B R O A D E R H O R I Z O N S - St Hildas School

Clockwise from top: Fiely,
Stevie, Lauren, Tim and
Casey are excited to be
part of the Hi-5’s fresh
line-up.
Sally: diver, counsellor, hero
Meet Old Girl and
Hi-5 member
Joining one of Australia’s most popular kids’ groups is a
dream come true for St Hilda’s Old Girl Lauren Brant.
Lauren graduated in 2006 from St Hilda’s School where she
was a talented Drama student and performed the role of
Scarecrow in the musical, The Wizard of Oz.
After weeks of auditions, the 20-year-old singer and
dancer was named as a new member of the Hi-5 gang
this year and Lauren is revelling in her new role.
OGA DIARY DATES
OGA Away Weekend
Saturday 2 May to Monday 4 May
(May long weekend)
Venue: Brisbane
St Hilda’s School Fete
Saturday 5 September
OGA Weekend
Friday 30 October
OGA Cocktail Party
Spouses and Old Southportonians
welcome
Saturday 31 October
Tour of the School and new
Science building
Sunday 1 November
The Eucharist
Annual General Meeting
OGA Lunch
Reunion Weekend
30 October to 1 November
Reunion coordinators are sought
for the following Seniors groups:
2004, 1994, 1989, 1984, 1979,
1974, 1969, 1964, 1959 and any
previous years.
Carly Snodgrass has volunteered
as 1999 reunion coordinator
Meet St Hilda’s Old Girl, Sally Gregory, who has overcome
personal struggles, a debilitating disease, faced a great white
shark and now fronts a unique charity organisation.
Sally talks of two incidents that changed her life - a childhood
illness which threatened her ability to walk, and the horror of
facing a menacing great white shark, the size of a Kombi van.
The first ordeal caused her to spend months in hospital as a
teenager, watching her friends enjoy their adolescence and
the second left her with post-traumatic stress disorder. Neither
destroyed her innate optimism; in fact, she credits both trials
with giving her the bubbly, positive nature for which she is
best known.
Born in 1958 in Frankston, Melbourne, Sally moved to the Gold
Coast with her parents Alison and Bill and two older sisters and
brother when she was nine. She attended Broadbeach State
School before enrolling at St Hilda’s for high school.
From an early age she suffered from severe asthma and at 13
years she was diagnosed with a rare spinal disorder known as
spondilolithesis, a malady which could have meant losing the
ability to walk. At 16, her spinal condition became so severe
she was hospitalised for four months while doctors performed
corrective surgery.
In hindsight, she says the months in hospital were a ‘fantastic
experience’ as she became an optimistic person with a ‘go get
‘em attitude’. It was this positive outlook that saw Sally set off
down the path to her first true love - scuba diving.
Sally failed the medical examination due to her poor health but
with her fighting spirit she became more determined to take
the examination for a second time because she knew she ‘really
wanted to do it’. By 21, she was the youngest female dive
instructor in Queensland.
It was while attending a relatively quiet diving conference in 1993
she was confronted with one of the defining moments of her life.
Cruising to a dive site off Byron Bay, Sally and close friend Jeff
rushed to the aid of a neighbouring boat after hearing reports of
a shark attack. A Sydney couple was diving around 9.30am when
a great white shark, estimated by witnesses to be about 6m long
and the diameter of a Kombi van, was seen heading straight for
the woman diver. In a tragic act of love, the man pushed his wife
out of the path of the ‘monster shark’ only to be taken instead.
When Jeff and Sally arrived at the scene the woman had returned
to the surface and the remaining divers were being hauled back
on to the boat. Sally jumped into the water where a man had just
been taken by a shark to console a woman, whom she had never
met, in the very worst of circumstances. “I just wanted to get to
her as soon as possible because that’s what we girls do. We look
after each other,” she says. In the hours following the attack
Sally comforted the griefstricken woman, taking her back to the
couple‘s honeymoon suite to collect personal items.
Despite Sally and Jeff being labelled heroes in the local and
national press, Sally says she struggled to cope with the
ordeal. “Afterwards I got post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
and I couldn’t eat. I stopped eating for 10 days,” she says. “My
friends would take me out and try to cheer me up but I just
felt so miserable.”
For her actions on that fateful day in 1993, Sally was awarded
a commendation for brave conduct medal by the Governor-
General at Government House, Canberra, in 1995. Sally went on
to become involved in the Australian Bravery Association (ABA),
a charity offering counselling, support and recognition to those
who have committed brave acts. She is one of five national vicepresidents
and is the Queensland president.
(Read full story by Maria Lewis at www.sthildsa.qld.edu.au/community/oldgirls.htm)
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