VOLUME 81 Past Students Newsletter of All Souls St Gabriels School October, 2021

Hello to the ASSG school community! For the second year in a row I’m reflecting on how the school has managed to adapt to continued constraints placed on all of us due to the Corona Virus. Many of us expected or hoped that those events cancelled in 2020 would be held this year, in particular the school’s 100 year birth-day celebrations. And despite many complications, we did indeed celebrate this occasion in style, though not quite the manner in which was originally planned. From 28 to 30 May this year an impressive number of past students gathered in Charters Towers and by all reports a fabulous time was had by all. The first activi-ty was held on Friday night and saw the traditional net-ball and football games played by rival teams from Co-lumba and All Souls. On Saturday night a ball was held outside Halse Hall under a marquis with Michel’s from Townsville providing catering.

You may have seen pictures from the event on our Fa-cebook site, showing the smiling faces of students from a great range of years. Thank you most sincerely to all attendees, as well as the organisers who put in a massive effort to coordinate all events.

Confraternity and QISSN Carnivals were disrupted again this year, due to the 3 day lockdown in SE Queensland. Hopefully in 2022 the carnival will proceed as it has in the past, being scheduled to be hosted by Mackay. This may provide an opportunity for catch ups with past students from the school.

This year the annual Burry weekend was held in Janu-ary, prior to the commencement of the school year. One major undertaking that Peter Lewty organised was the restoration of the bell tower outside the chapel. If you are looking for a social activity in January 2022, we would welcome your help on this very important weekend. The projects undertaken and improvements made, however small, are very much appreciated by the school community.

At the end of Term Three the school farewelled Mr Darren Fleming and his wife Wendy. During the transi-tion to a new Headmaster, the Deputy Headmaster will take on the role of Acting Headmaster in Term 4, sup-ported by a number of staff in leadership positions. We sincerely thank Mr Fleming on his commitment to im-proving facilities at the school, in particular his work on developing a Design and Technology precinct within the school. On behalf of the Past Student’s Association and the school community we wish Darren and Wendy all the very best for their future endeavours.

At this time, I would like to wish all associated with our school a productive and happy end to the year. It con-tinues to be one that is challenging and worrying for many, and we hope and pray that this report reaches you safe and well.

Kind Regards, David Muguira (79-83)

ST GABRIELS ASSG OLD GIRLS

BRISBANE

What a year 2020 was. The Brisbane Old Girls were not able to hold their usual lunches during the year, however for those who wished to catch up in Novem-ber, a casual well attended get together was held to finish off the year. It was enjoyed immensely as we missed those lunches during the year. It was decided that the end of year collection/donation would not take place, but as we always do, send our yearly donation to ASSG. The 2020 donation went to the School and we requested that it go to Junior School. A cheque for $200 was sent with the request that a Chess set be purchased for Junior School. Chess, a wonderful game that the children could learn and a game that is played by all ages through life. We were thrilled to receive a thank you letter and pho-to from the Captain of Junior School, thanking us for the donation. They were looking forward to learning the game and challenging themselves. With the 100 year celebrations having to be cancelled in 2020, we certainly appreciated the challenging time the organising committee were facing. February 2021 saw the start of the celebrations with a High Tea at Advent House to acknowledge the begin-ning/foundation of St Gabriel’s CEGS. I was honoured to be invited as Guest Speaker and Special Guest for that occasion. It was an absolutely delightful morning and I was so very proud to be part of such an event. Following the formalities, I took the Year 12 students present on a tour of what is left of our Gabes campus. Not a lot, but I was able to show them the still stand-ing buildings from our time, and also the classroom be-side the swimming pool that I understand became Al-ban House. One student was thrilled to bits to be able to just identify Alban House written on the roof. It was quite an ex-perience for them, as they knew nothing of the Gabes campus or that it still existed. Another lesson of our Gabes history passed on, which I feel all too soon will be totally for-gotten as the years move on. Will we let it be forgotten?? NO.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Jacki Clayton speaks at the St Gabriel’s celebrations

PAST STUDENTS ST GABRIEL’S CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

