Southportonians' Review - The Southport School

The Old 

Southportonians’ 

Review 

No. 140 SUMMER 2012 

2012 Olympic Gold for Mat Belcher (Sur 00) 

Heartiest congratulations to an outstanding TSS Old Boy!

Old Southportonians’ Association Council 2012 

Founded 1907 

OSA COUNCIL 2012 

President 

Paul Wood (Del 80-84) 

Vice-President 

Peter Lockhart (Tho 62-65) 

Hon. Secretary 

Nathan Quartermaine (McK 96-99) 

Hon. Asst. Secretary 

Brodie Cunningham (Tho 02-07) 

Hon. Treasurer 

Damien Moffrey (Wal 81-88) 

Immediate Past President 

V. Bruce Wright (Rad 76-85) 

NON-EXECUTIVE 

COUNCIL MEMBERS 

Hon. Editor – Review 


Membership Development 

Scott Andrews (Wal 94-98) 

Young Old Boys Representative 

Sean Cox (Tho 09-10) 

ELECTED COUNCIL MEMBERS 

Ian Browne (Del 82-83) 

Christopher Johnstone (Bid 79-90) 

Tony Burchill (Rad 78-84) 

Paul Veivers (Del 75-80) 

Vaughan Oxenford (Mel 80-84) 


OLD BOYS ON SCHOOL COUNCIL 

F.D. Perrin (Rad 78-84) 

V.B. Wright (Rad 76-85) 

P.A. Graham (Tho 59-65) 

M.M.A. Blumenstein (Mau 88-92) 

G.C. Rix (Wal 72-77) 

School Archivist 

Lesley Walker 

Auditor 

WHK Audit & Assurance, 

Carrara St, Benowa 

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE 

The Old Southportonians’ Review 

V.B. Wright (Rad 76-85) 

K. Hailey (OSA Coordinator) 

LAYOUT & DESIGN 

Csquared Design 

BRANCH REPRESENTATIVES 

ACT 

T. Adam (Atk 93-97) 

BRISBANE 

J. MacAulay (Del 94-96) 

D. Fielding (McK 83-87) 

CENTRAL WEST NSW 

R. Nicholls (Tur 80-88) 

CENTRAL WEST QLD 

W. Chandler (Del 48-58) 

J. Macmillan (Del 83-86) 

DARLING DOWNS 

D. Greenup (Del 82-86) 

FAR NORTH QUEENSLAND 

T. McInnes (McK 80-86) 

M. Trout (Kai 76-80) 

GOONDIWINDI 

C. Quartermaine (McK 69-75) 

HONG KONG 

B. Michael (Rad 80-93) 

Kaye Hastie (Ex TSS Staff) 

LOCKYER VALLEY 

A.G.M. Kemp (Tho 56-63) 

Mrs A.A. Kemp 

LONDON 

D.G. Serafini (Mel 88-98) 

S. Douglas (Tho 83-91) 

C. Faes (Tur 83-84) 

NEW ZEALAND 

R. Mehta (McK 88-92) 

J. Mcllwain (McK 75-83) 

NORTHERN RIVERS NSW 

P. Kerkenezov (Del 57-65) 

NORTHERN TERRITORY 

N. Eames (Mel 57-65) 

NORTH QUEENSLAND 

R.A.W. Lyne (Tho 69-74) 

PAPUA NEW GUINEA 

C. Burgess (Kai 85-88), 

O.J. Rarua (Tho 94-99) 

ROCKHAMPTON 

D.J.D. Rodgers (McK 01-05) 

ROMA 

N. Cameron (Bid 86-89) 

S. Gray (McK 49-52) 

D. Jones (Del 75-78) 

SINGAPORE 

C. Poetzscher (Wal 85-89) 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA 

H. Muller (McK 49-52) 

D. Jones (Del 75-78) 

SOUTH WEST QUEENSLAND 

S. Fraser (McK 71-74) 

G. Webster (Tho 57-63) 

SYDNEY 

J.M. Hawker (McK 59-63) 

J. Fyfe (McK 94-01) 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (West Coast) 

G. Tweedie (Del 63-65) 

VICTORIA 

W.N. Adderley (Del 59-68) 

L. Meerkin (JS 42-47) 

G. McMaster (Kai 98-00) 

WESTERN AUSTRALIA 

S.J. Conran (Bid 89-93) 

WIDE BAY 

D. McIver (Del 48-52), 

D. Chandler (Del 87-92) 

HIDDEN CREEK 

Bookings and Enquiries – OSA Office 

Tel: (07) 5531 9803 

Email: osa@tss.qld.edu.au 

Manager – Clinton Cronk 

Tel: (02) 6679 3469 Mobile: 0410 622 125 

clinton.cronk@tss.qld.edu.au 

OSA OFFICE 

OSA Coordinator - Mrs Kris Hailey 

The Southport School, Winchester Street, 

Southport QLD 4215 

Tel 07 5531 9803 

Fax 07 5591 2124 

Email osa@tss.qld.edu.au 

Web link www.tssoldboys.com.au 

Keep in touch 

2 

THE OLD SOUTHPORTONIANS’ REVIEW

Contents 

From the President Pg 4-5 

From the Headmaster Pg 6 

From the Editor Pg 7-8 

COVER PAGE 

2012 Olympic Gold for Mat Belcher 

(Sur 00), Heartiest congratulations 

to an outstanding TSS Old Boy! 

(see P. 41 for full article) 

OSA NEWS 

OSA News Pg 9 

Branch Functions Pg 10-11 

Old Boys’ Weekend Pg 12-16 

Reunion Dinner Pg 17-19 

OSA Race Day Pg 20-21 

MENTORS UPDATE 

Mentor Network Program Pg 23 

Dare to Dream Pg 24-25 

BAPTISMS AND WEDDINGS Pg 26-27 

REFLECTIONS 

By Bert Cockerill Pg 28-31 

PERSONAL NOTES Pg 32-38 

HIDDEN CREEK Pg 39 

SPORT UPDATE 

Olympic News Pg 40-41 

TSS SCHOOL NEWS Pg 42-43 

TSS ARCHIVES Pg 44 

OBITUARIES Pg 45-47 

FINANCIALS Pg 48-51 

THE OLD SOUTHPORTONIANS’ ASSOCIATION 

94TH AGM 

MONDAY 26 NOVEMBER 2012 

Notice is hereby given that the Annual General Meeting of the OSA for the 2012 year will be held at the 

Memorial Room in the Clocktower Building starting at 6.00pm. 

PLEASE RSVP to osa@tss.qld.edu.au by Monday, 19 November. 

THE OLD SOUTHPORTONIANS’ REVIEW 3

First, let me welcome the newest 

members to the OSA – the class of 

2012. Having attended several final 

assemblies now, it is still amazing to 

see and feel the emotion at this final 

assembly for the Year 12 boys. 

The realisation that this is the final official school 

function and the mates and friendships that have been 

created over the years will not end, but will change 

as the next chapter in the boys’ lives of work or study 

commences, bringing with it new mates and experiences. 

We wish all boys the best of luck as they start out on this 

new adventure and remind them to keep in contact and 

use the resources the OSA provides all Old Boys. 

The last year has certainly been challenging for the OSA 

Council. The greatest challenge the OSA faced was the 

management of the Hidden Creek Outdoor Education 

Facility. Prior to January this year the School managed 

the site and operations. While not wanting to renew this 

agreement, the School has committed to support Hidden 

Creek and it is the intention of the OSA to hold on to this 

facility to allow future boys to experience this unique site. 

This will of course depend on the participation by the 

School and the overall usage of the site. I have previously 

mentioned the great work carried out by Peter Lockhart 

and Bruce Wright in ensuring this fantastic facility 

continues to operate. This work cannot be underestimated 

and again I would like to acknowledge the many hours 

of work that is carried out by Peter and Bruce, all on a 

voluntary basis – Thank you, gentlemen. 

The next challenge was changing the funding collection 

arrangement for OSA Memberships. Previously the 

School, on behalf of the OSA, collected OSA Membership 

when parents paid their enrolment fee. This fee was 

then passed on to the OSA. At the request of the School 

and to ease administrative burden, a trial program is 

in place where fixed costs such as wages, postage and 

other expenses are paid by the School to an agreed value. 

On face value this appears to be working, but will be 

reviewed at the end on the calendar year (which is the 

School’s financial year). 

Under the current economic conditions, it was surprising 

that we did not receive one application for an OSA 

Bursary this year. I am happy to say that we have already 

received one application for 2014 so at least that is a 

step in the right direction, and we do hope to receive 

more before the closing date of April 2013. It is great 

to see the OSA is well on its way to reaching one of the 

strategic priorities of having 15% of students by 2015 

enrolled at the School who are sons or grandsons of Old 

Boys. We hope the OSA bursaries can assist in achieving 

this objective. 

The investment committee has been reviewing share 

opportunities in consultation with Old Boy Angus Douglas, 

but to date the OSA continues to maintain a healthy 

investment in term deposits. The audited financials to 30 

June 2012 are included in the magazine, along with a 

separate report from the Treasurer. I am happy to say that 

over the past few years we have been able to ensure the 

OSA continues to improve its financial position. 

4 


From the President 

The Online Community site at tssoldboys.com.au 

continues to increase the contact details with our 

members. If you have not already visited this site, please 

take the time to do so. It not only provides updated 

information on events and Old Boys’ activities, but also 

hosts competitions, allows you to make contact with 

other Old Boys, and of course you can book and pay for 

events and purchase merchandise and view photos of 

the many events – all through this site. The membership 

and database committee continue to develop this site 

and I am sure it will continue to improve in content and 

functionality in the future. 

Branch reunions and events continue to grow and are 

well supported. We now have representatives in all capital 

cities in Australia as well as Hong Kong, UK and USA 

representation. Of course the largest event we have is 

the Old Boys’ Weekend. This year saw record numbers 

in attendance from the Generations Dinner through to 

the formal Reunion Dinner. In fact, the Reunion Dinner 

held in the dining hall was full to capacity and I know 

Kris worked closely with the caterers to squeeze in 

every last person that we could. It was also the first year 

the BBQ lunch was held in the “Old Gym Café”. While 

previous BBQs were held down on the picturesque river 

ovals, the logistics of having the lunch in this new area 

was a winner. It was also great that many Old Boys took 

advantage of the buffet-style lunch in between watching 

their boys play rugby. 

From the President 

The final event for this year was OSA Race Day. This is 

the third year of this annual event and again it was well 

supported. This is the only fundraiser the OSA carries out 

each year and a big thank you to all those supporters that 

purchased tables and raffle tickets. The feedback from 

this event has been tremendous and I know sponsors are 

keen to support it again next year. To all those volunteers 

that participated in organising branch reunions and 

events, my sincere thanks goes to you. 

Speaking of events, I must commend the School on 

the ANZAC Service. I was invited to lay a wreath in 

remembrance. For those that have not attended I would 

encourage you to do so to experience the feeling as a 

cross is placed in the lawn for each Old Boy who gave up 

his life in armed service. 

Over the past few years you will have noticed a marked 

change in the presentation of the OSA Review as well 

as the eNewsletter. Kris Hailey puts in a tremendous 

amount of time in talking to Old Boys and gathering 

articles. Thank you also to Karen Martin (TSS Marketing 

Coordinator) and all the TSS staff for their support of the 

OSA. As part of the strategic plan set by the OSA, one 

goal was to increase the profile of the OSA in the greater 

School Community so awareness was there for the work 

Old Boys contribute to the school. From the feedback I 

have received, I do feel the OSA has increased its profile 

among the TSS Community over the past few years, and 

this was acknowledged by the Headmaster and the speech 

of current School Council Chairman and Old Boy, Fraser 

Perrin, at the Generations Dinner. 

The support I have received from the Council Executive, 

particularly OSA Secretary Nathan Quartermaine, Vice- 

President Peter Lockhart and Treasurer Damien Moffrey, 

has been tremendous in my two years as President. My 

thanks to the Headmaster and also School Council for 

their support of the OSA, and also special thanks to Kris 

for the support she has provided to me in her role as OSA 

Coordinator. While I will be standing down as President 

come the AGM in November, I will continue to provide my 

support to the OSA Council and its members to ensure the 

OSA continues the great work achieved by its hard-working 

and generous volunteers. It was my pleasure and my 

absolute honour to be the OSA President for the past two 

years and I wish the new incoming President all the best. 

I also wish you and your family all the very best for a safe 

and happy Christmas and prosperous 2013. 

Paul Wood (Del 80-84) 


From the Headmaster 

On September 13th, the day of his funeral, the 

School flag was flown at half-mast in recognition 

of the passing of Old Boy and long-serving teacher 

Mr Edward Leney (Pat) Hunt. Up until the last few 

months, Pat was a regular visitor to the School where 

he is still fondly remembered by other long-serving 

staff still teaching here. 

A contingent of us, with a delegation of Delpratt Year 

12 students, joined many Old Boys and Pat’s family and 

friends at Pat’s church, the Holy Spirit Anglican Church on 

Isle of Capri, to celebrate the life of this fine man. 

Two past Chaplains, Jim Stonier and Ross Burnett, along 

with long-serving teacher and fellow Delpratt Housemaster, 

Canon Bruce Maughan, officiated at the service. All were 

teaching colleagues of Pat. At assembly that morning, 

prior to the Chaplain offering a prayer for the life and 

service of Pat Hunt, I told the boys about some of Pat’s 

life, aspects of which I would like to share with you: 

Pat commenced as a student at TSS in 1943 and an 

excerpt from his student journal reads… “Imagine yourself 

back in 1943, and a small boy arrives aged 14, a little 

bit small for 14... it has taken two hours from South 

Brisbane to Southport Station where we were met by Mr 

Henry Greenhalgh, ‘Greenie’ or ‘Bottle’ they called him, 

who whisks us away to our bus… at the School there is 

a brownout on and the lights on the bus are browned out 

(wartime) and the Americans are here. This is the time of 

the American occupation and the Japanese are knocking 

at the door in the North. The Americans have use of the 

building… as a base hospital…” 

Pat lived in a part of the Governor’s old summer house 

(now Biddle House) and the other boarders lived in 

temporary wooden rooms nearby. 

Current Walker Housemaster Mr Steve Roberts taught with 

Mr Hunt before he retired. Mr Roberts describes Pat as 

… “an esteemed and highly distinguished Old Boy and 

leader, but also both a real gentleman and a gentle man… 

Pat was an articulate, witty, generous and caring teacher; a 

genuinely intelligent man in touch with his emotional being 

and blessed with a desire to inspire others – both students 

and fellow teachers”. 

During his time as a student Pat Hunt achieved 8 As out 

of 9 subjects in Year 9 (he would have been on our Dean’s 

List nowadays). He was a Chapel sacristan and in his final 

year Pat was a Prefect, Dux of the School and hooker for 

the First XV (many current boys felt this was his crowning 

achievement!). Pat was also a writer, one of our early 

Renaissance men, and he went on to win the Chelmsford 

Cup. 

Pat continued on to university and then taught at The 

Armidale School and taught French and Latin at two 

Grammar schools in England before returning to TSS as 

a teacher. He was Delpratt Housemaster from 1957 to 

1963, editor of The Southportonian for 17 years, and 

acted as the Librarian while teaching full-time. 

