17 August 2018
On Wednesday night we were all treated to a magnificent evening of Jazz at the Gov. It was a delight. What a privilege to see our students so openly engaged in and enjoying performing at a public venue to a wonderful audience. The progression of our students is obvious and exciting. I thank Mr Philip Walsh, Director of Music and all staff for their effort in growing the talents of all students.
On the same evening our First XI Soccer and First XV Rugby competed in the grand finals of their respective competitions. Although our Rugby did not win, we congratulate them on making it to the top of their table. Our First XI Soccer team won in an absolute nail biter. Well done to Isaac Burnett (Year 12) and Tom McClure (Year 12) who with the support of wonderful team play, brought the team home in the dying minutes after trailing Trinity College for almost the entire game.
Over the next month we compete in the Winter Intercol fixtures. The Intercol represents the enduring relationship between Saints and PAC and I have no doubt that each student will represent the school with great pride. Intercol fixtures give our students a unique opportunity to compete in fierce competition and I wish all students participating the best of luck.
This week I hosted PAC Headmaster, Bradley Fenner and PAC school captains at our annual Intercol lunch. At this lunch an Intercol code of conduct was presented by School Captains Indran Mukherjee and Seb Cardone along with the PAC Captains. I commend their work in this initiative and re-iterate their message to “win with humility, lose with grace, and do both with dignity.” Local derby’s take place at this time of the year throughout the nation and it is one thing to agree in principle to a code of behaviour, and it is an entirely different challenge to act it out in the heat of competition. The greatest challenge of the winter Intercol will not be the score line, it will be the maintenance of respect for our friends at PAC, the integrity of play, and the acknowledgement of the standard of sportsmanship that School sport should and must represent. The recent norms of society attempt to dictate a level of behaviour well below this standard. I will be paying keen attention to the level of integrity that all students wearing the Blue and White maintain.
The relationship between Saints and PAC is far deeper than a sporting rivalry. A search of our archives provides evidence that our old scholars have frequently met and forged bonds together way beyond the school yard. The photo of Private Dowling and Private Ekins in the trenches at Gallipoli, indicating the strong bond and pride in both institutions, demonstrates that there is much that our students must work to respect by the manner in which they play out each fixture. I will be keenly watching.
Congratulations to Nithin Vivekanandan (Year 9) who recently travelled to the UK to attend summer classes at Oxford University. Nithin completed courses in English Literature, Physics and Chemistry achieving an A for all subjects. A remarkable achievement.
Mr Tim Browning
Headmaster
Gallipoli 1915: Troopers from the 3rd Light Horse, in the trenches at Quinn’s Post September 1915, only 20 yards from Turkish soldiers. Eric Dowling (Saints old scholar 1906-1911) is on the right and is in the act of lighting a jam tin bomb from the smouldering piece of rope that Ashley Ekins (PAC old scholar 1901-1906) is holding (left). The original snapshot taken by Ross M Smith, was sent home to Mrs Dowling in January 1916 and subsequently donated to the School by Eric Dowling.
In 1914 a send-off was held at the Adelaide Town Hall for Saints and PAC soldiers prior to embarking to Gallipoli. To commemorate the Centenary of ANZAC, a lunch was held at Da Costa Dinning Hall in 2015 where PAC gifted a framed copy of this image which now hangs in the Staff Common Room in Old School House.