June saw the celebrations for the 100 years of both All Souls and St Gabriel’s School. Perhaps not happening as it would had Covid not intervened, but happen it did. Many past students returned to reminisce and rekindle friendships. The photos from the dinner will indicate how well the evening was received. Chapel Service on Sunday morning was special as it al-ways was, and I was honoured to be invited to read the Second Lesson. I had hoped that the Sisters of the SSA, the founders of St Gabriel’s would have been visually acknowledged for the Centenary Year. However, as you enter the Ad-ministration building to the left, a room has been des-ignated as the Gabes Room, which has been designed to showcase the history of Gabes. When speaking to past girl students, they are very aware of the School being referred to as Souls. I have raised this matter with the Board of Governors and brought it to the notice of the Past Students Associa-tion, of the continuing omission of the word St Gabriels when the school name is used, in both written and oral form. I encourage all past students and the wider school community, when referring to the School, to use the correct title of All Souls St Gabriels. On behalf of the Gabes Old Girls Brisbane, I wish to thank Darren for his interest and continued support of our group. It was greatly appreciated, and we loved our yearly visits from the Year 12 girls. It was always a joy to welcome these wonderful young ladies to our lunches. We offer Darren and Wendy every best wish for their move to Adelaide. Our group will continue to meet in March, August and November on the 3rd Thursday of the month. 11.30 am for 12 noon. Unfortunately, we have a change of venue as Café 63 has closed. Our new venue is The Garden Room at Roma Street Parklands. We have met there previously, when it was trading un-der a different name. It is a wonderful spot, easily ac-cessible by train or bus, and also car parking. Once again, our thanks to our loyal Gabes Old Girls for their continued support of our group. It is because of you, we are who we are. We look forward to meeting; to a brighter and better 2022. Jacki Clayton 0447 766 765 Pat Pepper 0458 696 267 Jacki Clayton

Darren Fleming, 2021 School Captains Matthew McKellar and Piper Godfrey and Mrs Diane Alford, Chair of the Board

of Governors at the unveiling of the plaque

Karena Leake, Jill Leake, Ann Hick and Tracey Leake

Naomi Holloway, Robyn Lethbridge, Joyce Burry, Kate Hastie, Megan Francis and Cathy Allingham

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ST GABRIEL’S CELEBRATIONS

Right: Advent House, a beautiful venue to celebrate 100 years of St Gabriel’s

PAST STUDENTS MUSEUM

FROM THE MUSEUM

When our museum was opened in 2015 it was important that a plan of care afterwards was put in place and with the generosity of past students we had sufficient funds for curating expenses. A group of past students and friends formed what we called the MCG – Museum Care Group. We started with seven people, volunteers who came out to the School each Tuesday and helped care for the facility. Unfortunately Jacko, an old girl of St. Ga-briel’s and her husband Des have left us and moved to Townsville. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them both for all their work they did to help us establish the museum setup from scratch. We hope they enjoy their move to Townsville. Roberta McPhail-Hogg is now on the teaching staff but is still heavily involved with her research on the WW2 Honour Roll project and she covers the progress of that research elsewhere in this edition of Servire Regnare. The rest of the group Joyce Burry, Hilary Grant, Phil Carter and myself are seen out at the School almost every Tuesday and try to do what we can in between cups of coffee and talking about the many discoveries we make in the many files of the Archives. It’s work with an important social flavour attached be-cause we also get to see many of the hardworking admin staff. We were quite busy just before the Centenary Weekend in June celebrations compiling one hundred items from one hundred years which were used in a display during the days leading up to the weekend. This display was organised so well by Tracy Maff from the School office and seen by many visitors and locals as it was in the foy-er of The World Theatre in Charters Towers. It also gave us a chance to exhibit memorabilia that is not often on display in our museum. Many past students and visitors took the opportunity to visit our Museum over the Cen-tenary weekend and many left with great historical memories – either photographing displays, special docu-ments from their time or copying special photos in our collection. Some even purchased spare copies of the School Phoenix magazine from their year and one hilarious St. Gabriel’s old girl even donned one of the old yel-low “banana dresses” from the seventies we had stored in the Archives – laughs all round. We regularly receive memorabilia and archival material from past students. There are too many to mention. I cannot thank those people enough for taking the time and trouble to think of us. Much of what is sent is valua-ble and either stored within the compactus or placed on display. This all tends to justify the existence of the mu-seum building. These things of value certainly have a “home” now. Only last week we had a visit from an archi-vist who has been given the task of setting up a school museum and Archives at Townsville Grammar School. He was most impressed with our facilities and particularly the fact that it was all made possible by the generosi-ty of so many past students. The work of Bro Robin Warsop through his many years has also enabled us to have such a valuable collection. I cannot finish without giving recognition to the work being done by Roberta McPhail-Hogg on WW2 Honour Roll project. It has been a long haul delving into the lives of our now 72 past students who sacrificed their lives dur-ing WW2. Roberta has given so much of her free time to the project and I am sure her thoroughness will be evi-dent in the book’s production. You can play your part too if you wish by making a contribution to the publication costs. If you do, your name will be recognised in the book and on the Donor Board within the museum. Howard Lowe

