Focus November 2010 - The Friends' School

Battle of the 

Bands: Page 4 

Focus celebrates 20 years 

by Nicholas Cuthbertson 

Focus is still going strong 

20 years after its rebirth and, 

while it is still primarily 

student driven, there is a lot 

of communication between 

students and staff across 

all three School campuses 

to ensure the entire School 

is represented in each and 

every issue. 

Focus initially began in 

1952 under the Headship of 

WN Oats and was a wellreceived 

part of school life. 

It was a student driven 

newspaper, focusing 

on school issues and 

incorporating advertisements 

for businesses of school 

related families. 

Sadly it ceased in its 

newspaper format in the mid 

1970s and was replaced by an 

infrequently distributed staff 

written newsletter which 

had no student involvement. 

It wasn’t until 1989, 

under the co-principalship 

of Lyndsay and Stephanie 

Farrell, son-in-law and 

daughter of Bill Oats, that 

the idea of returning Focus 

to its original student 

reported newspaper format 

was proposed. 

This garnered much 

support from students, staff 

and the board. 

A Student 

Publication 

November 2010 Issue 79 

Year 7 Social: 

Page 8 

Creativity: Pages 

10, 15 & 16 

Ski Trip: Page 22 

Cover photograph from the first issue of Focus featuring: Anna 

Firth and Jason Mundy with, from left, Chiyo Kawagoe, Miki 

Takezaki, Junko Yanagawa and Miharu Bando. 

Advocating for change 

by Tom Marshall 

Year 12 students 

Gordon Luckman and 

Tom Marshall were part 

of a delegation of ten who 

travelled to Perth, WA 

to represent Tasmania at 

the United Nations Youth 

Association of Australia 

(UNYA) National Youth 

Conference (UNYC) on 

Sunday 4 July. 

This is a conference 

with more than 90 other 

college students from every 

state and territory, as well 

as delegations from New 

Zealand and South Korea. 

The theme of 

UNYC 2010 was 

‘Advocating For Change: 

Empowering Minorities’. 

Highlights of the 

conference included: a 

debate about the efficacy 

of the UN in dealing with 

minority issues; a Q&A 

style panel with educators, 

academics and members 

of parliament on the future 

of Australia’s education 

system; and a chance to 

talk to Australia’s Youth 

Representative to the United 

Nations, Samah Hadid, 

who will be heading to the 

General Assembly in New 

York later this year. 

One of the main parts 

of the conference was a 

Model UN. 

Delegates were all 

assigned countries and 

debated various resolutions 

on international issues from 

the perspective of their 

assigned country. 

Tom was assigned 

Venezuela and argued 

strongly for worldwide 

socialist revolution, while 

Gordon represented Belarus 

and threw scorn on the 

entire idea of so-called 

‘human rights’. 

Members of the current Focus team discussing the last issue, Back L-R: Chris Yu, Madelaine 

Comfort, Sophie Barnett and Nicholas Cuthbertson. Front L-R: Aleisha Ring, Lillie Rose and Jamie 

Brown. 

Photo by Ludmila Vitesnikova 

With the introduction of 

Newspaper Production as 

part of the school syllabus, a 

keen group of staff, students 

and parents assembled to 

restart the newspaper in the 

spirit of the original Focus. 

Over 20 students 

contributed to the first revamped 

issue of Focus, 

which was published in 

October 1990. 

Gordon and Tom surrounded by fellow Tasmanian delegates. 

Photo supplied by Tom Marshall 

Debate took place over 

two days of the conference. 

During the first session, 

they simulated various 

UN committees and on the 

second day they simulated 

the General Assembly. 

The GA contained all 

93 delegates, meaning 

that competition to speak 

was fierce and lobbying 

became essential. 

There was a strong 

advocacy role at UNYC. 

The staff crew consisted 

of current teacher, Steve 

Brown, as well as Mark 

Curtis, Jeff Greenwood, 

John Miller, Ruth Miller, 

Pam Poulson, Norma Watt 

and Gillian Unicomb. 

Bruce Montgomery, 

a journalist from The 

Australian and father of 

Kate and Olivia, as well 

as Tony Hale and Mike 

In groups, Tom and 

Gordon worked throughout 

the week on developing a 

‘Youth Declaration’. 

They drafted clauses that 

expressed their views on 

education, the economy, the 

environment, international 

relations, Indigenous affairs 

and minority rights. 

The final document, which 

was presented to government, 

provided a valuable insight 

into the opinions of Australian 

Bingham, who both worked 

for The Mercury and had 

children at the school, 

made up a team of parent 

journalists who were key to 

the success of Focus in the 

early 1990s. 

Bill Oats was delighted 

to see the student enterprise 

he started almost 40 years 

earlier return in its original 

format. 

young people on a whole 

range of issues. 

As well as the Tasmanian 

delegation almost winning 

the quiz night, Tom received 

the JE Barr Memorial Award 

for Best Speaker at the 

conference and was selected 

as part of the Australian 

Delegation to travel to Europe 

in January 2011 to attend The 

Hague International Model 

United Nations. 

UNYC was an amazing 

experience – empowering, 

educational and hugely 

enjoyable. It was definitely 

one of the best weeks of our 

lives and one that we will 

cherish for years to come. 

Students can get 

involved in UNYA Tasmania 

events by checking out 

www.unyatas.org.au and 

looking for information in 

the School Bulletin about 

the upcoming Ban Ki Moon 

Trophy later this year. 

THE FRIENDS’ SCHOOL, P.O. BOX 42, NORTH HOBART, TASMANIA, AUSTRALIA, 7002 PH: (03) 6210 2200 FAX: (03) 6234 8209

2 

November 2010 

Contents 

News 1 – 3, 6 – 9, 17, 19, 20 

& 22 

Service 4 – 5 

Creative 10, 15 & 16 

Friends’ Connections 11 – 14 

Music 18 

IB 21 

Sport 23 & 24 

Focus Team 

Editors & Production Managers Sophie Barnett, 

Madelaine Comfort and 

Nicholas Cuthbertson 

Reporters 

Advisory Staff 

Friends’ Connections 

Sophie Barnett 

Jamie Brown 

Madelaine Comfort 

Nicholas Cuthbertson 

Amy Hall 

Ella Hind 

Sofia Lopez 

Raziqah Ramli 

Aleisha Ring 

Lillie Rose 

Chris Yu 

Sarah Cupit 

Ludmila Vitesnikova 

Kathy Rundle 

Kalli McCarthy 

Email: focus@friends.tas.edu.au 

Homepage: www.friends.tas.edu.au 

The views expressed in this newspaper do not 

necessarily represent those of the Members of 

the Board of Governors or its nominees. 

This paper is produced by a class of Year 11/12 

Media Production Students. 

The Friends’ Connections section is prepared 

by the Development Office. 

The Friends’ School 

P.O. Box 42 

North Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 7002 

Ph. (03) 6210 2200 

by Anne Collins 

Head of Libraries, 

Gillian Unicomb celebrated 

her last day at The Friends’ 

School on 16 July. 

This was a significant 

event in the life of many 

people with whom Gillian 

had formed a connection 

during her many years. 

Those who know Gillian 

will testify that she in no 

way fits the mould of a 

stereotypical librarian. 

As John Green noted 

in his farewell speech, she 

has an outgoing, engaging 

and flamboyant manner that 

helps to bring out the best in 

those around her. 

Gillian came to Friends’ in 

1982 and went on to become 

one of the Schools’ longest 

serving staff members. 

During this time she 

oversaw the significant 

growth of all three libraries 

as they responded to the 

increasing demands of the 

school community and the 

changes occurring as a result 

of the availability of digital 

information sources. 

While Gillian had 

responsibility for the 

development of all the 

libraries, she also had an 

involvement in the wider 

school community. 

She utilised her 

background in acting and 

journalism to support a 

wide range of activities 

within the School and 

by Lesley Clementson 

news 

Goodbye Gillian! 

Over the past twelve 

months, the P&F Association 

has continued with its more 

traditional activities. 

The Fair in November 

2009, helped by a wonderful 

sunny and warm spring day, 

was the most successful fair 

to date, both financially and 

in providing a real sense of 

community within the school. 

During the first term of 

this year, twilight drinks 

were held for the parents of 

the High School and Clemes, 

providing an opportunity for 

parents and teaching staff 

to mingle informally in a 

relaxed environment. 

Unfortunately, the 

twilight drinks for Morris 

parents was cancelled, 

due to many of the parents 

having attended a “Meet 

the Teacher” evening a few 

nights earlier. 

became heavily 

involved in the 

drama program. 

In 1983 she 

directed the High 

School Play, Oh 

What a Lovely War, 

with over 100 cast 

and crew. 

She maintained 

her interest in 

drama and in 

recent years 

became involved in 

costuming for the 

school musicals. 

Over the years 

Gillian was also 

an eager and 

active participant 

in many school 

camps and various 

sporting activities. 

As tutor for the 

Mather One group, 

Gillian has had a 

part in the growth 

and development 

of a large number 

of students. 

She has formed 

strong bonds with 

these students and 

their families and 

it is not unusual 

for visitors to 

specifically ask 

for Gillian when visiting 

the school. 

It was with delight that 

her current tutor group 

members held a lunch in 

Hodgkin Hall to celebrate 

her move to a new phase 

of life. 

In 2011, the P&F will 

combine with Morris staff to 

host the “Meet the Teacher” 

evening, so parents of 

young children can have the 

benefits of both events. 

Late in July 2010, the P&F 

ran the sausage sizzle and 

drinks stall at the JSSATIS 

Cross Country held at the 

Rokeby Police Academy. 

Emma Targett led a 

small group of Morris 

parents in this venture. This 

was the third and final year 

that The Friends’ School had 

to provide this service. 

Throughout the year, the 

P&F has provided support in 

the form of reading books, 

seats for the rope pyramid, 

data logging equipment, the 

Stanford-Binet assessment 

tool, contributions towards 

the SAM and RACH 

programs within Clemes 

and to the participation of 

students in state, national 

Focus 

Gillian Unicomb at her farewell in the Propsting Library at the High School. 

Photo supplied by Anne Collins 

Gillian is looking 

forward to a very full 

retirement: having more 

time to spend with her 

family, friends, garden 

and travelling. 

But being the person she 

is, Gillian will not restrict 

Parents and Friends Report 

and international events, as 

well as a pledge of $90,000 

over three years, towards 

the construction of the new 

Assembly Hall. 

The P&F also continues 

to support the Families 

Matter program. 

While we have 

welcomed a few new parents 

to our monthly meetings, we 

have had resignations during 

the year from long time 

committee members, Steve 

Skinner and Julie Jamison. 

Numbers of parents 

at meetings have been 

relatively low and, at a time 

in our history when working 

hours are acknowledged to 

be higher than ever before, 

we may need to think of new 

ways to involve parents in 

the P&F. 

Finally, there are people 

who need to be thanked as 

fairs and other activities 

never happen without the 

herself to these ‘normal’ 

retirement activities. 

She is continuing her 

involvement with the 

Teachers’ Registration 

Board and is considering 

writing a book on the history 

of the Theatre Royal. 

hard work and support of a 

small group of people. 

Belinda Hills, the 

Association’s outgoing 

Treasurer, has done an 

outstanding job balancing 

our accounts and taking on 

the task of managing the 

finances of the annual fair 

and biennial school auction 

over the past three years. 

James Harlow quietly 

ensures that everything is 

in place for all the P&F 

activities and without whom 

the Fair would never be the 

success it is every year. 

Steve McQueeney, 

Kalli McCarthy and Jan 

Dunsby, of the School’s 

Development Office, are 

also thanked for their 

support and help with many 

of our activities. 

And last, but not least, 

we thank the committee 

members for their ongoing 

support of the P&F.

Focus news November 2010 3 

Religious studies at Friends’ 

by Louise Giudici 

China Scholarship 

by Lillie Rose 

Teacher, Louise Giudici 

and Year 10 students, Caitlyn 

Smart and Jethro Cohen 

attended a reception for 

the ‘Uniting through Faith’ 

program at Government 

House on Thursday 

5 August. 

The next day, a 

combined group of 

Peter Jones’ and Louise 

Giudici’s Religious Studies 

classes, hosted a visit from 

the delegates who raised 

questions about multi-faith 

experiences in Indonesia. 

‘Uniting through Faith’ 

is an annual program, 

auspiced by the Uniting 

Haryani Saptaningtyas explaining that Caitlin Smart was no 

different to before, hijab or not. 

Bio Olympiad 


This year two Year 11 

students, Max Rintoul and 

Matthew Stanny, were 

selected to participate in the 

Biology Olympiad, a two 

week biology program to be 

held at Monash University 

in January. 

To qualify for the 

Olympiad they, and around 

ten other students, did 

a series of extra halfhour 

biology classes to 

prepare for a three hour 

qualifying exam. 

This exam consisted of a 

mix of multiple choice and 

long answer questions and 

was taken nationwide. 

The top students 

nationally are selected for 

the program, which acts as 

a training program. 

The top four students 

are selected to form 

the Australian Biology 

Haryani Saptaningtyas, “Uniting through Faith” delegate from 

Indonesia adjusting Caitlin Smart’s headscarf. 

Both photos supplied by Lou Guidici 

Successful Biology Olympiad applicants Matthew Stanny and 

Max Rintoul. 

Photo by Lillie Rose 

Olympiad team which then 

competes internationally. 

Max, however had to 

make a difficult decision 

as he had been selected to 

attend the National Youth 

Science Forum which runs 

Church in Australia 

Synod of Victoria and 

Tasmania, in partnership 

with an Interfaith Forum 

in Indonesia. 

This collaborative 

initiative aims to foster 

greater understanding 

between Christians and 

Muslims in Australia 

and Indonesia and to 

provide an opportunity 

for groups of different 

faiths to come together for 

mutual learning. 

Students listened to 

stories about living in 

Indonesia among Hindus, 

Christians and Muslims and 

asked many questions. 

We then shared morning 

tea together and spoke 

about the possibilities of 

us establishing school trips 

to visit the program in 

Indonesia. 

at the same time as the 

Biology Olympioad. 

We wish Matt and 

Max the best and hope 

they enjoy their respective 

programs in January next 

year. 

Year 12 IB student Jed 

Adams has recently been 

awarded a scholarship by 

the Chinese government as 

part of their new initiative 

to encourage Westerners to 

study in China. 

Jed was originally 

awarded the scholarship 

under the condition that 

he passed the IB, however 

he has just been informed 

that he will be given the 

scholarship regardless of 

his diploma. 

This obviously takes a 

lot of pressure off his exams! 

The scholarship means 

that Jed can select a university 

institution to study at in 

China and the government 

will try to find a place for 

each student recipient. 

