, Italy in 2001. In 2003 she became Sub-Principal Bassoon with the Cyprus State Orchestra. During her time in Cyprus Miriam also worked for World Vision International as an Events Coordinator, and was the Art Coordinator for the Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art from 2007-2009.

Over the years Miriam has worked with numerous orchestras including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, West Australian Orchestra, Orchestra Victoria, Munich Symphony, Mannheim State Theatre Orchestra, Würzburg State Theatre Orchestra, Wroclaw Opera, Poland and the Wuhan Philharmonic, China.

Several works have been written for Miriam including Richard Lambert’s Humoresque, Op.33 for solo bassoon (2008) and more recently his Sonata for Bassoon and Piano, Op 36 (2012).

In 2014 Miriam toured China with the indigenous Australian group The Black Arm Band and enjoys collaborating with artists from diverse backgrounds, including jazz and world music.

Miriam started out on the piano and clarinet, but discovered the bassoon in her mid teens. She has never looked back. ‘I will always remember Mr Ian Honey who provided the opportunity for me to play the bassoon. He encouraged and nurtured my love of music. I wish he were still around so I could tell him all my stories of life as a professional musician!’

Miriam has taught piano and bassoon for over 15 years and has tutored various groups from the Adelaide Youth Orchestra. She enjoys encouraging young musicians in all aspects of music making, from solo, chamber and orchestral repertoire. In 2016 she has taken on the State Representative role for the Australasian Double Reed Society Queensland to help promote and encourage young oboe and bassoon players.

Miriam photographs extensively as well as collaborating on film projects. She enjoys walking, tennis and Pilates. Miriam has recently married Peter Handsworth and currently lives in Brisbane with their beautiful baby daughter, Clara Grace.

Katherine Butler

Collegiate 1980-1991

Clinical Specialist in Hand Therapy, London Hand Therapy, B.Ap(Sc)OT, AHT(BAHT), A.Mus.A(Flute)

After leaving Collegiate Katherine Butler (1991) completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Occupational Therapy) at the University of South Australia and at the same time an A.Mus.A. (Flute Performance) at the University of Adelaide.

In 1998 she received the highly prestigious Queen’s Trust Award Australia and moved to London to study and work in the area of performing arts medicine. She was privileged to work with two leading surgeons in the field and travelled with them around Europe and the world lecturing and performing research projects.

In 2006, after working for many years in both private and public sector hand therapy departments, Katherine founded London Hand Therapy with the aim of providing first class private assessment and treatment of all hand and upper limb conditions. Her clinical experience has focused on plastic and orthopaedic surgery patients, burns, rheumatological conditions, hypermobility syndrome, performing arts medicine and task specific dystonia.

Katherine lectures and publishes widely and holds appointments at University College London as an Honorary Lecturer and at Plymouth University as an Honorary Associate Professor.

Katherine has established two hand therapy units, worked as a research therapist and is currently undertaking doctoral research in the area of task specific dystonia affecting musicians. She gained her Accredited Hand Therapist award in 2003 and in 2013 she received the esteemed Natalie Barr Award from The British Association of Hand Therapists for her achievement in hand therapy. Her love of music and knowledge of the hand and upper limb has provided her with a unique and invaluable profession.

Since moving to Europe Katherine established a hand unit in Egypt, lived in Luxembourg, completed a diploma in religious studies and another in photography and volunteered in many social justice projects in and around London. She is married to a very loving and supportive husband, Barry Lee. They live in Twickenham, an historic and beautiful part of the world where Alfred Lord Tennyson, Alexander Pope, Walter de la Mere, J.M.W Turner, Thomas Twining and Pete Townsend used to live. Walks along the River Thames and trips to the opera, modern dance, plays and galleries are a regular feature of their lives. They also like to travel both to the continent and further afield. Katherine enjoys studio Pilates and Gyrotonic sessions each week and hopes to play her flute more and learn Italian once her doctoral studies are finished.

Katherine will be forever grateful for the years she spent at Collegiate and for the firm basis that her education gave her and the encouragement of her teachers to pursue a combination of both science and art.

Dr Fiona Kerslake (née Chopping)

Collegiate 1990 - 1997

PhD UTAS

Dr Fiona Kerslake née Chopping is a Viticulture and Oenology researcher specialising in cool climate wine and cider at the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture (TIA) – a joint venture between the Tasmanian Government and the University of Tasmania. Fiona is also a Research Fellow at the School of Land and Food in the Science, Engineering and Technology Faculty.

Fiona is an expert in viticulture for still (table) Pinot Noir production and also viticultural practices for sparkling wine production. A lack of analytical methods for sparkling wine led to Fiona developing capacity in wine analytical chemistry, including introducing new detailed objective analyses for sparkling wine along with her colleagues. She has transferred this knowledge to help support and develop the burgeoning Tasmanian craft cider industry. Fiona has been an associate cider judge for the Cider Australia Awards and is also a judge at a number of Tasmanian cider competitions.

Growing up on a sheep farm in the Central Highlands of Tasmania, Fiona studied Agricultural Science at the University of Tasmania and undertook her Honours in sheep drench efficacy. However, it was while living in the Central Otago region of New Zealand that she discovered a new passion – Pinot Noir. This interest intensified to the point where she commenced her PhD studies at the University of Tasmania in Pinot Noir viticulture. Embedded within industry, Fiona’s research made significant findings on the influence of seasonal weather conditions, which were having more effect on Pinot Noir grape and wine quality than vineyard management practices within each season.

Since completing her doctorate, Fiona has further developed an outstanding relationship with the local wine industry, which has led to industry-funded research projects and fellowships, including being awarded the Don Martin Sustainable Viticulture Fellowship in 2013. Fiona has incorporated viticultural practices specifically for sparkling wine into her research focus and has recently been working with Brown Brothers to address the issue of yield variability in cool climates such as Tasmania, and this research has been continued with State Government support. Fiona and her colleagues have also recently been successful in attracting over $4.2 million in national wine research funding with projects investigating sparkling wine production, provenance of Pinot Noir and climate change and adaptability of the industry.

Fiona has extensive international experience having lived in New Zealand and worked in California for E&J Gallo, the world’s largest wine company. She has been invited to the UK, Portugal, France, Canada, USA and Italy to present her research outcomes to international audiences and also to learn from similar industries around the world to bring this knowledge back to share with local industry.

Dr Mel Irons

Collegiate 1990-2001

Psychologist & University Lecturer

Mel graduated from Collegiate in 2001. After completing the first year of an Arts/Law degree she was lured overseas and spent 15 months, working and traveling in France, including studying French at a French University.

Returning to the University of Tasmania in 2004 she transferred to a Bachelor of Psychology, graduating in 2007 with First Class Honours. During this same period Mel completed her Certificates III and IV in Fitness and started a highly successful group personal training and health coaching business, Booty.

In 2008 Mel commenced her PhD studying mental and physical health promotion in small workplaces. At the same time she worked as a tutor at the University and also wrote two new first-year Psychology units. Mel’s passion for health and fitness has also led her led her to radio and to work on a range of projects focusing on mindful eating, healthy weight management, intuitive eating and body image.

A twist came in 2013 and Mel changed her PhD topic as a result of her experience with the Dunalley bushfire event in Tasmania. She found herself extremely interested in the power of social media and spontaneous volunteers during disaster events. She has since consulting for various groups on the topic of social media and emergent volunteers and served on the Board for the World Conference in Disaster Management in Toronto, Canada.

Mel is currently completing her Lifeline Crisis Support Worker training and winding up her lecturing commitments at Charles Darwin University as she looks forward to welcoming a baby. Mel continues to work on an academic book, due to be released by Taylor Francis (CRC Press, United States) in mid-2017.

“Being a Collegiate girl… what a complex and amazing privilege. I was afforded such incredible opportunities across a range of domains (academia, sport, music, public speaking) that I would never have received otherwise. I felt a responsibility to maximize those opportunities and that I did! The School prepared me to fight, to have a go, to not give up after inevitable failures. Collegiate taught me to be resilient. The School environment is one that teaches young females that the glass ceiling is there to be smashed.”

Kate Gaul

Collegiate 1973-1980

Theatre Director

Kate Gaul is a freelance theatre director based in Sydney. Graduating first from Collegiate; University of Tasmania; and then from the NIDA Director’s Course. Kate went on to train with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company in New York.

Kate Gaul really has done it all. She is an award winning director, started her own theatre company and been a Festival Director. Kate’s directing credits include plays, opera, physical theatre, devised works and classics for all major theatre companies in Australia. She is Artistic Director of Siren Theatre Co where her passion is for text based drama challenges artists and audiences to have bold imaginative experiences. In 2016 Siren Theatre Co toured Enda Walsh’s “Misterman” to Hobart and produced Noelle Janaszweska’s “Good With Maps” for as season in Sydney. Both works will be seen in Edinburgh in 2017. Kate is also an accomplished designer/maker. www.sirentheatreco.com

“Collegiate was a great start in life – strong, inclusive community and inspiring teachers.”

Rebecca Coote

Collegiate 1989-1991

Glass Sculptor, Installation and Design Artist

Rebecca Coote completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts, receiving first class honours in 2003, was awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA), and in 2007 completed her Master of Fine Art (Research) from the Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania. Working as a professional artist since 2007 Rebecca’s practice crosses the boundaries between art, craft and design to produce sculptures, lights, architectural installations and large-scale public art commissions.

Career highlights include winner of the 2007 prestigious MONA Scholarship, winner of the 2007 Peoples Choice Award (glass section) Hobart City Art Prize and 2008 finalist in the Ranamok Glass Prize. Internationally her work has been showcased in the Australian Pavilion during the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China. In 2009 and 2010 her glass and steel sculptures were shown at ‘Art London’ in England. In 2011 her sculptures were then showcased in the prestigious ‘COLLECT: The International Art Fair for Contemporary Objects’ in The Saatchi Gallery London. Rebecca’s sculptures are held in private collections worldwide and public Tasmanian collections of MONA and TMAG.

Sharing her art with the Tasmanian community is a significant part of Rebecca’s work and she has been awarded numerous Tasmanian Art for Public Building Scheme Commissions and has received three Arts Tasmania Grants, most recently an Arts Tasmania 2017 Artist Investment Program Grant to produce a new body of glass sculpture for exhibition at Handmark Gallery in 2019.

You can see more of Rebecca’s work on her website www.rebeccacoote.com and she is represented in Hobart by Handmark Gallery.

Professor Anne Cutler FRS

Collegiate 1956-1960

Research Professor at the MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney

After studying languages and psychology in Melbourne, Berlin and Bonn, Anne Cutler embraced psycholinguistics when it emerged as an independent field, going on to complete her PhD in the discipline at the University of Texas. After postdoctoral fellowships at MIT and the University of Sussex, she worked as a research scientist at the MRC Applied Psychology Unit in Cambridge.

Subsequently, Anne became Director at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and Professor of Comparative Psycholinguistics at Radboud University. She is now Professor in the MARCS Institute, University of Western Sydney, Australia, and programme leader of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in the Dynamics of Language.

Anne’s research, summarised in the book Native Listening (2012), centres on human listeners’ recognition of spoken language, and in particular on how the brain’s processes of decoding speech are shaped by language-specific listening experience. Her work has received the Spinoza Prize of the Dutch Research Council and the International Speech Communication Association Medal, and she is an elected member of several scientific academies.

Anne has been elected to the prestigious position of Fellow of the Royal Society. The Fellowship of the Royal Society is made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from or living and working in the UK and the Commonwealth.

It is largely forgotten these days, but the quality of language teaching in Australian schools in the 1950s was extraordinary. Almost without exception, European languages were taught by highly qualified individuals who had left Europe in a hurry, to save their lives; unable to resume in Australia the careers for which they had trained, they became teachers of their native language. At Collegiate, our German teacher Dr Karla Gallia had a PhD from the University of Vienna; our French teacher Mrs Van Der Linden had fled from occupied Belgium to neutral Switzerland…. on foot. These remarkable women brought, besides their own compelling stories, European culture and a European perspective into the classroom. Is it a wonder that I ended up making the study of language my career? Or spending nearly all of my working life in Europe?

Emma Hodgman

Collegiate 1973 – 1985

Partner and Chair of the Board, DibbsBarker Lawyers

Emma Hodgman currently holds the position of Partner and Chair of the Board of DibbsBarker Lawyers. DibbsBarker is an Australian East Coast firm with offices in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.

Emma graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor of Arts Law and obtained her Masters in Law and Management from the AGSM and University of NSW in 2002. She is also accredited as a Mediator with LEADR and is a professional member of the Resolution Institute.

Emma worked as a solicitor at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Sydney for three years before joining DibbsBarker Sydney office in 1995 where she was promoted to Partner in 2001. In her early years of partnership Emma served on the DibbsBarker Board and led the firm’s Disputes & Litigation Group. In October 2016 she was re-appointed to the DibbsBarker Board and was elected as the first female Chair of the Board in the firm’s 130 year history.

Emma is a Partner in the firm’s Banking, Insolvency & Disputes group and has over 20 years’ experience in acting for clients in disputes in a number of industries including Banking & Financial Services, Property, Insurance and Government. Her experience includes a broad range of commercial contractual disputes, property and leasing disputes, misleading and deceptive conduct and unconscionable conduct claims, negligence and an ICAC inquiry and ASIC investigation.

Emma acts for two of the top four Australian banks, an Australian regional bank and major Australian REIT. She is also the Client Relationship Partner for two the firm’s bank clients.

Emma is a member of three key associations in her field – Financial Services Institute of Australia (FINSA), Women’s Insolvency Network (WINA) and the Resolution Institute.

