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Volume 32, August 2016Stawell GiftInterview with Stawell GiftWinner and Semi Finalist,Talia Martin and CleoAndersonEaster PicnicThe Loreto Gardens camealive to raise money for theLoreto Gari-Uai PrimarySchool in Timor-LesteTreasure from the PastCollege Archivist FionaMcKenny discusses anintriguing donation to theArchives CentreLoreto WeddingsA new section on our recentlylaunched website, celebratingweddings in the stunningLoreto Chapel.
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contentsOpening of Mulhall Centre 8Father Justin Driscoll and Sister Margaret Sculley (ibvm)officially blessed and opened The Mulhall Centre.Treasure from the Past 12A generous donation to the Loreto Archives reveals aninsight into the past.Running Like the Wind 14L oreto College Girls’ success at this years Stawell Gift.Maria Myers AC 17Awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for herdedicated philanthropic work.8Taking their Bows 19This year’s College Co-production of Les Miserables wasperformed brilliantly to sell out crowds.Writing her Future 23Past pupil Melanie Joosten discusses her success in theworld of writing.Loreto Weddings 292317With the launch of the new Loreto College website comesa stunning celebration of Loreto Girls’ Weddings in theLoreto Chapel.14ABN 60 934 887 077Cover PhotoTalia Martin, courtesy of The CourierEditorial TeamMrs Shona Hendley, Mrs Judy-Ann Quilliam, Ms LizFrancis, Ms Elizabeth TillPhotographyMs Liz Crothers, Mrs Shona Hendley, MAD Squad, TheCourier, photos supplied by: the Loreto Archives Centre,Mojo Photography, Katharine Francis and MelanieJoosten.Design & PrintRevolution PrintContributions to Verity can be sent to:Loreto CollegeDevelopment Office1600 Sturt Street Ballarat VIC 335003 5329 6100development@loreto.vic.edu.au
From thePrincipalMs Judith Potter4
“Life is a workshop, not the gallery .Never do anything by halves; be earnest in all you do.”Mother Stanislaus Mulhall ibvm (1851 – 1923 )On Friday 20 May, Year 9 students, staff and guestsacclaimed Loreto College and St Patrick’s Collegejoined together for the Blessing and Opening ofproduction of Les Miserables in the Loreto AbbeyThe Mulhall Centre, the contemporary learningTheatre (Mary’s Mount Centre) I reflected on thefacility for our Year 9 students created through themany Council and Council Committee members,transformation of the hall. Father Justin Driscollpast pupils, architects, builders and friends ofled the Liturgy of Blessing and Sister MargaretLoreto who had contributed to the creation ofSculley ibvm formally opened The Mulhall Centre.this wonderful facility over almost ten years, fromWe are delighted that through the naming of thisdreaming to designing to funding to building. Wecentre we can acknowledge and celebrate Motherwill continue to build on all that has been giftedStanislaus Mulhall, one of the early membersto Loreto College by those who have gone beforeof the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, orus and we will leave much upon which to build byLoreto Sisters, travelling to Australia and makingthose who follow us in the decades and years toa significant contribution to education. Mothercome.Stanislaus Mulhall was a visionary woman who, asProvincial, founded the University of Melbourne’sSt Mary’s College in 1918. This College was a longdreamt of achievement, providing education andaccommodation for the young women of Victoriapursuing a University education. It offered themeans for the girls of rural areas in particularto continue their education in a safe and secureenvironment with the spiritual and physical supportof the Loreto Sisters. Today, almost a hundredyears later, many of our graduates continue tobenefit from the opportunities offered by St Mary’sCollege.At the time of writing this I am looking forward to aperiod of reflection and study as I commence leave.During my period of leave, the school will be inthe capable hands of Ms Elizabeth Till (ExecutiveDeputy Principal) who will take on the role ofActing Principal.I am excited to have this dedicated time to reflecton my role as a leader of a Catholic school in theLoreto tradition and to learn more on neuroscience,positive psychology and the future of learning in aglobal and digital world.We are ever mindful and grateful for thecontribution of all who have gone before us. As anenthralled audience member of the recent highly5
College BoardMr Shane CareyThis year has been a year of completion of strategiccraft and theatre design, recording, sound and lightingprojects and it has thus been timely for the Board andwould have the opportunity to develop to their fullBoard Committees to spend time on reflection andpotential we now see this vision being lived out.review as we plan for the next five, ten and twentyyears from a Governance perspective.The vision for the redesign and development of theIt has been pleasing to witness and to hear what hasCollege has also come into fruition. The formalbeen achieved for our students through the state of artBlessing and Opening of the Mulhall Centre onfacilities, in the wonderful Loreto Abbey Theatre in20 May, 2016 was indeed a great celebration ofthe Mary’s Mount Centre.contemporary learning opportunities for LoretoThe vision for this centre was a purpose built set ofMulhall centre to meet the growing needs of theCollege.dedicated spaces that would allow our students to beAs our students and staff enjoy learning and workingtaught in professional sourroundings using modernin these new contemporary spaces, we remain evermethods and ever developing technologies. Studentsgrateful for our historic foundations as we respectfullylearning at all levels of the performing arts, dance,blend old and new in future planning and Governancesinging, public speaking, debating, drama, music, stageof our Loreto Catholic education.6