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Bro Robin Warsop B.S.B.

celebrated his 92nd

birthday on

27 September 2021

at Dalrymple Villa.

PAST STUDENTS WW2 HONOUR ROLL PROJECT

The events of the past two years have affected all aspects of our lives, and this includes the research project, which, it had originally been hoped, would have seen publication for the 2020 centenary year ANZAC Eve com-memoration. Now, midway through 2021, the project is still in the research phase. However, as it stands, it has progressed, albeit at a slower pace than envisaged! During 2020, apart from COVID-19, three items of momentous impact occurred: the National Archives of Australia (NAA) opened additional military service files for purchase; two previously unknown Old Boys were added to the honour roll; the family of Old Boy, the late John Stalley, generously contributed $5,000 to the funding of the publi-cation. Prior to 2020, copies of the digital files available from the NAA were obtained. This is a multi-step process. Firstly, the NAA ‘unlocks’ files previously inaccessible to the general public, by reviewing the contents and approving them for release. Secondly, the physical files are digitised and made freely available via the NAA website. However, dig-itising is not an automatic step in the process. If the file is approved for release but not yet digitised, the research-er is required to pay the original digitisation, after which time, the file becomes available to any who seek it. Cop-ies of all files available had been obtained, with the occasional purchase. However, with the mass release of more service files, all files for Old Boys were accessible (for a price), and during 2021, that has been a steady trickle of information from the NAA. Additionally, the Royal Air Force Archives in the United Kingdom has, at last, trialled an online archives request service, and the first of two service files was received during the July 2021 holidays. Slow-ly, a full retinue of service files is being established which will provide the details of the time between enlistment and death. While this has added to the delay in the project, considering the nature of the Old Boys’ deaths, these details are crucial to building a full biography. Since 2018, considerable cross-referencing of a range of sources has occurred, in order to ascertain, as accurately as possible, the correct list of those former students of the school who died in military service. Obviously, this is a ‘fluid’ list, as our knowledge of those who served will only ever be as good as the receipt of information from for-mer students as to their career paths. However, at this point, we are glad that we have only WW2 casualties on the honour roll. In the course of research, we received an enquiry from Michael Brumby, the Charters Towers City archivist regarding a former student, who happened to be a WW2 casualty. This was, Clement James Walsh, a Townsville lad, who was subsequently confirmed as both AS Old Boy and war casualty, becoming 71st on the hon-our roll. As a consequence, I deemed it essential to again review all known Old Boys and Girls who served, and cross-reference them with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Nominal Roll, and the NAA service files. In the cross-referencing process, the 72nd entry to the honour roll was identified. Harry Temple Mills, also a Townsville lad, it transpired, was included in a very old list of casualties held in the Archives, but had subsequently been removed, by whom and when is unknown. So, after almost four years, six names have been removed, and four have been added. Finally, to publication costs. It is a huge undertaking to re-search, and then to collate the research, and finally, to present the findings in a form that is palatable to the purchaser and/or reader. A significant hurdle to the presentation is the cost of publication. Even with a small run of 250, the cost of publication is likely to be in the vicinity of $12,000. Although that will be re-covered, once the books are sold, the museum will need to pro-vide that amount in advance of publication. We are delighted and humbled to have received a bequest from the family of the late John Stalley, Old Boy entered February 1949, exited De-cember, 1954. John was also a prefect for 1954. John took a particular interest in the school’s progress over the years, had an enduring interest in history and was genuinely delighted in the establishment of the museum. We acknowledge this tremen-dously generous bequest with gratitude and appreciation. At least 10 biographies have now been written up and passed through the editing process. Additional checks will be required for referencing, but progress is being made. If you would like to contribute to the publication costs, we would be most grateful! Roberta McPhail-Hogg WW2 Honour Roll Project