Emma is also a member of DibbsReach, the firm’s group with responsibility for charitable and pro-bono work. Emma is the firm champion for the Wayside Chapel which is one of the charitable bodies supported by the firm.

Clare McShane (née Jackett)

Collegiate 1966

Teacher and Entrepreneur

After graduating from St Michael’s Collegiate, Clare obtained her Diploma of Teaching and Tasmanian Teachers Certificate. Following a posting to Oatlands as a young teacher, Clare met and married local grazier Allan McShane and they settled at Casaveen, a property farming 11,000 sheep at Lemont.

As the founder of Casaveen Knitwear, Clare has been successful in the business world for 27 years. Casaveen Knitwear was established as an adjunct to the operation of the sheep property and quickly grew to include an operational centre, factory, showroom, café and meeting rooms. Casaveen Knitwear showcased Tasmanian produce and received numerous accolades including the 1994 Tsuneichi Fuji Fellowship Trust Award, the 1999 Telstra Tasmanian Small Business Award, the 2000 Australian Family Business of the Year Award and the 2000 Family Business Australia First Generation Award.

Clare designed all Casaveen garments, including skirts, sweaters, cardigans, vests, jackets, scarves, hats, socks, wraps and blankets. Casaveen Knitwear garments were distributed across Australia and shipped around the globe.

Clare has served on many advisory boards and committees. She has been a member of the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Tasmanian Quality Wool, an advisor to the Tasmanian Communities Online Advisory Group and an advisor to the Women and Information Taskforce. We are delighted that Clare is a current member of the St Michael’s Collegiate School Board.

Clare has received numerous personal accolades for her achievements including the 1994 Advance Australia Award, the 1996 Telstra Tasmanian Business Woman of the Year, the 1997 Telstra Tasmanian Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year, the 1998 Tasmanian Rural Achiever of the Year and the 2004 Bruce Forster Laincot Memorial Award for exemplary service to the merino wool and sheep industry.

 

Julie Warn AM

Collegiate 1958-1970

Professor, Dean of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and member of the Executive at Edith Cowan University

Julie Warn AM is an Australian academic and performing arts administrator who is the current Dean of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University.

Professor Warn studied at the University of Tasmania gaining a Bachelor of Arts and Diploma in Education before beginning her working career as a high school English and Social Sciences teacher. However her love of theatre led her to apply for a course in Stage Management and Production at NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Arts). On graduating, Professor Warn worked for festivals, theatre companies, chamber music and orchestras, and toured throughout Australia and internationally.

She was senior stage manager at the Sydney Theatre Company (1979–84), assistant general manager at Musica Viva Australia (1984–91); then returned to Tasmania as managing director of the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (1991–2001), and was then CEO of The Queensland Orchestra (2001–04).

In 2004 Julie Warn was appointed director of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA). In 2009, she was re-appointed and promoted to Professor. In 2016 she was made Dean and became a member of ECU’s executive team.

Her services to the performing arts have been recognised through her appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia in 2002 and being awarded a Centenary medal.

Nan Chauncy (née Masterman)

Collegiate 1912-1920

Children's Novelist, Awarded for service to the arts and environment

Nan Chauncy, and her twin brother were born in London in 1900. She immigrated with her parents and siblings to Tasmania in 1912, where she attended St Michael’s Collegiate School and lived in the Boarding House during the week, returning to her family on the weekends. In 1914, the family bought land at Bagdad to start an orchard, living on a neighbouring property while clearing the land and building a slab hut. This experience of the bush made an enormous impression on Nan as she explored the caves, creek and wildlife of the area. Nan’s eldest brother, Kay, bought an adjoining block of land on which the family built a cottage, ‘Day Dawn’. This is the house at Chauncy Vale where Nan wrote her novels.

In the 1920s, Nan travelled to England to see family and study to be a Guide Leader. Guiding was a lifelong interest for Nan and in 1921 she was appointed as Captain of the First Claremont Company. In the 1950s, she became a Commissioner of Guides and editor of the official journal The Camp Fire.

From 1923 until 1930, Nan was employed as a women’s welfare officer at the Cadbury-Fry chocolate factory in Claremont. Retrenched at the beginning of the Depression, she again travelled to England where she lived for several years.

In 1938, Nan returned to Australia and married Anton Rosenfeldt. Kay gave the couple ‘Day Dawn’ as a wedding present. Their daughter, Heather, was born in November 1939. They changed their names to Chauncy, the surname of Nan’s paternal grandmother, in 1949 to avoid the stigma attached to German names at that time. Nan and Anton bought 1000 acres of bush next to Chauncy Vale and in July 1946 the property was declared a wildlife sanctuary. This was the first area of dry bushland to be conserved and the largest conservation area at that time in the Southern Midlands.

Nan was contracted to write 30 scripts a year for the Tasmanian ABC Youth Education Department. Her bestselling novel, They Found a Cave, was published in 1948. It sold over 50,000 copies and was made into a film in the 1960s.

Nan’s interest in wildlife, aboriginal culture and pioneer country living is reflected in her 14 children’s novels. Her books Tiger in the Bush (1956), Devil’s Hill (1959) and Tangara (1961) won acclaim in Australia and overseas, winning three Children’s Book Council, Book Of The Year awards, and several international awards. Her books were translated into 14 languages and Braille. Nan’s books broke new ground in children’s writing in Australia. She pioneered realistic novels and an interest in conservation. Anton bequeathed the Chauncy Vale Wildlife Sanctuary to the Southern Midlands Council in 1988, with Heather Chauncy simultaneously gifting the house and home paddocks.

After she left School Nan acted as Captain of the Collegiate Girl Guides Company in 1924 and 1925.

Tangara at Collegiate’s Anglesea is named after one of Nan’s books.

Betty Rigg (née Sale)

Collegiate 1905-1921

Champion Golfer, Commander in British Red Cross Ambulance Service

Margaret Elizabeth Scott Rigg had a most distinguished sporting and war record. Born in Melbourne in 1905, the family moved to Hobart when Betty was young and she completed her education to Leaving Certificate standard at Collegiate. In 1928 Betty took up a role as a car saleswoman, an unusual occupation at the time, but one in which she became highly regarded. Described as tall, smiling and the sporty type, Betty was a beautiful dancer and strong swimmer.

It was golf at which she excelled, winning the State Championship in 1934, 1935, a five times runner up, and a member of multiple State Foursomes and State teams. Betty was a delegate to the Australian Golf Council and the Kingston Beach Club Champion in 1928, 1933, 1934 and 1935. In 1939 she travelled to England and en route played in the Colombo Associate Championship giving the local champion a fright when she had to go to the 36th hole to retain her title.

Upon arrival in England Betty joined Henleys, an exclusive motor sales firm. However in November of that year she volunteered for the Women’s Transport Arm of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry Service, known as F.A.N.Y.S. Betty spent her travel money on an arctic kit including a flying helmet, fur lined leather coat, boots and a supply of mens’ woollen underwear. She was part of a team that delivered 10 ambulances to Finland and worked tirelessly for the military hospitals conveying patients over tracks covered in ice and snow.

Following a posting to the British Red Cross Ambulance Unit as a Southern Commander in charge of Plymouth and Cossham, in 1942 Betty was commissioned and promoted to second in charge of the unit, becoming responsible for the inspection of ambulance stations and liaison with the British Army. In 1943 Betty was transferred to the Special Operations Executive – a part military organisation. She was promoted to Lieutenant and put in charge of F.A.N.Y personnel. Betty was also helping in the training of intelligence officers but was bound by the Official Secrets Act not to speak about it.

Further promotions followed when she was posted to Algeria in charge of a large draft of F.A.N.Y personnel and then as Captain in charge of female personnel in the Algerian Station. This station played an important role in the recapture of Corsica, the negotiation for the surrender of Italy and the pre-invasion sabotage in southern France.

In 1945 Betty was promoted to Commander and posted to Australia to establish a Signal Station. After marriage and then returning to England, she took a job as an office manager and was partly responsible for arranging trade to Germany. She died suddenly at age 71 and still with a golf handicap of 9.

Eve Masterman, AM

Collegiate 1914-1925

BA, Member of the Order of Australia

Evelyn (Eve) Loois Masterman was born in the United Kingdom in 1907, the youngest of six children. Eve was sister to the famous Tasmanian author Nan Chauncy, also a Collegiate Old Girl.

After migrating to Tasmania with the family in 1912, she was educated at Collegiate before completing her Bachelor of Arts at the University of Tasmania in the early 1930’s.

Eve went on to study librarianship in Melbourne and was appointed as the first Tasmanian Parliamentary Librarian in 1945, a position she held for over 20 years. In 1958, she was awarded the Sir John Morris Memorial Scholarship and travelled overseas to visit large legislative libraries in London and Washington.

In 1976, Eve was named a Member of the Order of Australia for her contribution to public service.

Eve worked tirelessly for social justice, peace and the environment her entire life. She joined the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Australian Section in the 1940s and was the Australian Branch Delegate to Geneva for international conferences in 1968 and 1973.

Eve was a long-term member of Alliance Française , amongst other organisations, and an inaugural member of Servas International. She was instrumental in the establishment of the International Peace Forest (Peace Park) at Berriedale.

Eve received a number of peace awards, including the Australian Peace Prize in 1986 for her work with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and a United Nations Award in 2001 for her lifetime of dedication to the cause of peace and loyalty to the United Nations and its Tasmanian Association.

In recognition of Eve’s significant contribution, the WILPF Tasmanian Branch established the Eve Masterman Peace Poetry Prize.

Eve died on 5 May 2014 at the age of 106.

Alison Whyte

Collegiate 1977-1985

Actress

Alison Whyte, born in 1968 in Hobart, Tasmania is an actress best known for her role on the Australian television series Frontline and Satisfaction.

A former student of classical ballet, Alison graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts before rising to prominence on Australian television for her role as the moralising producer Emma Ward on Frontline, the ABC’s parody of current affairs programs – a role for which she won a Logie Award. From 2007 to 2010 she played Lauren, the housewife-turned-prostitute on Satisfaction. She won the 2008 silver Logie Award for Most Outstanding Female Actress for this role.

Her other television roles have included the legal comedy-drama Marshall Law 2002 with Lisa McCune and William McInnes, and Good Guys Bad Guys. In addition to television roles, she has appeared in the two-actor film Saturday Night, with Aaron Pedersen. She has also worked in theatre, with stage roles in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing. In 2008, she appeared in a production of David Williamson’s play Don’s Party at the Sydney Opera House. She has also guest starred in an episode of City Homicide.

From 1995 to 2007 Alison and her husband Fred Whitlock ran the Terminus Hotel in Abbotsford, Melbourne. The couple then went on to own the Yarra Glen Grand Hotel, in the Yarra Valley; which they sold in 2015. Alison has visited Vietnam and Cambodia as a spokesperson for Oxfam and has three children, Rose, Emilia and Atticus.

In 2010, Alison won Best Female Actor in supporting role in a play at the 10th Annual Helpmann Awards for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in Richard III, directed by Simon Phillips.

Patti Warn

Collegiate 1950-1961

Political Advisor and Social Justice Advocate

Patti was twice Dux of the School (1960 and 1961), Dundas House Captain, Deputy Head Prefect and holder of the Lady Barron Medal (1961). Awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship, she studied English, German and Political Science at the University of Tasmania, graduating with a BA in 1965. Active in student affairs, she was elected to the Students Representative Council in her first year. Subsequently, Patti organised the first comprehensive Orientation Week for the University and attended conferences of the National Union of Australian University Students (NUAUS). Selected as the first woman on an overseas student delegation in 1964, she travelled to the six existing tertiary institutions in the Territory of Papua New Guinea, advocating for a university to be set up before Independence and encouraging women students to get involved in their country’s future.

In 1965, Patti was elected to be the first full-time Education Vice President of NUAUS in Melbourne for 1966/67 and oversaw a student campaign across Australia to highlight inequalities in education. She was able to encourage the formation of the Tertiary Students Federation of Papua New Guinea which went on to underpin the membership of the Pangu Pati which then won government in the first post-Independence election, with its first female Minister for Justice.

Patti moved to Sydney in 1967 to become the first female research officer for ABC TV’s 4 Corners program, specialising in social and political matters which included Aboriginal land rights, health and housing, the Vietnam war, early environmental issues like Lake Pedder, industrial pollution, education and political interviews, particularly the first long TV studio appearances of Prime Ministers Holt and Gorton.

Invited to become Private Secretary to the new Minister for External Territories in the lead up to self-government and independence in Papua New Guinea, Patti worked in Canberra in 1973/4 spending a lot of time in PNG where her old contacts were key to a peaceful transition of power in 1975.

Patti went on to join Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s staff as Media Secretary, the first woman so appointed. After Whitlam’s dismissal in November 1975, Patti worked for United Press International in the parliamentary press gallery before being appointed the first full-time Secretary of the Australian Labour Party in Tasmania, eventually running in the 1980 federal election as the ALP candidate for Bass, standing unsuccessfully against the Defence Minister, but achieving a substantial swing.

For the next 14 years, Patti worked as private secretary and policy advisor, first in opposition and then for Commonwealth Ministers in the Hawke-Keating Governments, including Social Security, Health, Community Services, Immigration and Communications. She helped develop Australia’s first National Women’s Health Policy, reform of disability services, delivery of home-based aged care services, Australia’s response to the challenge of HIV/AIDs and better ethnic language programs on SBS for newly arrived migrant and refugee groups.

In 1994 Patti was appointed for a 5 year term as a Member of the Immigration Review Tribunal in Sydney, which reviewed departmental decisions on applicants wanting to migrate to, or remain in, Australia.