CollegeCo-CaptainsBy Eva Gillett and Hannah ArmstrongAn opportunity came our way a few weeks back, whenwe were dressing up the Mary Ward sculpture for theWalkathon, to take a closer look at some of the quotesthat can be found at the base of the statue. One inparticular really caught our attention: “This is verity – todo what we have to do and do it well.”These words got us thinking about the second term of ourrole as College Co-Captains and all the things that havebeen done well, in the name of Loreto. What immediatelycame to mind was the success of the Walkathon, andhow well the school community embraced the purposeof the day. Our community accepted their individual andcollective responsibility to contribute money, resulting inthe 23,000 that was raised for our sister school Gari-Uaiin Timor-Leste.As the term has progressed, we have come to recognisethat doing things well allows us to have success that canbe either grand or humble. The brilliant Les Miserablesproduction grew from a meeting in November of 2015,to a one hundred voice choir that delighted the Ballaratcommunity in June of this year. The opening of TheMulhall Centre was a fitting occasion to honour thelegacy of a talented and driven woman, Mother StanislausMulhall. Even the installation of the Year 12 kitchencame about because of something that needed to be doneand a small group of people working hard together toensure the best outcome.As we write this, our final article for Verity as Co CollegeCaptains, we are putting in place the final arrangementsfor GB Day. We have had to do so much; filming,organising, planning and scheming and we hope to do itwell on Thursday 21 July, 2016. As the sun sets on ourtime as leaders, we can take the words of the Verity quoteaway with us, knowing that Loreto College is indeed aschool that does what it has to do and does it well.7
Opening of TheMulhall CentreWithin the imposing heritage fence, Loreto Collegehas innovatively converted an aging structure into theMulhall Centre, an inspiring contemporary learningenvironment for Year 9 students. The Mulhall Centre wasofficially blessed and opened on 20 May, 2016 by FatherJustin Driscoll and Sister Margaret Sculley (ibvm).The blessing and opening was attended by invited guestsincluding current and past members of the CollegeBoard and Committees, the Architects and Builders,representatives from Loreto Schools, St Patricks Collegeand the Catholic Education Office, Loreto Staff andYear 9 students, who actively participated in the formalceremony.Following the relocation of the music and drama facultyto the Mary’s Mount Centre in 2014, the opportunityarose to covert the retired space to meet the growingneeds of the College. Morton Dunn Architects workedwith the College to overcome restrictions of the existingstructure to meet modern day teaching facilities andrequirements. The final design of the Mulhall Centreis an airy, light filled creative learning space, based onmodern teaching pedagogy, with extraordinary flexibilityof work spaces to enable students and teachers to move inand out of classes and into break-out spaces with ease.This area of the College has had a number ofreincarnations in its time. Past pupils will recall the space8as an outdoor area, an enclosed gym and a convertedmusic and drama space, however, this latest incarnationis the most creative. The Mulhall Centre caters for sixclasses of Year 9 students in light filled classrooms withbreakout spaces, mobile state-of-the-art furniture andsound proof operable walls that open up to house theentire Year 9 unit. The glass walls are intricately surfacedwith waves of College House colours and inspiring quotesfor young women, from the founder of Loreto College,Mother Gonzaga Barry (ibvm).The ten month construction by Nicholson Constructionthroughout 2015 was the final stage in a Master Planthat also saw the development of the gymnasium changerooms and the addition of a the spectacular Loreto Crestthat can now be seen overlooking the Loreto Collegerowers on the waters of Lake Wendouree.Principal, Judith Potter stated, “It has been a delight towitness this creative, flexible and light-filled learningcentre being enthusiastically embraced by our year 9students and their teachers.”“It feels like home here, its feels safe and comfortable,felicitous and optimistic!” says Year 9 Co-ordinatorand Teacher, Kelli Baird. “There is an enormous senseof pride, which is also reflected in the Mother GonzagaBarry quotes on the walls. We all know we are extremelyfortunate, it’s just a terrific space for learning.”