Jed Adams at Clemes. 

Jed will study at Beijing 

Conservatory, where he will 

begin a degree in composition. 

However, on initial 

arrival in China, he will 

Daisy Spaulding and Alexandra Watson helping out at New 

Norfolk Primary School. Photo supplied by Lou Guidici 

Photo by Zdenek Vitesnik 

be completing a six month 

language program. 

We congratulate Jed on 

this achievement and wish 

him the best in the future. 

Warm welcome at New 

Norfolk Primary School 

by Louise Giudici 

The Clemes Introduction 

to Sociology and Psychology 

class drove to New Norfolk 

Primary School to work with 

a Grade1/Prep class taught 

by Elizabeth Robinson 

(mother of Friends’ student, 

Daisy Spaulding) on 

2 August. 

The class has been 

studying child development, 

particularly language 

acquisition and wanted 

the opportunity to work 

with some students outside 

the school community, 

as some of our students 

have been at the School 

since Kindergarten. 

Students watched the 

class during a literacy session 

and then played games and 

helped with reading and 

writing activities. 

They then visited Lee 

Cooper’s Grade 5/6 class 

to contrast the abilities and 

needs of the older students. 

It was wonderful to be a 

part of the class and they were 

warmly welcomed by the 

staff and students of NNPS. 

Teacher, Lou Giudici 

was particularly interested, 

as she was a primary school 

student at NNPS herself! 

The visit went so well 

they have been invited 

back again. 

It was a wonderful 

opportunity for students 

to see the theory they 

have studied in action in a 

classroom setting.

4 


Starving for Service 

James Laker holding the collection box filled 

with mobile phones. Photo by Aleisha Ring 

Service 

Worms, Wellies and Working Bee 

by Madelaine Comfort 

After a long week at 

school and the end of a long 

Term 2, 14 students returned 

on Saturday 28 August to 

plant trees at Mary Knoll 

Reserve in Blackmans Bay. 

Teachers, David and 

Sandra Brooks, kindly 

gave their time to drive 

all of the students to the 

site, where we were met 

by Bridget Jupe, an old 

scholar who works for the 

Kingborough Council. 

After a quick 

demonstration on the best 

way to plant the trees, we 

all got down to work. 

Those with gumboots 

entered the stream, where 

some deep holes proved 

dangerous, with water 

nearly entering the top of 

some people’s gumboots. 

Other students spread 

out with hoes and hammers 

to plant and stake out trees. 

The site was rich in 

worms and some students 

found it entertaining to 

throw them at each other. 


How would you survive 

without food, your phone, 

Facebook or furniture? 

This year, 162 High 

School and 20 Clemes 

students went for 40 hours 

without one of these things to 

raise money for World Vision. 

High School Students 

experienced their 40 hours 

Gorilla Phones 

by James Laker 

I initially heard about 

the loss of biodiversity in 

the Democratic Republic 

of Congo, through the loss 

of the Eastern Lowland 

Mountain Gorilla. 

My interest was sparked 

when I heard this is where 

coltan is sourced, an 

important mineral used in 

almost all electronic goods. 

While taking a short break 

we ran into French teacher, 

Gwen Hackel, walking her 

dog and she joined us for the 

rest of the afternoon. 

The day was organised 

by the Clemes Environment 

and Service Committees 

and was a chance for 

students to be involved in 

some hands-on service. 

One of the main reasons 

the council is keen for this site 

to be planted is that it contains 

many blue and black gum 

trees and is a vital nesting site 

for swift parrots. 

There is also a creek 

that collects water from the 

storm water drains and one 

of the aims of the afternoon 

was to plant reeds and plants 

in and along its banks to 

filter and clean the water 

that enters, before it flows 

into the River Derwent. 

On the drive back, we 

bought ice cream sundaes 

and only one was spilt on 

the bus! The afternoon 

was lots of fun and luckily 

it didn’t rain and we all 

remained dry. 

of famine the weekend of 

31 July and 1 August, while 

Clemes students went without 

at a later date, due to exams. 

The traditional option is 

to give up food, but people 

now give up a whole range 

of things for the 40 hours, 

including Facebook, using 

a restricted amount of 

water and the use of their 

computer or television. 

T h i s 

mineral is 

mined in the 

D.R. of Congo 

in a gorilla 

habitat and, 

due to our 

current intense 

reliance on 

technology, 

m i n e d 

ferociously. 

Recently, 

as the demand 

for coltan has 

i n c r e a s e d , 

some mines 

in the Congo 

have been seized by militia, 

who are killing villagers and 

destroying Gorilla habitat. 

Gorillas are also being 

killed and consumed. 

This alarming news is 

becoming more and more 

common in the Congo and 

the coltan that is mined is 

being sold essentially as 

‘blood coltan’. 

Without realising, 

people are buying these 

Aleisha Ring and Alex Brooks planting trees. 

Tormey Reimer and Angus Owen digging. 

World Vision works on 

a number of projects and 

the funds raised from the 

40 Hour Famine go towards 

these projects. 

Don’t Trade Lives is a 

campaign seeking to unite 

Australians against human 

trafficking and slavery, 

while another of their 

projects, Child Health Now, 

aims to improve the health 

products and not properly 

disposing of their old, 

obsolete technology, which 

can be recycled. 

At first I brushed this 

information aside as not 

relevant to me, until I 

realised that I am exactly 

that irresponsible consumer. 

Being a teenager, I am 

constantly disposing of 

perfectly good technology to 

replace it with better, faster, 

cooler gadgets. It made me 

wonder how much of an 

effect I can personally have 

on this situation. 

After doing some 

research, and finding that 

donating even one phone 

makes a difference through 

the Jane Goodall Institute, 

I based my Environmental 

Science case study around it. 

In my study, I tried 

to show people the 

significance of donating 

a single phone and the 

difference it can make. 

I presented a poster 

to the school community 

Photos by Sandra Brooks 

of mothers and children 

through simple, affordable 

and achievable means in 

Sub-Saharan Africa and 

South Asian nations. 

This annual fundraiser 

was a great success, with 

$3,800 being raised by the 

High School participants 

while Clemes raised 

$455 to go towards this 

worthwhile cause. 

with facts, figures and data, 

showing them the damage 

they may, inadvertently, be 

causing to the big picture 

and placed a collection 

box for old mobile phones, 

which many have made use 

of, in the Clemes office. 

The drive has obviously 

raised a great deal of 

awareness among the 

students, as over 60 phones 

have been collected so far, 

and the box is still filling up 

in the office. 

Some of the phones have 

already begun their journey 

to the mainland to begin a 

better life, more are being 

sent this week and even 

more soon after. 

I’d like to say thank you 

to everyone who has helped 

me collect these phones, 

and especially to those who 

donated them. 

It has been an enjoyable 

experience, and I have felt 

a sense of accomplishment 

having collected such a 

number. 


Seekers Rally 

Peter Jones and fellow rally supporters at Parliment Lawns. 

Photo supplied by Peter Jones 

by Sofia Lopez 

Every year students from 

the Justice Action Network 

organise an action around 

a human rights issue that 

involves public speaking, 

music and creativity, an 

event that draws in a number 

of students from schools in 

the Hobart area. 

This year it was about 

supporting asylum seekers. 


Amnesty letter writing 

group, along with Teacher, 

Peter Jones were amongst 

the group gathered on 

Parliament Lawns on 17 July 

to talk about the challenges 

refugees face. 

Friends’ students, Joelle 

Nininahazwe and Wehazit 

John talked about how they 

came to Australia as refugees 

to escape the conflict 

happening in Africa, while 

Lyn Dong talked about her 

parents’ experiences coming 

to Australia from Vietnam. 

Lyn also sang beautifully 

at the rally, accompanied 

by one of her friends from 

Taroona playing on his guitar. 

The rally was a great 

success. 

Bands Battle it Out 

Hugh Woods and Selby Press on vocals and guitar and Al 

Thomson on drums during their performance on the night. 

Photo by Amy Hall 

by Amy Hall 

High School bands, 

Switched On and Free Fall, 

The annual Amnesty both won awards for their 

Battle of the Bands was held performances; the newly 

in the WN Oats Centre on introduced Will Perry Award 

8 October. 

for promising talent, and a 

The bands performed for $100 voucher, respectively. 

a sizeable and appreciative Humberella, who won 

audience consisting of the Clemes section, was 

enthusiastic students, awarded a $150 voucher as 

supportive teachers and well as the honour of getting 

proud parents. 

the audience so excited that 

The event showcased a crowd surfer emerged 

bands from the High School during one of their original 

and Clemes, and offered compositions. 

awards for those that This year’s Battle of the 

performed exceptionally. Bands raised $761, which 

Acts from the High goes towards the postage 

School included Missing fees involved with the 

Harriet, Free Fall, Shank It, two school Amnesty letter 

and Switched On, and those writing groups. 

from Clemes were Verity’s Thanks to Paul Radford 

Band, Humberella, Sploosh, and the Audio Design and 

Bunton Burners, Lachy’s Contempory Music students 

Date and Spatch-Cock. for helping pull the night off.


Black & White 

day 


You could be mistaken 

for thinking that you’d 

walked into a school full 

of zebras on Friday 15 

October when Clemes 

students participated in a 

black and white themed free 

dress day. 

The day was designed 

to raise funds for the 

Tasmanian Devils and to 

educate and inform people 

of their plight. 

David Pemberton, 

from the Department of 

Primary Industries, Parks, 

Water and Environment 

(DPIPWE) gave an 

informative and interesting 

Suiting up or 

down 

speech during assembly to 

Clemes students. 

The day was organised 

by Michelle Ho and Hannah 

Just as an extension of their 

Environmental Science case 

study, which looked closely 

at the Tasmanian Devil issue. 

Their case study involved 

researching their topic, talking 

to people from DPIPWE 

about the Devils’ facial 

tumours, the effect humans 

have on the Devil population 

and ways in which we can 

help them, as well as a visit to 

Bonorong Park. 

The day raised $351 to 

go towards research for a 

cure and support of tumour 

infected devils. 

Artistic inspiration 

by Jamie Brown 

James Turrell, a 

contemporary artist out of 

Arizona and a practicing 

Quaker visited The Friends’ 

School in late August. 

James Turrell is known 

for his ‘skyspaces’, an 

artistic window in the 

ceiling of a building used 

specifically to watch 

celestial phenomena, or, 

in some places, just to 

make the most of the area’s 

unique light. 

He believes that the sky 

is the greatest canvas, as its 

state is never repeated. 

He tells of how the light 

in Melbourne and Sydney 

is different to that in 

Canberra, “It’s not maritime 

light, it’s higher in altitude 

with less moisture, so you 

get incredible transparency 

and a deeper blue,” said 

James Turrell. 

The 67 year-old’s work 

has been recognised by the 

Museum of Old and New 

Art and, while visiting 

Tasmania, James Turrell 

asked them to organise a 

visit to Friends’ School. 

James Turrell’s art only 

became widely recognised 

Students Maddy Archer, Rowena Gunn and Katie Lock with William Flemming, from MONA, John 

Green and James Turrell during James’ recent visit to The Friends’ School. 

Photo by Kathy Rundle 

after he served a 22-month They charged him for We feel very honoured 

gaol sentence after being being a co-conspirator in that James Turrell initiated 

convicted of treason in USA. helping some people dodge the visit to our school. 

He was counselling the draft. 

He had heard about 

people to deal with the draft He became a practising the School from a number 

during the Vietnam War. artist after he was released of sources. 

He would explain all of from gaol. 

We hope James Turrell 

their options to them, and Kathy Rundle, Friends’ will revisit the school 

he believes overstepped Curator, said, “James Turrell soon and share more of his 

the USA’s lines and is one of the big names in experiences with students in 

was punished. 

world contemporary art”. all parts of the School. 

Sofia Lopez, Angus Owen and Eloise Macdonald-Meyer in formal 

attire to raise money for prostate cancer research. 

Photo supplied by Sofia Lopez 

by Cooper Denehey 

Suit Up Day was a 

fundraiser held in August at 

Clemes for the Tasmanian 

Cancer Council in their battle 

against prostate cancer. 

The boys of Clemes were 

to wear a suit for a day and 

the girls were to ‘suit down’ 

into ugg boots, track pants 

and hoodies (although some 

decided to suit up too) all for 

a gold coin donation. 

It was good to see so 

many of the Clemes students 

supporting this noteworthy 

fundraising event. 

Homemade gingerbread 

men were on sale at 

recess and lunchtime for 

a dollar, to help raise even 

more money. 

Prostate cancer was 

selected as the target of this 

awareness raising campaign, 

because of its potential 

harm to so many men in 

our community. 

For example, most of us 

do not know that as many 

males die from prostate 

cancer as women die from 

breast cancer. 

The day raised $440 for 

this worthwhile cause. 

Africa Day 

by Amy Hall 

Africa Day was held at 

Clemes during Term 2 to 

celebrate the multicultural 

diversity of Friends’. 

With four African 

students at Clemes this year, 

they decided to get together 

and organise Africa Day on 

Friday 27 August to raise 

money for genital fistula 

aid in Ethiopia, following a 

talk in assembly by a doctor 

working there. 

Students were invited 

to wear colourful clothing 

while the girls who had 

organised it all wore their 

traditional dress: Wehazit 

Flood of funds 

by Amy Hall 

Pakistan was hit with 

the most disastrous floods 

in the country’s history in 

August of this year, with 

devastating effects. 

With over 1600 people 

killed and two million more 

homeless, the Pakistan 

Flood Appeal received a 

John from Eritrea; Salkatu 

Koroma from Sierra 

Leone and Sharon Vulimu 

from Kenya. 

The other organiser was 

Etenesh Bell, originally 

from Ethiopia. 

The day showcased 

traditional music and sweet 

and savoury food made by 

the girls which was then sold 

at lunchtime to assist with 

the fundraising. 

Over $480 was raised 

for Hamlin Fistula Australia, 

an organisation set up by Dr 

Catherine Hamlin to assist 

those Ethiopian women 

suffering from obstetric 

fistula. 

demonstrably small amount 

of funding compared to 

other natural disasters in 

recent history. 

When Ban Ki-moon, 

the UN Secretary-General, 

visited areas of Pakistan 

that had been affected by 

the flood he said, “In the 

past I have visited scenes 

of many natural disasters 

Eritrean Wehazit John, Peter Jones, wearing a Malawi shirt, 

Sierra Leonean Sal Koroma and Sharon Vulimu in colourful dress. 

Photo by Lynne Males 

around the world, but 

nothing like this. 

The scale of this disaster 

is so large and there are so 

many people in so many 

places in so much need.” 

In order to help with 

the cause, Clemes held an 

emergency free-dress day. 