Since then, Patti has acted as an Official Visitor to mental health facilities in Sydney for 10 years; as a Board member for Uniting Care Ageing and the War Memorial Hospital; as a community member of the NSW Law Society’s Professional Conduct Committee for 12 years and as a consumer health advocate on advisory committees for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, the Australian Health Practitioners Registration Agency and the Australian Council on Health Care Standards. She is a board member of the National Blood Authority in Canberra, which supervises and safeguards Australia’s blood supplies, and the Seniors Rights Service in Sydney, which advocates for older people with housing, rental, retirement and nursing home or home care problems, as well as providing advice and legal support for those subject to elder abuse, either physical or financial.

Fran Bladel (née Payne)

Collegiate 1946-1948

Teacher, volunteer, advocate and member of Tasmanian Parliament

Throughout her life, Fran has been a volunteer, an advocate and an active member of many community organisations. Born and raised in Hobart during the last years of the Depression, Fran developed her commitment to social justice at an early age. As a teenager she found work in a studio in Hobart as an assistant to a Russian portrait photographer. The post-war migration of Europeans who had lost their homelands brought Fran in contact with a diverse range of people, and in 1954 she married a young German immigrant. She was widowed after seven years and raised her son by herself.

As a young widow, Fran was exposed to the hardships faced by women in low-paid jobs. She also had to rely on the generosity of family members or neighbours for child care. These early experiences influenced her later political career.

After gaining a studentship, Fran graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Tasmania in 1969 and became a teacher. A noteable highlight of her teaching career was the shared leadership of the Tagari Project School from 1973-77. She also taught at the Women’s Prison in a voluntary capacity. There were few resources available and the library was located in the Men’s Prison, so Fran herself provided a number of resources.

Between 1977 and 1986, Fran was the senior mistress for English studies at Bridgewater High School. She has become a lifelong advocate for that community.

In 1986, Fran was elected to the Tasmanian Parliament. She was the Chairperson of the Parliamentary Labor Party’s Inquiry into Women’s Affairs in Tasmania in 1987 and continued to champion equality for women throughout her parliamentary career. From 1989-92 and 2001-02, she was Minister for Consumer Affairs, Administrative Services, Minister for Construction, and Minister assisting the Premier on the Status of Women.

Jane Burrell

Collegiate 1962 - 1968

Scientific Illustrator and Graphic Designer

Born in Hobart in 1951, Jane completed her schooling with a Diploma of Graphic Design. She worked for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from 1972-79 as a Designer/Illustrator. It was there she began to develop her distinctive drawings of Tasmanian wildlife. This led to her illustrating Tasmania’s Native Mammals booklet and poster series, written by Philip Andrews for the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.

Jane continued her work as a scientific illustrator, illustrating A Guide to the Birds of Tasmania (1981), by Michael Sharland and contributing a number of drawings to Atlas of Australian Birds (1982), Royal Ornithologists Association.

In 1983 Jane began her collaboration with author Michael Dugan. Together they produced a series of popular children’s books featuring Australian native animals, beginning with A House for Wombats (1983).  Later came Wombats Don’t Have Christmas (1985) also by Michael Dugan; Whose Pouch? (1988); and Little Penguin (1989).

Despite producing films such as Home of the Needwonee, documenting an archaeological expedition to south-west Tasmania which investigated the lifestyle of the Tasmanian Aborigines, and a number of successful photographic exhibitions both in Hobart and overseas, Jane is best known for her work as an illustrator.

Currently Jane runs Buttongrass Studio with her husband Lloyd Sokvitne which specialises in illustrated cloth, wood and paper products.

“I am always grateful for the education that I received at Collegiate and the confidence I gained there as a girl that has always stayed with me as a woman.”

Dr Kate Burbury

Collegiate 1982-1988

Consultant haematologist and chair of the senior medical staff at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in Victoria

Dr Kate Burbury is consultant haematologist and chair of the senior medical staff at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in Victoria.  She is the lead clinician for myeloproliferative disorders, chronic myeloid leukaemia, haemostasis, thrombosis and peri-operative optimisation for all major cancer surgery patients at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre. 

Kate completed her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at the University of Tasmania.  She was then awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford where she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree and worked at the John Radcliffe Hospital.  On return to Australia, Kate began work at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.  Kate is a member of numerous professional societies and scientific committees and is a council member for The Haematology Society for Australia and New Zealand.

Kate is actively involved in the development of expert guidelines and governance structures for both the institution and external working parties, including European Leukaemia Network.  She has an active research program and an extensive portfolio in clinical trials in blood cancers. She has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts, regularly presents at national and international scientific meetings, and is a member of editorial boards and reviewer for numerous journals.

Kate has been recognised through a variety of awards including the 2015 Victorian Public Health Minister’s Award for Excellence in Cancer Care and the 2014 Peter Mac Awards Team Excellence.
Kate feels extremely privileged and honoured to have been able to pursue this profession and be part of an exciting opportunity with the VCCC, to further cancer care delivery and innovative research in this field. Kate attributes much of her life opportunities to the foundations that were laid from her school days at St Michaels Collegiate School.  Her friends, teachers, opportunities and myriad of experiences, have stayed with her and provided her with the courage and skills required to participate and hopefully contribute in a meaningful way.

Dr (Sally) Ursula Salmon

Collegiate 1987, 1989-1992

Environmental Engineer

Ursula is an environmental engineer working to provide quantitative, scientific bases for environmental management decisions, particularly regarding issues of water quality and water resource sustainability.

After graduating from Collegiate in 1992 as dux, Ursula studied Chemical Engineering at the University of Sydney. She went on to postgraduate studies in Sweden, on the environmental impact of mining. In 2004 Ursula returned to Australia to take up a postdoctoral project on the acidic lakes that often form after open cut mining. Since then she has carried out both fundamental research and contract work for government agencies and private industry, on topics such as assessing the risk of drought-driven acidification of the Lower Lakes of the River Murray in the late 2000s, and incorporating environmental isotopes into regional-scale groundwater models to provide improved tools for sustainable water resource management. Through collaboration and PhD/Masters student supervision, she also has worked on developing new sensors to monitor the environmental mobility of elements such as gold and arsenic, improving models of how sediment-water interaction affects nutrients cycling in aquatic ecosystems, using caves and speleothems as archives for past climate, and the impact of using treated waste water to replenish groundwater, among other topics.

In 2016 Ursula was awarded a Fulbright Professional Scholarship to spend 4 months at Stanford. Her Fulbright project will build on her earlier work on incorporating environmental isotopes (e.g., C-14, a.k.a. radiocarbon) into groundwater models to simulate groundwater “age”, in the interests of providing more reliable tools for management of groundwater resources. An example of where this will be of use is around Ursula’s current home town of Perth, WA, where groundwater is used for drinking water, agriculture, and industry, but also supports groundwater-dependent ecosystems in a region known to be a global biodiversity hot-spot. With future climate projections indicating less rain for the region and hence even greater pressures on the finite resource, water managers in Perth, and in similar systems worldwide, will need reliable tools upon which to base water allocation decisions on. Ursula will work with Professor Steven Gorelick and colleagues at Stanford to incorporate additional environmental tracers into the modelling framework. The project will also involve investigating past climate variability, as the isotope concentrations that we see in groundwater today are a result of how rainfall and climate have changed over the last 40,000 years.

Alison Napier (née Fergusson)

Collegiate 1978 – 1984

Grazier and Businesswoman

Alison Napier grew up on the East Coast of Tasmania on a sheep and cattle farm with her parents and siblings. After attending Triabunna Primary School, Alison moved to St Michael’s Collegiate School where she remained a boarder from Years 6 through 12. In 1989 Alison obtained her Bachelor of Education degree, through the University of Tasmania, and taught for 15 years.

In 1998 Alison married and moved to St Marys in Tasmania’s North East. She taught in the local school and helped out on the family property when she had spare time.

During 2009 Alison’s life was turned upside down when her husband took his own life, leaving her to raise three young children and run a large 3,000 hectare beef and forestry enterprise.

The decision to remain on the property and take over the sole responsibility for the business has seen Alison tackle an array of challenges, learn new skills and acquire a depth of knowledge that is driving one of Tasmania’s premier beef operations. Alison and her team produce 250,000 kg per year of high-quality grass-fed beef, which is sold into premium local and export markets, including Singapore and Japan.

The shift from teaching to operating a large agricultural business in an active growth phase has seen Alison evaluate her goals, her philosophies and her approach to life. For Alison life is not about what happens to you, but how you manage what happens – it’s all about attitude.

Alison believes it is a set of core values that have allowed her to make decisions and move in a forward direction since her husband’s death. These values include:

  • optimism – the capacity to stay positive
  • drive – the determination to work hard and make sure things get done
  • ethics – a code of sound moral principles

Alison credits her family and Collegiate as major influences driving these values. From her family she learned the value of hard work and to appreciate the rich benefits of living an uncomplicated, rural lifestyle. Alison hopes she has passed these values on to her three children. From Collegiate, Alison made many lifelong friendships, and she has great memories of her time there. Alison also learned to adjust from living a quiet, rural life to one of hustle and bustle in the Collegiate boarding house, and living in the centre of a busy city, Hobart.   On reflection Alison has decided she prefers a well-grounded rural lifestyle, with regular city visits!

The combination of family and school influences have enabled Alison to develop resilience, courage, confidence and perspective on life. These qualities have enabled her to continue farming successfully and to enjoy life to the fullest with her family and friends.

Dr Anthea Rhodes (née Goodman)

Collegiate 1990 - 1996

Paediatrician at The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, and Director of the Australian Child Health Poll

St Michael’s Collegiate School Old Girl and former Head Prefect, Dr Anthea Rhodes (née Goodman), is a practising general paediatrician at The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, and Director of the Australian Child Health Poll. Dr Rhodes has a clinical interest in the health needs of the vulnerable child, and has speciality training in immigrant health and paediatric forensic medicine. She also has extensive interest and experience in Medical Education and currently works in the University of Melbourne’s Department of Paediatrics as a lecturer and co-ordinator for the Child and Adolescent Health component of the University’s Doctor of Medicine program.

Dr Rhodes graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery from the University of Tasmania before going on to complete a Master of Health Professional Education with Monash University. Dr Rhodes undertook her paediatric speciality training at Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, where she has worked since 2004. Dr Rhodes has been involved in a number of research projects across the fields of health service delivery, immigrant health practice and health professional education. As Director of the Australian Child Health Poll, Dr Rhodes seeks to put the voice of Australian families and communities at the heart of conversation about child and adolescent health, and ultimately inform national discourse, health priorities and policy formulation. 

Dr Rhodes’ valuable information on children’s health issues can be found on her Twitter feed: @DrAntheaRhodes 

Anthea lives in Melbourne with husband Alex and children Luca, Isobel and Oliver.

Dr Joanna Jones (née Heazlewood)

Collegiate 1990-1995

PhD and lecturer at UTAS

Dr Joanna Jones née Heazlewood was nominated in 2017 for a Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women’s Award for her work in developing an online platform to share information on careers in agriculture, education pathway choices and teaching tools.

Joanna is a lecturer at the University of Tasmania in the areas of horticulture, viticulture, farm business management and extension, as well as supervises honours, masters and PhD candidates. Joanna also coordinates student outreach for the Agriculture discipline at the University of Tasmania.

Dr Jones completed her PhD in grapevine fruitfulness and yield management. She then furthered this theme with a post-doc funded by the Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation (now Wine Australia) focussing on fruitfulness in more detail. Joanna’s research interests include the manipulation of perennial horticulture physiology for maximised grape, wine, cider and cherry quality. With subsequent post-doctoral projects in sparkling wine production and sweet cherry fruitlet abscission (funded by AusIndustry and Tasmanian vineyards, and HAL respectively), her expertise in carbohydrate partitioning and reproductive biology developed.

Joanna also has considerable media experience, having worked in broadcast media for ABC Rural and print media with the Stock and Land newspaper.

Joanna is co-owner / manager of Fidelity Peonies, a cut-flower business. She also assists husband David run a dairy farm in Tasmania’s Derwent Valley and is mum to Zara and Frankie.

Penny Griffits

Collegiate 1987 - 1995

Head of Commercial - Manufactured Chemicals, Ixom

Penny is currently Manager of Strategy at Ixom (formerly Orica Chemicals).  Ixom manufactures and trades chemicals for the water, mining, oil & gas, agriculture and food & beverage sectors in Australia and New Zealand, with a growing presence in Latin America, Asia, US and the UK.  Ixom was divested by Orica in late 2015 and acquired by US private equity company Blackstone, so it is a ‘new’ company establishing its identity and preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO).  Penny’s role involves working closely with the Executive Management and Board to develop the company’s strategic direction, and the business plans to execute the strategy.

Prior to Ixom, Penny worked for the leading innovation company 3M for 13 years.  Best known as the inventor of Post-It® Notes, 3M is responsible for over 60,000 products used in homes, businesses, schools, hospitals and more.  3M innovates continuously, with one third of its sales derived from products invented in the last five years.   The company employs thousands of scientists and engineers around the world, operates in 70 countries and has sales in more than 200 countries.
Penny held a broad range of roles during her time at 3M, starting as a Manufacturing Development Engineer in Pharmaceuticals, and ending as the Business Manager for two Divisions: Renewable Energy Division (solar/wind energy products and energy efficiency films) and Display Materials and Systems Division (touch screens and light enhancing films used in computers and mobile phones).  Penny’s other roles at 3M included corporate strategy, business development, project and contract management, business process optimisation, new product commercialisation, Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, and technical sales.

Prior to 3M, Penny worked for Memcor (now Evoqua) developing some of the first membrane filtration systems for water and wastewater treatment in California, Colorado and across Australia.