Excerpt of the Homilyfor the Opening ofThe Mulhall CentreBy Father Justin DriscollNaming this Year 9 facility the Mulhall Centre isquite inspired. Not only because of the enormouscontribution that Mother Stanislaus Mulhall andhundreds of Loreto Sisters have made towards thelearning and teaching of young women in Ballaratand from Ballarat throughout Australia, Vietnam,East Timor and beyond, but because of the particularministry that Mother Stanislaus Mulhall offered.She was a spiritual guide and mentor, as the one whodirected the formation of young women who soughtto enter the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary andbecome Loreto Sisters, and following the death ofMother Gonzaga Barry, the founder of the LoretoSisters here in Ballarat and Australia, she as Provincial,led the Loreto Sisters beyond their infancy and initialgrowth towards maturity in this country. In many waysshe was a threshold woman – who accompanied otherson their journeys and entered into what we might callliminal spaces as they left one phase of their lives andprepared for the next.As a centre for Year 9’s this Mulhall Centre is athreshold space, for you, the first cohort of year 9’s toleave the junior years of 7 and 8 and prepare for thesenior years to follow. So too as part of your growthas young women, crossing into gradual maturity, thisenvironment is the one in which you will discern yourown future directions, where the many and uniquegifts that you possess will be fanned into a flame. ThisMulhall Centre is in itself something of a rite of passage– a dedicated, liminal space where you as Year 9’s whodon’t quite fit or belong with the cohorts on either sideof you. This is an in-between space for you who arealso in something of an in-between stage of your lives.With Mother Stanislaus as the patron and guide of thiscentre, may her wisdom accompany you, may her spiritguide you and may her faith inspire you to become whoGod wants you to be so that in being so you will as StCatherine of Siena said, ‘set the world on fire.’She was aspiritual guideand mentor, as theone who directedthe formation ofyoung women9
Mother ofthe YearPauline McKenzie is a past pupil of Loreto CollegeBallarat. She is a mother of eight and grandmother of16. Pauline has lived in Papua New Guinea as part ofAustralian Volunteers Abroad Scheme and has organisedaid for devastated countries affected by natural disasters.She established a group called Grandmothers Againstthe Detention of Children (GADRC). She has fosteredbabies and welcomed into her family various peoplein need of housing and support. For these acts ofcompassion and nurturing, amid so many others, Paulinewas recognised for her extensive volunteer work with anOAM.10In 2016, Pauline was nominated for the BarnardosVictorian Mother of the Year Award and from a fieldof over 4,000 entries, received that accolade. On thebasis of that Award and the fact that the month of Maycelebrates Mary, the mother of Christ, Pauline wasinvited to our May Liturgy, to deliver a homily based onher own experiences of motherhood and mothering.
An excerpt ofPauline’s homilyAt the Paralympics – A Modern Parable.It was late. We were tired, my friend and I. We hadreturned from a great night at Olympic Park. But aftertwo weeks volunteering for the Equestrian Paralympicevents at Horsley Park, we were tired. We didn’t talkmuch. Resignedly, we lined up for a taxi at the BlacktownStation. The shuttle buses had finished and we still were20 mins away from home.There were about 15 people waiting for taxis. We didn’ttake much notice of them. Just the usual sort of peoplewaiting for taxis at 11.30 pm. Shift workers, students,perhaps some who had dined out and shouldn’t drivehome. Not that Blacktown is a place to dine out, just atransitory place, pretty bleak really.The taxis were not bleak though, they rolled up everycouple of minutes and the queue shifted quite quickly.We didn’t talk much, my friend and I. We were too tired.When we noticed the drunk staggering to get his bag, wedidn’t comment. He lurched back and leaned against the“You take this cab,mate. You havebeen waiting along time. I willget the next one”fence. He had lost his place in the queue. To ignore himwas to be polite, not to comment was to be secure. Wedidn’t talk my friend and me, we were too tired.The queue moved forward, not long, only about 5 moretaxis to come and it would be our turn, and then ithappened.A clearly disabled man, a double amputee, steppedforward and took the drunk by the arm, gently,respectfully. “You take this cab, mate. You have beenwaiting a long time. I will get the next one” He openedthe back door and guided his inebriated acquaintanceinto the taxi. He gave a friendly wave as he walked onhis stumps to the next taxi, opened the front door andmaneuvered himself in.I am not sure if he was an athlete, this young, goodlooking amputee. I think he was Australian but whocares, he won gold as far as I was concerned.My friend and I didn’t talk much this time, it was notthat we were too tired.11
