Principal
The Qantas inflight magazine is an unlikely place to find a reference to St Mary of the Cross, who is perhaps better known across Australia as Sr Mary MacKillop. Earlier this week (coincidentally the week in which the Catholic Church celebrates her Feast Day) I was surprised to read CEO of the Australian Olympic Committee Matt Carroll’s description of St Mary as one of Australia’s greatest female leaders. This she most certainly is. More importantly, she is our only Saint. In describing leadership, Matt Carroll quoted St Mary's words that “you teach more by example than by word” and that good leaders do likewise.
St Mary’s life of service and commitment to education continue to inspire all Catholic educators. She knew the transformative power of education to change lives for the better. St Mary was one of many women and men who served the Catholic Church in Australia as Nuns, Priests and Brothers over the past 150 plus years. Their generous efforts built the foundations of the Catholic education system across the country. Sadly, some of their often heroic efforts have been stained by fellow members of their religious orders who abused their power and positions of trust with families and children. In remembering the life of St Mary of the Cross, we also acknowledge the contributions of countless religious women and men and give thanks for their selfless service to the community and to education. As present day Catholic teachers and leaders, our staff at Nudgee College commit to serve as St Mary of the Cross did, but also to ensure that the safeguarding of the students in our care remains of the highest priority. We celebrated the Feast Day this morning with a College Mass in the Conference Centre.
A contemporary of St Mary of the Cross was Br Ambrose Treacy. He was the founder of many Christian Brother schools that are now known as Edmund Rice schools. Of particular note to our community was that Ambrose was the visionary and founder of Nudgee College. Our main building, the iconic building on Sandgate Road, is named in his honour. Like St Mary of the Cross, Ambrose was an extraordinary man who possessed a capacity to get things done. In my five years at Nudgee College, I have learnt that some of Ambrose’s ‘can do’ mentality is embedded in Nudgee College’s DNA. I was reminded of this reality in reflecting upon last weekend.
It was a massive weekend – Friday’s St Joseph’s Rugby Luncheon; GPS Chess Friday night; more than 70 Rugby and Basketball games on Saturday; thousands of spectators throughout the day; luncheons on Saturday for Boarding families, coaches and officials; multiple Old Boy reunions; post-match functions; and the Boarders’ Bash for a huge crowd in Edmund Rice Mall on Saturday evening. This is not to forget that there was also a 1st XV Rugby match, which also drew many thousands of spectators.
The College is fortunate to have the resources and facilities to be able to host such a series of events. To my way of thinking, we are even more fortunate to have inherited Treacy’s ‘can do’ mentality, because without this mindset permeating amongst staff, parents and students last weekend’s events would not have been possible. Intrinsic to all this activity is the organic building of community connection and a sense of belonging. This was palpable throughout the weekend and we are blessed as a school to be able to share in and contribute to this sense of community connection.
Of course none of this happens without the enormous effort of many individuals who have that ‘can do’ attitude. On behalf of the College, I express our gratitude and appreciation for the collective effort of staff members from Property and Services, Catering, Finance, Development and Communications, Activities, sports injury staff, the Ladies’ Auxiliary volunteers and Tuckshop staff, as well as match officials.
While we have a moment to draw a collective breath there is plenty ahead over the coming week: our Cattle Club boys are at the Ekka, we host the Long Lunch on Sunday and the Open Morning next Tuesday, as well as the important Subject Information Nights on Monday and Tuesday evening.
We will all put our feet up next Wednesday!
Mr Peter Fullagar
Principal