Penny holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management, and first class honours in Chemical Engineering from the University of NSW (where she held an industry Co-op Scholarship).  She is passionate about fostering innovation and creativity in business, women in management and supporting the impressive technology start-up community in Australia. 

Tammy Chu

Collegiate 1989-1994

Managing Director at Entura

Tammy was appointed as Managing Director for Entura in May 2011. She is responsible for Entura’s business strategy, performance and services to clients, and is part of Hydro Tasmania’s Leadership Group. Tammy joined the business in 2000 and has held a range of positions at Entura, from Technical Professional to Project Manager, Business Development Manager and Water and Environment Group Manager.

She has extensive managerial and business development experience in the consulting engineering industry within Australia and internationally, focusing on business strategy, change and transformation, international sales, culture, and profit and revenue growth.

As a civil engineer, Tammy specialised in the design and construction of mini-hydro and hydropower systems, project management, hydropower investigations, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, environmental assessments and approvals, resource investigations and resource water management.

Tammy is a member of the Board of the International Hydropower Association. She was the first female president of the Tasmanian Division of Engineers Australia, and was an Engineers Australia National Congress representative.

Tammy holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Civil from the University of Tasmania, a Master of Business and Administration from Chifley Business School, is a Fellow and Chartered Engineer of Engineers Australia, and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Sally Abell

Collegiate 1994-2001

Endocrinologist, Monash Health, Melbourne, Post-doctoral research fellow, Monash University

A former Dux of the School in 2001, Dr Sally Abell graduated from the University of Tasmania with a BMedSci (Bachelor of Medical Science) and a MBBS (Bachelor of Medicine/Bachelor of Surgery) with First Class Honours in 2007. She received a Dean’s Citation Award in the Faculty of Health Science. Sally completed her physician training at St Vincent’s Hospital and her specialist training at St Vincent’s Hospital and Monash Health in Melbourne. Sally also worked as a Clinical Fellow in General Medicine and tutored medical students at Monash University.

Sally is a practicing Endocrinologist at Monash Health in Melbourne. She obtained a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at Monash University examining risk prediction, antenatal interventions and management of diabetes in pregnancy, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council. Sally is well published in this area and has travelled extensively to deliver papers and presentations overseas. She has received multiple international prizes including the Australasian Women in Endocrinology Award and national awards including the Endocrine Society of Australia Young Investigator Award. Sally was nominated to undertake a leadership course for inspiring Women in Medicine, and is passionate about public health and preventive medicine and improving health service delivery.

Sally currently lives in New York with her husband, an ENT surgeon, who is completing his second fellowship in Head and Neck Cancer and Skull Base Surgery. Supported by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians travelling fellowship, Sally is undertaking clinical work with world experts in Thyroid Cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre and in Endocrinology at Mount Sinai Hospital. Sally loves travelling and being immersed in the fitness, food and music cultures of New York, but looks forward to returning to Australia long term.

Attending Collegiate helped Sally build confidence and drive, self-belief, independence and a strong foundation in academia. The school also reinforced balance and equally encouraged creative and sporting pursuits, for which Sally credits her healthy and well-rounded lifestyle today. Sally is grateful for the support and opportunities offered by all her teachers and mentors.

Julia Mitchell (née Leeson)

Collegiate 1990 – 2003

Space Engineer and Program Manager

Since finishing Year 12 at Collegiate in 2003 where she was the Academic Prefect, Julia has been following her dream of working in the space industry in Australia. Julia completed a combined Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace) with First Class Honours and a Bachelor of Science (Physics) degrees at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and was awarded the Wallis and Kipp UNSW Endowment and the RAeS Centennial Fund Scholarships. Julia received the 2009 Engineers Australia Undergraduate Thesis Prize for her work on micro aerial vehicles on Mars.

In 2009, Julia joined the Qantas Graduate program as a graduate engineer in Melbourne. From 2009-2011, she rotated through various departments including Structures, Avionics, Maintenance Systems and Powerplants working on Boeing 737 aircraft at Tullamarine. At completion of the graduate program, Julia worked as a Structures Engineer and received a Qantas eXcel Recognition Program Service Award.

Julia was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship to study a Master of Science in Astronautics and Space Engineering at Cranfield University and moved to the UK to complete her studies for the 2011/12 academic year. Julia was awarded the EADS Astrium Prize in Space Engineering for Excellent Performance 2011/12 for her studies.

After obtaining her MSC, Julia returned to Australia and worked on two different Space Policy Unit projects as an aerospace engineer with Aerospace Concepts (now the Shoal Group). In April 2013, Julia started working as a spacecraft systems engineer with NewSat Ltd in Melbourne. At NewSat, Julia was involved in a wide range of systems engineering activities relating to the Jabiru-1 satellite project including satellite build support, ground systems development and launch support. In September 2015, Julia moved to Virginia, USA to work for spacecraft operator SES in a spacecraft systems engineering role on site at the spacecraft manufacturer Orbital ATK, supporting the build of the SES-16/GovSat-1 spacecraft.

In April 2017, Julia returned to Melbourne to take the Space Based Augmentation System (SBAS) Testbed Program Manager role at the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information. In this role, Julia coordinates a variety of projects over nine different industry sectors which aim to successfully demonstrate the benefits of the SBAS technologies. The SBAS testbed is a satellite based positioning infrastructure which provides more accurate positioning services in Australia and New Zealand.

Sarah De Jonge

Collegiate 1990 – 1993

Psychosocial Team Leader, CanTeen

After leaving Collegiate in 1993, Sarah travelled to Canada on a 12 month Rotary exchange program before returning to Hobart to complete a BA in English at UTAS. After a brief stint in the workforce, she took an extended break to fulfil her dream of having children while she was still young (the best thing she ever did). While her daughter and son were young, Sarah trained as a telephone counsellor with Lifeline and volunteered as a counsellor, trainer and supervisor for 7 years. During this period, she developed a passion for helping others through work with non-profit organisations, and returned to UTas to complete a BSc with Honours in Psychology in order to further her career in this field. Sarah transitioned from volunteer to paid work with Lifeline, working as Assistant Manager of a social support group for isolated older people before moving into volunteer management and pastoral care roles at Calvary Hospital. In 2015 she left Calvary to pursue a long-held ambition to work with young people.

Sarah now works as a Psychosocial Team Leader at CanTeen, a not-for-profit organisation which supports young people who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis in their family. With training in group work, suicide intervention, counselling and spiritual care,  Sarah supports staff in delivering CanTeen’s important work, as well as working directly with 12 – 25 year olds whose lives have been turned upside down by cancer. Now in her early 40s, Sarah finds herself surrounded by young adults at home and at work, and loves every minute of it.

In her own time, Sarah runs a kindness project through social media called 1000 Hearts, which allows members of the community to express care for one another in the form of small, handmade pocket hearts. Sarah is passionate about spreading kindness, supporting others and making the world a more compassionate place. She is especially keen to encourage young people to think about kindness, and has run several school presentations about 1000 Hearts, with suggestions about how to support their peers when they are struggling.

Dr Erin Kelly

Collegiate 1992-2001

Clinical Psychologist & Director of Therapeutic Programs at St Helen's Private Hospital Hobart

A leaver of 2001 and former Academic Prefect, Erin went on to complete an Arts degree at UTAS, majoring in Psychology and Law. She graduated in 2005 with first class honours in Psychology and the University Medal, awarded for academic excellence. Continuing on at UTAS to complete her postgraduate qualifications, Erin lived in the UK for a time, working on her thesis and presenting her research at the European Association for Psychology and Law international conference. Erin was actively involved in academic life at UTAS, lecturing to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and developing and delivering a new Psychology and Law unit. Erin graduated with a PhD in Clinical Psychology in 2010.

Erin lives in Hobart with her husband James, dividing her time between her private practice and St Helen’s Private Hospital, where she is the Director of Therapeutic Programs. This position continues to offer exciting and challenging opportunities – Erin is the national coordinator of a program designed to use psychological tools and assessments to empower disadvantaged Aboriginal girls on the Cape York Peninsula, making regular trips to Cairns to oversee teams of psychologists on the ground. Through her position at St Helen’s Private Hospital, Erin is also involved in research into Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) with world-renowned experts. Such neurostimulation techniques have been demonstrated to provide significant symptom relief for sufferers of depression, and Erin is thrilled to be involved with such cutting-edge research into techniques that likely represent the future of psychiatry.

Courtney Barnett

Collegiate 2003 - 2005

Musician

Courtney Melba Barnett (2005), is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who has called Melbourne home since she was 20.  Called a “…supremely assured yet easygoing Australian singer-songwriter” by The New York Times, Courtney is known for her witty, rambling lyrics and unique singing style., She attracted attention with the release of her debut EP, I’ve Got A Friend Called Emily Ferris in 2012. International interest from the UK and North American music press came with the release of The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas in October 2013. Making her mark on the music industry at her well-received performances at the CMJ Music Marathon, Courtney was mentioned by both Rolling Stone and The New York Times as a standout performer.

Barnett grew up on Sydney’s Northern Beaches and at 16 moved to Hobart with her parents where she attended St Michael’s Collegiate School. At that age, changing schools felt “like the end of the world”, she says, “but it wasn’t.”  Courtney decided to become a songwriter while at school. “It’s just what I liked doing, and it’s the only thing I was really good at,” she said. She studied art at the University of Tasmania, majoring in photography before she dropped out, honing the sense of detail that would turn up in her lyrics.

Courtney’s debut album, Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit, was released on 23 March 2015 to widespread critical acclaim. Numerous publications listed it as one of the best albums of 2015, including Rolling Stone, The Guardian, The Times, Pitchfork and the Chicago Tribune.

At the ARIA Music Awards of 2015 she won four awards from eight nominations. She was nominated for Best New Artist at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards and for International Female Solo Artist at the 2016 Brit Awards.

In 2015, the representative body for Australian composers and songwriters, APRA, named her Australian songwriter of the year, she as the winner of the Australian Music Prize and the Triple J Award – both prizes for the best Australian album of the year.

Courtney has appeared several times on US television with appearances on The Ellen Show, Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, The Colbert Show and The 2016 season finale of Saturday Night Live.

Shortly afterwards appearing as the musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon On 27 May 2016 Courtney garnered more media attention when her song Elevator Operator was selected by President Barack Obama as one his favourite summer songs.

Dr Mary Stannard

Collegiate 1942-1955

Consultant Physician, Medical Administrator

Former Collegiate Head Prefect and editor of the School Magazine, Mary Stannard graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery in 1962. Mary had a long and distinguished career as a Consultant Physician and Medical Administrator in Melbourne and the ACT.

Mary has cited Collegiate old girl Dr Kathleen Blackwood-Taylor (1931) as the person who inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. Dr Blackwood-Taylor visited Collegiate in 1953, where she addressed the students on her medical work in Iran.

Dr Stannard was awarded The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators Bernard Nicholson Memorial Prize in 1974.

Julie Heckscher

Collegiate 1975-1980

Corporate Counsel, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade

Julie Heckscher is currently Corporate Counsel for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, advising the Department on its operations in Australia and around the world.

Graduating from the University of Tasmania with a BA, LLB (Hons) degree, Julie first worked with Hobart law firm Dobson, Mitchell & Allport as a senior associate before leaving to join Foreign Affairs.

With Foreign Affairs, Julie has lived and worked in Australian embassies in Russia, Canada and most recently Singapore. Julie is currently based in Canberra.

Julie has completed Masters Degrees in International Relations (MA) and in Public Administration (EMPA), both from Monash University. She has held a number of board and committee positions, including Australian Governor on the Governing Board of the Asia-Europe Foundation in Singapore. She is currently a member of the ACT Law Society’s Government Law Committee.

Julie is married with a daughter, Alexandra (called Sasha, ever since her childhood in Moscow).

“Collegiate was a refuge at a challenging time in my life, and a springboard to a world of choices. Friendships made at Collegiate have remained amongst the most important and sustaining of my life and will ever be so, wherever my travels take me.”

Leah Cameron (née Brown)

Collegiate 1995 - 2000

Owner of Marrawah Law

Leah (class of ’00) is a Palawa woman from Lutrawita (Tasmania). She is the current recipient of the Attorney General’s Indigenous Legal Practitioner of the Year Award and the owner of Marrawah Law, Queensland’s only certified Indigenous legal practice.  Leah’s business employs over 75% Indigenous staff and actively promotes procurement of goods and services from other Indigenous businesses.

Leah is a regular contributor to the National Talk Black radio program presenting on topical legal issues. Leah is also a director of Access Community Housing a not-for-profit social housing provider and a volunteer for the Homeless Persons Legal Clinic in Cairns.

The passion Leah has for her work is unwavering and has assisted her in achieving six native title consent determinations to date. Leah’s efforts were recognised in 2016 when chosen as a finalist in the Cairns Business Women’s Club Awards and AIM Leadership Awards.  Other accolades include Tasmanian Young Achiever of the Year Award in the category of Trade and Career Achievement (2008) and the Centenary Medal of Australia. Her greatest honour was being asked to negotiate and repatriate her ancestors’ remains from the British Museum in London on behalf of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community.

Helen Cumpston (née Dunbar)

Collegiate 1921-1926

First woman to graduate in Law from the University of Tasmania

Mrs Helen Cumpston was born on the 21 January 1910 in Hobart.  Helen attended Collegiate from 1921 until 1926 and finished her law degree at the University of Tasmania in 1930. 

In an ANU oral history archive interview in 1991, Helen said, “I was in fact Tasmania’s first woman graduate in law, but every year the professor would tell me that he’d had a woman once before but she hadn’t made it and he was sure I wouldn’t.”