Four years ago, Dean of Studies at the time Mr Michael 

Turley instituted The Pat Hunt Prize for Senior Language 

students in recognition of Mr Hunt’s efforts as a linguist, 

scholar, and former Head of Languages. This prize is 

awarded each year to the top student in Chinese, French 

or Japanese who is not a native speaker – providing 

recognition for our Australian boys who persevere and 

succeed with foreign languages. 

There is a great photo in Bearing the Palm of Pat Hunt and 

Mr Allan (Wallaby) Ware being applauded by students as 

they walked through the Dixon Gates on the day they both 

retired in 1990. 

We give thanks for the life, achievements and Christian 

service to others of Edward Leney (Pat) Hunt. 

Mr Greg Wain 

Headmaster 

6 


From the Editor 

“These Schools are the nurseries of good citizens – the Schools 

are the training grounds for men who will shoulder responsibility 

and lead.” Bishop Horace Henry Dixon 

There is no more exciting time of the year than the anticipation 

of end of School and Graduation. This edition certainly 

illustrates our Association’s activities and the great work of 

the OSA Council and all the OSA volunteers that contribute so 

significantly at Branch and School. Of course we are indebted 

for the commitment and great work that our OSA Coordinator, 

Mrs Kris Hailey, contributes to the success of what we believe 

is one of the leading School Alumni organisations in Australia. 

At the time of writing, the dust has only just settled on another 

enormous Old Boys’ Weekend, with over 800 registrations, 

and is a testament to the OSA’s Strategic Plan developed a 

few years ago. Meanwhile we are already managing diaries 

in preparation to welcome our newest young Old Boys – how 

the year has flown! It is the reason for having our Founder’s 

quote at the top of this page, as his statement is as relevant 

and significant now as it was when his vision was captured in 

the first few years of his work building our School. As the OSA 

heads towards 16,000 members, it is amazing to think TSS 

(or as it was originally known, The Southport, High School for 

Boys) started with a few day-boys at a house in White Street, 

Southport and then in September 1901 the first boarders (A.A. 

Markwell and F. Taylor). 

We therefore welcome the Class of 2012, wish you every 

possible success with your future endeavours and remind you 

that the OSA is your link to your comrades for life. 

WHERE THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU? 

With the growing success and interest being received for 

reunions, events and celebrations such as the Older Old Boys’ 

Assembly, there has been a huge amount of work undertaken to 

find Old Boys. In fact over the past three years we have found 

around 2000 members, bringing the number to 8000 Old Boys 

the OSA can now communicate with, BUT there is still around 

5000 members out there we want to contact. In preparation for 

future Old Boys’ Weekends, one of the greatest challenges is to 

find Old Boys willing to assist as year group coordinators and 

communicate with our network to find those still missing. To 

ensure we can continue the success of these unique programs, 

please contact the OSA Office on 07 5531 9803, email OSA@ 

tss.qld.edu.au or visit www.tssoldboys.com.au to update your 

details, assist finding your mates and/or to be a coordinator and 

we’ll keep the updates coming. 

15 by 15 

There is no better place than this Editorial to challenge Old 

Boys to deeply consider the reasons why the OSA has set 

as a key goal, to support and assist in achieving 15% Old 

Boys’ families attending TSS by 2015. This cause has many 

merits when you speak of the traditions, quality, balanced and 

holistic education in developing boys into men, but you need 

to see first-hand what this magnificent School has to offer 

all boys to know and understand the reasons that TSS is the 

best place for your son’s/grandson’s education, and further 

comment has been made by the President in his report in 

relation to bursaries available. Please contact the OSA for any 

information you may need. 

CAN YOU IMAGINE – 80 YEARS AND THE MESSAGE 

REMAINS THE SAME 

“To exist, any paper large or small, must feature original and 

interesting articles, and to ensure that future issues of the 

‘Review’ will become more appreciated, the co-operation of all 

members is invited, particularly from those residing in the far 

distant parts of the State or outside the State. 

“It is the little personal touch that makes an article worth 

reading and it is known to the Editor that there are many Old 

Boys who possess the ability to write something original – 

either about their days at the School or their experiences since 

starting out in life. Although many offers of contributions were 

made at the time of the first issue, very few have so far been 

received. If you have something to tell your old School pals, 

write it down now and send it in. The columns of the ‘Review’ 

are open to all members for the expression of their views…” 

The Editor – OSA Review, March 17, 1934 

WITH THANKS 

I wish to finish by congratulating our outgoing President, Mr 

Paul Wood. For those who have the honour and opportunity 

to lead this Association, it is a true commitment that needs 

considerable time, effort and sacrifice, and Paul’s contribution 

and the leadership he has shown his Council and Committees 

deserves to be acknowledged with gratitude from us all. 

Thanks, Woody – Well done, mate!! 


From the Editor 

Old Boys’ Numbers 

PHOTO - Beric Lynton 

HONOUR BOARD TO RECOGNISE ROWING CONTRIBUTIONS 

As the most successful GPS Sport in premierships at TSS, Rowing has a long, 

strong and proud history built on tradition that dates back to our Founder. In 

fact, seeing Horace Henry Dixon in black and white images rowing and his 

appointment of Thorold from England to build the culture of rowing are just 

two keys examples that complement his goals, which ultimately were about 

developing boys into men. From the humble beginnings to what we now see, 

the OSA invite you to nominate those you believe were standout contributors 

to TSS Rowing over the past century. Please send your nominations and short 

explanation of the work and contribution made by that person. A special 

ceremony will be held in 2013 to announce the first inductees to the Honour 

Board to be located at the Clavill Bere Rowing Centre. 

OLD BOY BACKS ROWING SUCCESS 

Old Boy and tremendous TSS Rowing supporter Beric Lynton has been 

sponsoring the program for almost a decade. The timing has been critical to the 

rebuilding of the TSS Rowing Program under Director of Rowing, Iain Smith. 

In recent times the momentum has been turning, with Old Boy Olympian 

Duncan Free coaching the First VIII to a Premiership in 2006 and in 2012 – 

TSS winning the Old Boys Cup (based on point score results of all crews at the 

HoR). Iain Smith reports record numbers of boys rowing and we look forward 

to the TSS Shed putting in another great performance in 2013. Special thanks 

to Beric and his Bruce Lynton Automotive Team (with BMW, Land Rover, MINI, 

Alfa and Fiat) – and please keep his support of TSS Rowing in mind next time 

you’re looking for a new vehicle. 

Bruce Wright (Rad 76-85) 

TOP 10 BY COUNTRY 

United Kingdom 114 

Hong Kong 98 

Papua New Guinea 85 

United State of America 72 

Taiwan (ROC) 53 

New Zealand 50 

Korea (South) 39 

Canada 39 

Thailand 36 

Germany 32 

ALL OLD BOYS – AUSTRALIA 

QLD 5995 

NSW 785 

VIC 183 

WA 65 

ACT 50 

NT 36 

SA 28 

TAS 28 

TOTAL 7170 

ALL OLD BOYS 

Deceased 2181 

Address Unknown 5421 

Australia 7170 

Overseas 884 

TOTAL 15,656 

CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME 

We are always interested in what you have been doing with your life, news 

of your travels and who you have caught up with from TSS. All contributions 

should be directed to: OSA Office, TSS, Winchester Street, Southport 4215 

or email to osa@tss.qld.edu.au. 

The OSA publishes personal notes in good faith as a service to the school 

community and to the alumni. The OSA accepts no responsibility for 

publishing 8 information THE OLD SOUTHPORTONIANS’ in this section of REVIEW the magazine that may be erroneous, 

incomplete or false. 

Editor: You will see we are 

still missing over 5000 Old 

Boys’ contact details from 

the OSA membership roll. 

Please check with your mates 

to see if they are receiving 

this magazine and encourage 

them to update their 

details via the website or by 

contacting the OSA office, 

either email osa@tss.qld.edu. 

au or phone 07 5531 9803.

OSA News 

PHOTO – Peter Kai-Nielsen, Bendigo Bank Relationship Manager, 

presenting cheque to Fraser Perrin (Rad 84) 

Bendigo Bank provides $3000 towards OSA Bush Bursary 

Sincere thanks to Bendigo Bank, Bundall Branch for 

presenting a cheque to the OSA for $3000 at the Old Boys 

Reunion Family BBQ. These funds will be used for a ‘Bush 

Bursary’. 

Congratulations 

to the Winners of Tipping competitions... 

1st prize $200 

Donated by the OSA 

2nd prize $100 

Vntage bottle of wine to the value of $100 

Donated by Burling Brown Architects 

3rd prize – 2 Gold Class tickets 

to Birch Carroll & Coyle Donated by Baker 

Affleck Moffrey Chartered Accountants 

NRL AFL SUPER XV 

OLD BOYS’ WEEKEND 2013 

2013 Reunion Dinner will be held on Saturday, July 27. This weekend 

will be Round 2 of the Rugby and Basketball GPS season. TSS will play 

Ipswich Grammar. A booking form and information on all events over 

this long weekend will be posted out in March 2013 to all ‘3’ year groups 

(i.e. 2003, 1993, 1983, 1973, 1963) and will also be published in the 

Winter edition of the OSA Review, in June 2013. 

PLEASE CONSIDER VOLUNTEERING FOR A YEAR GROUP COORDINATOR: 

1963 – Sam Staines (McK) email staines@networkx.com.au 

1973, 1983, 1993, 2003 – VOLUNTEERS REQUIRED. 

Calendar 

2013 Reunion 

Dinner will be 

held on Saturday, 

July 27 


Branch Functions 

By Nathan Quartermaine 

As the end of the year approaches, we have been 

busy with the Old Boys’ Weekend and OSA Race Day, 

our two major fundraising events for the year. 

In addition to these our branch representatives have been 

busy organising branch functions both in Australia and 

overseas. It has been fantastic to see the OSA community 

strong and represented in every major city in Australia 

and in a number of locations overseas. 

The OSA Weekend was again extremely successful with 

over 800 registrations received for the events over the 

weekend. This is an increase on previous years as the 

weekend goes from strength to strength. I would like to 

personally thank Kris Hailey for all her work as well as 

all the OSA volunteers who helped out over the weekend. 

Once again it was a roaring success and we have enjoyed 

some great feedback. We have published lots of photos 

in this magazine (and they are also available for viewing 

online at www.tssoldboys.com.au) of those who attended 

the weekend of events. 

Details of OSA Branch Gatherings since the last edition 

are: 

Gold Coast Gathering – June 22nd & September 28th 

Nick Deane (Sur 88) organised two gatherings at 

Northcliffe Surf Lifesaving Club in the past few months. 

A great night was had by all who attended in catching up 

with old school mates and talking about the good old times 

at TSS and what has happened since leaving school. 

Over drinks and excellent finger food we talked about 

rugby, football (soccer), surfing, SARGE (he didn’t like 

me!!), cadet camp, getting in trouble at school, more 

SARGE, teachers (won’t mention any names!), the 

TUCKSHOP (eg good ol’ sausage roll in a roll and M&M’s 

chocolate), school formal, Schoolies Week, St Hilda girls, 

and all the usual stuff we got up to at school. 

Many thanks go to TSS and Northcliffe SLSC for their 

continued support of these OSA events. 

Malcolm Searle (Del 58-61) writes… 

Class of 1961 quarterly Brisbane lunches 

Following our 50-Year Reunion at last year’s OSA Weekend, 

Bryan Davies (Thorold) conceived and co-ordinates very 

successful Class of 61 Quarterly Lunches at the Plough Inn 

Hotel at South Bank. 

Since July 2011, we have held four lunches with strong 

attendances (12-16 at each lunch). In total 19 mates have 

attended, including Trevor Tesch, who had not been sighted 

for 50 years! 

Those who attended are Gerald Brown, David Cameron, 

Bryan Davies, Archie Douglas, Graeme Garde, Bruce 

Gough, Grahame Greenup, Robert Hancock, Brian 

Hardiman, Glen Johnstone, Murray Johnston, Mac 

Lethbridge, Lance Look, Potts McIlwraith, Colin Myers, 

Brian Russell, Malcolm Searle, Trevor Tesch, Don Williams. 

The venue is an upstairs private facility with a good menu 

and beverage is moderately enjoyed. New “old faces” are 

welcome to add to the Class Spirit. 

From front left and clockwise: 

Nick Deane, Murray Alderson, Brad Roden, Bruce Hart, 

Paul Jones, James Deane, Daniel Stevenson, Andrew 

Stevenson, Shane Hill, Brendan Shakespeare 

VENUE: Plough Inn Hotel, SOUTH BANK 

TIME: 11.30am for 12 noon – duration, approx. 3 hours 

NEXT DATE: Wednesday 28 November 

CONTACT: Bryan Davies, email: patnbry@hotmail.com 

10 


Sydney Gathering – September 6th 

Jon Fyfe (McK 01) reported the Sydney OSA Branch 

Members, young and old, got together in early September 

over a few casual beers at the Nelson Hotel in The Rocks. 

It was great to see a few new faces who brought with them 

a number of new stories and a few good laughs. The OSA 

evenings make for a very good opportunity to reconnect 

with old friends and also acts as a great networking 

opportunity. OSA Sydney Branch will be meeting on a 

more regular basis and welcomes any NSW-based Old 

Southportonians to come along to join in. 

L-R David Cash (Kai 00), Simon J Conran (Bid 93), John 

Kempe (McK 75), Michael Gunn (Del 72), Gareth Wockner 

(Kai 00) 

Perth Gathering – September 28th 

Simon Conran organised a gathering at the Royal Hotel in 

Perth again this year. It was great to see a few WA boys 

did make an effort to catch up. Simon reports that they 

all had a great night and managed to have pizza for dinner 

and swap some TSS war stories! 

USA – West Coast Branch 

Greg Tweedie invited all USA West Coast residents to a 

round-up on Sunday morning, September 30, at Granada 

Hills. Greg reports… “Last Sunday, four of us got together 

for a bit of fun in LA and again it was terrific to be with 

fellow Old Boys to share yarns. We spent an hour or so at 

a local park where we played a bit of touch footy, cricket, 

whip-cracking, etc. Following this we had a BBQ near the 

pool and told yarns. Simms scored the only try in a torrid 

five-minute touch rugby game, Muir showed great skill with 

the bat and Black gave an outstanding display of whipcracking. 

A special edition T-shirt with school colours was 

presented to attendees and we are all looking forward to 

another bash in a couple of months. 

Melbourne Gathering – October 11th 

A small but enjoyable gathering took place with a bunch of 

Victorian-based TSS Old Boys on Thursday, October 11 at 

The Bells in South Melbourne. New branch representative 

Griffin McMaster reports… “We had a good night. Only 

seven people attended, but can say the whole group 

enjoyed the night. We endeavour to get more people to turn 

up, perhaps another gathering towards the end of the year, 

but not Christmas time. We’ll see how we go.” 

Welcome to our new Branch 

Representatives: 

Our Canberra-based Branch 

Representative is Tom Adam (Atk 

93-97). Tom is keen to have 

a gathering of ACT, based TSS 

Old Boys. If you are in/around 

Canberra, please feel free to 

contact Tom on email at: info@ 

hapkidocanberra.com 

Our new Melbourne-based 

Branch Representative is Griffin 

McMaster (Kai 98-00). At 

the request of our longstanding 

and loyal Victorian Branch 

Representatives, Warren Adderley 

(Del 59-68) and Lionel Meerkin 

(JS 42-47), Griffin was asked to 

bring a ‘younger presence’ to the 

Melbourne OSA Branch. 