Treasure fromthe PastBy Fiona McKenny, College ArchivistIn 2012 former Loreto College Archivist, Mr MichaelTaffe, was invited to inspect an old shearing shed atBellbrae whose contents might be of interest.Of further interest, two of the sisters subsequentlybecame Loreto nuns, Clara - Mother Aluigi Bell andHonor - Mother Andrew Bell.Mr Taffe expected to “pick up a box of something,but the items just kept coming”. He was immediatelycaptivated by the extent of the historical collectioninside this inauspicious outbuilding. Hoop dresses,shipping logs, photographs, personal correspondenceand antique objects were just some of the many items.The contents of the collection donated to the LoretoCollege Archives, comprised photographs, letters,diaries and other memorabilia, all offering an intriguinginsight into life as a Loreto student at the end of the19th century, and also life as a Loreto nun providingeducation and leadership to successive generations ofLoreto girls through the first half of the 20th century.As an archivist, the collection represented a raremoment of discovery, containing a wealth of significanthistorical information ripe for preservation for futuregenerations.Comprehensive and sizeable it was immediatelyapparent this collection was special. Stored in woolbales, drawers and boxes and untouched since thedeath in 1978 of the last, reclusive family member,this collection represented a time capsule of personalfamily memories intertwined with that same family’ssignificant contribution to the cultural history ofregional Victoria.The collection was deemed of such significance thatits custodians eventually distributed and donated itscontents to three institutions: Loreto College Ballarat,the Australia National Maritime Museum in Sydneyand the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.And the Loreto College Ballarat connection? All foursisters in this family, Clara, Naomi (Mid), Honor(Queen) and Mary Kathleen (Girlie) Bell, attendedLoreto Abbey Mary’s Mount as boarders.12The collection contains one of the last letters written byMother Gonzaga Barry prior to her death a few weekslater in 1915.“Dear Mr Bell,When Mother Hilda wrote to you I was quiteincapable of attending to business matters but feltanxious to have all settled before I went to a betterworld Ever your sincere old friend Mary G Barry IBVM”.There are letters between the Bell sisters as boarders atLoreto Abbey and their mother back at home.“My dear Mummie and Daddy,There will be only one more Sunday to write to you,and then we shall be able to talk instead of write.Please Mummie will you send us our fares, and pleasewill you tell us in your next letter whether we are totake home the three trunks
The Examinations commence on Thursday don’tforget to pray for us.I shall have to practise very hard,now they are so near.Rev. Mother and community send their kind regards toyou all.I remain your loving child – Mid”Letters from the girls’ mother suggest some things neverchange! Mrs Bell writes to her daughters at boardingschool:“Dear Mid,Just a hurried line to say I cannot find the black velvetcap. I am sure I sent it up with the costume. Find outand let me know at once if you have not got it.Much love from Mummy.”and“My dear ChildrenI am not sending the parcel tomorrow, as I do not seethe use of sending things in half-dozen different lots itwould require a fortune for freight –. you all have suchan off-hand way of putting things, if you’d only explaina little, I would know exactly what was required – let meknow as soon as possible” The collection holds correspondence between thegirls and their friends from Loreto, and emotional warcorrespondence between the girls and their brotherHarold Bell, and their brother in law Captain PaddyO’Byrne.Like every great story, the history contained in thecollection is tangible and recognisable to us all. It evokesthe stories of great promise, the successes of life and thosetimes coloured by family tragedy.PART 2: in the next issue of Verity more about the BellGirls.13
RunningLike theWindLoreto Girls’ Stawell Gift SuccessBy Elise Karslake, Loreto College Sports Trainee.14
“At the start I picturethe race in my head,particularly gettingoff to a good start.The end bringswith it a mixture ofrelief, and hopefullyexcitement if I havedone well.” CleoTwo talented, high performing athletes are not onlyCleo developed a love for running in Primary Schoolan inspiration to see flying down the track; theirhowe
a significant contribution to education. Mother Stanislaus Mulhall was a visionary woman who, as Provincial, founded the University of Melbourne’s St Mary’s College in 1918. This College was a long dreamt of achievement, providing education and accommodation for the young women of Victoria pursuin