When asked why she had chosen law, Helen replied, “Because I knew at the age of twelve that that was what I wanted to do and I’m still a frustrated family solicitor at the age of eighty.”
Helen’s parents were teachers in the community of Cockle Creek.  They had little money to enable further education for their children; however, a financially independent, unmarried aunt believed in education for women and provided the funds for Helen and her sister Amie to attend Collegiate as boarders.  Amie became a teacher.

After graduating, Helen was unable to find work in Hobart partly due to the depression and partly because she was female.  Helen moved to Canberra and joined the Commonwealth public service as a librarian with the Department of Commerce. Helen also undertook to lecture in modern history for students in Canberra who were working for a degree from the University of Melbourne during this time.  Helen married John Cumpston, a diplomat with Foreign Affairs, and they had four children. Helen’s husband was posted to Chile, New Zealand and New Caledonia between 1946 and 1957, before returning to Canberra.

In Canberra, Helen commenced work as a graduate assistant in the registrar’s division for the Australian National University (ANU) and worked in university administration at ANU for 17 years, rising to Assistant Registrar before retiring in 1975. After retirement, Helen became the assistant secretary to the Australian Vice Chancellor’s Committee.

Helen never stopped learning, undertaking numerous courses in her retirement and lived into her 90s.

More of Helen’s fascinating story can be read here:
http://www.anu.edu.au/emeritus/ohp/interviews/helen_cumpston.html

Beth Roberts (née Downie)

Collegiate 1936-1942

Children's Book Author

1924 – 2001
Beth was born in 1924 on the sheep and cattle property ‘Dungrove’ near Bothwell in Tasmania. She grew up enjoying time with the Dungrove shepherds, feeling their affinity with the land listening to their stories of the last Aboriginals who lived in the district. Beth studied firstly under a governess and then went on to board at Collegiate.

Beth served as a nursing orderly during World War II and then went on to graduate as an Occupational Therapist. She turned to writing at age 50 after raising her own two children. Many of her works were inspired by the land and featured Tasmanian wildlife and Aboriginal people.

Success came quickly in her new career as a children’s author. Beth authored eleven titles of contemporary children’s literature. Amongst them was the famous Manganinnie which was published in 1979 and later made into an inspirational film. It is the story of the developing friendship between an Aboriginal woman and a young white girl as they search for Manganinnie’s tribe in the Tasmanian bush in the 1830’s. The story has been retold in multiple languages, with the French translation winning the French Book of the Year in 1986.

Beth spoke out to promote causes close to her heart. Her written works championed the Tasmanian bush, Aboriginal people and had strong conservation themes throughout. After smoking for 48 years, Beth developed emphysema and went on to speak out publicly about the dangers of smoking for young people.  She also raised public awareness around AIDS following the death of her own son Bill from an AIDS related illness.

Children’s books by Beth Roberts:
The Little Lake who cried (1976)
Manganinnie (1979)
The Upside-Down Bird (1987)
The Wombat who couldn’t see in the Dark (1987)
The Tasmanian Devil who Couldn’t Eat Meat (1988)
Flowers for Mother Mouse (1989)
Magpie Boy (1989)
Midget and the Special Riders (1992)
The Runaway Wombat (1995)
The Three Stragglers (1996)
The Magic Waterfall (1990)
The Broomstick Wedding (2000)

Dr Alison Alexander (née Pillinger)

Collegiate 1955 – 1967

History Writer and Author

I was born in Hobart, Tasmania on 23 September 1949. My parents, David and Pam Pillinger, had married in New South Wales, where they both came from, and moved to Tasmania when Dad got a job as a vet there, with the Department of Agriculture.

Sisters Jo, Pippa and I went to St Michael’s Collegiate School, from Kindergarten onwards. I can’t really say there was much inspiring teaching but it was thorough, and I made many good friends. A lot of them are still good friends, fifty years later. Mum taught there – she was my favourite teacher, and other girls’ too, because she was always so kind and sympathetic, and made the subject interesting. She was a wonderfully supportive mother, and ran the family well, kind but firm. Dad seemed rather like an older brother, doing what Mum said like we all did. He was a jovial, popular man whose favourite activity was listening to Australia beating England at cricket. It didn’t always happen, and then the house would ring with cries of ‘Get the bastards out!’

I did an Arts degree at the University of Tasmania in the heady years 1968–1970: marches against Vietnam, in favour of Aboriginal rights, stirrings of feminism and radicalism – pretty faint stirrings as far as most of us were concerned, but very enjoyable. Then came two years in England, being a nanny, governess, shop assistant, barmaid etc. Back at home, I did Honours and a Diploma of Education and spent 1976 teaching. Meanwhile, in 1975 I married James Alexander, who lectured in Psychology at the University for 38 years. Our children were Jude (born 1976 – I was taking the unfortunate students of Cosgrove High for sex education when I myself got pregnant accidentally), Cathy (1978) and Ted (1980).

My Honours thesis was on Australian children’s author Mary Grant Bruce. Various people said, ‘How interesting! That would make a good book!’ With the confidence of youth I sent it to Angus & Robertson who, eventually and very surprisingly since I was entirely unknown, sent me a contract. Billabong’s Author was published in 1979. This started my writing career.

When Ted was three, I started looking around for work. No teachers were needed at that stage, but the Glenorchy City Council was advertising for someone to write Glenorchy’s history. I submitted the lowest tender and got the job. This started a very enjoyable career, writing commissioned histories. In 2015 I have written 21 and a half, as you can see from my list of books. They have covered a big range of subjects, and I met a huge number of interesting and mostly delightful and helpful people. I also did some work at the University, including editing The Companion to Tasmanian History.

For a complete list of Alison Alexander’s books, go to her website:

http://www.alisonalexander.com.au/

Dr Vanessa Solomon (née Marsden)

Collegiate 1984-1995

Science communicator, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Dr Vanessa Solomon (née Marsden) is a science communicator at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research . Scientists at the Institute investigate the functioning of the human body to understand how a range of diseases – particularly cancers, immune disorders and infections – develop, and use this knowledge to discover new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat them.

Vanessa works as part of a team that strategically engages with a variety of audiences – philanthropists, journalists and prospective research students to name a few – by explaining the Institute’s work across a range of channels including websites, social media, print publications, media releases, videos and paid advertising campaigns.

In 1996, Vanessa commenced a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Tasmania with a Tasmania Scholarship, graduating in 1999 with first class Honours in immunology and receiving the University Medal. She then undertook PhD studies at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, where her research investigated how the lifespan of blood cells is controlled, and how errors in this process can lead to immortal cancer cells.

Following her graduation in 2004, Vanessa spent two years of postdoctoral research training in Denver, US, funded by a fellowship from the US Leukaemia & Lymphoma Society. She then continued her research into new leukaemia therapies at Melbourne’s Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre with funding from the Australian and Victorian Governments until 2011. At this time, she was offered the opportunity to combine her two great interests – medical research and meaningful communication – by stepping into her current role. These interests can be traced back to her time at Collegiate, where her fascination with science began, and was extended by the opportunity to compete at the International Biology Olympiad, where she won a Silver Medal. Her interest in language and communication was broadened through studying Latin, German and English to year 12 standard as well as serving as co-editor of the 1995 school magazine .

Vanessa is married to Ben, and has two sons.

Diane Tompson (née Sim)

Collegiate 1963-1970

Entrepreneur, Mentor, Managing Director The Powercom Group

Diane Tompson (née Sim)

Diane Tompson is co-owner and founder of three companies based in Tasmania – Powercom Consultants Pty Ltd, Novaris Pty Ltd and Powercom Systems Pty Ltd – and is a founding director and co-owner of Novaris Technologies Malaysia.

Diane’s passion is in the development and empowerment of businesswomen. She has been appointed as a Commissioner for the Pacific and Asian regions for Les Femmes Chiefs D’Entreprise Mondial (FCEM) and 1st Vice president of The International Alliance for Women (TIAW). In 2015, Diane was appointed to the board for The International Women’s Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) based in New York. All these organisations place her in a unique position for encouraging and helping other entrepreneurs reach their full potential.

Diane is also currently a Tasmanian Council Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

In 2005 she received the honour of being acknowledged as Tasmania’s Telstra Business Woman of the Year and in 2009, Diane became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal Award from the AICD. In 2011, she was a recipient of an IWEC award, and in 2014, Diane received a “Woman of Difference Award”. In 2015, Diane received an “Outstanding Leadership Award” from the Women’s Leadership Congress held in Mumbai.

Diane is a past National President of Women Chiefs of Enterprises (International) Pty Ltd and a current member of its board. Diane’s role in WCEI is that of International Chair of the organisation.

Diane is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Royal Society for the Arts and an accredited mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation and the University of Tasmania.

Diane’s mission is to provide the tools to allow female entrepreneurs to be the best that they can be. Diane believes that business leaders and entrepreneurs should at all times act with honesty and integrity.

Dr Kathleen Blackwood

Collegiate 1925 - 1931

Missionary and Doctor

Kathleen Katrine Blackwood was born in Sorell on October 27th 1914, to Anglican minister Reverend Donald Burns Blackwood and Ida Maria Blackwood (née Pitt).  Kathleen’s father served as a curate in Deloraine and at Holy Trinity, Hobart.  He was appointed rector of St Helen’s (1911-1913) and rector of Sorell (1913-15).  In 1915 Rev. Donald Blackwood enlisted in the Army Chaplain service and was later awarded the Military Cross “for fearless devotion to duty and conspicuous gallantry during the operations near Villers-Bretonneux 24/26 April, 1918”. 

Although his appointment as Senior Chaplain…permitted him to remain at Casualty Clearing Stations during operations and minister to wounded and dying outside the shelled area, this very gallant Chaplain was indefatigable in his efforts to comfort the wounded in the forward battle zone … On the second day and night of the operations he was out with burials parties well in advance of Headquarters … working throughout the night in dangerous and shelled areas.

Rev. Blackwood was rector of Holy Trinity from 1924 to 1942, during which time he became a Canon of St David’s Cathedral in 1925 and Archdeacon of Hobart in 1929.  In 1942 Donald Blackwood was consecrated the third Bishop of Gippsland.

Kathleen was Dux of Collegiate in 1931 and after matriculation studied science at the University of Tasmania for one year.  She then transferred to the University of Melbourne and completed her medical exams in February 1937.  At the end of 1937, Kathleen was conferred with the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery. She got the highest marks that year, and the media wanted to know how a woman could do better than the men. Her reply was that she loved God, always trying to set His day apart, never studying on Sunday, so her brain had a rest!  This was reported in many newspapers. She was awarded the Embley Medal for anaesthetics “in open competition with all finalists”.  Her first position was as a member of the medical staff at the Alfred Hospital. Her second appointment was at the Queen Victoria Women’s Hospital, Adelaide, where her specialty was eye work. 

Kathleen, her parents and sister, Marian (Mary) shared a calling to Christian mission.  Kathleen had started the Church Missionary Society League of Youth in Hobart. In 1939 the Tasmanian branch of the Church Missionary Society reported that the Venerable Archdeacon D.B. Blackwood’s daughter, Dr Kathleen Blackwood, had been accepted as a medical missionary and would be expected to be given a post in India.  Due to a shortage of funds caused by outbreak of World War II, plans were put on hold until sufficient funds (£180 per year) required to support Kathleen’s work in India could be raised. 

In October 1940, Kathleen began work as senior resident medical officer at the Royal Hobart Hospital while waiting for her overseas posting.  She later learned she was to be sent to the Church of England Missionary Hospital in Isfahan, Iran, which in WWII was then neutral.

Dr Blackwood was given a service of dismissal at her father’s church, Holy Trinity, Hobart, “the first of its kind in Tasmania.” The Mercury reported on 11 February 1941 that “her many friends will wish her well as she goes forth alone on this great mission”.  

On her arrival in Bandar Abbas, Iran, she was met by a group of men saying they had heard a doctor was on board, and could she come, as one of the women in their household was sick. She took her Doctor’s bag and followed them, down small dirt roads, with high walls either side, until they arrived at a high walled compound, with the sick woman lying in the middle of it, surrounded by men. Kathleen diagnosed fluid on the lung which would need aspirating.  A long needle was produced from a nearby clinic, she inserted it into the lung, but it broke off as she did so. As she looked around at the men’s faces in the lamplight, she realised her situation: no one on the ship knew where she was, and she didn’t know the way back. With a quick prayer of “Father help me”, she was just able to get the broken part of the needle between her fingernails, and pull it out! Thank you, God. She learned from this never to use other people’s instruments, and always to let others know where she was!

A few days later, Kathleen was driven by an English missionary, “in an old-fashioned car … 360 miles inland to Kerman…The road crossed two ranges of mountains 15,000 feet high and two deserts.” 

Upon arrival, Kathleen was welcomed by the leading citizens of Kerman.  In a talk she gave in St John’s Hall, Launceston in 1947, she reported that in her hospital:

It is a normal daily occurrence for two doctors to treat 200 out-patients in one morning and often turn away another 100 patients. 

Dr Blackwood’s work in Iran was challenging and hard.  In November 1946 at St George’s Battery Point, she spoke of 

The ignorance of the people in relation to disease, (is) beyond understanding. Ignorance kills 80% of Iranian babies.  

However, despite the work being hard, God gave Kathleen an amazing aptitude for the language: she spoke Farsi perfectly. God also gave her a deep love for the Iranian people, especially the women.

The Mercury reported in 1943 that she had been seriously ill at Oran, but later recovered. In 1945 the Mercury printed a long article on the meeting of Kathleen with her brother, Flight Lieutenant Graham Blackwood, then serving in the RAAF.  Graham arrived in Kerman after a 6,000 mile “jaunt” which was made easier because those helping him on his way showed kindness because he was the brother of Dr Blackwood.  