During lunch cakes, 

biscuits and brownies 

were for sale at recess and 

lunchtime in the foyer. 

With the help of 

the Clemes students, 

approximately $560 was 

rasied to help the destitute 

Pakistani people. 

All money raised went to 

UNICEF who are working 

to help children affected by 

the Pakistani floods.

6 

by Sophie Barnett 

Every year, House 

Drama provides an array 

of entertainment to those 

privileged enough to 

be present. 

It involves Year 9 and 10 

students creating 30 minute 

plays in their House groups. 

They have to write the 

scripts, cast roles and create 

scenery and costumes. 


Houses in dramatic battle 

Unwin House 

by Jess Graham and 

Isabelle Wagner 

Unwin chose to produce 

an original version of Alice 

in Wonderland. 

The performance 

took us through Alice’s 

journey in the Friends’ 

School community. 

Along the way she 

encountered Little Red 

Riding Hood, various 

teachers, a temperamental 

Queen and two fat kids. 

As with every good 

story, it ended with a twist, 

a marriage and a happily 

ever after. 

Unwin House’s crew 

consisted of a very talented 

bunch of Year 9 and 10 

students, who all bonded 

together to pull off an 

outstanding performance. 

The Year 10 students 

who participated in House 

Drama last year, took on the 

role of directing. 

The rivalry between 

Houses is held in the best 

of competitive spirits that 

demonstrates a mutual 

appreciation of the time, 

skills and effort required to 

present quality performances. 

Again in 2010 the 

standard was very high 

showcasing the skills of 

leadership, organisation, 

collaboration, creativity 

and inventiveness. 

It was definitely stressful 

and sometimes it was hard to 

see how we could manage to 

pull a half hour play together. 

We worked as a team, 

with minimal shouting 

and only one or two 

creative differences. 

Performance night was 

the culmination of everyone’s 

commitment and hard work. 

It was a great night and 

we were really impressed by 

the quality of the other three 

Ransome House 

by Lyn Dong 

What an absolutely 

amazing experience. 

Over 20 dedicated Year 9 

and 10 students participated 

in Ransome House Drama 

this year. 

Our ambition was to 

rewrite and act out the story 

line of the well known, and 

loved, Grease. 

We did this by 

incorporating aspects of 

life at Friends’ School into 

the play. 

Catherine Webster and 

Rosie MacDonald wrote the 

first draft of our script and 

House members continued 

to adjust and improve it 

during the run-throughs, 

enabling everyone to 

contribute and offer ideas. 

The long and time 

consuming rehearsals were 

worth every minute. 

We encountered a 

number of problems during 

the rehearsals. 

These problems were 

overcome because of the 

cooperation exhibited by 

each house member. 

Perhaps 

we 

underestimated ourselves 

because I can proudly say 

that we performed much 

better on the night than 

we anticipated. 

We left the night 

knowing that we had given 

it our all. 

For those who weren’t 

fortunate enough to 

attend, James Gunn did an 

outstanding job of playing 

our school Principal, 

John Green. 

Max Perry, who won 

the Best Unearthered 

Talent award, entertained 

our supportive audience 

with his Rick Astley 

dance moves. 

Grease is the word for Ransome House Drama. 

Photo by Tammy Giblin 

HOUSE DRAMA 

Unwin undertook 

the very topical Alice 

in Wonderland to 

rapturous applause. 

Their resulting award 

for the Best House on the 

night was well earned and a 

popular decision. 

It was no surprise 

to the audience that this 

award was underpinned 

by Most Original 

Script Interpretation. 

plays, so congratulations to 

them, but in the end the best 

House won. 

The House Drama 

process was long; it involved 

committing to after school 

and weekend rehearsals, set 

painting and line learning. 

We’re sure for many 

years to come, that Oliver 

Ladlow and Julian Vittorio 

will be remembered for 

dancing to the ‘Single 

Ladies’ song. 

William Richman 

as Danny and Rosie 

MacDonald as Sandy, 

blew the audience away 

with their singing and very 

convincing roleplay. 

Overall, every 

individual actor and 

crewmember did a 

marvelous job. 

On behalf of this years’ 

Ransome House Drama 

crew, we wish to thank all 

teachers, production crew 

and all three houses for 

their contributions and to 

our audience for attending, 

applauding and laughing at 

our jokes. 

The talent displayed 

by Year 9 and 10 students 

didn’t end there. 

Max Perry showed an 

example of what is to come in 

his performance in Ransome’s 

Grease, gaining him the Best 

New Talent award. 

Costumes always play a 

big part in any performance. 

Originality was brought 

to the fore with Mather’s 

performance of Aladdin 2. 


Callan Smith took out 

the hotly contested Most 

Original Costume award. 

Humour always has its 

part to play at any House 

Drama evening and is always 

expected to be innovative 

and topical. 

Allan McConnell and 

Will Squires from Hodgkin 

didn’t let us down and were 

rewarded with the Funniest 

Moment by Bob Scandrett. 

Mather House 

by Irini Nikitaras 

This year Mather was 

incredibly lucky to have 

such a large number of 

Hodgkin House 

Hodgkin’s interpretation 

of a well known stage show, 

Billy Idiot was enjoyed by 

the audience. 

We would like to 

applaud all students who 

participated in this year’s 

House Drama, 

This years participants 

encourage future Year 9 

and 10 students to take part 

in House Drama, as it is a 

worthwhile experience. 

students participating, 

making our House Drama 

experience not only 

exciting but also stressful 

at the same time, as we 

wanted to give everyone 

a role. 

In the end we chose to 

Unwin cast and crew, House Drama winners for 2010. perform Aladdin, with a new Mather releasing the genie out of the bottle. 



original script so we could 

include new characters and 

new songs that we created, 

which turned out to be a lot 

of fun. 

Finally, after all the stress 

of two months of rehearsals, 

the night finally arrived. 

Everyone was excited, 

nervous, and slightly 

stressed, all at the same time! 

The anticipation while 

having final rehearsals, 

fixing costumes and doing 

make up was amazing. 

by Callum Jones 

Hodgkin House chose 

to perform a parody of Billy 

Elliot, ‘Billy Idiot’. 

This year presented 

many challenges, mainly 

being able to rehearse all 

together and there was a 

lot of pressure building 

up to the night, with final 

touches being put onto 

many costumes. 

There had been a few 

technical issues in rehearsal, 

however, when it came 

down to it, we hit our lines 

and performed brilliantly. 

There were moments 

when we were surprised 

by how good it was and 

most of us were crying with 

laughter backstage. 

Great moments were the 

kiss between Billy (Allan 

McConnell) and his best 

friend Gabriel (Will Squires), 

the introduction of the ‘real’ 

Greg Hill, and a perfect 

rendition of Peter Ottavi. 

But we can not forget the 

amazing song, ‘Expressing 

Yourself’, sung between 

Billy and Gabriel ending 

in ‘the kiss’, and also an 

original dance ‘I will survive’ 

Every person, both cast 

and crew, could not wait to 

get on stage and perform for 

the glory. 

The final performance 

came together well, with 

each member of the Mather 

team putting in a fantastic 

effort right from Aladdin 

(Harry Gunaseelan) and 

the bright blue genie 

(Peter Stone) to our 

very own Jesus Christ 

(Andrew Eckhardt). 

which involved some very 

strange dance moves. 

And who could forget 

the intimate moment of the 

‘Greg Hill’ song, sung by 

Mehr Gupta? 

There were amazing 

performances by the rest 

of the cast, including 

Billy’s family, the bogans, 

the Hutchins crew, the 

dancers, the teachers and the 

backstage and tech crew. 

We were awarded the 

funniest moment of the night, 

which was the kiss between 

the two main characters, and 

were also nominated in all 

the other categories. 

We all had fun and had 

a fantastic evening and 

each House was incredibly 

supportive of each other. 

We would like to thank 

everyone involved: the 

judges, especially Greg Hill; 

the teachers, particularly 

Tammy and Nicola, who 

spent hours helping organise 

weekend rehearsals; the cast 

and crew from each House 

and, of course, the fantastic 

audience. 

In the end, no matter 

how well we performed, the 

award went to Unwin, and 

we congratulate them on 

their win, and the efforts of 

the other Houses. 

We all had great fun that 

night and will have good 

memories of it forever. 

We would like to thank 

the Drama teachers, the 

judges, all the teachers we 

impersonated on stage, 

and say sorry to Greg Hill 

in particular for all the 

jokes we made about you 

throughout the wonderful 

night, that we hope 

everyone will remember. 

Hodgkin crew dancing through House Drama. 

Photo by Tammy Giblin


Chinese Day in High School 

by Chris Yu 

Chinese Day was held at 

Friends’ on 22 September to 

coincide with the Chinese 

mid-autumn festival. 

This year, the day 

showcased many elements 

of Chinese Culture: 

traditional foods, clothes, 

games and theatre. 

The day featured a 

performance for High 

School students. 

It began with students 

singing a Chinese song and 

some used traditional fans 

in a dance. 

Moses Cai organised an 

orchestra that was made up 

of Chris Yu on guitar, Jed 

Adams on drums, Sherry 

Zheng on piano and Moses 

himself on guitar. 

Shuwen Li, a Chinese 

student in Year 11 who has 

learned Chinese Kungfu for 

many years, performed the 

art of tai chi. 

The moon cakes on sale 

in the High School were 

another favourite. 

Chinese people eat 

moon cakes during the midautumn 

festival and they 

even send them to their 

friends as presents. 

We have a number of 

Chinese students at Friends’, 

a sister school in Shanghai, 

and Chinese is taught as one 

of the LOTE languages. 

Shuwen Li performing Tai Chi. 

Chinese Teacher, Kiki 

Petrova said, ‘It is fitting to let 

Australian students know the 

traditional culture of China.’ 

High School Teacher, 

Amy Harris said that 

she enjoyed listening 

and watching a range of 

Chinese arts. 

Chinese student, Sherry 

Zheng really appreciated 

the opportunity to perform, 

saying, ‘The pronunciation 

of the Australian students 

who sang the Chinese song 

was correct and their voices 

sounded sweet.’ 

Another Chinese 

student, Amy Li said, 

‘If we’re going to hold 

an another Chinese Day 

next year, it could have 

more activities to involve 

Australian students.’ 

High School students enjoying the entertainment during China Day celebrations. 

Tess Hatfied and Lyn Dong singing during the Chinese fan perfomance. 

Moses Cai, Jed Adams, Chris Yu, Amy Li and Sherry Zheng performing a Chinese song. 

German Day celebration 

by Billie Press 

The first German 

Celebration day was held 

on 6 October. 

It was a very fruitful 

event and gave all 

High School students 

the opportunity to try 

‘something German’ in 

their lunchtime, either food 

or an activity. 

There were many 

activities for the students to 

participate in and German 

food, including original 

bratwurst sausages, 

pfannkuchen (pancakes), 

which were sweet or 

savoury and were sold by 

students in the open gym. 

As well as food the 

students and staff organised 

a variety of games. 

These were soccer and 

badminton because both 

sports are ‘national sports’ 

in Germany and are played 

in all age groups, young 

and old. 

The soccer game was 

held on the bottom oval and 

was a match between an 

enthusiastic group of Year 8 

and Year 9 students. 

The game lasted the 

entire lunchtime until the 

Year 9 students won the 

game with six goals to Year 

8’s three. 

Badminton was held in 

the WN Oats Centre and 

drew a huge crowd despite 

the wonderful weather of 

the day. 

The popular Austrian 

TV show Inspector Rex 

was played in the Lecture 

Theatre for the students to 

watch and enjoy. 

The German Celebration 

Day was a great day for all 

students and teachers which 

will hopefully be repeated 

next year when it promises 

to be even better. 

Amy Li playing a Chinese dulcimer during the China Day event. 

Photos supplied by Chris Yu

8 


Katrina Munting, Dr Emily Hilder and Tony Sinnott watching an 

experiment unfolding. 

Photo by Charlotte Toates 

news 

Bangs, flashes and explosions! 


The most frequently 

asked question of science 

teachers is ‘Can we blow 

stuff up?’ 

A visit from Dr Emily 

Hilder, from the School 

of Chemistry at UTAS 

provided a chance for the 

answer to be, ‘Yes’. 

Along with Tony Sinnott, 

the laboratory technician 

and science teacher, Katrina 

Munting, Dr Emily Hilder 

demonstrated a range 

of science experiments, 

including explosions! 

The demonstrations 

were a chance for students 

to see and participate in 

experiments that aren’t 

usually attempted during 

class because of their level 

of difficulty and time and 

safety restraints. 

Dr Emily Hilder demonstrating the effects of liquid nitrogen on 

bananas. 

Photo by Heather Rowledge 

Liquid nitrogen 

propelling ping-pong 

balls, freezing and 

smashing food items and 

freezing and eating items 

such as Milky Ways, 

marshmallows and snakes 

were demonstrations used 

to show the effects of 

liquid nitrogen. 

Students also got to 

see magnesium being 

burnt in dry ice, exploding 

Year 7 enters a Time Warp 

hydrogen and oxygen 

bubbles, burning gun cotton 

and magnesium and silver 

nitrate flash reactions. 

The demonstrations 

were a chance for fun and 

different experiments to be 

shown to students. 

Other experiments 

conducted included 

Elephant’s toothpaste, 

where two reagents were 

placed in measuring 


cylinders with detergent, 

producing copious amounts 

of bubbles that shot up the 

measuring cylinders and 

out the top like a very fat 

tube of toothpaste, hence 

the name, and the Gummy 

Bear Sacrifice, where a 

poor defenceless gummy 

bear was placed into a 

boiling tube along with a 

molten chemical. 

The gummy bear began to 

smoke before caching alight, 

where it ended up popping 

and fizzing frantically along 

the tube, producing a very 

bright white light. 

These demonstrations 

were a chance for students 

to participate in the fun 

side of science and were 

a worthwhile learning 

experience for all. 

Tony Sinnott sharing the joys of science with the enthusiastic 

participants. 

Photo by Charlotte Toates 

Bob Scandrett showing off his dancing style. 

by Allan McConnell 

People could have been 

mistaken for thinking they 

were in a time warp on 

the evening of August 20, 

when most of Year 7 were 

seen arriving at the Bill 

& Marjorie Oats Theatre 

dressed in retro clothing. 

Two hours of energetic 

dancing, socialising and 

games were had. 

The limbo competition 

was popular, the game of 

clumps provided many 

laughs and the teachers all 

tried (unsuccessfully) to win 

the prize for best dancer of 

the night. 

The activities were a 

great way for students to 

get to know one another and 

show off their retro clothing. 

The High School 

Council was responsible for 

planning the event. 