Griffin can be contacted at: 

griffin_mcmaster@hotmail. 

com or www.facebook.com/ 

griffinmcmaster 

Photo: L-R Jay Black (Del 88), Greg Tweedie (Del 66), 

Dave Muir (Tho 80) and Brad Simms (McK 73) 

2013 BRANCH 

EVENTS 

Look out for the 2013 Branch Events 

THE OLD SOUTHPORTONIANS’ REVIEW 11 

in the January eNewsletter

OLD BOYS’ WEEKEND 

Notes received by those unable to make the weekend… 

Matthew Meerkin (Sheppard 42-47) writes… 

As usual I have left my RSVP to the last minute. My 

sincerest apologies. Unfortunately I will be unable to 

attend the celebrations and Reunion Dinner as I have 

taken on some teaching at the UNSW and my other 

responsibilities still continue. Please pass on my best 

regards to everyone. I know Lionel is coming so at least 

one of us will make the grade. 

Jervis Sparks (Tho 46-49) writes… 

I leave for Fiji on Sunday, and thus will not be able to attend 

this year’s reunion. You will note that I am 79 years old and 

will be working well into my 80s, as there are four projects 

in Fiji to explore. I contribute my good health to my years at 

TSS, and also my lifestyle and controlled diet (raw fish daily 

in Fiji), although the school fare when I was there, while 

food was still rationed, could hardly be said to be nutritious 

or healthy. White bread (instant heart attack) and jam for 

breakfast and dinner, with roast beef or roast lamb with 

vegies for lunch. However, we all thrived. Also, it was due 

to all the sports in which we were able to participate. I will 

update you with my Fiji projects later. 

Ray Grimshaw (Tho 51-54) writes… 

Good Afternoon, Thank you for the invitation to attend the 

Assembly. Unfortunately I will not be able to attend and 

it would be appreciated if you could pass on my apologies. 

After leaving TSS I was accepted into Royal Military College 

Duntroon, left the army and managed hotels and attended 

University of Adelaide to study accountancy part-time. CPA 

in 1971 and CA in 1976 and FCA. Semi-retired now and I 

have five restored classic cars. 

Wally Miller (Del 51-54) writes… 

From Barcaldine, regrets he is unable to make the Older 

Old Boys’ day and the Weekend. He sends his apologies and 

wishes everybody a wonderful time. 

Ron Bonner (McK 50-53) writes… 

Sorry, can’t make it to the Reunion Weekend this year. 

Tony Hall-Matthews (Del 52-58)writes… 

Please extend my apologies to other 1952 fellows who 

joined the School during that time. My brother Tom had 

just arrived from England, and we were picked up by Ivor 

Cribb, who was then the Headmaster of the Prep School. We 

arrived in March, got off the ship in Sydney, and Ivor picked 

us up at the train station in Brisbane, and on the way to 

Southport we had our first Yatala pie!! 

Richard Moore (McK 59-62) writes… 

Compliments to Nudgee and the Class of 1962 for a most 

impressive mechanism commemorating fallen classmates 

and Nudgee Vietnam Vets. Thanks for sharing these items 

with TSS and our Class of 1962. John Compton and I played 

in the First XV in 1962 with the late John Fraser; we have 

fond memories of his time at TSS. 

Lyndon Macmillan (Tho 57-62) writes… 

Dear John (Crompton) 

I am in receipt of the OSA correspondence relating to the 

50-Year Reunion for the Class of 1962. Unfortunately I 

will not be able to attend due to prior commitments that 

weekend. Judging by the number and quality of official and 

unofficial events, the Reunion should be a great success. 

Well done for your excellent arrangements. Best wishes for 

a great weekend. 

Regards to the Class of ’62. 

Derek Shaw (Del 52-60) & Paul Shaw (Del 52-62) 

both send their apologies and best wishes to their year 

group. Reg Freshney (McK 56-60), David Corfe (McK 56-61) 

and Jim Spence (Tho 56-61) all pass on their apologies to the 

class of ’62. 

Peter Hyland (Tho 52-55) writes… 

Please accept my apologies for not replying earlier. I’m 

unable to attend due to my wife’s ill-health. Please pass on 

my regards to those who may remember me from the early 

’60s and give them my best regards. 

Arthur (Grahame) Clarke 

(McK 59-65) writes… 

Sorry, I cannot attend this year. 

12 


OLD BOYS’ 

WEEKEND 

PHOTO – Greenup Family 

Generation Families Gather For Dinner 

By Gerry Northausen, 

TSS Executive Officer – Foundation 

Nowhere is the strong sense of family and community 

strengths of TSS more evident than the annual Generations 

Dinner. This year was no exception with staff members 

joining 100 parents and families at the dinner held in the Old 

Gym Café. 

Many of our current students follow in the footsteps of their 

fathers, grandfathers and uncles, and some families are 

nearing the end of their tenure as current parents at the 

school. This year we say goodbye to Year 12 students Nic 

Bartlett, Lewis Enderlin, Thomas Gray, Sam Greenup, Ryan 

Monahan, Cato Perrin and Scot Rose, all of whom are second 

and third-generation boys. 

Many of our families are connected to the boarding 

community and travelled considerable distances to attend the 

dinner. Our day families were also extremely well represented 

and an extremely enjoyable night was had by all. 

Again this year, our major sponsor of the day was Bruce 

Lynton BMW group, which donated fantastic prizes for our 

winning teams, including BMW golf bags, leather shoe and 

gym bags, as well as car-cleaning kits and clothing. 

Close runners-up were Old Boys Vaughan Oxenford, Glen 

Partridge, Jason Young and Rod Macleod and the winners on 

the day were the team of 2002 Old Boys, Tim Gunthorpe, Ted 

Cronin, Ben O’Bryan and Ashley Rourke, who not only won the 

Foundation Cup, but also the coveted McWhirter Cup, which 

can only be won by past students of the School. 

Duncan John McWhirter (McK 1919-24), OSA president from 

1940 to 1941, started the McWhirter Cup in memory of his 

brother, James McWhirter, who died during World War II. Two 

members of the McWhirter family, brothers and TSS Old Boys, 

Derek Murphy and Douglas Murphy S.C., continue to keep the 

tradition strong by regularly playing in the competition. 

Other sponsors of the day were RACV Royal Pines, RBS 

Morgans, The MBA Partnership, WHK Audit & Assurance, 

Higgins Coatings, Getaway Golf, QIEU, BBC Digital, Gem 

Cleaning and Totally Workwear. Our sincere thanks is given 

to all our players and sponsors. All monies raised continue 

to support our Country Boarder Bursaries and Indigenous 

Education programs. 

PHOTO – Perrin Family 

Golf Day Success 

This year’s annual golf day at RACV Royal Pines saw the 

biggest field of players in its history, with 144 Old Boys, staff, 

current parents, students and members of our community 

teaming together to play a four-ball Ambrose competition. 

The course was in pristine condition and under perfect winter 

skies players teed off at midday. 


Seated Row: Peter Dowling (Thorold 1946-48), Rev Tom Hall-Matthews (Delpratt 1952-57), Victor Huxley (Thorold 1952-60), Lionel Meerkin (Shepherd 1942- 

47), Bill Crawford (Delpratt 1952-54), Graeme Rylance (McKinley 1950-56), Mr Greg Wain, Headmaster, Mr Paul Wood, OSA President, Trevor Dover (Delpratt 

1942-43), Arthur Somerset (Thorold 1939-42), John Purcell (McKinley 1949-53), Bill Laver AM (McKinley 1943-46), Neil Stronach (Thorold 1931-39), Jim Dover 

(Delpratt 1937-39) 

Second Row: John Bridle (McKinley 1952-59), Clyde Johnson (McKinley 1952-57), Ian Wort (McKinley 1952-53), David Miller (Thorold 1948-54), John Burrowes 

(McKinley 1952-55), Bill Simmons (Mitre 1949-53), Lew Cooper OAM (McKinley 1949-55), John Biggs (McKinley 1945-51), Brad Grinstead (Delpratt 1948-51), 

Bob Andrew (Delpratt 1945-51), Edward Kernke (Delpratt 1945-49), Gordon Burcher (McKinley 1951-55), Keith Wright (Delpratt 1952-60) 

Third Row: John Walker (McKinley 1946-50), Robin Tritton (McKinley 1934-47), Neil Goldsmith (Delpratt 1947-53), Jake MacRonald (Thorold 1949-57), Ian 

Bucknell (Junior School 1939-41), Graeme Parry (Thorold 1943-51), Viv Fitzgerald (McKinley 1939), Louis Olsen (Shepherd 1951-53), Tom Robinson (Thorold 

1943-46), Elton Stone (Thorold 1945-45), Colin Weir (Delpratt 1944-45), Alan McWilliam (Delpratt 1945-48), David Monteath (Delpratt 1943-46), Rad West 

(McKinley 1951-54) 

Fourth Row: Garth Davidson (Delpratt 1948-58), Peter McIntyre (Delpratt 1949-56), Bert Cockerill (McKinley 1946-55), Keith Gil (Delpratt 1945-47), John Austin 

(Thorold 1950-51) 

Older Old Boys Assembly 

This annual special Assembly honours our Older Old Boys who 

entered the School 60 years ago or more. This event fosters 

and strengthens the very important traditional links between 

the present boys in the School and the generations of Old 

Southportonians who have gone before. It really brings home 

the history of the School to our current boys. 

In 2010 the OSA commissioned an Older Old Boys 

Commemorative tie to be presented to the newest Older Old 

Boys. This year it was presented to all those present who 

commenced at TSS in 1952. These were John Bridle (McK 

1952-59); John Burrowes (McK 1952-55); Bill Crawford (Del 

1952-54); Tom Hall-Matthews (Del 1952-57); Victor Huxley 

(Tho 1952-60); Ian Wort (McK 1952-53); Keith Wright (Del 

1952-60). 

This year 46 Old Boys and their wives and guests attended 

a Chapel service and morning tea prior to the Assembly. 

Afterwards they were joined in the Dining Hall by TSS staff, 

Senior Prefects and House Captains for a most enjoyable 

lunch and an opportunity to reminisce about the early years 

and their time at the school. 

14 



Dellie Breakfast 

Written by Phil Ward 

The Dellie breakfast has now become a long-standing 

tradition – the first breakfast occurred on Old Boys’ 

Weekend in 1998 and was started by Virgoe Buckland 

and his wife Kerry when he was Housemaster. It has been 

held every year since on Old Boys’ Weekend, so the 2012 

breakfast was the 15th! 

Phil and Jan brought up their own two boys, Tom and 

Ned, as well as looking after the Dellie boys – this made 

their time even more memorable and significant to them. 

They worked as a team and Jan was part-time matron 

for the past 18 months after Lurline Loffel retired. Phil 

continues to teach at the school as he has always done, 

so he looks forward to continuing his association with TSS 

Boarding and Dellie in particular. 

The original aim of the breakfast was to welcome the 

Dellie Old Boys back to their old house, with the boys and 

staff hosting the function. Current parents and friends 

also are welcomed and it has developed into a real family 

affair and fun day as it always coincides with a major 

rugby home game. 

This year we had the unveiling of the new Delpratt House 

Banner made for the House by Mrs Heather Haimes 

(Father Jonathan Whereat’s spouse). Canon Maughan 

also presented a framed copy of Rudyard Kipling’s poem 

“If”, which traditionally hung in the House Captains 

Room – each House Captain would sign the back of the 

framed picture – unfortunately at some stage this valued 

artefact went missing – it is significant that this year that 

Sam Greenup is House Captain (his father David was also 

House Captain in 1986). 

This year Phil and Jan Ward are retiring after six years 

of caring for their Delpratt boys and their families – Phil 

describes his time in Dellie in “Beatles” parlance as a 

“magical mystery tour”. 



BBQ 

The Family BBQ, held in the Old Gym Café this year, turned 

out to be a great lunchtime gathering. Three hundred came 

along throughout the three-hour event, many coming for a 

quick bite to eat, a drink and a catch-up and then heading off 

to watch their son/s play rugby against Churchie. The change 

of venue (from the River Oval) was well received this year. The 

River Ovals could not be used for the BBQ as they are required 

for rugby fields due to the change of the GPS season structure, 

resulting in the 1st XV match being played earlier. This makes 

the new kick-off time for the 1st XV match 2pm, rather than 

the traditional later start of 3pm. The BBQ consequently 

finished by 2pm this year. 

Thank you to the OSA Reunion Committee for assisting with 

the set-up of this event. Thanks to Jonny Nyst and James 

Nikiforides (from the band, The Vernons) who played some 

wonderful music for everyone. We also had a visit from young 

Old Boys, Luke Morahan (Kai 07) and Jono Lance (Kai 07), 

both TSS Reds Players, who were happy to have a few photos 

taken with the kids, which was great! We received great reports 

on the food and entertainment provided on the day, so we hope 

to see many more attend next year. 

Headmaster’s Morning Tea & 

Rediscovery Tour 

A crowd of 60 or more were present for the Headmaster’s 

Morning Tea and most took the opportunity to take the 

Rediscovery tour, hosted by Deputy Headmaster, Mr Alan 

Parsons. 

16 


REUNION 

DINNER 

Reunion Dinner 

The Reunion Dinner saw 225 turn up on Saturday, August 

11th this year. The Dining Hall was packed to capacity 

with the two biggest year groups being the 50-year 

(1962s) and the 20-year (1992s) classes. 

Congratulations must go to all Year Group Coordinators 

for the tremendous effort undertaken to contact their 

classmates and encourage them to attend. Due to the 

overwhelming response from the 62-year group, we pass 

on sincere thanks to John Compton, Richard Moore and 

John Helgeson, who went to a considerable amount 

of trouble to organise a Friday night gathering at the 

Southport Yacht Club and also a boat trip on Lance Look’s 

boat to Stradbroke Island on Sunday. Thank you, to these 

three special Old Boys, for helping to make the 50-year 

reunion so special. 

Also, a special thank you to Chris Radburn (Del 92) who 

was the guest speaker on the night – this is always a very 

tough ‘gig’, but he did his best to be heard! 

A great night was had by all and we have received many 

compliments regarding the organisation, including the 

quality of the food over the entire weekend. 

More photos can be found on the TSS Old Boys’ website 

www.tssoldboys.com.au 

Year group coordinators were: 

2002 – 10-Year Reunion – Matt Westcott (Atk 02) 

1992 – 20-Year Reunion – Perry Cross (Mau 92) 

1982 – 30-Year Reunion – Glen Richards (McK 82) 

1972 – 40-Year Reunion – Paul McIntosh (Tho 72) 

1962 – 50-Year Reunion – John Compton (Del 62) 

Richard Moore (McK 62), John Helgeson (Del 62) 


18 



Race Day 

Saturday, October 13 

PHOTOS: Andrew Mills 

WHAT A DAY! EVERY TABLE WAS SOLD OUT THIS 

YEAR AT THE ANNUAL SMARTPRINT OSA RACE DAY. 

Not only did we receive a terrific attendance response, we 

also had unbelievable support from our local businesses, 

who provided wonderful prizes for the raffle on the day. 