In late 1946, Kathleen returned to Tasmania where she gave a series of illustrated talks on her work in Iran.  She also prepared for her wedding on December 27, 1946 to the Rev. Philip Taylor, son of the Rev. Stephen Taylor of Mount Colah, Sydney.

Philip had worked with the Church Missionary Society at Oenpelli, Groote Eylandt, and Roper River since 1927. He met and worked with Sister Laura Gamble of Tasmania on Groote Eylandt, and they were married in May 1936. Very sadly, she died of complications during pregnancy in Katherine on 19 February 1938.   In 1940, Phillip began training for the ministry at Ridley College, Melbourne, being made curate of St Paul’s Cathedral, Sale and ordained by Bishop Donald Blackwood, Kathleen’s father, the Bishop of Gippsland, in 1946. So when Kathleen returned from Iran that year, there was Philip, living in Bishopscourt!  

One funny story tells of a trip to a Church Missionary Society conference in Sydney. Kathleen and Philip travelled by train together, being engaged, but carefully got out different doors in Sydney. The mission still did not know of their plans. Kathleen had gone to have a wash just before alighting, and must have taken her ring off. As they walked along the station with the CMS dignitaries, a porter came rushing toward them calling out “Miss, Miss, you forgot your ring!”  So it all came out into the open!  Kathleen and Philip were married in St Paul’s Cathedral, Sale, in a service conducted by her father.  They spent their honeymoon in Tasmania before leaving to take up their missionary and medical work in Iran in 1947, working in Kerman, Isfahan, Yazd, and Shiraz. Ruth Margaret was born in 1948 in Kerman, and Stephen Blackwood in Shiraz in 1951. 

Kathleen and Philip were an amazing team together. Philip was very practical, able to build anything, fly planes, pull teeth, cut hair, (he also brought the first windmills into Iran), so Kathleen was able to teach him to give anaesthetics, cut off limbs and catch babies. One of the first blood transfusions they gave together used a funnel, a piece of gauze, and the tubing from a stethoscope!

One story saw all the lights go out in the middle of an operation on a village chief’s wife, and the surgery continued by lamplight. The lady lived. In gratitude, the hospital was given a generator, and a beautiful Persian carpet was delivered to Kathleen and Philip’s home. It is on Ruth Margaret’s floor today.

Most of the homes and hospitals in old Iran had a cool pool in the middle of the garden. That was true in the Kerman hospital complex. One day Kathleen was so hot after working long hours, she ran and jumped in, white Doctor’s coat and all!  She loved life; her joy and happiness splashed onto those around her!

In Suzanne Perry’s article, Women Medical Graduates and Mission Service published in July 2000, Perry writes that Kathleen had taught another female medical missionary about the proper handling of difficult obstetric cases and some of the extreme gynaecological problems common in a developing world.  At times, when (the missionary) agonized over patients who came too late for treatment, or those who did not survive treatment, Kathleen said:

Remember Jesus didn’t heal all the sick ones in Palestine in his ministry.  We have to be faithful, to do what we can with our limited strength, then leave the results with Him.”

Perry writes that Kathleen Blackwood suffered a ‘crisis of faith’ in the medical work of the mission when, during the 1940s, she was frequently left in charge of a hospital that was chronically underfunded and understaffed.   Often she had neither the drugs nor the equipment to do what was needed to save lives.  There was also inadequate nursing support after surgery. 

Kathleen reported to the Church Missionary Society in 1954 that “conditions in Iran were difficult” because her work had lately been confined to a radius of four miles from the town.  Before, she and fellow doctors were allowed to tend patients in many villages along the Persian Gulf.  

This was during the time of the Mosaddegh Revolution. In 1952, Kathleen, Philip and the children escaped from Iran by plane, refuelling from oil drums strategically placed in the desert. They made their way to Pakistan, then to Australia, where they stayed during 1953, catching up with family and friends. 

It was not possible to return to Iran, so in 1954, they joined the staff of the Zenana (Women’s only) Mission Society Hospital at Sukkur in Pakistan.  Sukkur was in the Sindh desert, which had been appropriated for Britain by Major General Charles Napier, who, so the story goes, walked his elephant up the steps of the 40-room bungalow opposite the hospital the Taylor family and other staff were to live in; supposedly sending a message to Queen Victoria saying “I have sinned” (i.e. I have Sindh)! 

The nine years in Sukkur were very fulfilling for Kathleen and Philip: God had brought a special staff team together, with Doctors from Australia and America, nursing Sisters from Australia and New Zealand and a wonderful Pharmacist from New Zealand.  The Taylors were seconded to New Zealand Church Missionary Society during their years in Sukkur, as  the New Zealand CMS was responsible for the work in the Sindh.  New Zealand wonderfully collected and sent money to build an outpatients and pharmacy building, which greatly enhanced the work.

The hospital’s nickname was “Drip Drop Inn” as initially it was seen as a place of last resort. Most patients needed a drip by the time they arrived! The first blood transfusion given in the hospital used Kathleen’s blood, as there were no other matches.  There was also no hotel in the city, so travellers almost always asked to stay in the bungalow. Once, a couple who had robbed other hospitals were ensconced in a guest room in the bungalow; it needed all Kathleen’s wisdom to know how to deal with that situation!  She managed to get them into the hospital, where the police arrested them. Another young family arrived on a motorbike and side car, headed for Iran in winter. The Taylors were able to persuade them that winter in Iran with a small child in a sidecar would not be safe, so they stayed three months, doing maintenance and sewing in exchange for board. The Taylor children enjoyed the company of the child!

God gave Kathleen great wisdom in dealing with all sorts of issues and people:  patients, local nursing staff, expatriate staff, workers in the hospital, city officials, missionaries from other organizations to name a few. She was also a wonderful mother to her children, reading to them and praying with them before bed unless there was an emergency, putting on wonderful Birthday parties, and having special Bible story times in the big bed in the morning, while having an early cup of tea and delicious bananas brought by the faithful, turbaned cook, Bhutta.

Philip and Kathleen had brought a well-set-up mobile medical unit with them, enabling monthly visits to nearby villages. Doctors and nurses took turns going to the villages, with Philip driving; local evangelists presented the Gospel using visual aids and song.  Patients came from far and wide on ox carts and camel carts and donkeys to see the Doctor, and many were able to be helped. The Taylor children loved taking part in these trips and made themselves useful!  These village visits were a very significant part of the outreach work in the Sindh.

When the temperatures started to reach the high 40s and low 50s, the hospital was closed and the Taylors and other expat staff went to the beautiful town of Murree in the foothills of the Himalayas. (This policy was brought in after Philip’s sister, Dr Joan Taylor, working in the same hospital in the 1930s, stayed in Sukkur over summer and died.)  Philip had overseen the building of two duplexes, the Marsden Cottages, for CMS personnel to use. Missionaries came to Murree from all over Pakistan for the summer months. Kathleen and Philip had language lessons there, and Kathleen was on the roster to help in the medical clinic for the missionaries. Meeting up with old missionaries years later, Ruth Margaret heard many stories of how Kathleen had helped heal them. She was a gifted diagnostician.

The Taylor family left Pakistan in 1963.

In the last years of her life Kathleen resided in Rosedale, Gippsland, Victoria, with Philip and the children. She was Rosedale’s much-loved resident Doctor, and Philip the loved Minister of St Mark’s Anglican Church. It was a precious time, being one of the very few times they lived together as a nuclear family. 

One story of interest is of Kathleen waking one morning from a God-given dream, where she had been shown what was wrong with a farmer who had been unwell for many years. Early in the morning she drove her little Hillman Minx to the farm, and told the farmer and his wife the treatment needed to cure him. He recovered rapidly, and the couple were so grateful. Recently, Kathleen’s grandson, Andrew, working in Malaysia, welcomed a new staff member. He came from Rosedale, and Kathleen had saved his life as a baby, diagnosing pyloric stenosis, and organizing the air ambulance to take him to the Children’s Hospital, where he recovered!

 Kathleen was killed in a car accident outside the Taylor’s home on 16 October, 1967, three days before her daughter’s 19th birthday, four days before her son’s 16th birthday, and four months after the death of her father.  Kathleen’s death was reported in the Collegiate School Magazine of April 1968.   Her funeral was the largest the town had ever seen. About 500 people from all over Australia came to it, including Church, mission and government dignitaries. All the shops were shut, and people, school children, scouts and guides lined the streets. At the service, great thanks was given to God for the life of Kathleen Katrine Blackwood Taylor, and the service closed with the Sindh theme song, “How Good is the God We Adore”.

Post script    

Philip married Sister Gwenyth Baxter from New Zealand, who had worked with Kathleen and Philip at the hospital in Sukkur, in January, 1975. Kathleen’s son, Stephen, was killed in a motorbike accident in November 1974, one month before his wedding. Ruth Margaret married David Roy Mills, and served with CMS in Indonesia for 12 years.  They have two children: Andrew, married to Natalie, née Passmore, with Beth, Jared and Elliot who have lived and served in Indonesia and Malaysia; and Kathleen, married to Stephen Andrews, with Zoe, Isaac and Asher, who have lived and served in Mauritius. Kathleen would have had six great-grandchildren!

Diana Butler OAM (née Allwright)

Collegiate 1973 - 1978

After Hours Manager Launceston General Hospital. Co-founder of Care for Africa

Whilst working as an Emergency Nurse in Launceston, a chance conversation with a colleague about extreme poverty in Africa, motivated, Diana Butler to embark on a journey of intense learning and fulfillment. Diana’s inspiration and foresight led her to form the Care for Africa Foundation. The not for profit organization addresses issues around poverty, gender inequality, lack of clean water, health and educational services in northern Tanzania’s Tarime district. 

Under Diana’s leadership, Care for Africa works in four key areas: water, rural health, education and social enterprise.  Diana Butler has led Care for Africa for over twelve years and has inspired philanthropy in her local community, in Tasmania, and has managed the installation of 10 deep water wells, the building of the first rural sanitation blocks in northern Tanzania, an annual Rural Schools Mobile Health Clinic and the establishment of both a remote primary school the social enterprise programs focusing on existing and forming women’s programs in a strongly patriarchal society.

Diana has become astute at managing large teams of international volunteers and Tanzanian medical and management staff. She works effectively at both a grassroots and executive level, understanding the best international development practices and fundraising initiatives for the organization. As Chief Executive Officer, Diana has shaped Care for Africa into a sustainable and pioneering organization which aligns itself with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

In 2012 Diana received the Tasmanian Telstra Business Women’s Community and Government award and became a national finalist.

Diana was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2016 for her humanitarian work in Tanzania.

Elizabeth Sharland

Collegiate 1943 – 1948

Actress, Author, Playwright, Producer

Elizabeth Sharland, L.G.S.M., A.Mus. A., is a Tasmanian-born actress, author, playwright and producer.  Her aunts Florence and Marion and second cousins Mary, Edith, Marguerite, Monica and Dorothea were amongst the first 212 Collegiate pupils registered.  Mary and Marion became teachers at Collegiate while Monica, a gifted linguist, gained notoriety during WW1 when as companion to Princess Marina, niece of the Tsar of Russia, she was encouraged to leave Russia just before the Princess and her family were made prisoners.  (Princess Marina later escaped the Russian Revolution with the rest of her family aboard the British ship the HMS Marlborough in 1919).

Elizabeth won a scholarship to study piano at London’s Guildhall School of Music, but after two years, and with the assistance of celebrated Tasmanian-born pianist Eileen Joyce, changed her studies to drama and gained diplomas in piano and drama.  Her acting career began with her first professional job at the Felixstowe Repertory Company, after which she toured Australia for six months with London’s Old Vic Company, alongside Katharine Hepburn and Robert Helpmann.  Returning by ship to the United Kingdom, Elizabeth met the ship’s doctor, who would become her future husband.

She later lived in Tangier, where she taught music at the American School and performed as house pianist at the Velasquez Hotel. After her marriage, she moved to Toronto, Ontario, Canada with her husband who had accepted a medical position there. She joined the summer stock company The Straw Hat Players to tour Ontario. She performed many roles for CBC Radio and CBC-TV dramas, including the General Motors Hour, with actors Gordon Pinsent, Barry Morse, Robert Goulet and Douglas Campbell.

Elizabeth later went to live in Paris, France, where she opened her own English-speaking cafe-theatre, featuring new plays, and she details the experience in her 2008 book A Theatrical Feast in Paris which profiles many of the city’s famous theatres and restaurants, including Le Grand Véfour.

In 1983, she re-located to New York City, and served as personal assistant to actor Yul Brynner on his final tour of the USA in The King and I. She started writing plays, three of which were produced at American Theatre of Actors in New York. After Brynner’s death in 1985, Sharland moved back to London, producing an anthology entitled Love From Shakespeare to Coward at the Theatre Museum, and she cast over 200 actors to work in it over 6 years.

Elizabeth’s first book, From Shakespeare to Coward, was published in 1997 and she has since written seven more books on the theatre, including The British on Broadway, A Theatrical Feast of London, and A Theatrical Feast of New York, as well as penning a novel, The Best Actress, promoted by the noted British public relations consultant Richard Fitzwilliams. She speaks regularly at book signings at venues such as the Players Club and National Arts Club in New York.  Her books are available in kindle editions from amazon.com.au and in hardcover and paperback from amazon.com.

Elizabeth lectures regularly on board the Cunard line of cruise ships, as well as for the American Australian Association, the Society for the Four Arts, the English Speaking Union in Palm Beach and New York, The University Club, the Harvard Club, the National Arts Club and the National Portrait Gallery in London. She also serves as food editor for the Palm Beach Society Magazine.