They painted the floor 

of the theatre, set up the 

lights, and organised 

appropriate music with DJs 

including Year 7 student, 

Cyrus Vincent. 

The Council found 

it very rewarding to see 

everyone having such a 

good time! 

The variety of very 

yummy supper items added 

to a great evening. 

Thanks to everyone who 

brought a plate. 

Year 7 students dancing through the night. 

It was a great night, and 

a wonderful atmosphere for 

people to make new friends 

and spend a Friday night 

by Trish Menadue 

together! 

Zoe Collis and Lucy Dargaville showing their stylish moves. 

All photos by Tammy Giblin 

The Bill & Marjorie Oats Theatre awash with glowsticks. 

Working in the ‘Real’ World 

Most of our Year 10 students took part in a week of Work Experience in July. For many 

students it was their first time to step into the workforce and see what working life is really like. 

Students experienced a wide variety of work placements, including professional placements in 

fields including medicine, veterinary science, law and education to name a few. Others chose 

experiences in the retail, trade, hospitality and clerical fields, while others explored opportunities 

in aquaculture, childcare, graphic design and music. Students acknowledged that work experience 

was a highly valuable experience and some have been offered part-time employment because of 

their placements. Thanks to all the families and businesses who have supported our students in 

providing placements. 

by Abbey Burbury 

I decided to work at a 

beauty salon for the week 

as I have a strong interest in 

beauty therapy. 

Prior to the week I had 

applied for a private beauty 

school but had not yet found 

out if I was accepted or not. 

On my first day, I was 

nervous and did not know 

what to expect. 

I honestly thought I 

would just be cleaning all 

day and making coffee. 

However, I was able to 

sit in on treatments, watch 

what was going on and have 

the procedures explained 

to me. 

After two days of being 

there, one of the girls came 

up to me and said that her 

mother, who ran the salon, 

was very impressed with 

me and was considering 

offering me a traineeship 

for 2011. 

I had previously told her 

about my interest in beauty 

therapy and how I had 

applied for a school. 

She was surprised and 

told me that a lot of girls 

choose work experience 

at the salon because they 

thought it would be “easy” 

for the week. 

She seemed confident 

about me and pleased by 

my genuine interest and 

willingness to learn. 

When my week came to 

an end, Lisa, the manager, 

took me aside and told me 

that she wanted to keep me 

on as a trainee next year. 

I would go to TAFE two 

days a week to do the beauty 

therapy course and work the 

other three days. 

My parents are really 

supportive about me taking 

up this traineeship because 

it is what I want to do and 

I know I will make the very 

best of this opportunity. 

Work experience is 

a great way to introduce 

yourself to the real world of 

work and to help you decide 

your future. 

For me it turned out to 

be even more, because it has 

given me the chance to start 

the career I want in a place 

that I know, with people 

who have chosen me.

Focus morris November 2010 9 

Year 3 at The Climbing Edge 

by Jess Lund 

Year 3 had the 

opportunity to visit The 

Primary School Maths Relay 

by Denise Armstrong 

Two teams from Morris 

represented the School in 

the Maths Relay, conducted 

by the Mathematical 

Association of Tasmania 

in August. Each team 

consisted of four students 

A journey across the Story Bridge 

by Shelley McMorran 

Morris students 

journeyed ‘Across the Story 

Bridge’ this year as part of 

Book Week celebrations on 

24 August. 

There were many book 

characters spotted around 

school: trolls and billy 

goats, fairies, hunters, 

heroes, villains, chickens, 

flowers, cats and things 

(Thing One and Thing 

Two, that is!). 

All the special Book 

Week characters must 

have very kind hearts, 

because together with their 

families, they donated 

$237 to the Indigenous 

Literacy Project. 

Many parents visited 

the Library several times 

Climbing Edge indoor rock 

climbing centre as part of 

their Outdoor Education 

program in August. 

Kip Philips, Charlie Potter, Gabrielle Larsson and Rowan Bassett 

at The Climbing Edge. Photo supplied by Roger Midgely 

Red Team: Sophie Haselgrove, Esha Abraham, Dylan Langenberg 

and Andrew Moore. Photo supplied by Denise Wadsley 

who spent the afternoon 

solving difficult problems 

and competing against 

many other schools from 

southern Tasmania. 

Friends’ had two Year 6 

teams, Sophie Haselgrove, 

Esha Abraham, Dylan 

Langenberg and Andrew 

over the week, taking 

the opportunity to come 

to one of the several 

read-ins offered for the 

Wells students. 

These parents must 

now be worthy of claiming 

professional bear and 

chicken construction 

status after their hard work 

making the costumes. 

The Morris Book Fair 

was a resounding success, 

due to the tremendous 

support given by 

our families. 

Janet Grecian, from 

The Hobart Bookshop, was 

kept busy all day meeting 

our wonderful students and 

many of their parents. 

Janet commented that 

she had a really lovely day 

and, in particular, enjoyed 

The experience allowed 

all students to challenge 

themselves by climbing 

as high as they could up 

the wall. 

The children were 

very enthusiastic and 

demonstrated their cooperative 

skills by working 

with several supportive 

and caring students from 

the High School, who 

volunteered their time 

to assist their younger 

peers with belaying and 

knot tying. 

Everyone had a 

wonderful day and relished 

the opportunity to get out 

of the classroom and try 

something exciting and 

new. 

Moore making up the Red attitude, teamwork and 

Team, while Nelson Hinds, mathematical skills. 

Maddy Taylor, Tom Fulton Their commitment over 

and 

and Josh Haselgrove formed 

the Blue Team. 

Both teams performed 

the last six weeks is to be 

commended, having given 

up lunch and recess times 

extremely well and are to interpret and practise 

to be congratulated tricky maths problems in 

on their excellent preparation for the event. by Alison Pocius 

chatting with students 

when they stopped to share 

a favourite book with her. 

Thank you to everyone 

for your kind and generous 

Phoebe Dunbabin on the climbing wall. 

Photo supplied by Roger Midgely 

Blue Team: Nelson Hinds, Maddy Taylor, Tom Fulton and Josh 

Haselgrove. 

Photo supplied by Denise Wadsley 

support of Book Week 2010. 

We had much fun going 

‘Across the Story Bridge’ 

and hope that you also 

enjoyed the journey. 

Kindergarten students George Pelham and Charlie Ryan join in 

the fun of Book Week 2010 journeying Across the Story Bridge. 


Morris Quiz Night 

by Kate Newton and Mary- 

Louise Seddon 

On a very wet and cold 

Friday night, over one 

hundred parents, friends 

and teachers from Morris 

gathered for an action 

packed “Australiana” quiz. 

Our quiz master, Joel 

Winter, was more entertaining 

than any stand up comedian 

and the audience absolutely 

loved him. 

We had nine fiercely 

competitive teams who 

worked collaboratively 

throughout the night 

answering curly questions, 

building gum trees 

enthusiastically 

participating in the inaugural 

“Cucumber” Relay. 

How long is it? 

Year 1 

student Alex 

B o x h a l l 

d e v e l o p e d 

his own tape 

measure by 

joining random 

lengths of 

paper together 

and then 

marking it at 40 

cm intervals. 

He then put 

his 15.35 m tape 

measure to use 

in determining 

the length 

of the Frank 

Wells Hall. 

He found the 

total length of 

the Hall to be 14.90 m. 

Alex was able 

to precisely express 

this measurement in 

metres, centimetres 

and millimetres. 

Amy Enkelaar and Paris Zooeff share their 

excitement. Photo supplied by Roger Midgely 

Our winners, “The 

Hollow Freds”, kindly 

donated their winning 

prize back to the staff for a 

silent auction. 

Congratulations to all 

teams for their great spirit 

and generosity throughout 

the evening. 

A big thank you goes to 

our parents, who worked 

tirelessly behind the scenes 

collecting prizes from 

local businesses. 

The evening raised over 

$4 000 for the worthy Fred 

Hollows Foundation. 

Next year, the Quiz 

Night will be bigger and 

better and the theme of the 

night will be “What’s HOT 

and What’s NOT”. 

So start swotting now! 

Alex adds the finishing touches to his 

ingenious tape measure. 


He then confidently 

shared his findings with 

his peers and explained 

the process he had gone 

through to make his 

wonderful ruler.

10 


creative 

Creative Pages Reincarnation 

by Aleisha Ring 

Sometimes we forget 

that the people around us, 

such as our peers, are very 

skilled and creative. 

When we think of 

teachers, we sometimes 

do not recognise that they 

are capable of doing things 

other than teaching. 

To be creative is to be 

original, expressive and, of 

course, imaginative. 

These creative pages are 

intended to show students 

and teachers in a different 

light; to acknowledge the 

many gifted and talented 

people within our school. 

The pages include 

photos of paintings, 

original photographs, cakes 

and exhibitions made by 

students and staff across all 

campuses, from Early Years 

to Clemes. 

All the creative pieces 

have been created this 

year, either as part of 

a school subject or cocurricular 

activity. 


On special occasions, a 

staff exhibition is held at the 

High School library. 

This year during Term 2, 

work from all staff around 

the school was displayed. 

We have not established 

a Creative page in Focus 

before, but this year we 

have decided it would 

be a great opportunity to 

acknowledge and highlight 

some of the unique and 

wonderful work created 

by members of the school 

community. 

L-R: Elen Johnson, Sarah Potter and Arabella Pitt, from Early 

Years working on their masterpiece. 

A photo by Kristi Ellingsen displayed at the recent staff exhibition. 

Painting of Hobart’s waterfront by teacher, Pat Lee. 

Staff created cupcakes to make the periodic table for National Science Week Brain Break. 

Jean Yeates – From a Window 

by Aleisha Ring 

Special Judge, Danielle Wood, announced Ella Hind as the winner of the Jean Yeates Writing Competition on 7 

September. Danielle Wood is a writer and an author, who has published books such as Alphabet of Light and Dark, and 

Rosie Little’s Cautionary Tales for Girls. She has strong ties to The Friends’ School being a past student, with one of her 

former teachers being Betty Reeve, who still teaches English at our school. Danielle Wood is currently teaching creative 

writing at the University of Tasmania and has made many positive comments about all the short stories and poetry entries 

in this year’s competition. The theme for the entries was ‘From a window’ and the word count had to be between 1200 

to 1500 words. Ella Hind was the winner of the competition with her story titled ‘From a Window of Perspective’. It was 

written in an episodic format as a series of related events in a girl’s life. This is the first and last piece in the series. 

“From a Window of Perspective” 

by Ella Hind 

One girl’s experiences with a physical disability 

5 September 1994 

“Mummy, why are the people pointing and staring 

at me?” 

Mother and daughter are standing in the middle of a 

supermarket aisle, the child padding along beside the trolley, 

gazing intently at the many faces that peer curiously at her. 

She clasps a teddy bear limply in her left hand whilst her 

right arm is thrust backwards and forwards through the air 

by her side. 

Its lack of hand and fingers doesn’t seem to bother her 

in the slightest. 

The mother gazes down at the toddler, her face set easily. 

Gently, she grabs the small child’s only hand in hers 

and replies simply, her voice soft and full of sincerity, “It’s 

because you’re so beautiful, Emma.” 

The toddler’s face screws up with befuddlement, but 

then relaxes again as her mother leads her away from the 

many sets of staring eyes… 

17 April 2010 

“I’ve grown used to the staring. It used to bother me, but 

now…” A girl sits opposite a boy in a coffee lounge, fingers 

wrapped tightly around a steaming mug of hot chocolate. 

She glances up through her lashes at the boy’s face and 

smiles tentatively. 

“I just don’t want the fact that I’m missing half an arm to 

destroy potential friendships.” 

“If it matters to anyone, they’re not worth befriending 

anyway, Emma,” he runs his hand through his perpetually 

disheveled hair before placing his fingers over her arm. 

“It makes you who you are, and I love that. You just 

wouldn’t be the same – wouldn’t be you without it.” 

They both grin, embarrassed by the sentimentality of the 

sentence. As the heat builds between their connected skin, he 

leans forward and brushes her lips with his. 

Painting by Year 10 Student, Madeleine Keene. 

Painting by Year 3 student, Stephanie Skinner.

Friends’ Connections 

A four page magazine produced by the Development Office and Archives 

Old Scholar News 

We were pleased to 

be reminded of the great 

contribution one of the 

earliest Leslie House 

students made to medicine, 

general literature and the 

classics in New South 

Wales and Tasmania. Elaine 

Watson Pearce (1944) has 

been generous in sharing 

material related to her 

uncle, Eric Jeffrey (1906). 

Eric attended Leslie House 

School from its earliest days 

and is credited with having 

written the School song. 

We feel proud to know the 

name of Eric Jeffrey will be 

remembered in paving on 

the old Boa Vista site where 

he would have spent his last 

School days 

As the end of the year 

approaches, end of year 

gatherings and assemblies 

are being planned and guest 

speakers arranged. We have 

been reminded that William 

Henry Williams, foundation 

professor of Classics and 

English at UTAS spoke at 

the Friends' Speech Day in 

1898. Williams’ two sons, 

Hugh Williams (1901) 

and Philip Williams 

(1902), attended Friends’. 

We wonder if any readers 

have information about 

this special Friends’ School 

Williams family? 

News of one of our 

oldest Old Scholars, Jeal 

Roberts (Davey) (1929). 

We congratulate Jeal, who 

celebrated her 96th birthday 

on 9 October. Jeal and her 

siblings Frank Davey 

(dec) (1932) and Lorraine 

Rodman (Davey) (1939) 

attended Friends’ from their 

home in the Huon. Jeal enjoys 

good health and currently 

lives with her daughter, 

Sally Baily (Roberts) 

(1958) in Runaway Bay, 

Queensland. Sally and her 

siblings Richard Roberts 

(1955), Harvey Roberts 

(dec) (1962) and Claudia 

Roberts all attended Friends’ 

as boarders from their home, 

Riverlodge in Glen Huon. 

A 1932 Friends’ School 

connection came with news 

from John Graham (1963). 

John was a Friends’ School 

boarder from his home in 

Smithton. Now living in 

Sydney, John works as an 

architect. John’s mother 

Valerie Graham (Mason) 

(1932) attended Friends’ 

along with her five Mason 

siblings: Kathleen (1928), 

Edna (1929), Mary 

(1931), Philip (1932) 

and Maxwell (1936). 

A number of John’s Mason 

cousins including Stephen 

Mason (1972) and Robbie 

Mason (1973) from 

Hamilton also attended 

Friends’. Valerie Mason 

and her siblings were day 

students and travelled 

to School by ferry from 

Lindisfarne. Valerie 

remained a lifelong friend of 

her school friend Rosalind 

Martin (Sansom) (1935). 