Many guests walked away with prizes that well exceeded 

the value of the ticket! 

The new venue of the Boardroom was well received by all 

guests – that, combined with the great food, drinks and 

excellent company, all added up to a fantastic day at the 

Races! 

We look forward to seeing you all again next year. 

Special thanks to: 

• Mantra on Salt 

• Esteem Day Spa 

• Village Roadshow 

Theme Parks 

• Botanique Flowers 

• Southport Yacht Club 

• Ferry Rode Cycles 

• Hilton Surfers Paradise 

• Shuck on Tedder 

• Surfers Rowers 

• Merlo Southport Park 

For two years now, SmartPrint have been the major 

sponsor on the day. Also, special mention must be made 

to Bendigo Bank, Bundall Branch and Midway Metals for 

being Race Sponsors. Both businesses have supported 

the OSA Race Day for the past three years. All funds 

raised will go towards OSA Bursaries. 

20 


THE OLD SOUTHPORTONIANS’ REVIEW 21 

PHOTOS: Andrew Mills

NEW OSA MERCHANDISE 

Available for all members to purchase from the 

TSS Old Boys’ website – www.tssoldboys.com.au 

Rings from 

$225/$495 

Old Southportonians’ 

Association Rings 

For the first time in our history, the OSA Council has 

approved the commissioning of two OSA signet rings 

especially for our community members. The rings feature 

a fully detailed three dimensional accurate representation 

of The Old Southportonians’ Association crest, set in your 

choice of large and small oval-shaped rings. The two 

unique styles make the beautiful rings quite distinctive 

and recognisable among Old Boys’ and we have no doubt 

will be worn with pride among our community. 

To make the rings even more significant for you, they can 

be engraved with the House and Graduation year. There is 

no extra charge for this option. Your OSA ring comes with 

a lifetime warranty, covering the following: Resize your 

ring free of charge (if in resizable condition) – Restore the 

original finish free of charge – Any defect or blemish in 

materials or workmanship, your ring will be either repaired 

or replaced free of charge (this offer is void if work is 

performed on your ring other than by Jostens). 

Old Southportonians’ 

Association Cufflinks 

OSA Hats and 

Ties are also still 

available. For 

more information, 

contact the OSA 

Office on 07 

5531 9803 

Cufflinks $59 

(boxed pair) 

OSA Key Tag 

The OSA Council this year have commissioned a Key Tag for the class of 

2012. This is to help remind them to keep in contact and use the resources 

the OSA provides to all Old Boys. If you are interested in ordering a Key Tag, 

please contact the OSA Office for more information. Note: Minimum orders 

are required. 

22 


Mentor Network Program 

Thank you to the following Mentors for generously donating their precious time for the 

benefit of the current TSS students. 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

1 

5 

Archie Douglas 2 Damien Moffrey 3 Nick Agnew 4 Peter Newcomb with Mike Halpin 

Peter & Anthony Puljich, with Mike Halpin (Centre) 6 Tim Crossley 7 Shannon Eckstein 

What is mentoring? 

Mentoring provides a structured and trusting relationship 

that brings young people together with caring individuals 

who offer guidance, support and encouragement (adapted 

from Mentor/National Mentoring Partnership and Robyn 

Hartley’s “Young people and mentoring: towards a national 

strategy” 2004 Report). 

The mentor is not a replacement for a parent, nor are they 

a counsellor or teacher. They are a sounding board and 

confidant to the young person. 

How does mentoring help? 

There has been a great deal of international research 

carried out on the benefits of mentoring to a young person. 

Research by Joseph P. Tierney and Jean Baldwin Grossman 

(Making a difference: an impact study of Big Brother/ 

Big Sisters) and David L Dubois et al (‘Effectiveness of 

mentoring programs for youth: A meta-analytical review’, 

American Journal of Community Psychology), has shown that 

young mentees are: 

• Less likely to become involved in criminal activity, 

• Less likely to become involved in drug taking and alcohol 

abuse and 

• Less likely to leave school early 

• More likely to have improved academic performance 

• Have better relationships with their teachers and family 

compared to their peers who are not mentored. 

This year, the OSA in conjunction with the School, launched 

the OSA/Parent Career Mentor Program to Y10-12 Students 

and Young Old Boys. 

For those of you who were unable to be present at the 

launch, our Guest Speaker, TSS Old Boy and one of 

Australia’s prominent business achievers, Malcolm 

Broomhead, delivered a guideline on how to achieve career 

and personal success post-school days. Mr Broomhead’s 

powerful and insightful talk underpinned the collaboration 

between the OSA and current TSS body in forming what 

has quickly grown into one of Australian’s largest school 

mentoring programs. 

With your help, our mentor program will continually evolve 

and develop. We encourage you to contact us to provide 

feedback when students and/or Old Boys approach you to 

mentor them. 

To register as a mentor or to find a mentor to help and guide 

you on your career path, go to www.tssoldboys.com.au and 

click on the Mentoring tab. 


DARE 

TO DREAM … 

written by Angela Hughes 

Anthony fulfilling his dream of being a fighter pilot. 

MANY small boys dream of growing up to become a 

policeman, fighter pilot or firefighter, but rarely do those 

dreams become reality as small boys grow into young men and 

career focus shifts to different ambitions. 

When past student and one of Australia’s foremost business 

identities, Malcolm Broomhead, launched the OSA Careers 

and Mentors program earlier this year, he encouraged students 

to have a passion, follow their dreams and be prepared to 

make changes and ‘keep learning’ along the way to achieve a 

sense of happiness in their career and personal life. 

24 


He could well have been referring to Anthony Yelland, who 

exemplifies what it is like to have a dream and then set about 

achieving it despite setbacks along the way. Unlike those 

small boys whose initial dream was to grow up and become a 

policeman, etc., Anthony’s dream of being a fighter pilot as a 

young boy never wavered. But he had to overcome some mighty 

big hurdles along the way to achieve his dream. 

“For me, there was never anything else. I just knew I wanted 

to be a fighter pilot,” said Anthony from his current ground 

position at RAAF Base Edinburgh, Joint Electronic Warfare 

Operational Support Unit, in South Australia. “It (fighter pilot) 

was my dream. 

“I was quite weak with my maths at school and despite working 

hard was unable to pass Maths B, which made me ineligible 

to apply for pilot training post-TSS. I was advised to undertake 

a bridging course at university.” Anthony diligently set about 

completing his bridging course but, during the same year, 

entry standards were changed by the RAAF and, once again, 

he found himself ineligible for entry. Anthony was advised to 

repeat Year 12. Further contributing to his woes was an ongoing 

knee injury that prevented him from running, so Anthony put 

his fighter pilot ambitions on the backburner so to speak and 

began working at Sanctuary Cove’s Hyatt Hotel. 

But that desire to be a fighter pilot 

was simmering below the surface 

and, after visiting an air show in 

Melbourne, reignited. There was still 

the problem with the maths, but 

Anthony forged ahead and enrolled 

to begin maths studies again, this 

time at TAFE. He passed! Next he 

applied for entry into the RAAF – a 

fairly drawnout process says Anthony, 

but he received good scores and was 

sent to Tamworth for flight screening 

and evaluation. 

Persistence in overcoming 

the odds has allowed 

Anthony Yelland to live 

his dream of becoming a 

fighter pilot. 

about laser surgery and pilot entry into the RAAF. 

The adage persistence pays off certainly turned out to be true 

for Anthony who, after many months of negotiations, finally 

had the surgery and, after another three months waiting to see 

if the surgery was successful, was finally accepted into Officer 

Training School at the end of 2004 – a two-year battle to get 

in the front door! 

The dream was becoming reality. Following various training 

schools, courses, intense studies, and giving 100 per cent to 

everything thrown at him, Anthony found himself one of three 

selected for fighter pilot training in 2007 flying the Hawk 

training jet. Later he became the ONLY one from his original 

pilot’s course chosen for the high-intensity F/A-18 Operational 

Conversion in 2009. Now the dream really was happening. 

When D-Day arrived (time to fly the F/A-18s) Anthony, like the 

other select few members of his team, were over the moon. 

“The course (for the F/A-18s) was insanely intense and difficult. 

We were working 15 hours a day, six and sometimes seven 

days a week. There are about 700 checklist items you have 

to memorise word perfect, complicated systems, emergency 

procedures and so it goes on, but the RAAF fighter force has an 

impeccable safety record and zero tolerance to safety-related 

mistakes, so the standards are very high.” 

Fast-forward to today and Anthony has 

experienced all that he ever dreamt of 

– and more. He’s completed various 

exercises in Alaska, the United States, 

Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, around 

Australia, flown armed-combat air 

patrol for President Obama, undertaken 

counter-terrorism for the Queen and 

been at the forefront of Australia’s 

national security in the air as well as 

involved in preparation of special forces 

troops before overseas deployment. 

“You are evaluated on how quickly you learn and your basic 

skills. I had only about an hour’s flight time prior to the screening, 

but succeeded in being recommended for employment in the 

RAAF as a trainee pilot.” 

At this stage Anthony thought his problems were over, but 

this was not to be. The week before he was due to begin 

Officer Training School he had his final medical where it was 

discovered his right eye had slightly less than normal vision due 

to a stigmatism. Basically, this meant – dream over at the age 

of 20 after having spent the previous years preparing for pilot 

training, even signing a contract. 

He has continued to learn and lead and today holds the rank 

of Flight Lieutenant, is a B Category Fighter Pilot qualified to 

lead (i.e. plan, brief, lead and debrief) three other aircraft on 

any mission, day or night. “If you get time (during the night 

missions) you can look up and see satellites and constant 

shooting stars while skimming along the clouds at 1100km/h. 

A surreal experience. Obviously flying a supersonic jet fighter is 

exhilarating, but the bit I enjoy most is the team atmosphere.” 

This has been Anthony’s life for the past eight years and to put 

it in his words: It’s been a blast! 

“I was devastated. The eye doctor could not offer me any 

alternatives, and I was told laser surgery was not acceptable. 

My contract was rescinded. At this stage I threw everything 

aviation-related out of my life and went back to normal work. 

I figured the maths, the knee, the eye were life’s way of telling 

me my dream wasn’t to be.” 

While he might not have realised it at the time, Anthony’s 

ambition was still bubbling deep inside him. “I was sitting at 

home, still fairly upset about it all, when suddenly I thought 

‘(expletive) this’, I bet I can get laser surgery.” Determined 

to pursue his dream, Anthony searched the Internet until he 

found a health bulletin detailing everything he needed to know 


Baptism 

Blake Hyland (Mel 86-96) 

and his wife, Loulita, baptised their son, Reef Earnest, 

in St Alban’s Chapel on September 23. 

Robert Parkinson (Tho 88-91) 

and his wife, Patricia, baptised this son, Connor, in St 

Alban’s Chapel on October 13. 

Anthony Small (Rad 86-88) 

and his wife, Stacey, had their daughter, Libertie 

Anastasia, baptised by Father Phil on May 12 in St 

Alban’s Chapel. “Our Son, Lucius, was also baptised 

on February, 20, 2010.” 

Tony Windle (Wal 94) 

and his wife, Karyn, baptised their son, Benjamin, in 

St Alban’s Chapel on August 26. 

1 

1 

PHOTO – Anthony, wife Stacey Small, son 

Lucius Antonio, daughter Libertie Anastasia. 

Weddings 

2 

Spencer Attoe (Mel 90-00) 

married Sally Denning on Friday, September 21, at St 

Alban’s Chapel. 

Wedding party consisted of bridesmaids; Kelly 

Denning and friends Heidi Tiltins and Meg Chapman, 

and Groomsmen (who were all TSS Old Boys); Mark 

Ensor (Kai 00), James Attoe (Mel 98) and Kahn 

Luthiger (Mau 00). 

The reception was held at the Southport Yacht Club 

and Spencer and Sally will honeymoon in Hawaii. 

John Catterall (Tur 99-03) 

married Tiffanie Beasley on August 11th, 2012 in St 

Alban’s Chapel. It was great to see our old Turnock 

housemaster Mr Knox was walking past the Chapel just 

before we went in. Great timing! 

2 

26 


Weddings 

3 

Trent Moore (Mel 95-04) 

married Candice Jones on Friday, September 28 at St Alban’s 

Chapel. The happy couple and guests headed to the Marriott 

Resort for their wedding reception. Trent is in Product Development 

at ICG and Candice is a Dealer’s Assistant at Macquarie Private 

Wealth. They relaxed and had an enjoyable honeymoon in 

Seminyak in Bali at the W Resort. 

3 

4 

Geoff King (Del 71-80) 

Geoff and Rosy were married on September 1st, at the TSS chapel, 

with the reception at the TSS River Centre. Rev Jim Stonier 

officiated and there were 100 family and guests who joined in to 

celebrate the day. Many were TSS old boys and their families. 

4 

5 

Craig Snodgrass (Mel 92-97) 

On May 5th, Craig and Jodi Palmer were married at the Marriott, 

Surfers Paradise, Gold Coast. The couple honeymooned in Hawaii, 

Las Vegas and the Bahamas. TSS Old Boys who attended the 

wedding were Marshal McCarthy (Tur 96) and Patrick Schmorl 

(Wal 97), along with Richard Kirkbeck (Mel 97), who was the Best 

Man. 

5 

6 

Mark Tomlinson (Kai 94-98) 

Kristina and I met during our first year of university and started 

dating a couple of years after that. I proposed at the Burleigh 

Lookout on the October 10, 2010. 

On October 1st, 2011, our wedding ceremony was held in Brisbane 

at St Augustine’s church, which holds a strong connection with my 

family; and reception at the Allan Border Cricket Ground (Home 

of the QLD Bulls). Kristina took great delight in designing her own 

wedding gown, with the help of the girls at Bertossi Brides. We both 

reside and work on the Gold Coast and continue to enjoying surfing 

and boating. We would like to thank all of the GPS Old Boys (22 of 

96 guests), family and friends who helped make the day a once a 

in lifetime occasion. 

6 


Reflections 

by Bert Cockerill (McK 46-55) 

A trip back in time, back to 1899. Yes, that’s over 100 years ago and at that time, 

a young English clergyman, Horace Dixon, after arriving in Australia, found himself 

consigned to Southport. It was an enormous parish stretching from Beenleigh to the 

border and including miles of the hinterland. 

This area, over 2000 square miles, had to be covered 

in the saddle on horseback. It was a very sparsely 

populated area and our founder, Horace Henry Dixon, felt 

he was wasting too much time just travelling around his 

allotted area and doing very little and in his words: “I was 

constantly reminded that Southport was the chief seaside 

resort of southern Queensland, and so attracted a large 

number of visitors from all over the area, and one day 

the thought suddenly flashed upon my mind that it was a 

natural centre for a school.” 

He laid the matter before Bishop Webber who agreed and 

put the financial responsibility on Horace Dixon. If the 

school was a success the church should take it over and 

make it “the Diocesan school for boys”. 

Prior to this, in 1870, Henry Biggs (Yes, the grandfather 

of the late Walter and Henry, built a house overlooking 

the river where the Junior School stood. A few years later, 

next to this house, a two-storey tower and other residential 

buildings were constructed around a square. Sir Anthony 

Musgrave, Governor of Queensland, occupied the home 

as a summer residence from 1883-1888. In 1887, a 

member of the household, Joseph Derrick, drowned in the 

river, so this area became known to us as Dead Man’s Hole. 