Elizabeth has never forgotten her family’s connection to Collegiate.  Elizabeth gave a generous donation towards improvements to the Boarding House, and in 2014 a plaque was unveiled in the newly named Sharland Dining Room commemorating the eight Sharland girls who had played such an important part of Collegiate’s history. 

Captain Emma Kadziolka

Collegiate 1999 – 2006

Nursing Officer, Royal Australian Army

Emma Kadziolka is a true heroine. Emma attended St Michael’s Collegiate School from 1999 to 2006. Smiling and effervescent, Emma’s leadership potential was nurtured as a member of the prestigious Open Eight Rowing Team which won Head of the River in 2006 and as Deputy Head Prefect. For her Gap Year in 2007, Emma was a boarding supervisor at the famous Roedean School in the United Kingdom, Alma Mater of HRH Princess Anne.

Emma attended the University of Tasmanian and graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing in 2010 and joined the nursing staff at Calvary Hospital. Further studies have earned Emma a Post Graduate Diploma in Perioperative Nursing, a Graduate Certificate in Nursing Education and this year, Emma will complete studies in Emergency Nursing. In 2013, Emma joined the Royal Australian Army as a Nursing Officer. In 2015 Emma was deployed to Iraq for eight months. Her rank is Captain.

At the age of 27 years, Emma was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour. Captain Kadziolka, along with her family, shared their story of hope, strength and determination on a Facebook post featuring her role in the Invictus Games. Captain Kadziolka and her father, Mark, met HRH Prince Harry in Australia in 2017 when he came to meet the Australian team members for the Invictus Games. Invictus means “unconquerable” and the Games were founded by Prince Harry for those wounded, injured and sick service personnel, the inaugural games being held in London in 2014. Captain Kadziolka competed in athletics and indoor rowing at the Invictus Games in Toronto in September 2017 as Co-captain – a position chosen by staff and athletes. Emma ranked exceptionally well in these events and was awarded an impressive silver medal for athletics and bronze medal for indoor rowing. We salute our brave, young Old Girl and congratulate her on this great achievement! 

Lillian Powell

Collegiate 1926 – 1931

Educator

Miss Lillian Powell attended Collegiate in the 1920s, afterwards attending the University of Tasmania where she graduated with a BA in 1937.  She later completed a Diploma of Education at the University of Melbourne and a Master of Education.  Early teaching positions were secured at Ballarat Church of England Girls Grammar School and Methodist Ladies College, where Lillian was appointed Head of History.

In 1953, Miss Powell returned to Hobart and began a twenty-year teaching career at St Michael’s Collegiate School. She was Head of the English Department, Head of Montgomery House and Chief of Staff, a role which involved timetabling for the School and pastoral care of the staff. In 1966, Miss Powell was appointed by the Principal, Sister Jessica CSC, as the first lay Headmistress of the School (prior to 1966, the positions of Headmistress and the Principal were held by the Sisters of the Church.)  Miss Powell remained in this position until 1973, when the Sisters withdrew from Collegiate and passed the School over to a Board of Management.

Miss Powell was then appointed to the Staff of Sacred Heart College and in 1975 became the first non-religious acting Principal of that school. In 1976 Miss Powell moved to Broadland House, an Anglican girls school in Launceston, and opened a Matriculation Centre in order to encourage more girls to remain at school to the end of Year 12. She was appointed Acting Principal of Broadland House in 1977, and later became the last Principal until 1983, when Broadland House amalgamated with Launceston Church Grammar School.

At the age of seventy, not content with retirement, Miss Powell was accepted as a doctoral candidate by the University of Tasmania to research and write about the optimisation of educational opportunities for women in girls’ schools. Tragically, her studies were cut short and her worked was uncompleted as on 2 March 1984, Miss Powell suffered a stroke and died.

Miss Powell’s Christian faith was demonstrated not only as an ecumenical Christian in her teaching career, but in her community life.  At University she was a member of the Student Christian Movement and a member of the Methodist Church, which later became the Uniting Church. She was a member of the International Federation of University Women and a founding member of the Board of Lifeline Tasmania. 

She was highly regarded and held in love and esteem by both staff and pupils including the current Governor of Tasmania, Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Kate Warner, AC.

Tori Lipscombe

Collegiate 1994 - 2003

Makeup artist, Columnist

Happiness isn’t a flat line. Life isn’t always easy. In fact, my life has been similar to a never-ending game of snakes and ladders. With the role of a dice, I have been two steps ahead and on top of my game only to find that my next turn takes me right back to the bottom of the ladder, sometimes further behind than when I started.

I don’t dwell on this or seek sympathy, because I know this was meant to be my journey. I am meant to embrace the good and the bad, to be resilient and continue to strive for my goals regardless of what I am faced with.

I have endured my share of bullying, heartbreak, physical and emotional abuse, rejection, self- doubt and loss in many forms and from this I have learnt many lessons, but the most important lesson I have learned is to listen. Listen to the most important person in your life, You.

All those lessons, and learning to listen, have set me up for a career in what is realistically a ruthless, unforgiving, dog-eat-dog, crazy, beautiful industry. I started my career as a makeup artist in 2010, right after life forced me to re-discover who I was and what I wanted out of it. I worked hard to receive my qualification as a beauty therapist and makeup artist and made the decision that I wasn’t going to be average.  I wanted to be the best, I wanted my work to be on billboards, in magazines, splashed across the globe.

I had big goals and big dreams. Looking back they seemed so unachievable and unrealistic. But I had nothing to lose, I had already lost it all just prior to this, so I placed a bet on myself, and after completing my training and started my own business. Victoria J Makeup.

I was presented with my “big break” just shy of 12 months into my business when I was very fortunate to be asked to lead the makeup team for ‘Inter-Coiffure World Congress, Australian Leg”. This was an unimaginably large task for one small makeup artist, but with the pure desire to achieve and succeed, I filled myself with belief and created a great makeup team to conquer this opportunity with me! After tireless months of preparation my team and I succeeded in delivering over 90 make up designs over a 3 day event for Australia, Asia, South Africa, U.S.A and Sweden. You’d be forgiven for thinking this set my business up for life but remember this is snakes and ladders.

I push for the success of my business every day. With an over population of unqualified makeup artists and the rise of social media beauty influencers/beauty bloggers, the career I knew as a prestigious one has certainly confronted me to rethink, re-do and change the way I market, promote, and access my client base. These type of challenges are essential for growth and success. You have to go backwards to go forwards. Snakes and ladders.

To date I feel so fortunate to have been published in magazines, on billboards and a sneaky celeb here and there. I’ve had work on T.V, photo shoots, film, weddings and special occasions.

Makeup for me isn’t about changing someone to make them look better. It’s about that beautiful moment when someone looks in the mirror after I’ve done their makeup, stops briefly as they exhale the weight of self-doubt and criticism they have been holding onto for so long.  It’s about showing them how the world sees them – not how they see themselves. Women particularly are so internally judgemental of themselves. It’s about taking someone and showing them how to enhance their natural features. Not mask them.

I am thrilled to now write a beauty column for Australian Swim Suit magazine and Floyd magazine, which allows me another creative outlet. I was not a strong academic student in school, but I excelled at subjects that allowed me to be free such as art, sport and dance and I am now learning to love writing creatively and the challenges that it presents.

I love my job but it certainly comes with its ups and down, just like snakes and ladders. My industry is sporadic and unpredictable. In the blink of an eye you can be on top of that ladder and right back at the bottom again.

To date, I have four makeup artists who work under my business, and we are constantly evolving and training to ensure we are always at the peak of our industry, always striving to lead the way for others and never be following behind. My position is so rewarding, I meet wonderful people, I am challenged always, I only wish I followed by dreams earlier.

Success comes in many forms and for so long my ideas about what success looked like were restrained to a very cramped box, I have had to learn that even the smallest, seemingly insignificant, achievements are forms of success as long as you are still on the path to bigger goals. I have learnt that “putting on your oxygen mask before others” is a life analogy to live by that doesn’t necessarily mean we are selfish. I have by no means fulfilled everything I want to in life or in business but every day I remain positive, I work on small sections of my dreams and slowly I know I will achieve them.

Sometimes mindset is the only thing in our way!

 

Matron Jean Walker RRC

Collegiate 1893 - 1896

Matron, Australian Army Nursing Service

Jean Nellie Miles Walker (1878-1918), nursing sister and army matron, was born on 16 November 1878 at Port Sorell, Tasmania, daughter of Alfred Miles Walker, farmer, and his wife Louisa Mary Glover, née Wilkinson.  Louisa Walker was a daughter of prominent north west coast surgeon Frederick Belmore St George Wilkinson, “the only regular medical practitioner between Deloraine and Emu Bay.”  Jean was one of 10 children born to Alfred and Louisa, of whom five died in their youth.  Her father died when Jean was three years old. 

Privately educated until 1893, she was enrolled at the Collegiate School, Hobart, then trained at Hobart General Hospital between 1903 and 1906. Having stayed on as staff nurse and later sister, in 1908 she entered private nursing.  In early 1913, she completed six months training in obstetrical nursing at the Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, following which she served as matron of private hospitals at Tallangatta, Victoria, and Darlinghurst, Sydney.

Jean joined the Australian Army Nursing Service Reserve in 1906, becoming principal matron in 1909 of the 6th Military District (Tasmania).  Miles-Walker (as she sometimes styled herself) was one of twenty-five nurses who sailed for Egypt with the Australian Imperial Force in November 1914. After several weeks with the British in Alexandria, she joined her own unit, the 2nd Australian General Hospital, at Mena House, Cairo. During the first rush of wounded from Gallipoli she took charge at Mena House while the matron was at the Ghezireh Palace Hotel, also run by the 2nd Australian General Hospital.  ‘Never Matron had better assistance’, Ellen Gould later wrote of Jean and her counterpart at Ghezireh. From September 1915 to January 1916 Sister Walker worked on the British hospital ship Gascon which carried patients from Anzac Cove, Cape Helles, Mudros and Salonika to Malta, Gibraltar, England and Egypt. She was next attached as temporary matron to the 1st Australian Stationary Hospital at Ismailia, Egypt, where wounded from the battle of Romani were treated.

When the 3rd Australian Auxiliary Hospital opened at Dartford, England, in October 1916, Jean had been promoted matron. She had been mentioned in dispatches and was presented with the Order of the Royal Red Cross (1st class) in February 1917 by King George V.  Later postings included the 5th British Stationary Hospital at Dieppe, France and the 3rd Australian General Hospital at Abbeville, replacing Grace Wilson.

After a further term at Dieppe, Matron Walker went to London and on 19 October was attached to the 2nd Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Southall.  When working in the 1st Group Clearing Hospital at Sutton Veny, Wiltshire, Jean, who had never married, died of Spanish Influenza on 30 October 1918 at the age of 39, and was buried in the graveyard of nearby St John’s Church.  

Although Jean was not killed on the battlefields of WWI, her service has been commemorated on a memorial in the St Nicholas Chapel in York Minster, along with 1,399 British and Commonwealth women who died serving their country in WWI.

Hannah and Rachel Vasicek

Collegiate 2005 - 2013

Francesca Collections

Hannah Vasicek: Collegiate 2005 – 2007                                     

Rachel Vasicek: Collegiate 2005 – 2013

On-trend Australian jewellery label Francesca Collections is the brainchild of sisters Hannah Vasicek (2007) and Rachel Vasicek (2013).  Hannah Vasicek is the founder, designer and business woman behind Francesca Collections while Rachel Vasicek is responsible for marketing, photography, graphic design as well as jewellery design.  Both sisters are very hands on in the business and meld their contrasting styles to create striking contemporary jewellery pieces.

Francesca Collections got its start when Hannah turned her passion for jewellery making into a full time career.  Hannah began making jewellery at the age of 12, but her entrepreneurial talents developed during her school years.

‘When I was 12 we would spend two hours on the bus to and from school and I started my first business selling lollies on the school bus.  I would buy a box of wholesale lollies for $100 and then I would profit $200 once I sold a box and we were selling about two boxes a week.’

Hannah then used that money to buy beads and was selling the jewellery to stores in Hobart. Her decision to sell directly to the public resulted in a weekly stall at Salamanca market.

Unsure of her future in jewellery at the end of her time at Collegiate, Hannah embarked on a science and law degree.  Francesca Collections was launched in 2011 while Hannah was still at university.  When she had almost completed her degree, Hannah was offered a graduate law position at a top law firm. Hannah and Rachel –  who was considering following her sister into law – had a tough decision to make.  They decided to put all their energies into Francesca Collections.

Hard work and sacrifice meant success came quickly for the business:  Hannah was selected as a delegate to the G20 Young Entrepreneur Alliance Summits in Moscow in 2013 and Sydney in 2014.  A major turning point for Hannah and Rachel was being asked to go to the Golden Globes to showcase their jewellery in 2014.  Rachel was still a Collegiate student so couldn’t go and money was tight so they crowdfunded enough to enable Hannah to buy return flights. 

‘I was coming from Tassie and no one really knew the brand at that stage. I packed all of my jewellery in two suit cases, I got on the plane and flew over and was there for 48 hours.’

In 2015 Francesca Collections was awarded the Tasmanian Telstra Business of the Year.

View Francesa Collections website 

Monique Brumby

Collegiate 1987 - 1992

Performer, Songwriter, Producer

Tasmanian born Monique Brumby was a student at Collegiate from 1987 to 1992. Monique’s passion for songwriting, music and live performance emerged at Collegiate with her involvement in School musicals – most notably, The Wizard of Oz, where she played the role of the cowardly lion and in Pippin as the Leading Player. Encouraged to develop her songwriting skills while learning guitar at the School, Monique built a solid foundation for a career in the music industry.