Ros is remembered fondly 

by hundreds of former 

Friends’ students as ‘the Art 

Teacher’. John remembers 

Ros as instrumental in his 

being admitted to Friends’ 

in 1962 and that his family 

stayed with the Martins 

from time to time. He says 

he still searches (in vain) for 

apricots that taste as good as 

those grown on that part of 

the eastern shore. 

News of Dorothy Croft 

(1938). Dorothy attended 

Friends’ as a day student 

from her home in Bay Road, 

New Town. Dorothy passed 

her Leaving in 1938 and 

went on to study pharmacy. 

Dorothy recently launched 

her book, Autobiography 

of a Tasmanian Pharmacist. 

Dedicated to those who 

dispense, the book details 

Dorothy’s early training 

and studies and running 

her own pharmacy in 

Claremont to her move to 

practise in Devonport and 

her ultimate retirement 

there. In retirement, Dorothy 

continues to enjoy music 

and watercolour painting. 

A fellow pharmacy 

student was Peggy Glasby 

(Soundy) (1938). 

We were saddened to 

learn of the death of former 

student Margaret Helen 

Glasby (Peggy Soundy) 

(1938). Peggy attended 

Friends’ from 1931-1938 

and went on to study 

Pharmacy. She spent many 

years in India undertaking 

mission work with her 

husband Rex Glasby, a 

Baptist minister. After 

their years in India, Peggy 

and her family returned to 

Tasmania before retiring to 

South Australia. 

Recent visitors to 

Friends’ were Stan Mather 

(1949) and his brother Rob 

Mather (1947). Rob, who 

lives in Western Australia 

was visiting his old boyhood 

haunts in Tasmania. Rob 

has more recently retired 

from his profession of 

geology. He very much 

enjoys bushwalking in his 

retirement. See separate 

article on page 12. 

Stan and Rob bearing an 

Unwin painting, Rob’s recent 

gift to our School. 

Robin Jackson 

(Button) (1955) came 

to Friends’ as a boarder 

from her Ranelagh home. 

Robin with her husband 

David Jackson grow world 

renowned daffodils on their 

property at Surges Bay. 

They also have a bulb farm 

in Oregon USA. Recently 

Robin and David won first 

prize in the Australasian 

Daffodil Festival. 

In 1994 a former 

Tasmanian, now living in 

Devon, sighted Truganini’s 

shells in a display cabinet 

during a visit to the Royal 

Albert Memorial Museum 

in Exeter. Three years later, 

in November 1997 the 

necklace and bracelet were 

repatriated. (Ellen) Marion 

Green (1962) writing as 

Ellen Tewkesbury, has left 

this story as the postscript 

to her novel Under the 

Auspices of Crystals. 

Published by Athena Press, 

London in 2005, one review 

reads, “Tasmania prides 

itself in its writers; invisible 

though you [Ellen] have 

made yourself, you should 

count yourself among its 

best.” 

Elizabeth Ellis (1966) 

has for many years lived 

in Sydney and worked in 

libraries. She was a former 

Mitchell Librarian and 

Assistant State Librarian 

in NSW; Elizabeth is now 

Emeritus Curator of the 

Mitchell Library in Sydney. 

She has recently published 

the tale of Governor Lachlan 

Macquarie’s chest which 

was made to house his 

natural history specimens. 

Titled Rare and Curious, 

the book was published by 

MUP. Previously Elizabeth 

has written on Conrad 

Martens, Charles Darwin 

and early Sydney. 

Congratulations to 

Robyn Lewis (Haney) 

(1973). Robyn studied 

economics, has a wide work 

experience and was recently 

named as the winner of the 

Nokia Business Innovation 

Award in the Telstra 

Tasmanian Business Woman 

of the Year Awards. Robyn 

founded her online culinary 

travel guide, Visit Vineyards, 

in 2002. It targets five million 

annual visitors to Australian 

vineyards. 

A recent visitor to 

Friends’ has been Adam 

Thorp (1974). Adam’s son, 

Eliot accompanied him on 

a tour of the School. The 

Thorp family has a long 

connection with Friends’. 

Five of Adam’s siblings 

attended Friends’, his father 

Eliot Richard (often known 

as Dick) Thorp (1943) 

attended along with his 

siblings. Dick Thorp later 

became one of the earliest 

non-Quaker Board members 

of the School. Dick Thorp’s 

father John Eliot Thorp was 

the son of James Herbert 

Thorp (known as Herbert), 

who was Acting Principal 

of Friends’ School in 1911. 

J. Herbert Thorp had married 

Annie Sturge Eliot and thus 

the name Eliot has been 

commemorated in the family 

through the generations. 

Editor’s note: Many 

Thorp grandchildren and 

great grandchildren have 

attended Friends’. Ernest 

Unwin’s wife, Ursula, was 

a relative by marriage and 

there were connections 

with Samuel Clemes’ wife, 

Margaret. 

Belated congratulations 

to Christine ‘Kit’ Hiller 

(Alexander) (1965) who 

has won her third Portia 

Geach Memorial Award 

with a large self-portrait 

titled The Old Painter. The 

work was chosen by the 

judges from more than 3,000 

paintings in the 2009 staging 

of Australia’s most coveted 

award for women artists. 

Hiller first won the 

$18,000 prize in 1986 and 

she repeated her success the 

following year. This double, 

along with her other artistic 

achievements, won her 

recognition as Tasmanian of 

the Year in 1987. Kit is only 

the second person ever to 

claim the national prize three 

times. Her winning painting, 

inspired by a trip to Mexico, 

shows Kit with one hand on 

her head, wearing a smock 

surrounded by prickly pear, 

with an icon of the Virgin of 

Guadalupe in the sky. 

We have been glad to 

have Owen Pointon (1980) 

visiting School quite a bit 

lately. Owen and his family 

returned to Hobart after 19 

years in Melbourne. Owen, 

who works in nuclear 

medicine at the Royal 

Hobart Hospital, has strong 

connections to the School. 

His sisters Sue Galligan 

(Pointon) (1977) and Anne 

Pointon (1976) attended 

along with him. Owen’s four 

children attend the School, 

Holly is in Year 7, Alex will 

be in Year 7 in 2011. Toby is a 

Year 5 student and daughter, 

Meg, is in Year 3. Owen’s 

nephew is our current Head 

Boy, Harry Galligan. 

News of Jackie Ross 

(Birch) (1995). Jackie, the 

proud mother of 11 month 

old Oliver is currently on 

leave from her position with 

Vodafone. However, she 

has been able to maintain 

her role as an independent 

advisor for the company, 

The Learning Leader and as 

such is in contact with many 

parents and childcare related 

organisations. 

News of Caleb Baron 

(1998). From his years 

at Friends’ Caleb will be 

remembered as a great 

swimmer, (his mother 

Donna being coach of the 

School swimming team 

for many years), waterpolo 

player and underwater 

hockey player. With this 

love of life in the water it 

seems natural that Caleb 

should seek after School 

employment in a water 

related life. After his years 

at Friends’, Caleb joined the 

Navy as a clearance diver. 

Based in Sydney, Caleb 

is now a Leading Seaman 

in the Navy. He works as 

a bomb and demolition 

specialist and policy writer. 

Outside the Navy, Caleb 

and two friends run a 

property business. 

Bound to Impress was an 

exhibition by the Tasmanian 

Paper and Book Artists Guild 

held at the Schoolhouse 

gallery, Rosny Farm as part of 

the Clarence Municipality’s 

Sesquicentenary Celebrations. 

Friends’ connections 

who exhibited included, 

Jenny Blake (Art Teacher), 

Ailsa Fergusson (Laboratory 

Technician) Sandra Brooks 

(SOSE Teacher), Carolyn 

Canty (former parent) 

Pam Poulson (former staff 

member and former parent) 

and Ann Sturmey (former 

staff member and former 

parent) Part of the exhibition 

was a group piece called 

“Recycolpaedia” which 

used some out of date 

encyclopaedias transformed 

into sculptural pieces. 

Photographed here are 

Margaret Cairnduff mother 

of Sam Cairnduff (1994) 

and Guy Carirnduff (1997) 

and Anne Sturmey, mother 

of Christopher Pedersen 

1987) and Erika Pedersen 

(1993). 

Margaret Cairnduff and Anne 

Sturmey. 

We were pleased to 

welcome Anthia Pittas 

(1999) to Friends’ recently. 

Anthia, who went on to 

UTAS and studied Geology 

is currently undertaking 

her bachelor of Teaching 

and has been working on a 

teaching placement in the 

Science area at Friends’. 

Ingrid Koslow (2000) 

left Tasmania after her TCE 

in Year 12 and undertook 

her undergrad physics 

degree in Vancouver. She 

is currently undertaking her 

PhD engineering degree in 

Santa Barbara, California. 

That was her first choice 

because they are lead 

researchers in developing 

the technology for newer and 

better LED lights - the area 

she is interested in. Ingrid 

recently presented a paper 

on some new developments 

at a conference in Japan, 

and took time to visit Rhea 

Fountain - a ‘friend from 

Friends’, who is living there. 

Ben Squires (2000) 

completed a Bachelor of 

Pharmacy at UTAS in 2004 

and did his registration year 

in beautiful Airlie Beach, 

Queensland. After two 

years in the Whitsundays 

he moved to New York 

where he has been living 

for the past four years. He 

is currently conducting 

clinical research for a Phase 

ⅼ Oncology drug trial across 

the United States. 

Continued on page 10

12 


1980 Reunion 

A cheery reunion was 

held mid July for students 

who make up 1980 Leavers’ 

group. Former students 

came from near and far. 

Nigel Ferguson, who will 

be remembered as a school 

boy rower continues to 

enjoy an occasional row. 

He trained as a geologist 

and currently works as 

Managing Director of a 

mining company. Another 

Perth based attendee was 

Julian Mather who works as 

a geophysicist. 

Sandra Townsend 

attended from her home 

in NSW where she works 

as a Health Analyst. Sally 

Inglis travelled from Castle 

Cove, NSW where she 

works as a Nurse Educator 

and Judy Holt (Scandrett) 

from Brisbane where she 

continues her nursing career. 

Rosalie Viney came from 

Sydney for the reunion, she 

works as a Health Economist 

at University of Technology, 

Sydney. 

From around Tasmania 

came many more 1980s 

leavers. Jody Onn- 

Wilkinson (Onn) lives in 

East Launceston where 

she works as Business 

Manager for the Launceston 

Preparatory School. Another 

Launceston based attendee 

was Elizabeth Gunn who 

works as a midwife. Sally 

Ferrar continues producing 

wonderful jewellery under 

the name, Quoll Artist 

Jewellery from her studio at 

Copping. 

Tim Maddock, an 

accountant, works with 

Deloitte in their Hobart 

office. Penny Ackroyd 

works as a science teacher 

with the State Department 

of Distance Education. 

Richard Cubitt runs Sandy 

Bay Plumbing and Andrew 

Gray runs his own gardening 

business from Hobart’s 

Eastern shore. David Beattie 

and Mark Anderson work in 

Hobart in accounting and IT 

respectively. 

Other attendees included 

Denise Wadsley (Joseph), 

1980 Captain of Hockey 

who currently teaches in 

Morris - Friends’ Primary 

Years. Catherine Cretan 

(Mudge) is also a current 

Friends’ teacher, music 

being her specialty. Several 

attendees have children 

currently attending Friends’- 

Geoff Kirkland is father of 

Meg and Lily, Wendy Tilley 

(Park) is mother of Laura 

and Owen and Andrew 

Van Emmerick father of 

Rebecca. 

FRIENDS’ CONNECTIONS 

Mark Anderson, David Beattie, Nigel Ferguson. 

Scott Palmer, Richard Cubitt, Andrew Gray, David Hulton, 

Richard Evans, Chess Tucceri, Kirk Johnston. 

Judy Holt (Scandrett), Robyn Seale, Sally Walton. 


Old Scholar News 

continued from page 9 

In 2002 Melanie 

Maffini-Michaut spent 

six weeks at Friends’ as an 

exchange student. Melanie 

was part of a group from 

our sister School in Nancy, 

while in Tasmania she 

stayed with the Edmondson 

family. Melanie went on 

to graduate from business 

school. She was lucky 

enough to include a year’s 

study in Sweden in her 

course. Back in Tasmania 

for some weeks, Melanie is 

showing her husband Leny 

the State she grew to love 

and early next year they 

will embark on an around 

Australia working holiday. 

Josh Scandrett (2004) 

will be remembered at 

School as a general all 

rounder. 

After School he went 

on to a GAP year in Canada 

where he worked in a summer 

camp catering for students 

with serious or terminal 

illness. He then went to 

UTAS where he completed 

his Honours Degree in 

Agricultural Science. As 

part of his studies Josh 

went on exchange to 

Cornell University in New 

York State for the third 

year of his course. Josh, 

who has always had wide 

interests, decided to apply 

to AYAD (Australian 

Youth Ambassadors for 

Development) after 

completing his degree. 

AYAD places graduates 

in developing countries 

in training positions. 

Currently he is living 

and working in Vietnam, 

managing a research 

program for the University 

of Tasmania which is 

looking at supporting 

small farmers in growing 

forage crops for cattle. 

Josh is pictured here amongst 

his crops. 

Several recent Friends’ 

Old Scholars are currently 

undertaking nursing 

training. Tori Jamieson 

(2009) is taking her training 

in Hobart while Sarah 

Morris (2009) is studying 

in Launceston. Both girls 

continue to enjoy sport, Tori 

is involved in water polo and 

Sarah in soccer 

Mandy Parsons, Owen Pointon and Alice Shugg. 

Sally Stubs (Cameron) Karyn Hill (Shields) Wendy Tilley. 

‘Leave Your Mark’ at 


Let Your Life Speak 

Kate Salter (Griffiths) and David Thompson. 

Left: Tim Maddock and 

Penny Ackroyd. 

Right: Greg Maddox, Phil 

Mackey, Julian Mather, 

Richard Hughes, John 

Burrell, Andrew Skillington 

and Geoff Kirkland enjoyed 

talking about their School 

days. 

Sally Ferrar, Diane Imber (Ferrar). 

To commemorate the opening of the new Farrall Centre, 

The Friends’ School is offering all members of the community 

an opportunity to ‘Leave Your Mark’ by purchasing a seat 

plaque or paver with an inscription of your choice. For more 

information or to pay on line visit: 

http://www.friends.tas.edu.au/howyoucanhelp/seat_ 

plaques_and_pavers 

Name: _____________________________________ 

Address: _______________________________ 

Postcode: ____________Tel: ________________ 

Your Inscription: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Payment Details 

(Cheques made payable to The Friends’ School Building 

& Development Fund) 

Mastercard/Visa Card No: 

Cardholder Name: _______________________________ 

Expiry: ___ / ___ / ___ 

All donations are tax deductible 

Note: Pavers and plaques remain the property of The Friends’ School

1933 Cross Country Team l-r Dryth Williams, John Glasson, 

Paul Unwin (1933 Champion Runner), Keith Gabriel, Evan 

Williams, J Nicholas. 