Governor Sir Henry Norman occupied the estate from 

1889-1895. It was after the previous tragedy that the 

property became unoccupied. 

Our founder then contacted the owners of a property 

known as “Government House and Estate”. He was offered 

the land and buildings for a year, rent free, as long as he 

paid for any repairs, and after three years he was given 

the option of buying the entire estate for £1000. It was a 

Doctor Berry that assisted with payments for repairs. 

Hon. EJ Stevens, MLA and Doctor Berry were able to 

secure the site for Horace Henry’s dream. I’m not sure, 

but I think the bursar in my time, Henry Stevens, was a 

relative. At speech days in the ’50s, Bishop Dixon would 

always tell us that when he saw this homestead he quoted 

“THIS WILL BE THE SITE FOR A SCHOOL”. I have 

never seen a photo of Mrs Dixon – have you? There must 

have been a wonderful woman behind our founder who 

encouraged him to do what he did. I believe that Squid 

Dixon was his son, so there must have been a Mrs Dixon… 

Next issue I will give you a rundown on the opening of the 

new building and the Clocktower, which was on October 

4, 1926. 

What an inspiration I had when I received a letter from 

John Winn. In 1955, I was House Captain of McKinley 

House when he entered the Senior School and John 

became House Captain in 1958. He then went on to 

become the Deputy Headmaster of Toowoomba Grammar. 

Both of us had a great mentor in Malcolm Ham who at 

that time was our Housemaster. John’s letter to me was 

also very moving. I thank you, John, and for those great 

memories of our time in the Senior School and especially 

McKinley House. The best gift a father can give to his son 

is his time… 

The Older Old Boys’ Reunion was most successful. Thanks 

to the organising by both Gerry Northausen and Kris Hailey, 

over 40 attended and we talked about those great days 

at school. There were 15 from McKinley and Delpratt 

houses, 10 from Thorold and four who only went to the 

Junior School. I really think that next year will be bigger 

than ever with those who started school on or before 1953. 

This year Neil Stonach, who started in 1931, was the 

oldest. We were sorry that Allan Radcliffe couldn’t make 

it and it would have been great if Pat Hunt had been well 

enough to come. As you probably know, Pat passed away 

on Saturday, September 8, 2012 and there was a great 

gathering of Old Boys and the prefects from Delpratt House 

at his funeral. VALE PAT HUNT. There is a full story and 

other tributes also in this review. 

It was great to see many of the class of ’61 watching the 

footy matches this year. Lance Look (Tho 61) was part on 

the wild group of 1961 and gave me some photos he had. 

These included Archie Douglas, Dizzie Ballantine, Connie 

Van Geest, Bill Blundell, Glen Johnstone and others. 

28 


a bit odd, but I don’t think he ever went to TSS. Who would 

ever forget the matrons in the Junior School…Miss Gray, Miss 

Brabazo and Sister Wagland and Miss Downs. She was my first 

teacher. 

This edition I have received stories from Clyde Johnson and Bill 

Crawford – thank you, gents, for taking the time to write down 

your memories. If anyone else has any more stories, please 

send them in. 

Keep well and best wishes to you and your families for a Merry 

Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Peter Kerkenezov has been spending a lot of time working on 

the Gladstone Harbour. While there with his lovely wife, Susie, 

he met up with John Bell from Turkey Station and Rodney 

Wilson who runs Calliope Station. Peter said he was working 

as a pilot and checking their proficiency, making sure they are 

being operated safely. He’s now back in Ballina doing what he 

usually does, that is, working as a vet. 

1 

1 

Photo – Rod Wilson (Del 65), John Bell (JS 55-61) and 

Peter Kerkenezov (Del 65). 

I started in 1946 and can remember Mr George Clem. He 

taught Grade 6 and was very strict. He used the cane on 

unruly boys, but they got revenge. They cut a small slice in 

the end of this cane and opened it by putting some hair in 

the split. When he used it on some poor culprit, the cane 

opened and pinched his hand and he always let out a squeal 

louder than the accused! What about those smelly possums 

scrambling up the wall in the upstairs classrooms – Remember 

Clarrie BELL? He took us for PE and also organised our trip 

to O’Reilly’s at Lamington National Park for the Michaelmas 

Holidays. We saw Castle Crag, Pat’s Bluff, The Stairway Falls 

and walked all the bush tracks. Bernard O’Reilly, owner of the 

retreat, had a quiz session for us and the film crew who were 

making the movie: SONS OF MATHEW. Some of us were in 

that film. Clarrie Bell also took us for Boxing. In 1947, the 

weight champions in the Junior School were David Hunter, 

John Armstrong, Bassingthwaighte, Roach and the champ for 

the JS was B Schofield. Remember Claud Rowney who took 

us for choir practice and music lessons. Yes, I too was a choir 

boy. Were you? Underneath the Music rooms, Clavill Bere 

would park his Citroen and work tirelessly on the rowing boats. 

What a wonderful person he was. His brother Humphrey was 

2 

2 

Bill Crawford (Del 52-54) writes… 

I became a boarder at TSS in 1952. Prior to that, I had been a 

pupil at Cranbrook School in Sydney where fellow classmates at 

that time were Kerry Packer, Murray Rose and James Halliday 

of wine fame. At that time my family lived in Vaucluse and 

it was close to Rose Bay Flying Boat Base, so from there, 

every term, I flew by flying boat to Southport, landing on the 

Broadwater. It took 3½ hours! 

When I arrived at TSS I had a crew-cut and was almost 

immediately given the nickname “Boggoroad Butch”, which 

has stuck to this day. In 1953, I became the Junior Athletics 

champion. This included the under 16 hurdles and as I’m only 

5’3” people find that quite amusing, as to complete this race I 

had to take five hurdles and go over sideways! 

Like other 18-year-old men at that time I had to do National 

Service in the army. In 1962, I qualified as an accountant and 

this year received a 50-year membership certificate. I still work 

part-time. I have four children and seven grandchildren. 


Clyde Johnson (McK 52-57) 

My trips to and from school were giant excursions for a nineyear-old 

new boarder in 1952. Like a lot of other boarders, 

I used to travel to school by car, plane, taxi and bus. Dad 

and Mum drove me the 25 rough miles from “Norolle” to the 

Roma Aerodrome in our 1947 Chevrolet car. I travelled on 

a DC3 to Brisbane and took a taxi from the airport to South 

Brisbane where I caught the bus to Southport. From the bus 

terminal I took a taxi to TSS, sometimes at night. 

In all my TSS years, I only ever went home on the train once. 

That night-time journey on the Western Mail was when I took 

up smoking, and then gave it up the same night, after being 

very sick. 

Junior School years I was in Shepherd House and played in 

the 1st Tennis Team for two years, coached by Ron Pearson 

and the 1st Cricket Team coached by Don Taylor. Senior 

School years I was in McKinley. In Sub Junior, I made the 

2nd Tennis Team. My bed was next to the Clocktower. Along 

with all the other boys I got so used to sleeping with the noise 

that the silence woke us at 3.15 on one memorable, dark 

morning when the clock stopped. 

swim 10 laps around the boards that marked the 25-metre 

length. This I achieved. 

In 1957 several of us ‘nicked off’ to Surfers Paradise. I 

remember swimming the river at low tide to get there and 

returning some hours later. The tide had come in making the 

return swim a great deal further. A boat with two fishermen 

was in our path. They said they had just caught and released 

a big bull shark, so we swam as fast as we could to get to the 

sand spit and back to school! 

In 1958 the onset of coastal asthma caused me to have to 

leave TSS for a drier climate and high school in Roma. After 

school I worked with cattle, sheep and cropping on family 

properties. In the early 1960s, I worked at well-known Poll 

Hereford studs, Springfield at Finley in NSW and Ardno at 

Casterton in Victoria. 

My father, older brothers and I developed the Norolle Poll 

Hereford stud, which was registered in 1952; and a parallel 

commercial herd. The family partnership was dissolved 

and the herd divided in 1993. We ran successful “On 

Property” Bull Sales from 1975 to 2001 and competed very 

successfully in major show rings. 

I admired the Gelbvieh breed when I saw 32 head at the 

Colorado State University in 1982 and have been breeding 

them ever since. In 2002 my wife and I downsized our 

operation and relocated to 38 km south of Millmerran. Our 

Poll Herefords were sold in 2008 and we now breed Gelbvieh 

and Balancers, which are Gelbvieh x Red Angus. See www. 

norolle.com 

Of our three children, Julie and Kirrily are very country 

orientated, with cattle and horses. Greg, while attuned to 

country life, is a database administrator in the city. All are 

happily married to three responsible citizens and raising two 

children each. I am very proud of them all. 

When I went to TSS I couldn’t swim and Mrs Broadman 

taught me and others to swim. There was no school swimming 

pool until about 1957, so swim training and the competitions 

were held in the river. Big boards like tennis practice boards, 

were tied to large steel, oyster-encrusted posts and spaced 

25 metres apart. To take part in river activities you needed to 

attain River King status, which meant you had to be able to 

Alison, a former Home Science teacher, and I have been 

married for nearly 47 years. 

As John Lennon penned in a song “Life is what happens when 

you are busy making other plans”. 

30 


Photo – (L to R) Bill Young, Michael ‘Kakos’ Anthony (Tho 62-68), Tony Price (Del 65-67). 

Bill Young (Tho 62-67) 

Interest in the Performing Arts was indeed a lonely pursuit 

at TSS in the mid 1960s. Sure, there was the occasional 

attempt to satisfy the need – house plays were an annual 

occurrence – creaky old English farces were the main staple 

– and near the end of my six years of boarding someone had 

the bright idea of linking up with St Hilda’s for a production 

of G+S’s Pirates of Penzance (finally guys could play guys and 

gals could play gals! Liberation!!). But that was it. 

I commenced my tenure at TSS in 1962, timed to perfection 

with the rise of Beatlemania and the Stones. As the son of a 

dairy farmer from NSW’s Hunter Valley, I guess I was sent to 

such a prestigious school to depart six years later with a law, 

medical or veterinary degree... but such a career focus didn’t 

blip my radar. Music was my interest. I had scrimped and 

saved for my first guitar (mail order acoustic £8/19/6) and 

by the time I was ensconced in a damp subterranean dorm 

in the Junior School, I had the chords to “Tom Dooley” down 

and was doing a lively (solo) impression of The Kingston Trio. 

I know I wasn’t aware of it at the time but, in hindsight, I 

recognise a career in the Arts was always my true calling – be 

it acting, guitaring, singing, writing or directing. But in those 

days such pursuits could hardly be deemed a ‘career path? 

Nope – the focus was (1) get a degree, (2) put on a suit, 

(3) get a job, (4) hang up the shingle, and (5) make lots of 

money. 

I was an average student and sportsman, but I’m proud to say 

that in 1966 I left my mark on the school’s history by forming 

the first rock band TSS had produced. No, it’s not recorded 

on an Honour Board or in The Southportonian, but I may have 

carved our band’s name into a wooden pylon underneath the 

gym. The Luciads (don’t ask, I don’t know either!) was a nifty, 

tight, three-piece, with Michael ‘Kakos’ Anthony on drums 

and Tony Price on a really cool Fender Strat (how I envied 

that Strat!). Curiously, we didn’t have a bass player (fellow 

musicians were thin on the ground) so ‘Kakos’ satisfied 

that shortfall with a muscular right leg on an overworked 

kick drum! We’d play at any occasion – before the Saturday 

night movies, school dances with St Hilda’s, house feasts – 

anywhere where a couple of 30-watt amps could be plugged 

into 240 volts. 

I have now worked in the Arts as an actor, director, writer, 

musician and voice artist for the past 37 years, appearing 

in shows as diverse as Home and Away to The Great Gatsby. 

However, one of my most enduring memories is rehearsing 

with The Luciads behind the flats in the old TSS theatre. I’d 

love to link up with the guys once again for a jam! G-L-O-R- 

I-A...Glor...ria! 


Personal Notes 

1 

Scott Andrews (Wal 94-98) 

Congratulations to Scott, who was awarded the Australian 

Surf Life Saving Association Volunteer of the Year award for 

2011/12. 

2 

Mitch Buckley (Atk 98-04) 

1 

Over the Easter break I went down to Melbourne with my brass 

band, Brisbane Brass, to compete at the Australian Brass Band 

Championships. Each band plays a hymn, a test piece, a stage 

march and an own choice piece, in addition to competing in 

the parade of bands, where each band has to march down the 

street playing a street march and they get points awarded and 

deducted for how they march. Brisbane Brass won the street 

march and finished tied for 7th out of 12 bands. A good effort 

by all. In addition to all this, members of each band can sign 

up to perform a solo on their instrument. Each instrument 

is given a test piece for the soloist to learn and perform. I 

entered into the Eb Soprano Cornet solo, which is different 

from a normal cornet pitched in Bb. The piece I had to play 

was a difficult work called “Escapade” by Joseph Turrin. I 

won my solo with 89 points out of 100 and am now the 2012 

Australian Soprano Cornet champion. The winners of each 

solo go into another competition later in the day called the 

Champion of Champions. This was my first time in a national 

Champion of Champions, and I didn’t play as well as I played 

earlier, but I was still happy with the performance. 

2 

John Fox 

(Tur 02-06) 

Asia is the future for 

medical engineer John 

Fox, who is currently 

undertaking an internship 

with Stryker, one of the 

world’s leading medical 

technology companies, after 

studying at the Hong Kong 

Polytechnic this year as a 

Prime Minister’s Australia 

Asia Scholarship holder. 

John studies at the 

3 

Queensland University 

of Technology and received the scholarship last year from 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and also secured his internship 

with Stryker after a tough application process. “I was very 

interested in Stryker as they are involved in the design and 

manufacture of orthopedic implants, surgical and imaging 

technologies, and emergency medical equipment,” Mr Fox 

said. “It was also recently named in the Forbes top 100 ‘best 

companies to work for’ list, is one of the leading medical 

technology and innovation companies in the world, and one 

of its engineering facilities is in Suzhou, China, to facilitate 

low-cost mass production.” 

Medical engineering uses engineering principles such as 

problem solving, critical analysis, innovation and design, and 

applies these skills to the medical situation. Engineers in the 

field design and develop equipment and devices to improve 

health preservation. Before embarking to Asia, John held a 

string of scholarships, including the Dean’s Scholars Program 

tuition scholarship from QUT, and gained undergraduate 

research experience within the Prince Charles Hospital, a 

specialist cardiac hospital in Brisbane, Australia. 

“My previous work experience was predominantly engineering 

research and development,” John said. “I worked to help 

improve a project that replicated the human circulatory 

system on the bench top, using blood pressure regulation with 

a scholarship from the Medical Advances Without Animals 

group. Cardio is one of today’s most significant areas of 

medical engineering research and development. The Stryker 

internship will also give me exposure to manufacturing 

processes from initial stages, product assembly, and shipping 

in large quantities around the world.” 

3 

32 


4 

John moved to Suzhou for his internship in April after 

spending four months living in Kowloon, Hong Kong 

while studying engineering and Chinese at the Hong Kong 

Polytechnic University. “I really enjoyed my time in this 

amazingly busy city. My major highlights were playing on 

the university rugby 7’s team, travelling to Macau, Japan, 

Philippines and mainland China, and just the experience of 

living in the heart of the city.” 