WW2 HONOUR Roll Project

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SCHOOL HAPPENNINGS HEADMASTER’S REPORT

HEADMASTER’S REPORT Dear Past Students, Whilst we were waiting for all the COVID related re-strictions to lift for the start of the school year we quickly realised that nothing had actually changed. Access to the boarding residences were still restricted and in the day School, cleaning protocols were still in place. It was an odd feeling. Everyone assumed we would be back to normal and when we were not, everyone was a little flat. Despite all the upheaval, enrolments were again high with 450 students including over 200 boarders. The year began with our induction and installation service for this year’s leaders, always one of my favourite services. Term 1 sport commenced with a change of schedul-ing. Boys and girls tennis was combined, including some mixed doubles whilst cricket was moved to Term 3 in order to keep clear of the wet weather in Term 1. Students enjoyed the tennis format and it created a great atmosphere. Inter-House swimming was won by Feetham and Chad with Becket/Feetham winning the aggregate. We performed well at the Inter-School swimming carnival with the girls coming first and the boys sec-ond with Columba Catholic College taking home the aggregate. Morning training was again a feature of the dorms as they prepared for Cross Country. In the Senior School, Feetham and Chad won the boys and girls with Chad and Page combining for the overall. In Junior School, Feetham and Becket proved too strong winning both the boys and girls and the aggregate. Term 2 commenced and what a Term it was going to be with so many activities including the Centenary Celebrations. Inter-School sport for Netball and Rug-by League commenced in a slightly altered format with double headers and games under lights for the boys. The ASSG and CCC rivalry was again evident with the spoils evenly split across both sports and all ages. After being cancelled in 2020 the Inter-School Cross County went ahead. Could All Souls St Gabriels School make it 15 years in a row? The answer was a resounding yes with four students selected in the NQ Team for the State Championships. After what seemed like an eternity planning and waiting for, the Centenary Celebrations were upon us. A great weekend was had by all. I was pleased that we could incorporate many activities for our cur-rent students as they are actually here in the Cen-tenary – very special indeed. I have been very appreciative of the work done by the Chapel Team to ensure that chapel services have continued this past year without a priest. I am also

grateful for the support from the Bishop and Arch-deacon who have helped us enormously. A highlight for me personally was the ‘Coming of the Light’ ser-vice, a celebration of 150 years of Christianity in the Torres Strait. The service was conducted by the Bish-op with all the serving role duties covered by our Torres Strait students. A proud moment for all as they showcased their culture. On the very day I wrote this article, a charter bus ar-rived this morning bringing our Confraternity and QISSN teams and our supporters back home after the championships were cancelled and Brisbane went into lockdown. In the space of a couple of hours after the lockdown was announced, a charter was organ-ised and under way, driving through the night. It was unfortunate they couldn’t finish the week as both teams were undefeated, but they arrived home safely and had a chance to experience what it was all about. Who knows what next year will look like? As you will be aware, this will be my last report as I conclude my tenure at the end of the year. It has been 6 busy years and there is no downtime at ASSG. I am pleased to be able to contribute in a small way to the development of the school. I wish the whole School community ‘All the best’ as you head into the next 100 years.

Mr Darren Fleming with Junior and Senior School Captains ready to lead the school on ANZAC Day:

L - R: Grace Turner, Piper Godfrey, Matthew McKellar and Clayne Musk

It is official!! ASSG are the Cross Country Champions for 15 years in a row!

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS PHOTOS

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CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS PHOTOS

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PAST STUDENTS NEWS

Friday 14 to Sunday 16 January 2022

ALL SOULS ST GABRIELS PAST STUDENTS ASSN.

Annual General Meeting

Date: Saturday 16 October

Time: 4.00pm

Venue: Howard Lowe Museum

(Followed by drinks at the Commercial Hotel)

Zoom link available.

Please contact Secretary, Glenda Lyon - glyon@allsouls.qld.edu.au

Proxies to be returned in writing to the Secretary, Glenda Lyon -

glyon@allsouls.qld.edu.au by 4.00pm Thursday 14 October

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