Jacob Malakoff 2010 Cross Country Champion and the historic 

trophy. 

Focus friends’ connections November 2010 13 

First Day at School 

These little girls are all 

ready to get to School on 

the first day of term. Can 

you remember them? Was 

it your first day too? 

Do readers remember 

their own ‘first day’ at The 

Friends’ School? Can you 

remember when you first 

walked down the long drive 

to the Morris building and 

Friends’ Junior School? 

Cross Country and Friends’ School 

Community Connections 

In June 1897 an 

association aimed “to 

regulate the games of 

football and cricket”, was 

formed. It was called The 

Athletic Association of 

the Schools of Southern 

Tasmania and later became 

known as the Southern 

Tasmanian Athletics 

Schools Association. The 

chair was temporarily 

occupied by Frank Fryer, 

a Friends’ representative. 

Tennis joined the sports 

regulated soon after. In 

April 1898 a [boys] Athletic 

Sports was arranged, foot 

races and bicycle races 

were conducted. Although 

girls had been playing 

cricket and tennis for a few 

years, basketball started to 

be played in a school girls’ 

roster in 1900 and hockey 

in 1904. Friends’ took part 

in their first Cross Country 

Championship in 1904 and 

then in 1905 a Rowing Club 

was formed at Friends’ 

and the School joined in 

competition with other 

Public Schools. 

My sole delight the 

headlong race 

And 

frantic 

hurry of the chase. 

The five mile Southern 

Tasmanian Inter-School 

Cross Country Competition 

has been run around August 

Can you remember the first 

time you and your parents 

entered the dark entrance 

foyer in Commercial 

Road? Can you remember 

your first class, first 

teacher, first new School 

friend? As a boarder can 

you remember your first 

dorm or your first meal in 

Hodgkin Hall? Can anyone 

remember their first 

Assembly or Gathering at 

the Meeting House? Does 

anyone remember the 

first lunch they bought at 

the School canteen or the 

first PE class they had at 

School? 

Please send memories 

to School Archives. Kathy 

Rundle will be pleased to 

receive written or emailed 

memories (and photos). 

PS We have a 

publication about 

Boarding and Residential 

Living at Friends’ nearing 

completion but if you 

have memories or photos 

you would like to share, 

Archives would like to 

hear from you too. 

-September each year since 

at least 1904. 

In 1904 Friends’ 

first participated in the 

competition which was run 

at Bellevue. In 1906 the 

five mile Cross Country 

Competition (CCC) was 

run at Risdon Park. In 1910 

when the CCC was run at 

Elwick, Friends’ had their 

first real success. 

1910 was a real year for 

competitive sport at Friends’ 

The School competed in the 

first Interschool Swimming 

Sports and achieved its first 

victory in Cross Country 

when Reg Tinning won first 

place. 

Reg Tinning was the 

eldest child of Ernest 

Tinning and the family 

lived at Elphinstone Road, 

Mount Stuart. Reg’s 

brothers Cyril and Jack and 

sisters Dorothy, Joan, Mary 

and Ruth were all Friends’ 

students. And their children 

and grandchildren have 

been active sports men and 

women at Friends’ over the 

years, bearing the family 

names Barnett, Campbell, 

Gould, Jones as well as 

Tinning. 

Following Reg there 

have been many fine cross 

country runners. 

Paul Unwin (1933) , was 

an outstanding cross country 

runner. One evening he 

Archives Asks 

Do you have any of the 

following? 

-Slates or slate pens 

-Dipping pens 

-Copy books 

-Old School music books 

-School cases pre-1950 

-School china 

-Samples of sewing 

-Pieces of artwork 

-School prize books 

-Letters written during 

School days 

-Old School hats and caps 

-Diaries written during 

-Focus from 1980’s 

-Hat bands 

-Snapshots of boarding life 

-School references 

-Exam papers 

-School uniforms 

from 1940s and 1950s 

-School gaberdine coat 

-Summer uniform 1940’s 

-School memorabilia 

-Old sporting equipment 

-Photo albums 

Please contact Kathy 

Rundle, School Archivist 

on 6210 2200 or email 

krundle@friends.tas.edu.au 

took a training run after 

dark, visibility was bad 

and while crossing the old 

racecourse at Cornelian 

Bay he fell into a water 

hole, collided head on with 

a cow and got tangled in a 

barbed wire fence. Reports 

were he returned to school 

rather damaged. The same 

Paul Unwin won the House 

cross country race after 

breaking a bone in his 

ankle 500 yards from the 

finish. 

Malcolm McRae (1943) 

was another champion 

of the sport and in 1943 

he broke the record by 

62 seconds, running the 

five miles in 28 min, 38 

seconds. McRae’s time for 

the first mile was 5 min and 

17 sec. The two miles took 

him 11 min and 5 seconds 

and the three miles took 

him 17 min. 

The award of a medal 

had been made for at least 

some of the winners of the 

CCC, until the WH Clemes 

Cross Country Cup was 

initiated in 1946. The cup is 

described as being donated 

by the Tasmanian Amateur 

Athletic Association for 

the Southern Tasmanian 

Association of Public 

Schools’ Cross Country 

Championship. It 

was named in honour 

of William Clemes, 

Rosemary Burke 

(Wright) started at Friends’ 

in Year 1 in 1946 and 

continued until 1958 in 

Year 12. Rosemary was 

Head Prefect in that year 

and won the Clarice Rogers 

prize. Rosemary enjoyed 

art during her School 

years. Her art teacher 

was the well remembered 

Ros Martin (Sansom) 

(see column 1 in Friends’ 

Connections Notes). After 

her years at Friends’. 

Rosemary went to Hobart 

Tech, (the Art School pre 

amalgamation with UTAS) 

and there her teachers 

included Rosamund 

MacCulloch. 

After bringing to 

school age her family of 

three daughters, Rosemary 

and her family moved to 

Launceston and it was 

there that she resumed 

her art practice and did 

some part-time lecturing in 

Fine Arts at the Newnham 

Campus. Her work could be 

Headmaster of Clemes 

College until 1945. 

When Clemes College 

amalgamated with The 

Friends’ School in 1946 

it was appropriate that an 

award remembered the fine 

work of William Clemes 

and the contribution he 

had made to education and 

sport in Tasmania. [Clemes 

father, Samuel Clemes, 

had been the founding 

Principal of The Friends’ 

School in [1887]. 

In 1946 the inaugural 

winner of the Clemes 

Cup was one J A Smith 

of Hutchins. Since then 

winners from Friends’ 

have been 

1947 Michael Lester 

1957 R Nicholls 

1958 John Denholm 

1959 John Denholm 

1960 Alan Turner 

1961 John Annells 

1975 Craig Anderson 

1976 Craig Anderson 

1980 Mark Anderson 

2002 Aidan Lewis 

2010 Jacob Malakoff 

We were very proud 

when Jacob won this year. 

He has shown great promise 

in running since coming to 

Friends in 2003. He was 

the School Under 15 Cross 

Country Champion in 2007 

and the Under 16 Cross 

Country Champion in 2008. 

Celebrating 

Rosemary’s Gifts 

described as ‘assemblage’; 

it is largely sculptural and 

photographic and she uses 

many media. Her recent 

work uses wax, beads, 

found objects, seeds, 

text among a variety of 

assembled forms and 

materials. 

A show to celebrate 

Rosemary Burke’s work 

will be held at the Rosny 

Barn in Hobart during 

November. The show will 

include her photographic 

records, excerpts from 

her notebooks, a selection 

from her collection of 

materials, and her finished 

and unfinished works. 

Details for the show 

are: Opening Nov 11 at 

6:00pm and running from 

Nov 12 to Dec 5. 

There will be a Floor 

Talk by the exhibition’s 

Curator, Dr Eliza Burke, 

Rosemary’s niece and 

artistic executor, on 

Sunday 20 Nov at 2:00pm 

in the Barn.

14 


Former Staff Reunion 

FRIENDS’ CONNECTIONS 


We were delighted 

to welcome former 

staff back to Friends’ 

during a chilly winter’s 

afternoon in July. Before 

the fire in Hodgkin 

Hall, staff enjoyed 

lunch and friendship. 

Lee Anderson and Pru 

Hutton (Melrose), Cleve 

Coppleman and Maggie 

Brent, Jackie Lockyer 

and Nancy Newbon, 

Selwyn Bardenhagen and 

Guilliana White (Longo), 

Helen Duffy (Murfet) 

and Stephanie Farrall 

(Oats) were just some of 

the guests who enjoyed 

catching up with old 

friends. 

Susan Gelber was 

pleased to be back and 

Tuesday Volunteers visit 

new Assembly Hall 

One Tuesday recently 

our School Archives 

volunteers were offered a 

personal tour of the soonto-be-completed 

assembly 

hall by the Development 

Office. Photographed here 

with Steve McQueeney are 

regular volunteers l-r Rip 

Shield, Sally McGushin 

(and Inez), Rosemary 

Gardner, Trevor Wellby and 

Gaye Chequer inspecting 

the catering area in the lower 

area of the hall. 

to share the pleasures 

her grandson James 

is experiencing as a 

Friends’ student. Karen 

Swabey (Patten) enjoyed 

renewing her contacts 

especially with former 

PE staffers Pat Hood 

(McDougall) and Noel 

Ruddock. Karen is 

currently working as the 

Academic Coordinator in 

the Faculty of Education 

at the Launceston 

Campus of UTAS. Noel 

and Margaret Ruddock 

attended from their home 

at Opossum Bay. Noel 

and Margaret continue to 

keep fit and enjoy golf, 

playing at the nearby 

South Arm course. 

A very special guest 

Dates for your Diary 

2010 

End of Year Gathering 

Federation Concert Hall 

Wednesday 1 December 

2000 Reunion Drinks and Canapes 

Saturday 18 December 

10 Year Celebration of IB at Friends’ 

Sunday 19 December 


Tuesday 21 December 

2011 

50+ Year Reunion (Lunch) 

Sunday 20 February 

1976 Reunion Dinner 

Saturday 5 March 


Saturday 16 April 


Saturday 7 May 

Former Staff Occasion 

Saturday 16 July 


23 July 


20 August 


17 December 

2010 Reunion Drinks and Canapes 

22 December 

was Andrew Stirling who 

came along with his sister 

Belinda Schroter. Belinda 

previously worked in the 

Early Childhood area at 

Friends’. Andrew will 

be remembered by many 

students as a dynamic 

Science teacher. He went 

on after his years teaching 

at Friends’ to study 

Medicine. He is now 

living with his family 

in Hobart and practising 

medicine in Launceston. 

Kay Allport (Dunbar) 

is currently teaching 

at Brighton, where she 

began her teaching 

career. Pru Hutton is back 

living in Hobart after a 

time living in Melbourne. 

Karen Patten and Rod Tedds 

remember years of athletic 

carnivals and cross countrys. 

Kay Allport (Dunbar) and Bev 

Hoskings (Miller) catch up. 

Gifts to Archives 

Thank you to the members of the wider School 

community who have generously donated to our History 

and Art Collection. 

John and Jenny Bloomfield 

publication 

Bradley Family 

document relating to Marjory Mason 

costume 

Dobson Mitchell and Allport 

publication 

Ellen Marion Green 

publication 

Alistair Lewis 

costume 

Rob Mather 

Unwin watercolour painting 

Near Blowhole Eagle Hawk Neck undated 

Ilsa Souer 

publications 

Maggie Brent, Cleve Coppleman chat, Selwyn Bardenhagen at 

end of table. 

Pru Hutton chats with 

Development Manager, Steve 

McQueeney and Guilliana 

White. 

Andrew Stirling and Belinda 

Schroter enjoy lunch in 

Hodgkin Hall. 

Many Mathers - meet Robert Powell Mather 

When Rob Mather left 

school he planned to be a 

chemist but at the University 

of Tasmania he was so 

influenced by the radical new 

Professor Carey when he 

studied geology he ultimately 

became a geologist. Carey 

was the head of the new 

Department of Geology 

founded in 1947. 

After graduation and 

a brief time with CSIRO 

Rob spent a couple of years 

overseas including time in 

Northern Rhodesia, now 

Zambia. On returning to 

Australia he joined the HEC 

and worked first in Hobart 

and then at Strathgordon. 

During these 15 years 

he married and had four 

children three of whom, 

Helen (1977), James (1979) 

and Bruce (1980), spent 

their early schooling at The 

Friends’ School. 

In 1970 Rob, along with 

geologists from all over 

the world moved to WA 

during the mineral boom 

of that era. When the boom 

ended, unlike many of his 

colleagues, Rob remained in 

We Give Thanks 

for the Lives of... 

Tom Anderson 

Stanley Donald 

Sally Freeman 

Neil Gardner 

Dulcie Gasking (Hay) 

Rod Haigh 

Susan Henry (Harrison) 

Mary Loosmore (Gladman) 

Margaret Helen (Peggy) Soundy 

2010 is the 10th Year of the IB 

Diploma at Friends’ 


extends a warm invitation to all old scholars who 

have studied the IB Diploma since its inception in 2000 

to attend a 

10 Year Celebration 

(drinks and light supper) 

to be held on 

Sunday 19 December 2010 

from 5:00pm until 7:30pm 

in the 

Foyer of the new Assembly Hall 

on the Argyle Street Campus 

Please RSVP to Kalli McCarthy 

on +61 3 6210 2200 or 

email kmccarthy@friends.tas.edu.au 

by Tuesday 14 December 2010 

WA. In recent years he has 

spent his time either working 

as a Consultant Geologist 

or sailing his yacht with his 

wife Sue around the West 

Pacific islands. 

Rob has kept in touch 

with The Friends’ School 

and was pleased to be able 

to meet John Green at a 

function in Perth in 2002 

before his departure to 

become Principal.

Focus creative November 2010 15 

A Saigon Morning 

by Roger Midgley 

The sun is yet to rise. 

Little lights shine and weave. 

They dance to a steady purr, 

that builds to a steady roar. 

The motorbikes are coming, 

they begin to flow. 

A flood is pending, 

a growing unending stream. 

Banked by weary power poles, 

festooned and wilting under their load of straggling black 

spaghetti. 

Cables, wires and lines, all in disarray. 

In suburbia and town, three million motorbikes are 

awakening, kicking into life and embarking on their way. 

Paths and laneways like trickling tributaries to the rivers 

building in the streets, swelling and adding momentum to 

the flow. 