Although playing golf on a PGA tour is John’s ultimate job, 

he said he enjoys the challenge and interest of medical 

engineering, and hoped his international study and work 

experience would benefit his career prospects. “To study 

internationally and form relationships with various Asian 

research groups will be an enormous career benefit. I am 

hoping my internship with Stryker will open up opportunities 

later on.” 

John will return to Australia in late 2012 to graduate from 

QUT. “I don’t have a set plan after I finish at Stryker. I will 

look at the opportunities available, reassess my interests and 

what I want to do, then go from there.” 

4 

Scott Hall (Kai 90-94), Simon Anderson 

(Mau 90-94), Jason Oberman (Mel 83- 

94), Richard Hughes (83-94) and CJ Van 

Peppen (Atk 90-94) 

On January, a group of Old Southportonians, namely Simon 

Anderson (Maughan 1990-94), Jason Oberman (Mel 1983- 

94), Richard Hughes (Sur 1983-1994) and Scott Hall 

(1990-94) decided it would be a good idea to participate in 

the 2012 Kokoda Challenge. The theory was great, however, 

the passing of years and the addition of a few kilos meant 

that a lot of training had to be done in the months leading 

up to the event. 

The Kokoda Challenge on the Gold Coast is hailed as 

Australia’s toughest endurance event. Participants trek a 

96km course that leads along fire trails, crosses 12 creeks 

and summits 5000m of vertical elevation. The goal is to 

finish as a complete team of four in honour of the spirit 

forged on the Kokoda Track in 1942: mateship, endurance, 

courage and sacrifice. 

In training, Jason Oberman’s bad back turned out to be serious 

stress fractures, so sadly he had to pull out about six weeks 

before the start. Thankfully, another Old Southportonian, CJ 

Van Peppen (Atkinson 1990-1994), accepted the challenge 

and joined our team, known as The Middle Aged ANZACS. It 

wasn’t always easy managing training with work and family, but 

we all did what we could whenever possible. Was it going to be 

enough to get us over the line? Only time could tell! 

In the week leading up to the Kokoda Challenge about 30 mls 

of rain fell on the Gold Coast Hinterland. This was going to turn 

parts of the track to mud. Finally, we all gathered early on the 

morning of Saturday 14 July to begin the Kokoda Challenge as 

a team. We were under no illusions, it was going to be tough!! 

The first two checkpoints were rather straightforward, with 

only minor gradients to climb and descend. After this point, 

things started getting very difficult. Before the first major 

checkpoint there was an enormous hill (mountain!!) that was 

just pure mud. Getting up was tough, but going back down was 

equally so as you literally had to ski down the mud!! I fell over 

numerous times, but that is part of the fun. There were many 

tough creek crossings also, and mention must be made about 

the great teamwork shown by Richard Hughes, who caught 

many people from other teams as they leapt over difficult creek 

crossings. 

After the first major checkpoint we encountered the ‘Polly’s 

Kitchen’ hill. We had done our training on this hill, so we 

managed this quite well. Day turned to night, and it was easy 

to lose track of what the time was. At the 49 km mark Emma 

Keating joined our Team, as the rest of her team retired. It was 

a pleasure having Emma in our team, her attitude and courage 

was outstanding. 



As the Sunday morning sunshine arrived we had to be careful 

not to stay at our checkpoints too long as your body tends 

to cease continuing on (as happened to me). However, our 

Support Crew was wonderful, and with some food and Deep 

Heat we continued on. From there it was as much a battle 

with your mind as your body as we went over the 30-hour 

mark. Two major hills came and went, and we were on to the 

final 18kms. Simon was battling terrible blisters, but true to 

his character he never complained once. 

Daniel and his wife live and work in New York and Chad was 

(at the time of the wedding) working in Tokyo. Steven Brookes, 

Stephen Hurford and Steven Locke and his wife all live and 

work in Brisbane. Benjamin is a Bond Graduate with an IT 

degree and is currently employed by Queensland Health. 

Finally, after 38 hours 4 minutes, we crossed the finish line at 

9.04pm on Sunday 15 July. It was a wonderful moment, with 

many family and friends there to greet us at the line. All told, 

the ‘Middle Aged ANZACS’ raised $2902 for Kokoda Kids 

Charity. We also have enormous respect for the Australian 

soldiers in 1942, to whom we are all forever grateful. Our 

friendship grew as we helped each other through the difficult 

times, and we are proud of the efforts we made to get to the 

finish line. 

Benjamin Hutcheon (Tur 86-98) 

Correction Edition #139 

2 

1 

1 

Back row from left to right are Chad McBain (Sur 87-98), Steven Locke 

(Mau 94-98), Daniel Belcher (Sur 87-98) and Stephen Hurford (Kai 89-98). 

Front row is Steven Brookes (Kai 94-97). 

Benjamin, son of Bruce (Tho 60-64), both 1st VIII rowers, 

married Keiko Watanabe on January 8, 2012 in Japan. 

The wedding ceremony was at the Tottori Shrine and the 

reception was held at the ANA Hotel in Kushiro, Hokkaido. 

Posing with Ben (front row, centre) and his wife are five TSS 

Old Boys of Ben’s year group. 

2 

Oscar Millroy (Tho 06-11) 

2011 School Captain Oscar went on a gap-year this year and 

worked as a jackaroo on “Carlton Hill Station”, Kununurra, 

WA. Here he is at the Kununurra Rodeo in August. 

Angus Lederwood (Bid 95-07) 

We read in the Bond University magazine, now lives in 

Los Angeles and is reportedly working on the new Kiefer 

Sutherland show Touch. He has also been involved in the 

production of American television shows Terra Nova, The 

West Wing and Parenthood. He is developing a comedy 

pilot based around the film industry. 

34 


3 

3 

Edward Moody (Wal 97-01) 

The mining boom is 

keeping our young Old 

Boys busy. Edward has 

been working in the 

mines and construction 

industry since 2002. He 

has worked in Northern 

Western Australia, 

Tasmania and is currently 

in the Bowen Basin in 

Central Queensland. He 

writes… 

5 

5 

PHOTO – Bruce Scott with Afghan Policy Deputy 

Bruce Scott (Tho 72-73) 

Commendation for distinguished service. 

Brigadier Bruce Andrew SCOTT CSC, Qld 

For distinguished performance of duty in warlike operation 

as Deputy Commanding General – Force Development, 

Headquarters Regional Command (South) on Operation 

SLIPPER in Afganistan from October 2010 to October 2011. 

I have been working in the Bowen Basin for 12 months and 

have worked in the resource industry (mines, oil and gas and 

high-voltage powerlines) for the best part of eight years with two 

years spent in residential and commercial construction. The 

goal after school was to work in the construction industry in 

some way, however, the focus changed to the mining/resources 

industry when I was 21 when I started to work at the BP Oil 

Refinery in Brisbane. 

Brigadier Scott’s efforts and dedication to the long-term 

development of Afganistan National Security Forces have 

significantly improved their professionalism, enduring 

operational capacity and support infrastructure. His 

leadership has provided a substantial and prominent 

contribution to the continual successes of Regional 

Command (South) and long-term security and stability 

within Afganistan. 

Currently, I manage and administer both head contracts and 

subcontracts for York Civil on their Daunia Project between 

Bechtel and York and also Sedgman Limited and York. The 

project itself is located at BMA’s Daunia Coal Mine Lease that 

is currently under construction in the Bowen Basin. 

6 

Peter Norman (Sur 04-08) 

6 

4 

4 

Pierina Redler 1989-2005 Atkinson 

Housemaster, TSS teacher and Life 

member of OSA, 

recently returned from Kenya where she is the Director, 

Service Learning and Activities, for the International 

School of Kenya, to meet up with Maurice (Tho 78-82) and 

Warren Fitzgerald (Tho 67-75) of Beechmont. 

Peter’s father Greg reports… “Recently Peter was playing 

Touch for the Qld Men’s team in a best of three games State 

of Origin series against NSW in Port Macquarie. The first 

game Qld won in extra time then lost by one in game two and 

in the third game they came from behind to win by one with 

Peter scoring the winner with less than two minutes to go. 

This was a big upset as NSW fielded 13 Australian players. 

“Peter is in the current Australian Men’s Open Squad and 

hopefully doing some study now that he is back from Adelaide 

after playing in the Australian Uni games.” 



1 

James Slipper (Tur 05-07) 

Congratulations to James who was awarded the prestigious 

Stan Pilecki award for his consistent season this year at the 

Reds annual Players’ Player of the Year Award night, held at 

the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, in front of 

his proud family, friends and teammates. 

James was the second only prop to win this award; he was 

voted top three in eight matches throughout the season, 

including four of their final five regular season games. 

Coach Ewen McKenzie said, “To win the award as a prop is 

a massive accomplishment, as the nature of the position and 

the value of their contribution is sometimes underrated by 

the general public, who are naturally inclined to recognise 

the flashier involvements made by other players in games”. 

1 

some hills, with gold being the primary exploration target. 

Five drilling contractors were involved, from Kenya and 

other countries, drilling RC and diamond core at numerous 

locations. All holes were inclined. Red Rock Resources, a 

junior exploration company, has other projects in Malawi, 

Greenland, Australia and Colombia. 

Presently, back in Maleny, he is consulting with Magma 

Mines of Fiji regarding the importation of a sonic drill 

from MPI Resources, Ontario, Canada, for his next project, 

mineral sands exploration on Viti Levu. While waiting for this 

to eventuate, he is writing his third novel, this one based 

on the Red Guard riots in Hong Kong in 1967, which he 

experienced when he lived there. 

3 

3 

PHOTO – Women panners with their gold sluices. Note that they used 

washing pails. 

2 

2 

PHOTO – These two lionesses snoozing in a tree away from the flies belonged 

to a pride of four lionesses and a male, and were so used to vehicles they 

were no risk to us. They had plenty of zebra as their preferred food. 

Jervis Sparks (Tho 46-49) 

In 2011, Jervis Sparks worked six months in Kenya for 

Red Rock Resources Plc of London, U.K., as their drilling 

consultant, mineral exploration. The project area, in the 

south-west of Kenya, is known as the Migori Greenstone 

Belt, and stretched from Lake Victoria in the west to the 

Masai Mara Game Reserve in the east, and bordered with 

Tanzania to the south. The land was generally flat with 

4 

4 

PHOTO – Artisinal or illegal miners. As soon as the drill rigs arrived, these 

locals swarmed the drilling areas, and also proved friendly towards us. 

They enjoyed using water from our completed holes when we encountered 

aquifers, and often asked us not to backfill the drill sumps. They set up 

crushing mills everywhere, powered by small diesel engines, which proved 

to be the most prevalent local noise, 24 hours per day. They also destroyed 

the environment without paying compensation to the landowners. 

36 


6 

5 

PHOTO – Taken from The Australian 

5 

David Trude (Del 58-65) 

Congratulations to David Trude who was this year inducted 

into the Stockbroker Hall of Fame. David began his career 

as an investment manager with Church of England’s central 

board of finance before moving to the Bank of NSW (now 

Westpac) in 1975 as a portfolio manager. He left the 

darkside of investment management, moving to traditional 

partnership Clarke & Co before becoming a founding 

partner of McNab Clark under Tony McNab in 1983, which 

was bought by US bank First Boston, which in turn, was 

bought by Credit Suisse. 

We thank David for recently registering as a Mentor on the 

OSA/Parent Mentor network 

Engineering and Mechanics in Seoul, South Korea. 

And in November jointly led a group of Griffith Honours 

College students on a Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) 

service project to Cambodia, before returning to Australia 

in December to graduate with First Class Honours and 

the Engineers Australia Philip H Jones Medal for high 

academic results and contribution to the engineering 

profession through extracurricular activities. 

William is enjoying Cambridge and would welcome anyone 

from the TSS community getting in contact to catch up in 

Cambridge or elsewhere in the UK. 

7 

Alexander Uruchurtu (Rad 02-09) 

Alex appeared in the latest Harvard magazine, listed as 

one of the “Fifteen Hottest Freshmen” on campus! Alex 

is reportedly doing very well academically and is in the 

Harvard Freshman Rowing Crew. 

6 

William Usher (Rad 01-06) 

William is currently an Ambassadorial Scholar at the 

University of Cambridge studying a MPhil in Engineering 

for Sustainable Development. The scholarship is 

administered by The Rotary Foundation and was endorsed 

by Broadwater/Southport Rotary Club. 

After finishing at TSS William left Australia to backpack 

and work abroad for a gap year, spending most of his time 

in Europe as well as North Africa and India (revisiting 

two years after participating in a RSIS project led by 

Stephen Eardley). On returning to Australia he started a 

Bachelor of Engineering with Advanced Studies at Griffith 

University on the Gold Coast. In his second year, with the 

aid of the Griffith Honours College, William went on a 

university exchange to the Royal Institute of Technology 

in Stockholm, Sweden. Last year William was selected to 

present the research from his undergraduate thesis at the 

2011 World Congress for Advances in Structural 

7 


Matt Ward (Kai 93-97) 

‘A unique floating tenor voice of exceptional quality and 

sound’ 

Capturing the attention of industry critics, producers and 

audiences alike in three separate productions of Joseph & 

His Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat throughout Australia, 

it is no doubt that Matt Ward has fast become one of 

Australia’s finest talents. 

Originating from the Gold Coast, Matt’s love of musical 

theatre began at the age of 15, where he was the youngest 

cast member in the musical Les Miserables. At age 18 he 

obtained a Diploma of Musical Theatre from the Central 

Queensland Conservatorium of Music (CQCM). By age 20 he 

was accepted into The National Institute of Dramatic Arts 

(NIDA). Since graduating Matt has performed and studied 

in New York, Los Angeles, London, Sydney and Brisbane. 

Leading roles in such musicals as Joseph & His Amazing 

Technicolour Dreamcoat, Les Miserables, Sizzling Hits, 

Pippin the musical, as understudy to Rob Guest in the 

premiere of Jekyll & Hyde, played Jesus in Godspell and 

Tony in the award-winning Broadway musical West Side 

Story. In 2011 Matt starred in the world premiere of John 

Michael Howson and Peter Penne’s new Australian musical 

Pyjamas in Paradise, directed by Tony Bartuccio. 

As well as performing in musical theatre shows, Matt has 

been busy wowing audiences with, 2 Tenors and a Baby 

Grand, A Baby Grand & Me and Matt Ward Live & Uncut. 

The Baby Grand & Me, Matt’s ‘one-man show’, is an up 

close and personal romp through Broadway’s musical 

songbook and a showcase of Matt’s life upon the stage, 

featuring songs from well-known musicals. Most recently 

Matt guest starred in The Arts Centre’s production of 

Forbidden Broadway. 

In August he performed alongside some of Australia’s 

leading musical theatre identities in the Melbourne 

Production Company’s production of CHESS, directed by 

Gale Edwards and choreographed by Tony Bartuccio. 

Matt has also enjoyed success within the corporate arena 

and public concerts. He has appeared in Opera In The Park 

at Broadbeach and the Lord Mayor’s Christmas Concerts in 

Brisbane. 