Monique has released six albums and three EPs of original material in a career that spans over two decades. She has won two ARIA Awards for ‘Best New Artist’ in 1996 and ‘Best Female Artist’ in 1997. In 1998 Monique was nominated for ARIA ‘Song Of The Year’ for her epic ballad, ‘The Change In Me’, from her debut album, ‘Thylacine’. In 1998 Monique was also nominated for ‘Young Tasmanian of the Year’ Award for the Arts.

An accomplished live performer, Monique has toured extensively, playing at music festivals including Byron Bay Blues, A Day On The Green & The Spiegeltent. Monique’s songs have featured in the films ‘Diana and Me’ and ‘Occasional Coarse Language’ as well as in the television productions Home & Away, Neighbours, Heartbreak High and The Secret Life of Us. She has co-written songs with a variety of artists including Beccy Cole, Rob Hirst from Midnight Oil, Gotye and Paul Kelly.

Monique has a Diploma of Music and a Cert IV in Sound Production. Following her tertiary studies, she began producing music for other artists and bands in Melbourne. Monique is currently a mentor to musicians and songwriters, working as a live performer, songwriter, music producer and sound engineer. After headlining at the recent Taste of Tasmania NYE concert and at the launch of Tas Pride in Hobart in January with a stunning performance at the Long Gallery, Monique plans to return to the Island for an extended period in 2018 to record her 7th studio album in Hobart. The album is set for release in late 2018. 

Dr Elizabeth Murchison

Collegiate 1992 - 1998

Cancer geneticist

Elizabeth Murchison is a Reader in Comparative Oncology and Genetics at the University of Cambridge, Department of Veterinary Medicine. Her research group works on transmissible cancers in dogs and Tasmanian devils. 

Elizabeth grew up in Tasmania and attended St Michael’s Collegiate School from 1992 to 1998.  During her time at Collegiate, Elizabeth won many awards including the Lady Barron Medal.  Her ambition as stated in the 1998 yearbook was to be “a world-famous scientist”. 

Elizabeth completed her undergraduate studies in genetics and biochemistry at the University of Melbourne. After moving to the United States to perform her PhD in molecular biology and genetics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Elizabeth returned to Australia where she initiated genetic studies of the Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). In 2009, she was awarded a National Health and Medical Research Council Overseas Biomedical Fellowship to travel to the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom where she was involved in sequencing the Tasmanian devil genome as well as genetic analysis of DFTD and Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumour (CTVT). Elizabeth moved to the University of Cambridge, Department of Veterinary Medicine in 2013.

On trips to Australia, Elizabeth enjoys hiking in Tasmania’s remote wilderness. Plus she enjoys the opportunity to see Tassie devils, particularly healthy ones in the wild. By studying the genetics of the devils’ unusual cancer, she hopes to contribute to ongoing conservation efforts.

Elizabeth has been the recipient of several honours and awards, including:

  • Honourable mention: Genetics Society of America Rosalind Franklin Young Investigator Award of the Gruber Foundation (2016)
  • Philip Leverhulme Prize (2014)
  • Cancer Research UK Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize (2014)
  • British Association for Cancer Research-AstraZeneca Young Scientist Frank Rose Award (2014)
  • Genetics Society Balfour Prize Lecture (2014)
  • Eppendorf Award for Young European Investigators (2012)
  • Science Heirlooms Award (2012)
  • L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Fellowship, UK and Ireland (2009)

Elizabeth Murchison’s 2011 TED talk, entitled “Fighting a contagious cancer”, has been watched more than 400,000 times.  Here is the link: https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_murchison

Catherine Grealish (née Langlois)

Collegiate 1991 – 1996

Film and Video Game Composer

Catherine Joy Grealish is a composer for film and video games in Los Angeles.

In 2017, she provided music for the Joseph Fiennes film, On Wings of Eagles, and orchestrated Brie Larson’s directorial debut, Unicorn Store.

In 2018, four projects she had worked on previously were premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including the Netflix documentary series, Wild Wild Country, for which she did additional arrangements and orchestration, and the documentary, Joan Jett: Bad Reputation, for which she was the music editor.

Catherine is currently scoring two feature films and a video game.  Further information on Catherine can be found at her website: www.catherinejoymusic.com

Georgia Nesbitt

Collegiate 1996 – 2009

Professional Rower & Lawyer

Georgia was a popular and much-loved student at St Michael’s Collegiate School.  In her final year at Collegiate, she demonstrated that tenacity and hard work pay dividends; Georgia was elected Deputy Head Prefect, School Swimming Captain, and was part of Rowing, Hockey, Soccer, Water polo, Athletics and Cross country teams, all the while preparing for her final exams.

Georgia’s rowing career started in 2004 at the age of 12. In the past 15 years, she has achieved worldwide recognition as one of Australia’s top elite Rowers. 

Awarded a Sports Scholarship at UTAS in 2013 and 2014, Georgia had to find a balance between her Arts/Law studies, rigorous training and competition schedules around the country and the world. Formerly coached at Huon Rowing Club by Paul Newbon, in 2016 Georgia relocated to Penrith NSW to join the Hancock Prospecting Women’s National Training Centre, where she is under the guidance of Women’s Head Coach, John Keogh, and his senior coaches, Tom Westgarth and Ellen Randell.

Georgia (affectionately nicknamed “Nez” or “G”) had a successful year in 2014, winning bronze at World Rowing Cup 1 in Sydney, alongside Tasmanian, Ella Flecker, and then claiming bronze in the World Rowing U23 Championships in Varese, Italy.

In 2015, Georgia was selected to row in the Senior A Women’s Lightweight Single Scull at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in France. In 2016, she also rowed the same boat at the Non-Olympic World Championships.

Georgia’s favourite place to row is Lake Barrington in Tasmania and in 2017, she was named in the Lightweight Women’s Quad alongside Georgia Miansarow, Alice Arch and Amy James for World Rowing Cups 2 and 3.  Georgia went on to win gold at World Rowing Cup 3 and then silver at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in the boat class.

In 2018 Georgia was confirmed as a member of the Lightweight Women’s Quad set to race at World Cups 2 and 3; Linz Ottensheim, Austria; and Lucerne, Switzerland.  On 23 March 2018 she was admitted to the Bar in NSW and plans to practice Law in Sydney or Hobart. She has a particular interest in Criminal Law. At the moment she is based in NSW as part of the Hancock Prospecting National Women’s Training but plans to move back to Hobart.

When she’s not training, competing or studying, Georgia loves good trails to run on, coffee and the beach.

Dr Sharn Perry

Collegiate 1999 – 2006

Lecturer

Sharn graduated from Collegiate in 2006, and accepted a position at The University of Adelaide to commence a Bachelor of Biomedical Science. During her undergraduate degree, Sharn worked as a research assistant in the Vision Laboratory in the Department of Physiology, under the guidance and esteem of Dr Karin Nordstrom. Upon graduating from her undergraduate degree, Sharn accepted a position in the Motion Physiology Laboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden alongside her now friend and mentor Dr Nordstrom. In conjunction with her position in the Motion Physiology Laboratory, Sharn gained First Class Honours in Physiology from The University of Adelaide.

At the completion of her Honours year, having enjoyed life in Sweden, Sharn chose to pursue a position at Uppsala University as a research assistant. Through this work in 2012, Sharn accepted a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) position in the Developmental Genetics Laboratory at Uppsala University’s Department of Neuroscience. Her PhD research focus switched from motion vision to motor coordination, where she investigated the role of spinal cord neurons to the generation and control of mouse motor behaviours such as swimming, walking and running. During her PhD, Sharn authored a number of academic publications, has been an invited presenter at national and international conferences and became an experienced lecturer.

After graduating with her PhD in 2016, Sharn continued her work on the spinal cord acting as a postdoctoral researcher and part time laboratory manager in the Developmental Genetics Laboratory.  Finally, after eight years of living in Europe, Sharn made the decision to move back to Australia. In July 2017, Sharn accepted a lecturer position at the University of Tasmania, within the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre. In her new role, Sharn is a Unit Coordinator in the Bachelor of Dementia Care. Her research now focuses on understanding how, when and to what extent motor circuits in the brain and spinal cord degenerate, or become disconnected, during neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Motor Neuron Disease. 

Georgia Forbes-Smith

Collegiate 2000–2009

Architect

Georgia moved from Sydney to Hobart in 2000. She attended St Michael’s Collegiate School, graduating in 2009.

In 2011 Georgia returned to Sydney to study at the University of Sydney and reside at St Andrew’s College. She completed her Bachelor of Design in Architecture in 2013 and was recognized on the Dean’s List for Academic Excellence as well as being selected for publication in the USYD Annual Architecture Catalogue. The NSW Chapter of the Australian Institute of Architects awarded Georgia the 1st Degree Graduate of the Year for Most Outstanding Student in Design and Professional Studies graduation from the Bachelor’s Program.

Between degrees, Georgia worked at Tanner Kibble Denton Architects for 12 months alongside a team of architects focused on the redevelopment of the heritage listed Goonoo Goonoo Station in Tamworth.

From 2015-2016 Georgia completed her Master of Architecture at the University of Sydney. In 2015 she received an International Exchange Outbound Scholarship to study at Lunds Universitet in Sweden. Her design research involved a large-scale development of a disused industrial site on the waterfront in Malmö. The project was about implementing an alternative housing model that provided housing to a wide range of users as well as a focus on more usable public spaces.

Upon returning to Sydney, Georgia completed her final graduation project ‘Architecture of Measure: A Museum of Space and Time’. The project breaks up a museum into a series of buildings across an entire suburb. Each piece of the museum is intended to teach the visitor about different elements of the universe at different scales. The project was awarded the Innovation in Architectural Design Award for a final project demonstrating innovation and excellence in the field of Architectural Design.

In 2017 the NSW Architects Registration Board awarded Georgia the Architects Medallionc – she was selected from the top graduates from each of the four schools in New South Wales.

During her Masters, and now also as a graduate, Georgia is employed at Scale Architecture, a small-scale design focused architecture firm. She has worked on a series of different projects including residential, educational projects and commercial fit-outs.

The NSW Architects Registration Board recently published a reflection piece by Georgia called ‘Balancing private gain with public interest’ which discusses whether architects are living up to their potential in making a social impact in Sydney.

Georgia’s ongoing interests are in public architecture and improving public spaces as well as finding alternative, affordable housing solutions.

Dr Thanuja Dharmadasa

Collegiate 1992 - 2002

Consultant Neurologist & Neurophysiologist; Clinical researcher in MND; Pianist

Former Deputy Head Prefect and Dux of the School in 2002, Dr Thanuja Dharmadasa, is a Neurologist with an additional subspecialist qualification as a Neurophysiologist. She is currently completing her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at the University of Sydney, investigating the aggressive and incurable condition of Motor Neuron Disease (MND).

Dr Dharmadasa graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Tasmania with First Class Honours in 2008. She completed her physician training at The Alfred Hospital and her specialist training across both The Alfred and Royal Melbourne Hospitals in Victoria. During this time, she was nominated as the Neurology Registrars’ Representative for Australia and New Zealand, and at the end of her training was awarded the Peter Ebling Award as the Most Outstanding Neurology Registrar.

Whilst currently working as a practising Neurologist and teaching in medical sciences, Dr Dharmadasa hopes to advance the development of new treatments for MND through her research. Her work is supported by several scholarships, including an Australian Postgraduate Award from the University of Sydney as well as a Postgraduate Scholarship from MND Australia. Additional support from an MND Australia Travel Fellowship has also enabled collaboration with the University of Oxford to develop new techniques, aimed to benefit Australian MND patients. She has presented her research both nationally and internationally, recently winning the Australia and New Zealand Neurologists’ Association Young Investigator’s Award in 2017. Dr Dharmadasa loves the busy, endless challenge of her work and the rewarding drive to help patients across a spectrum of neurological conditions.

Dr Dharmadasa’s other passion is music, obtaining her Licentiate Diploma of Music in Pianoforte whilst still in Year 11 at Collegiate. She has been able to combine these interests to organise several successful musical events to fundraise for medical research. Over the 11 years at Collegiate, some of her fondest memories include performing piano concertos on the ‘Eileen Johnson’ piano (named after her beloved piano teacher), singing with the ‘Collegiate Singers’ in the McNeill Performing Arts Centre, and forming invaluable, lifelong friendships. Thanuja attributes the guidance shown by her School teachers and the vast opportunities provided for personal and professional growth within the Collegiate community as the integral foundation that has enabled her to successfully embrace challenge and leadership. She looks forward to continuing her work and returning to Melbourne with her husband in the long-term.

Bridget Rheinberger (née Cannon)

Collegiate 1979 - 1986

Wills and Estates Lawyer at Tremayne Fay Rheinberger Lawyers

Bridget was admitted to practice law in 2005 following a small business background. Bridget has specialised in the area of Wills and Estates since that time, becoming known for her work both inside and outside the legal profession.

Bridget became a Director of Tremayne Fay Rheinberger Lawyers in 2014. In addition, she currently teaches the Wills and Estates component of the Tasmanian Legal Practice Course (UTAS) and is a regular guest on ABC Local Radio discussing these topics. Bridget is also a member of the Elder Law and Succession Committee of the Law Society of Tasmania.

Bridget is a long-standing supporter of the advancement of women in the legal profession and is a former President of Tasmanian Women Lawyers Inc. and former Director of Australian Women Lawyers Limited.

Bridget was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the Ian Harrington Group Board in 2018.

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