One and two room dwellings, their drivers leave behind. 

Alec Palmer, Year 12 student, created this painting, “Fields”, as 

part of his TCE course. 

Riders, sometimes four or even five to a bike float to 

kindergarten, school, maybe a pavement café and on to 

work. 

Those that pause at the cafés socialise over a coffee or 

breakfast in a clutter of bodies and bikes close to the 

rushing torrent prior to rejoining its flow. 

Occasionally dammed by a traffic light counting down or 

by an elevated police hand. 

Released they flood on, freed the bikes run, parting round 

pedestrians that wade into their path, slowing and clumping 

into little groups when impeded by a truck or a bus prior to 

surging on, regaining the main stream. 

They are as water rounding rocks in a river, some eddy out 

at places of employment, others enter from the fringes to 

merge deeper into the flow to be swept onward. 

The day runs its course. 

Rush hour returns. 

A paradox. 

Like a neap tide, the rivers run a banker but there is little 

movement in or out. 

The tide ebbs, fluid movement returns. 

After ten thirty, the flow abates. 

No such thing as the last motorbike. 

The sky is lightening in the east. 

Precursor to another Saigon morning. 

The sun is yet to rise. 

Little lights shine and weave. 

They dance to a steady purr…. 

Year 10 student, Claudia Turner’s chalk drawing of Mother 

Teresa. 

Year 2 student, Sophie Rockefeller’s artwork. 

Friends’ Early Years created several collaborative pieces, 

including one using spoons and glitter. 

Year 7 student, Josephine Painter’s work. 

Demitra McCarthy’s etching of a scorpion, created as part of the 

Year 8 art course. 

Lucinda Pfund, Saskia Young and Wilson Pitt from Early Years 

working on their masterpiece. 

Miriam Berkery, a High School and Clemes art teacher, created 

several reusable shopping bags for the recent staff art exhibtion.

16 


creative 


This magnificent cake is the creation of Physical Science and Chemistry teacher, Katrina Munting, 

who produces these works of art as a hobby. 

This edible rowing boat made entirely from icing was made by Katrina to commemorate the 75th 

Birthday of the Derwent Sea Scouts. 

Clemes Lab Technician, Ailsa Fergusson created this Sorry Book 

out of decorated paper and cardboard. 

This spectacular portrait is the creation of Year 12 student, Alisha 

Watkins. 

Year 11 student, Lydia Birch created this work as part of her TCE 

course. 

A long nosed papier maché creature crafted by Year 3 student, 

Jamie Wilson. 

One could easily mistake the rippling water and perfect reflections in this painting as a photo, such is the artistic talent of IT teacher, 

Pat Lee. 

Winter Games 2010 


The Clemes Foyer saw 

students bobbing for apples, 

eating doughnuts suspended 

from the ceiling, creating 

toilet paper mummies 

and newspaper fashion 

outfits in the 2010 edition 

of The Clemes Council 

Winter Games. 

Held over two days in 

the last week of Term 2, The 

Games were a way to boost 

students’ morale at the end 

of a long second term. 

The competition was 

structured so that teams of 

four competed in several 

heats in order to gain a spot 

in the coveted Grand Final. 

The first heat involved 

a relay race, where each 

member of a team had to 

eat a doughnut suspended 

from the ceiling by string 

without using their hands, 

which proved difficult for 

some when their doughnuts 

fell on the floor! 

Next, teams had to 

create fashion outfits from 

newspaper and garbage bags. 

Tony Barrett’s modeling 

proved to be a crowd 

pleaser, with the teachers 

team moving forward to 

the next round. 

The last heat involved 

teams wrapping a member 

in toilet paper to turn them 

into a mummy. 

Two teams, one 

consisting of Year 11 

students and the other of 

Year 12 girls, battled for the 

top prize of lolly bags in an 

apple bobbing competition. 

The Year 11 team came out 

on top after several members 

of the team dunked their 

heads into the tubs containing 

their apple, coming out with 

dripping hair. 

A large cheering crowd 

watched the event, which 

succeeded in improving 

students’ winter spirits. 

Lewis Rands competes in the bobbing apples competition as team 

mates Max Rintoul, James Campbell-Graham and Aleisha Ring 

look on. 

Photo supplied by Chris Yu

Friends’ staff and students on their way to see Mary Poppins. 

Photo supplied by Tammy Giblin 

by India Ford 

to attend a fantastic solo 


A Dramatic affair in Melbourne 

Year 11 and 12 Drama 

students were given the 

opportunity to travel to 

Melbourne in July on the 

Drama Trip. 

The students arrived in 

Melbourne early morning 

Monks chant through School 

by Ella Hind 

A group of Gyuto 

monks gave an incredible 

chanting performance in a 

recent Clemes Assembly in 

September and answered 

questions from the student 

audience via a very 

entertaining translator. 

The Gyuto monks are a 

branch of tantric Buddhists 

originally from Tibet. 

The Chinese government 

destroyed their monastery 

around thirty years ago and 

about sixty monks escaped 

to India with the Dalai Lama 

where they rebuilt. 

There is now a 

population at their 

monastery in India of over 

five hundred. 

The monastery has a 

relationship with a group 

here in Australia which 

organises a visit to Tasmania 

every two years. 

Every year the monks 

build a Mandala, an 

incredible pattern or design 

made out of vibrantly 

coloured sand from 

the Himalayas. 

This year, it was 

built at Mawson Place 

in Salamanca. 

performance workshop 

at the Moult House 

Theatre conducted by a 

professional actress. 

This workshop 

was also attended by 

other Tasmanian and 

mainland students. 

The Gyuto Monks with their helmets in the Meeting House. 

The monks memorise 

the complex designs, and 

it takes years of training to 

perfect this art. 

Once complete, 

the Mandala is poured 

into the ocean to 

symbolise impermanence. 

Many activities and 

classes were held for 

children at Mawson Place 

and a group of Friends’ 

students served tea there as 

a service opportunity. 

The Gyuto monks 

are unique masters of a 

mesmerising deep harmonic 

overtone chanting. 

After the workshop 

students were treated 

to an example of a solo 

performance by one of the 

practicing mature students. 

Students toured the 

National Institute of Circus 

Arts and visited Patrick 

Studios Australia for a dance 

workshop the following day. 

In the evening they 

went to an amateur theatre 

performance in a small 

intimate performing space 

called Sadonica Bound. 

They attended the 

Melbourne Theatre to 

see Dead Man’s Cell 

Phone starring Australian 

actress Lisa McCune for a 

comparison of scale. 

Continuing with the 

theme of ‘The Arts’ they had a 

day to explore more of the arts 

that Melbourne had to offer 

and visited several galleries, 

They reach levels with 

their voice considered 

impossible for human voices 

to reach and can chant in 

three octaves at once. 

To be able to do this, 

monks must train for several 

years and training starts with 

children as young as nine. 

The chanting is said 

to have a transformative 

affect on the physical and 

emotional body. 

While chanting, they 

wore helmets, or hats. 

These headdresses 

and costumes are used to 

symbolise the helmet of a 

one of them being the most 

recent exhibition by artist and 

filmaker, Tim Burton. 

The exhibition was 

filled with quirky art from 

Burton’s youth, all the way 

through to his most recent 

movie projects such as 

Alice in Wonderland. 

The highlight of the 

trip was the amazing 

performance of Mary 

Poppins, a musical that 

proved to be extravagant, 

impressive and thoroughly 

enjoyable for all ages. 

A big thank you goes to 

the Drama Department, for 

planning an amazing jampacked 

Drama Trip! 

Hannah Just, India Ford, 

Bronwyn Gould, Will Pridmore 

and Zanial McEwan at the Tim 

Burton Exhibition. 

Photo supplied by Tammy 

Giblin 

Photo by Sue McNeill 

war general, the robes of a 

fighter and the prayer wheel 

a hammer. 

With the invasion of 

Tibet, this headdress has 

now become a symbol of 

non-violence. 

In discussion with 

students, they related the 

monastic life to that of an 

army; the shaved heads, strict 

routine and little privacy. 

The visiting monks 

spoke about how grateful 

they were to be visiting us, 

and we are equally grateful 

for their presence at the 

School. 

Bell Shakespeare 

by Bridget Wallbank 

At the end of Semester 1, 

following our English unit 

on Shakespeare, Year 9 

went to see a production 

of Twelfth Night by 

the Bell Shakespeare 

Theatre Company. 

Twelfth Night is a tale 

about a brother and a 

sister who land in a totally 

foreign place. 

After a boat crash 

separates the two, the 

sister, Viola has to dress as 

a man to survive without 

her brother. 

However she falls 

for a man named Orsino, 

who has fallen for another 

woman called Olivia, who 

is in love with Viola, who 

is pretending to be a man 

called Cesario. 

It is a twisted plot but 

after watching the movie, 

She’s The Man, which is 

based on Twelfth Night, 

and some re-enactment, we 

understood the plot. 

However, the Bell 

Shakespeare Theatre 

Company decided to 

place this scenario in 

a place recently struck 

by devastation. 

The whole story was 

set around the towns of 

the Victorian bushfires, 

with a mass pile of clothes 

staying centre stage for the 

entire performance. 

Actors played multiple 

characters, bringing 

different traits and ways of 

speaking to each one. 

The performance was 

witty, serious, hilarious 

and true-to-story all at the 

same time and I think the 

entire Year 9 group enjoyed 

the performance. 

It was the perfect way to 

end our English unit and the 

semester. 

Peter Jones, who organised the monks’ visit, receiving a scarf 

from the head monk during the Clemes Assembly. 

Photo by Sue McNeill 

Ebony Alexander receiving a scarf on behalf of all Friends’ 

School students from the head monk during the Clemes Assembly. 

Photo by Sue McNeill

18 


Music 

Marimba at Government House! 



Music Concert 

This term has been 

a most exciting time for 

the marimba ensembles 

throughout the School. 

Jim McCarthy, a 

freelance percussionist 

specialising in keyboard 

percussion instruments 

(marimba and vibraphone), 

visited the school for 

the third time, his visit 

paid for by the Parents & 

Friends Association. 

Jim made a marimba 

whilst here in Hobart and, 

at a special Friends’ School 

marimba concert at the 

Stanley Burbury Theatre 

on Tuesday 21 September, 

presented the handmade 

marimba to the school. 

President of the 

School’s Parents and 

Friends Association, Lesley 

Clementson, received 

the gift. 

Jim worked with the six 

marimba groups during his 

stay, all of whom performed 

at the concert. 

Jim played ‘Rhythm 

Song’ by Paul Smadbeck 

on the concert marimba, 

and then the first movement 

of ‘Mexican Dances’ 

by Gordon Stout on the 

new marimba. 

The Tasmanian Youth 

Percussion Ensemble, led 

by Tracey Patten, also 

performed on the evening, 

which was well enjoyed 

by the audience and 

everyone involved. 

Staff member, Paul 

Radford had the pleasure 

of attending the Fifth 

National Marimba Festival 

in Boksburg, South Africa in 

early August. 

The Marimba Education 

Foundation, an organisation 

dedicated to promoting the 

use of the marimba as a tool 

for engaging music making, 

ran the three day festival. 

There were over 1,000 

participants from various 

parts of South Africa. 

Paul Radford conducting the 

Year 10 Marimba Ensemble 

during the concert at the 

Stanley Burbury Theatre. 

Photo by Ingrid Roberts 

Highlights of the trip 

for Paul were seeing a vast 

range of ensembles, which 

included an ensemble of 

blind musicians and, more 

importantly, being part of 

an event which brought so 

many people together in the 

spirit of friendship to share 

their love of music. 

The marimba ensembles 

were recently treated 

to the opportunity to 

record in the Ballroom of 

Government House. 

The acoustics of the 

Ball Room were perfect 

for the style of recording 

being made and we are very 

grateful to His Exellency, 

The Honourable Peter 

Underwood AC, Governor 

of Tasmania, for granting 

use of the room. 

Arabella Wain, a student 

of Audio Design in Year 12 

was the sound recordist of 

the day, doing a superb job, 

using equipment recently 

purchased for The Farrall 

Centre and ensuring each 

group was efficiently and 

effectively recorded. 

Kieva Hobbs and Jessica Tanner with Samantha Climie during the 

recording session at Government House. 


Jim McCarthy playing ‘Rhythm Song’ by Paul Smadbeck in the 

Stanley Burbury Theatre. 


The Year 10 Marimba ensemble performing ‘Jamaica’ in the 

Government House Ballroom. 


Dilini Perera and Charlotte Bannink playing the marimba during 

the rescording session at Government House. 


Laura Turner in control of the concert while Olivia Direen and 

Tess Hatfield watch on. 

Photo by Chris Yu 

by Craig Fullerton 

The Brass Ensemble gave 

the audience a bright start 

to the final Friendsmusic 

concert for 2010 and the 

final School-wide concert 

to be presented in the WN 

Oats, as we look forward 

to future performances in 

The Farrall Centre, our new 

performing arts auditorium. 

This was the second 

concert of the year to 

feature instrumental 

ensembles and choirs from 

across the School. 

It was a night of 

debut performances of 

the Brass Ensemble, The 

Friends’ School Saxophone 

Ensemble and the Male 

Voice Choir. 

It was also a great 

opportunity to celebrate 

the work of many of our 

ensembles and choirs 

from Morris. 

We were entertained 

by Morris Band, Morris 

Strings, the Years 3 & 4, 5 

& 6 choirs and a combined 

choir performance of these 

young voices, along with 

Symphonic Friends 


Musicians from Morris to 

Clemes gathered at Hobart’s 

Town Hall for the Symphony 

of Friends’ and Strings 

Concert on 25 August. 

Music Representatives, 

Amelia Catt, Orlando 

Mason and Allan 

McConnell hosted the 

evening, introducing each 

piece with a brief history. 

Opening with the Senior 

Strings, Anna Maguire 

conducted the ensemble 

through two pieces, the first 

being ‘Larghetto’, from 

Concerto Grosso by Handel 

and the second, Symphony 

No. 8 by Dvorak. 

Baroque Players were 

joined by Year 12 soprano, 

Arabella Wain, Head of 

Music, Craig Fullerton on 

the piccolo trumpet and 

teacher, Catherine Cretan 

on the harpsichord to play 

Handel’s ‘Let the bright 

Seraphim’ from Samson. 

This piece was a huge 

highlight of the evening 

and everyone was amazed 

by the high standard of 

the performance. 

contributions from our 

senior groups, including 

strings, bands and choirs. 

Thank you to the parents 

and Friendsmusic for 

providing the supper, which 

was enjoyed by all during 

the interval. 