Matt is also a highly respected and successful vocal coach 

in the music industry. His studio, Learn to Sing, Australia, 

is located on the Gold Coast. You can see Matt perform on 

the first and third Saturdays of the month at DIVA’S, Marina 

Mirage Shopping Centre. 

38 


Update by Peter Lockhart 

Hidden Creek has seen good occupancy levels and we are looking forward to 

finishing the year on a positive note. The number of groups using all the facilities of 

Hidden Creek this year has been equal to that of 2011, and the challenge will be to 

maintain that level through 2013. TSS has been our major client as we would expect. 

All the schools who used the facility have been full of 

praise and they all appreciate the uniqueness of Hidden 

Creek. Families have also spent many weekends at the 

cabins and Easter was particularly busy. Hidden Creek is 

on track to break even financially for the 2012 year and 

this is due both to the income from customers and the 

attention to expense control by the management group. 

The property has been maintained in good shape 

throughout the year. The bunkhouse accommodation 

capabilities have been raised so that 40 students can now 

be slept indoors. The kitchen and sewerage system have 

required minor upgrading to comply with Tweed Shire 

requirements. The old tractor is being given a new breath 

of life following generous work by Murray Dover of Dover 

and Sons, Boonah and Beaudesert. 

We are expecting schools in SE Qld and northern NSW 

to start sending through their bookings for 2013. The 

importance and advantages of outdoor education has 

been recently highlighted by the Murdoch Children’s 

Research Institute. They point out that outdoor education 

is providing benefits in student development and behaviour 

management. We are seeing practical examples in our local 

area with Project Survivor providing team-building and 

morale-boosting skills with their PCYC outdoor programs. 

Hidden Creek is well positioned to take advantage of these 

trends and making prospective customers aware of the 

facilities at Hidden Creek is our primary objective. 

For any enquiries for Hidden Creek, please contact the OSA 

Office. 


OLYMPIC 

NEWS 

TSS OLD BOYS IN 2012 OLYMPICS 

Adam Brown (BID 06-07) 

This is also Adam’s 2nd Olympic Games having swum in the 

4x100m Freestyle Team for Great Britian in Beijing where 

the team competed in the final. Adam actually swam the 

anchor position for the team and recorded one of the fastest 

split times in the competition. Adam has again qualified for 

London as a member of the 4x100m Freestyle Team and will 

be aiming to make his 2nd Olympic final. He attended TSS 

2006/2007. In 2007 he narrowly missed the GPS record 

when he won the 100m Freestyle. He is currently ranked in 

44th position in the World in the 50m Freestyle. 

Roberto Pavoni (THO 08-09) 

Qualified for his 1st Olympic Games in London. His main 

event is the 400m, in which he currently is ranked 7th 

in the world. He is also ranked 12th in the world in the 

200m Butterfly. Roberto attended TSS 2008-09 and was a 

multiple winner at GPS. At the 2011 World Championships 

in Shanghai Roberto was a finalist in the 400Im. Roberto 

also a winner at the Australian Age Nationals in 2009 and 

the Australian Short Course in 2008. 

Michael Rock 

(THO 03-05) 

This is Michael’s 2nd Olympic 

Games. He competed in the 

semi-final of the 200m Butterfly 

in Beijing where he finished in 

9th position, narrowly missing the 

final. Michael has qualified for 

the 100m Butterfly for London 

and will also be part of the 

GB Medley Relay team. He is 

currently ranked 9th in the World 

in the 100m Butterfly and 17th 

in the 200. 

Chris Walker-Hebborn (McK 06-08) and 

Marco Loughran (Bid 06-07) 

Walker-Hebborn, of Ellesmere Co, dipped inside his textile 

best with a 1:57.17 victory in the 200m backstroke, 

while Loughran, of Guildford, until this year based at the 

Gators in Florida, matched his year-old best of 1:58.34 to 

get 1.5sec inside his best effort at Olympic trials back in 

March. Loughran cracked his best time with a 1:58.45 

that marked his second sub-2-minute effort after a 

1:59.91 at Olympic trials 

Grant Turner (McK 06-08) 

Competed in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay for Great Britain. 

Courtney Atkinson (Mel 95-96) 

Competed in his second Olympic Games. 

Tyler Butterfield (Del 01) 

Tyler, son of Jim and Debbie Butterfield, was born and 

raised in Bermuda. An avid athlete, he chose to attend 

The Southport School for Year 12 in 2001, and is now 

living in Boulder, Colorado, USA, with his Australian 

wife, Nikki, and their daughter, Savana. Both Tyler and 

Nikki are full-time triathletes. Tyler has qualified for the 

Olympics for the second time and in the triathlon at the 

London Olympics on August 7th. 

40 


Sporting Updates 

Mathew Belcher (Sur 88-00) 

The newly crowned World Champion was one of the athletes 

selected by the Australian Olympic Committee to compete 

at the London 2012 Olympic Games and our only Old Boy to 

win a GOLD MEDAL at the 2012 Olympics! 

In 1999, when Mathew was in Year 11, the TSS Director 

of Sailing and racing coach Colm Anderson wrote of his allconquering 

fleet racing team: “In the first-ever GPS Teams 

Racing regatta, BGS were convincing winners with TSS and 

ACGS sharing second spot. TSS was soon to have its place 

in the limelight, defending its title in the Queensland All 

Schools fleet racing competition. TSS managed to make it 

four titles in a row, pushing a worthy BGS team into second 

place, while the captain of racing was selected to represent 

Queensland, which went on to win the national titles. 

Mathew Belcher and crew collected a first in the senior 

Corsair and U21 Corsair State Titles. Not content to win on 

his home turf, Mathew went to Greece to represent Australia 

in the senior World 420 titles. He finished in the top quarter 

of the international field.” 

In 2000, Mathew’s final year at TSS, he was an excellent 

academic, a prefect and captain of Surman House. In 

addition he continued to achieve outstanding results in his 

sailing endeavours, including becoming the national and 

world champion of 420 class. He was sailing captain and 

school sailing champion, winning numerous school awards. 

Mathew was destined to do great things and this Olympic 

Gold medal crowns many years of dedication, commitment 

and hard work. Heartiest congratulations to an outstanding 

TSS Old Boy! 

From left – Carey O’Dowd (Atk 92-96), Chris Walker- 

Hebborn (McK 06-08), Michael Rock (Tho 03-05), Roberto 

Pavoni (Tho 08-09), David Serafini (Mel 88-98), Grant 

Turner (Del 06-07), Marco Loughran (Bid 06-07), Adam 

Brown (Bid 06-07), Bernard Coady (McK 91-96), Scott 

Cowen (Mel 93-97). 

David Serafini (Mel 88-98) 

London OSA Branch Representative – organised to meet up 

with six TSS Olympians in London… 

Here is the picture from August 8th here in London. You’ve 

got St Paul’s Cathedral and London Eye in the background. 

A compliment for the GPS swimming competition. Some of 

the guys said they were as nervous when competing at the 

GPS as they were in this Olympics. And others said that still 

to this day they haven’t trained in facilities as good as TSS 

since they were there. 


School News 

by Tony Watt, TSS Director of Community Relations, and 

Karen Martin, TSS Marketing Coordinator 

1 

TSS goes five-star for Year 7 

The charge by TSS to draw in Year 7 boys and become the 

leader in this student market segment is being spearheaded 

by its two new, dedicated buildings – Rogers House and the 

Sheil Building. 

Rogers is up and running with boys and resident staff now 

happily ensconced in a building that has every appearance 

of a five-star hotel. This impression is created at first glance 

by the “stand alone” location at quiet remove from the 

other secondary houses on the TSS Campus and with views 

overlooking the Nerang River. It suggests an environment of 

comforting exclusivity in which the boys can more comfortably 

adapt as they move through the challenges of adolescence 

and into their senior education years, yet at the same time 

retain access to the world-class facilities and dynamic life of 

the School. 

Rogers House is modern, spacious and homely, generating 

an atmosphere that reflects the values and characteristics 

of a caring, mutually supportive family. The Sheil Building 

is within the final few weeks of construction and on track 

for the official finish date of November 24. Internal painting 

is complete, carpet is being laid, joinery and cabinets have 

been installed. The Drama room is Shiel’s showcase, with a 

stunning effect created by a vaulted ceiling painted dark grey 

and a black-painted sprung floor. 

Landscaping is well under way and as part of the project the 

Chapel lawn between St Alban’s Chapel and the new building 

is being transformed into a natural amphitheatre with the 

Sheil and Nimmo buildings as a backdrop. This fantastic 

space will be used for our ANZAC Day service, Cadet training 

and much more. 

A swag of wins and one big surprise in a top 

Rugby season 

A very successful Rugby season was spotlighted by the 1st 

XV who nearly pulled off an incredible premiership. Along 

the way to the final siren of the season they beat Nudgee 

at Nudgee in a convincing show of what they could do. 

This young side wasn’t supposed to be within the top three 

contenders, but it proved to be the surprise packet of the GPS 

season and had almost clinched the honours when a try to 

BGS on the full-time siren in the second-last fixture ended 

the premiership dream and left them to finish the season tied 

second. 

Over 300 boys played in Rugby for the year, which featured 

tours to Sydney, Toowoomba and Sunshine Coast, and TSS 

produced 1 Australian Schoolboy, 4 Queensland Schoolboys, 

and another 3 GPS Reps. 

All 5 Opens teams had a terrific season, winning over 90% 

of their matches, with a standout being all senior teams 

defeating Nudgee on Ross Oval. U16s also had a great year 

winning 88% of matches and they too played their part in 

adding to TSS Rugby distinction by contributing four players 

to the Queensland U16 Schoolboys team that went on to 

be named National Champions. Finally, the U15s capped 

off our fantastic season by having 10 boys selected in the 

South Coast Regional U15 team to compete at the State 

Championships. 

42 


Basketballers score the big one 

In a very successful Basketball season, the TSS Open First 

team blitzed the GPS competition, securing their second 

GPS Premiership. 

To cap it off, the team went to the Queensland Schoolboys 

Championship in September and took out the 2012 title in a 

Final that was an epic battle. Trailing at the half-time break 

by 4 points, the boys rallied in the third quarter to establish 

an 11-point lead, but then, late in the last quarter – after 

losing Capt. Matt Gullotta and Vice-Capt. Jack McTier with 

foul trouble – they had to withstand a strong fight-back from 

Nudgee to go on and ultimately win 64-62. At an individual 

level, Andrew Lomakin was named MVP of the final game. 

For the first time ever TSS will represent the State at 

the National Schoolboys Championships to be played 

in Melbourne, December 3-7. Quite simply, this is an 

outstanding achievement. 

Gymnasts land within a whisker of the 

championship 

On a day marked by very close results across a number 

of GPS sports, TSS missed out on the GPS Gymnastics 

championship by an unbelievable 0.05 of a point. 

The boys had a fantastic day winning the Division 2 

championship and performing well in Division 1 with a 

young team, but to win the overall championship TSS had 

to win two divisions. That slimmest of slim margins that 

decided 1st and 2nd place in Division 3 was just enough 

to separate TSS from the title, putting us in second place 

overall on 16 points, just behind BGS. 

It was a brilliant effort all round and has served notice on 

the competition for next time. 

The Premier Grade rounded out the tally by coming in with a 

very creditable fifth place overall. 

No complaints from the sporting arena with 3 

terms gone 

Looking at the big picture it’s been a tremendous year so 

far. The boys were so close to securing four GPS titles in 

2012 with that narrowest of losses in Gymnastics and the 

literal last-minute loss to BGS in rugby. Add to that the fact 

that if the weather had been kinder to us in term one, our 

cricketers could well have gone close too. 

Well done to the whole TSS community, including the many 

Old Boys who are back as coaches. The spirit, sportsmanship 

and enthusiasm has been outstanding all year. 

A good year for TSS chess across the board 

TSS Chess put in a determined effort throughout the year to 

deliver some commendable performances. 

Among the various age groups, TSS Open Bs finished in 

second place, the Juniors and Open As came in third, while 

the Seniors managed fourth. 


Archives 

By Lesley Walker 

Donation by Westcott Family 

The blazer was worn over the years by Richard (Tho 41), 

Bruce (Tho 70) and Mark Westcott (74) for outstanding 

sporting achievements. 

History for the Westcott family generations: 

Recently, the School was delighted to receive a magnificently 

framed Rep blazer, Thorold House Cap, Honour Cap and 

Honour pocket donated by the Westcott family. This will be 

proudly displayed in the Hall of Fame and will add to the 

already splendid array of sporting memorabilia, Honour Boards 

and also the suspended rowing VIII that Bruce Westcott rowed 

in, in 1970. 

• Richard Gibson Westcott; Mitre House, Thorold House – 

1938-41, Prefect – 1941 

• 1938; Cricket, Colours 1938, Junior School Winner of the 

Watts Cup 1938 

• 1939; Cap, School Colours Swimming, Cap Swimming, 

2nd XV Cap, Athletics Cap, 1st XI Colours 

• 1940; Blazer Cricket 1st XI, 1st XI Cricket Colours, 1st XV 

Colours, Football XI, Athletics Colours 

• Swimming, Thorold House Blazer 

• 1941; Blazer Swimming, Prefect 

2nd Generation 

• Richard Drew Westcott; Thorold House 1960-66 

• Bruce Gibson Westcott; Thorold House 1965-70 

• 1970 Blazer Rowing 1st VIII, 1970 Blazer Football 1st XV, 

1970 Thorold House Blazer 

• Digby Mark Westcott; Thorold House 1966-74 

• Captain of Rowing & Blazer 1st VIII 1974, Football 

Blazer 1st XV 1974, School Colours Rowing 1973, House 

Captain Thorold House 1974, School Prefect 1974 

3rd Generation 

• Matthew Westcott Atkinson House 1991-02 

Sincere thanks to the Westcott family for donating this 

beautifully presented sporting history of the Westcott family. 

Photo: Richard Westcott wearing his blazer (photo provided by 

Mark Westcott). 

44 


Obituaries 

Farewell Dear Friends 

Those we love remain with us for love itself lives on and cherished memories never 

fade because a loved one’s gone… The OSA extends its sincerest condolences to 

the families and friends of the following Old Boys. 

Barry Baker (Del 47-51) 

Passed away on March 3, 2012. Barry’s wife, Shirley, advised 

the OSA Office that, sadly, her husband had passed away. 

Reginald Baker (McK 36-41) 

passed away peacefully on October 4, 2012. 

(Pat) Edward Leney Hunt (Del 43-46) Passed away 

after a short illness on Saturday, September 8. The funeral 

was held at The Anglican Church on Isle of Capri on Thursday, 

September 13. 

Bert Cockerill writes…Pat was Dux of the school in 1946 and 

won the Chelmsford Cup. Pat wanted to join the diplomatic 

service, but after university he returned to teach many of us. 

The 1962 Old Boys were keen to have Pat join them on their 

boat trip on Sunday of Old Boys’ Weekend, however, Pat was 

too ill to attend. 

Steve Roberts (Walker 

Housemaster) writes… On 

Thursday we will be honouring 

a colleague who was not 

only an esteemed and highly 

distinguished Old Boy and 

Leader, but also both a real 

gentleman and a gentle man. 

Pat was an articulate, witty, 

generous and caring teacher. 

A genuinely intelligent man 

in touch with his emotional 

being and blessed with a 

desire to inspire others – 

both students and a few 

older heads as well. He was 

and will remain in my heart 

and I’m sure the hearts of 

many staff and fortunate 

students as our very own 

TSS version of Mr Chips. 

A life well lived – serving 

others. 

THE LIVING FAITH OF PAT HUNT, 

written by Rev Jim Stonier 

On behalf of my wife, Diana, and myself, may I express our 

condolences to Sandy, David, Julia, Katie and their families. 

Pat, your father, was a faithful husband to your mother, 

grandmother, Sheila. The care of each of you was uppermost in 

his prayers, thoughts and actions. We are gathered here today 

to grieve, to give thanks, to celebrate his life and to support each 

other. 

This funeral was arranged by Pat. He left specific, detailed 

directions as to the conduct of his funeral. There was to be no 

Eulogy, but rather the service was to be centred on Eucharistic 

worship. To focus the service upon thanksgiving for what God 

has done and what God offers us. As such it is appropriate that 

this address explores aspects of Pat’s faith journey as a Christian. 

I have known Pat for over 40 years, beginning when I was 

Chaplain of The Southport School and head of the Religious 

Education department. We worshipped together in the Chapel 

of St. Alban’s and later here in the Church of the Holy Spirit. I 

was over awed by his scholarship. He belonged to a dying breed 

of classical scholars. His knowledge of Latin and Greek gave 

depth to his understanding of English. Incorrect grammar and 

punctuation were unforgiveable. I imagine some here had firsthand 

experience when they erred. He understood the nuance of 

language when even a pause in a sentence could give rise to an 

unintentional meaning. He had a quirky sense of humour, often 

seeing what others missed. Sadly, the depth of his scholarship 

was unappreciated by many of the young, pubescent males 

whom he taught. As a student at The Southport School he 

excelled academically, winning numerous awards, including 

the coveted Chelmsford Cup, usually confined to the school 

captain. He returned as a master and spent 45 years teaching 

at the school. Because Pat was an Old Southportonian and Staff 

member of TSS, I felt it was appropriate to wear my chaplain’s 

scarf on this occasion. 

The son of a priest, Pat was a man with a mature, living Christian 

faith energised by his theological reading and thinking. With 

some of us, his contemporary theological understanding was 

enriched by the writings of Bishop Tom Wright. While I will 

reflect on his chosen readings, I felt his life and future best 

summed up in the following verse, Philippians 1:21. For me to 

live is Christ and to die is gain. This is the reality of the Christian 

faith foreign to many. This was a reality I saw in Pat’s faith. He 

lived his faith and died in his faith. Many contemporary funerals 

are marked by speakers describing the destiny of the deceased 

in wishful thinking or in extreme optimism. Why the deceased 

is said to be up there looking down is bewildering? I have never 

heard a speaker suggest that the deceased was looking up! If 

one is not interested in a relationship with God during one’s brief 

earthly life, spending eternity with God would seem to be highly 

improbable and at the best extremely uncomfortable. We can 

celebrate with confidence the destiny of Pat. 


Through Christ, he knew his God, in a life marked by 

sacrifice and illness. He knew the fellowship of suffering. 

In more recent times as we have worshipped in the Church 

of the Holy Spirit, his deteriorating health signalled his 

imminent move to the next phase of his faith journey. 

When Paul wrote, for me to live is Christ and to die 

is gain, he was a prisoner of ancient Rome, which 

meant eye-balling torture and possibly death. From 

the day of revelation on the Damascus road, Christ was 

his inspiration in thick and thin. His daily Christian 

experience so transformed his life that even when he was 

confronted by death he saw it as the gateway to a greater 

reality. The words, for me, were a personal affirmation 

that even death would be a gain. Embracing the death 

and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as his own, had removed 

the sting of death, creating a new relationship in the very 

presence of the living God. In birth we are born into this 

life and in death we are born into the next phase of our 

journey. Christian Baptism creates a new beginning and 

a new life, Now if we have died with Christ, we believe 

that we shall also live with him. Romans 6:8. When we 

embrace the vows of our Baptism we are identified with 

Jesus Christ. His death covers the sins and guilt of all 

who trust, and His resurrection leads from death into 

eternal life. As a Christian approaches death he knows 

the best is yet to come. 

Jesus proclaimed, I am the way and the truth and the 

life. No-one comes to the Father except through me. John 

14:6. Thus even when we are at our best, we can never 

find peace with God through self-effort, but only through 

faith in Jesus Christ. He brings those who respond into 

the glory and wonder of the love of God. In this hope Pat 

lived and has now moved on. Still it is natural to mourn 

the separation that death brings. Christ understands. The 

shortest verse in the New Testament says, Jesus wept. 

Today we grieve and at the same time celebrate the life of 

one who was a good and faithful servant of God. 

As with us, in this life, Pat was a work in progress. Like 

us, he was far from perfect. As a Christian, he lived in the 

saving power of Christ, bringing the gift of new life now and 

in eternity. Now, he does not need our prayers, if anything 

we need his! 

A funeral makes us aware that we are all moving 

inevitably towards our “use by date”. This service is a 

stark reminder of our own mortality. Sooner or later we 

all pass this way. It challenges us to consider the reality 

of our own coming death and judgement. A life such 

as Pat’s reminds us that the way is open to a glorious 

eternity if we embrace Christ. In this service we celebrate 

this. As with Pat, it is the privilege of every Christian to 

live their faith in the community of faith, the church, to 

be people of action, with minds alert to truth expressing 

the radical love of God in every aspect of life. We are 

to build our lives on the certainty of being with and like 

Jesus. Our presence in this service honours the life of 

Edward Leney Hunt, Pat, and offers comfort to Sandy, 

David, Julia, Katie and their families. 

As the family of Pat, grief and a sense of loss is uppermost 

at the moment. You have been left the blessing of each 

other and the riches of a father’s love. 

Warwick Owen Knowles (McK 50-53) 

passed away Jun 20. Much loved husband to Helen, 

loved father to Louise, Paul and David. You will be 

missed and we will all see you again in Heaven. 

Robert Thwaites (Mel 90-96) 

Melbourne Housemaster Mr Ian Luxton asks the 

community to remember Robert and keep his family in 

their thoughts and prayers at this time. Robert passed 

away in tragic circumstances 10 years ago (October 12) 

in the Bali Bombings. We remember him and his family 

and all those who suffered. 

Kenneth Thomas Faunce (McK 28-30) 

Sgt. New Guinea and Borneo, passed away peacefully, June 

7, aged 97 years of age. Devoted husband of Dawn, loving 

father of Gillian and John. TSS Old Boy, great Westpac 

man, great lover of rugby and a man of great learning. 

Ken’s funeral was held at the West Chapel, Mt Thompson 

Crematorium, Holland Park on June 19th. 

John Cornelius Potts (McK 56-61) 

Loving Memories of our Dear Brother, Brother-in-law 

and Uncle. How we will miss your sense of humour and 

genuine kindness. 

I, Aaron Cornelius Potts, am the son of John Cornelius 

Potts 17.04.1945 to 26.03.2012, and wish to provide the 

following information on my father… 

My father John died unexpectedly on 26 March, 2012. He 

was a boarder at TSS from Grade 1 (he was in the Chapel 

Choir) until Grade 10. My father at TSS excelled at rugby 

(First XV), but more importantly in swimming. His swim 

records stood for many years and his name is still on a 

sporting board at the school. Immediately after school 

he went on to train with the famous Bill Flemming and 

his training partner was Tony Fingleton (who they made a 

movie of his swimming career and life contemporaneously 

with my father – Swimming Up Stream – 2003 [with 

Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis]). 

He went on to represent Australia in freestyle and was the 

Australian freestyle sprint champion in the early 1960s. 

He had three sons, Aaron, Robin and Adrian. He went on 

to gain a LLB from UQ and qualified as a solicitor; and 

then became a respected sole practitioner in Coorparoo, 

Brisbane for the past 34 years. He kept many of his old 

friends from Southport School throughout his life. He 

eventually moved back to Southport where he died. 

Robbie Robinson (TSS Prep School Sergeant, 

Swim and Cross Country Coach) 

sadly passed away on October 11th aged 84 years of 

age. Robbie was an ex-Vietnam veteran and proud 

Australian. He was great mates with Kevin Brookes. 

Current TSS teacher Mr John Wallace said the last time 

he saw Robbie was at the TSS ANZAC Day ceremony. 

He said he loved TSS. 

46 


Bodie Maas (Mel 94-06) 

Eulogy – provided by Robert Maas 

(father of Bodie)… 

23 and forever young in our 

memories. Son of Margeaux and 

Robert Maas, brother to Chantelle 

and Estelle. 

I don’t know where to start when 

dealing with my thoughts and 

feelings of our beautiful boy Bodie, 

but one emotion that overrides 

everything is how lucky we have 

been to have known and loved 

him. The best way Margeaux, I and his sisters wanted to share 

some of the “Bodie moments” with everyone was to make a 

video (A celebration & happy memories of Bodie’s life). It can 

be viewed at Heaven Address http://www.heavenaddress.com/ 

Bodie-Maas/411259/ Just click on the music/video link, but be 

prepared, it’s done to Bodie’s music. 

On graduating in 2006 from TSS, Bodie attended the Superyacht 

Crew Academy and achieved International Yacht Master 200 

tons Offshore, for International Waters as well as his International 

Yacht Master 200 tons Coastal, for Australian Open Waters. He 

also became a Padi Divemaster and worked in Vanuatu for three 

months diving for a resort in the many dive sites found around the 

island. Bodie sailed in Superyachts around the Carribean, North 

America as well as doing an Atlantic crossing, the Mediterranean 

and hanging out at the America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain. Bodie 

worked a second stint in the Mediterranean based in Italy on 

another Superyacht before returning home as he was becoming 

homesick for friends and family. 

Beginning 2011 Bodie started his own business – Aqua Marine 

Clean, his boat-detailing business as he wished to be selfemployed. 

When thinking about my son Bodie there are too many 

happy, funny and silly moments to mention, let alone all his blond 

ones, ‘Bodie moments’, and believe me he had more than his two 

blonde sisters combined. While I was in bed in the early hours of 

the morning awake thinking about Bodie’s eulogy, I realised I can’t 

put all my thoughts on paper as it would take me 23 years to go 

through them all, so I put down the pen and spoke from my heart. 

All my thoughts come back to the same point. I have been SO 

LUCKY to have had you in my life. 

SO LUCKY to have had 23 of the best years 

SO LUCKY and privileged to have shared time and special 

moments with you 

SO LUCKY and happy to say I love you 

SO LUCKY and honored to call you my son 

SO much LUCK 

SO SO SO LUCKY 

Thank you, Bodie. 

It is been better to have had than not to have had… As painful 

as it is now. 

Everyone I knew wanted to be close to Bodie and he left us all 

wanting more. He touched so many people with his honest and 

disarming charm and laid-back style with his signature smile. He 

found his way into more homes and dinner tables than anyone 

else I’ve known. Sadly our family has had to deal with the tragic 

effects of suicide twice this year, with Margeaux losing her little 

brother, Ger Andlinger, 15 years old, Bodie’s uncle, in a New York 

boarding school to the same fate. This is the second young man 

to leave us before his time. Both beautiful, gentle souls who had 

everything to live for and look forward to. Life wasn’t that hard we 

thought, but one never knows the despair in someone else’s mind. 

Extract from 2006 

Valedictory book 

Eulogy written by Mr Ian Luxton 

(Melbourne Housemaster)… 

The entry in the Valedictory book 

does not tell us of the smiling, 

jocular Bodie who always could 

be seen around the House and 

School with his blond hair and 

cheery white teeth.The entry in 

the Valedictory book does not 

tell us of the boy who loved his 

parents dearly and longed for the 

day when they would be together. 

Bodie had the pleasure of giving 

away his mother when Margeaux 

and Robert remarried. The entry 

in the Valedictory book does not tell us of the lad who was well 

liked by his mates. Good mates of whom he had plenty. Many 

of these mates are present here today, and looking around here 

today, I had forgotten what a colourful group you were! 

The entry in the Valedictory book does not tell us of the boy who 

was passionate about his art and his expression through his art. 

His art teacher, Mr Stephen Eardley, recalls a particular piece of 

Bodie’s. It was an acrylic box with a lid and a lock. In the box 

Bodie explained, he kept all his secrets. He also had a great 

love of sailing and yachting. He had achieved his certificates for 

sailing both Off and In shore and was involved with yachts for 

many of the years after he left here. 

Bodie has helped us to remember how important it is to know who 

we are. He helped us to remind ourselves how loved we are by 

others and how we should love and help others. Bodie has helped 

us to remember how we need to respect ourselves and realise that 

we matter, we make a difference. 

William Slane (McK 26-29) 

It is with regret that I notify The Southport School that Mr 

William Slane (Oldest Old Boy), formerly a student at the school 

and a member of McKinley House, passed away on April 21st 

this year at the Blue Care Labrador nursing home. From previous 

correspondence I was advised that William was recognised as 

The Southport School’s Oldest Old Boy at age 97, an honour of 

which he was justifiably proud. I thank the school for notifying 

us of William’s standing in the school on reaching that milestone 

and felt that you should be advised of his passing so as the next 

Old Boy, can accept acknowledgement as the Oldest Old Boy. I 

wish the newest member of this exclusive group good health for 

the years to come and hope he is equally as proud of the honour 

as William was. William is now resting peacefully beside his 

mother and father at the Bundaberg Cemetery. 

Regards, Alan Newitt 

Bevan Whip (McK 53-56) 

Passed away on his birthday, December 20, 2010. Bevan’s wife, 

Dianne, called to advise her husband passed away after having a 

fall, almost two years ago, after spending time in a nursing home 

due to having a stroke 20 years earlier. Bevan was McKinley 

House Captain in 1956, Senior Prefect, 1956, 1st XV 1955- 

1956, Capt 1st XV 1956, 1st XI 1954-56, 1st Tennis 1954-56 

and Tennis Captain 1956. 

Depression can be debilitating and fatal. If only they had opened 

up more. We could have helped. Boys, promise me, talk more. 


48 


Extract Of 2012 Financials 

Complete financials can be viewed on the TSS Old Boys website, 

by logging onto www.tssoldboys.com.au 


Extract Of 2012 Financials 

Complete financials can be viewed on the TSS Old Boys website, 

by logging onto www.tssoldboys.com.au 

50 



What if you could make a permanent 

difference to our mission? 

“My parents made substantial sacrifices to send me to 

TSS in the early 1970s. I have always appreciated their 

decision and I know that I personally gained so much from 

my time at the School – both in the classroom and away 

from it. I believe that it is particularly important to give 

back to the School and its future students in a personal 

manner; beyond the fees paid by my parents at the 

time. I hope that the bequest to TSS in my Will can help 

other young men get the experience of a fine, all-round 

education to prepare them for a productive, honourable 

future and a fine life.” 

Dr Leighton Cochran (Wal 72-75) 

You can... 

For more information about how you can leave a bequest to the School or the OSA, please 

contact: 

TSS Foundation Office 

Phone: (07) 5531 9841 

Email: bequests@tss.qld.edu.au 

OSA Office 

Phone: (07) 5531 9803 

Email: osa@tss.qld.edu.au

Southportonians' Review - The Southport School

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