The concert was again 

hosted by the 2010 Music 

Representatives – Orlando 

Mason and Amelia Catt 

(Clemes), and Katherine 

Davis and Allan McConnell 

(High School). 

The students from the 

Year 12 Marimba Ensemble 

also thanked Paul Radford 

for the opportunity to work 

with him in a Marimba 

Ensemble during their time 

in High School and Clemes. 

A sincere thank you to 

all of the Friends’ School 

Music Tutors for their 

dedication and enjoyment 

when working with the 

students to prepare them 

for this performance and 

to the Physical Education 

Staff for their support for 

the Music Department’s 

use of the WN Oats over 

the years. 

Schumann’s Piano 

Quintet, E Flat Major was 

performed in the second 

half of the evening with 

Jennifer Leung from Year 

12 joining the Senior 

String Quartet on piano. 

The acoustics of the 

Town Hall worked well to 

blend the sound of the piano 

with the strings. 

Year 12 IB student 

Jed Adams was given the 

opportunity for his own 

composition, Hallucinations 

of Green, to be performed 

during the evening. 

Jesse Morley, Susie 

Cretan, Dominic Mackie 

and Harriet Morris-Baguley 

combined with Jed to perform 

this piece, which was a huge 

success leaving the audience 

stunned when they realised it 

was Jed’s own composition. 

A well awaited 

conclusion to the evening 

came when The Symphony of 

Friends’ played three pieces, 

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 

7, 2nd movement, Greig’s 

‘Solveig’s Song’ from Peer 

Gynt Suite No 2 and Holst’s 

‘Jupiter – Bringer of Jollity’ 

from The Planets.

Maths Relays 

by Martin Bower 

What does 37, 360, 25 

March, 6 and a lot of frantic 

running to check answers 

have in common? 

Nine Friends’ teams 

competed in the statewide 

Maths Relay run by the 

Mathematics Association of 

Tasmania and held at Rosny 

College in August with some 

great results. 

The competition is split 

into four divisions, ranging 

from Primary to Senior 

Secondary and saw 720 

students competing from 

over 70 schools across 

the state. 

The Friends’ teams came 

from each year level with an 

extra one made up of students 

from Walker House. 

The competition 

involved a running relay 

of questions and answers 

between a marking station 

and a working table. 

Problems ranged in 

value from five points 

(challenging) to 20 points 

(most challenging!) and a 

maximum of 200 points 

was available in a maximum 

time of 45 minutes. 


Year 9 Far South Camp 

by Lindy Pritchard 

Early in October, the first 

of three Year 9 Far South 

Experience camps set off. 

At 7.30am on Saturday 

9 October, 48 students, 

teachers and guides 

assembled at school for 

a gear check, briefing 

and departure. 

The first three days of 

the camp were undertaken 

in expedition style, with one 

group setting off on foot at 

the back of Mt Wellington 

to arrive at Judbury 

by nightfall. 

Camp was set up for 

the night and early in the 

morning the group hopped 

on mountain bikes and 

continued their journey 

along the Tassie Trail. 

This trip culminated in 

the arrival of the group on 

One of our senior teams, 

Alex Rigby, Harry West and 

Karl Bicevskis, was one 

member short but managed 

to score a perfect 200 points. 

They ended up placing 

equal third in the state as other 

teams were able to finish a 

little quicker than they did. 

Our Year 10 team of 

Caitlin Davie, Joseph 

Taylor, Ryan Clymo- 

Rowlands and Sharnna Li 

were the clear State Winners 

of the Upper Secondary 

division with 125 points. 

The Junior and Upper 

secondary divisions had quite 

difficult questions this year 

and this kept the scores low. 

Perhaps next year will be 

your opportunity. See how 

you go with this! 

Which two-digit prime 

number when multiplied by 

2, subtracted by one, and then 

read backwards equals the 

original number? (Primary) 

What is the result of this 

calculation: 1+2-3+4+5-6… 

+47-48? (Junior Secondary) 

The sum of the digits 

of the year 2010 is 3. How 

many years between 1000 

and 2000 have this property? 

(Senior Secondary) 

bikes into the Far South 

Wilderness Camp at Dover 

mid-afternoon on Monday. 

The other expeditions 

saw groups set off in sea 

kayaks from Huonville 

and in whaleboats 

from Franklin. 

Their journeys continued 

over three days with 

good winds carrying the 

whaleboats from Randall’s 

Bay across to Mickey’s 

Bay on Bruny Island in 

good time to make a grand 

entrance across the bay into 

Far South. 

The sea kayakers 

traveled as far south as 

strong weather conditions 

would allow, with this group 

also arriving at Far South on 

Monday afternoon. 

A fourth group tackled 

day walks out of the Far 

South Camp, with day one 

Woody Stone, Juyeong In, Polo Liu, Leo Zhu and their certificates. 

Photo supplied by Joe Cairns 

Holly Fox, Jack Rintoul and Dion Li working on a maths problem. 

Photo supplied by Joe Cairns 

seeing students trekking 

through knee deep snow on 

Hartz Peak. 

On day two, the group 

traveled to Recherche Bay 

to start the South Cape walk 

to Lion Rock. 

A magnificent view with 

fantastic rolling surf greeted 

the group as they emerged 

on the coast. 

On Monday, this group 

spent a more relaxing day 

with a tour of Hastings Caves 

followed by relaxation at 

Hastings Pool. 

After a lively reunion 

dinner on Monday night, 

students settled into the 

remaining four days of 

the camp, undertaking 

curriculum activities 

which included a visit to 

nearby forests, hosted by 

Forestry Tasmania, journal 

making, 3-D photography, 

lantern making, photo 

essays, drama, boot camp 

and astronomy. 

A significant activity 

was the mapping out and 

environmental survey of 

a study plot at the Far 

South Camp. 

These Year 9 Far South 

camps will collect base-line 

data, which will form the 

basis for long-term studies 

that will be undertaken by 

Friends’ School students in 

Years 5, 7 and 9, with some 

students at Clemes having 

the opportunity to develop 

their own investigations. 

The camp was a 

resounding success with 

staff and students both 

reporting an enjoyable and 

worthwhile experience. 

We hope all goes well for 

the remaining camps which 

will happen in November. 

Maths 

Competition 

by Chris Yu 

The annual Australian 

Maths Competition on 5 

August involved over 350 

students from the High 

School and Clemes. 

As students filed 

into empty classrooms, a 

nervous tension could be 

felt in almost every room, 

as the students applied 

all their mathematical 

skills, competing on a 

national level. 

The Australian Maths 

Competition is the larger 

and said to be slightly less 

challenging than the local 

Tasmanian competition, 

and is the more popular of 

the two. 

Most of the students 

who entered were from the 

High School, because of 

the mid-term exams that 

ran concurrently with the 

competition at Clemes. 

The competition is a 

great way for students to 

further their mathematical 

skills and we congratulate 

all who participated in this 

worthwhile event. 

Year 8 students focusing hard in the Lecture Theatre. 

More Year 8 students working through their tests in the libary. 

Photos supplied by Joe Cairns 

Enjoying the snow on the Hartz Peak walk. 

Packing up on the final day. 

All photos supplied by Lindy Pritchard

20 


Ryan Bowring preparing his innovative dish. 

Photo by Andrew Goodman 

by Erin Jose 

Tournament of Minds 

is a problem solving 

competition, where a team 

of seven students is given 

six weeks to solve a problem 

and then have to present 

their solution as a 10 minute 

dramatic performance. 

There are four 

categories teams can 

enter: Maths Engineering, 

Applied Technology, 

Language Literature and 

Social Science. 

This year, in the Applied 

Technology challenge, the 

team had to find a lost city 

and create a documentary on 

their discovery. 

The Language 

Literature challenge team 

members had to take on 

the role of book characters 

and overcome their 

differences by the end of 

the presentation. 

Year 5 students Alina Neuberger, Connor Barling, Orlaith 

Morrissey, Nelson Hinds and Aled Jones practising hard. 


NEWS 

Friends’ cooks up a ‘Whirlpool’ 

by Aleisha Ring and Jamie 

Brown 

Friends’ students from 

Clemes and the High School 

took part in the Tasmanian 

Cook Competition on 

October 12 at Devonport 

High School. 

The Tasmanian Cook 

Competition is Australia’s 

largest one-day live 

cooking competition 

and Tasmania’s premier 

hospitality event. 

Now in its seventh year 

of competition, and still 

going strong, it attracts 

competitors from all 

over Australia. 

The competition is 

unique in that it incorporates 

both trade (chef and 

apprentice) and schools 

(high school and college). 

Doing so opens the 

competition to both the 

professional chefs and 

to those who are just 

starting out. 

The competition consists 

of high school and college 

team events, consisting of 

a team of four students, 

high school and college 

individual sections, a first 

year apprentice section, 

a second year apprentice 

section, a third and fourth 

year apprentice section, 

and Trade Team Challenge, 

which is a competition for 

both chefs and apprentices. 

For the Friends’ Year 9 

and 10 teams, competitors 

were required to prepare and 

present a four-course menu 

consisting of an appetizer, 

soup, entrée, and dessert, 

with the first three courses 

incorporating sweet potato. 

They had to complete all 

of this in just 45 minutes. 

The two teams were 

named after the School’s 

two primary colours. 

Morris shines at Tournament of Minds 

Thomas Shaddock, Sam Driessen, Emily Pregnell, Jacob Vincent, 

Sam Williams and Sophie Boucher all of Morris, working hard at 

perfecting their presentation. Photo supplied by Denise Wadsley 

The Maths Engineering 

teams had to create a 

“specimen” that was 

supported by a small centre, 

but could cover a large area. 

The Social Science 

teams had to create their own 

revolution and show how it 

impacted upon society. 

Friends’ entered five 

teams this year. 

The tournament was held 

at the UTAS campus in the 

north and involved a day trip 

to Launceston on a bus with 

all of the Friends’ teams. 

The School did 

particularly well this year, 

with three out of five teams 

gaining a place in the 

state competition. 

Two of the Morris teams 

won their sections of Maths 

Engineering and Applied 

Technology, the High School 

team gained second place in 

Applied Technology. 

The Red Team consisted 

of Kai Roberts, Hannah 

Gunn, Rosie Macdonald 

and Elsa Gales, who 

grabbed second place in 

the competition and were 

rewarded with a Whirpool 

Dishwasher that will be 

sold, with proceeds going 

towards charity. 

The Blue Team consisted 

of Edwina Flakemore, Bella 

Laughton-Clark, Bronte 

Johnstone and Jacob Cooper. 

Friends’ Year 9 and 10 

students were also successful 

in the individual events. 

Nell Beasley’s dish of 

Tasmanian goats cheese 

wontons with caramelised 

tomato and fennel salad 

was awarded second place, 

and her prize was a Scan 

Pan Knife block donated by 

Devonport Discount Meats. 

The Year 11/12 

participants were also 

successful, with the Red 

Team, consisting of 

Hannah Just, Aleisha Ring, 

Emily Stone and Erik 

Trull, grabbing third place 

in the competition and 

winning a prize hamper of 

kitchen products donated 

by Whirlpool. 

The Clemes’ individual 

participants also created a 

The High School team 

was lucky enough to watch 

the two winning Morris 

teams’ presentations. 

The Maths Engineering 

team showed great initiative, 

with a specimen they created 

out of balloons. 

The Applied Technology 

team made an outstanding 

movie, which was above any 

expectations for a primary 

school team. 

Congratulations and best 

wishes to the Morris teams, 

who will be travelling to 

Darwin for the National 

Tournament in mid-October. 

The team members 

are Alina Neuberger, Aled 

Jones, Orlaith Morrissey, 

Connor Barling, Liam 

Vaughan, Nelson Hinds, Sam 

Williams, Sam Driessen, 

Thomas Shaddock, Jacob 

Vincent, Emily Pregnell and 

Sophie Boucher. 


Nell Beasley ‘firing up’ during the competition. 


Aleisha Ring, Georgia Franks, Emily Stone, Ed Davoren, Hannah 

Just, Harry West, Erik Trull and Ryan Bowring before their 

competition. 


buzz with Ryan Bowring 

picking up second place 

with his Tasmanian blue 

cheese mille feuille with 

Alliance Français 

by Chris Small 

Friends’ students were 

fortunate to have a dozen 

prize winners and an 

additional 32 honourable 

mentions at an award 

ceremony at Rosny College 

for the Alliance Française 

competition on 18 August. 


held at Hobart College. 

Students took part in a 

range of different French 

language competitions. 

These included reading 

comprehension, oral 

comprehension, poetry 

recital and conversation. 

Georgia Mohler, from 

Year 9 won third place in 

reading comprehension. 

Students also performed 

well in the poetry recital 

competitions with Luke 

Bombardieri from Year 7 

gaining a second place, 

Michael Hutch in Year 8 

winning first prize, while 

in the Year 9 competition, 

Georgia Mohler won first 

prize and Alice Salter was 

awarded third place. 

In the Year 11/12 

category, first prize was 

awarded to Maddy Foote. 

Students who have lived 

in France or speak French 

at home were placed in a 

separate category known as 

‘Hors Concours’ (literally 

‘out of the competition’). 

pear and a pear salad with 

warm relish. 

We hope this year sets a 

precedent for the future. 

In Hors Concours Year 8 

poetry, Joelle Nininahazwe 

took second place. 

In Hors Concours Year 

10 listening, first place was 

awarded to Bianca Herzog 

and third place to Jacques 

Demange. 

Christopher Small won 

the Hors Concours for Year 

11/12 poetry. 

The audience was treated 

to performances throughout 

the award ceremony. 

Isobel Webber played 

‘Cannelle’ by Bernard 

Andrès on the harp. 

Other acts included 

a song from the famous 

musical Les Misérables, 

and primary school students 

who recited the days of 

the week. 

The winners of the 

poetry section were given 

the opportunity to recite 

their poems. 

These poems included 

‘L’écolier’ (Year 8), ‘Le 

Ciel est par-dessus le toit’ 

(Year 9) and ‘Champs de 

Coquelicots’ (Year 11/12). 

We thank the teachers 

who gave help and support 

to the participants and to all 

those who helped organise 

this event. 

Congratulations go 

not only to the award 

winners, but also to all those 

who participated in the 

competition.

Focus IB news November 2010 21 

A Chilling Botanic Field Trip 

Jessica Treisize, Sherry Zheng, Rhia Hunt and Sharon Vulimu, being supervised by Mary Beadle, Mary Beadle explaining the vegetation to the IB Biology Class at a typical site. 

recording the physical conditions of the site. Photo by Ailsa Fergusson Photo by Ailsa Fergusson 

by Xin Lei Zheng (Sherry) 

A bus was organised to 

take the Year 11 IB Biology 

class for a field trip up 

Mountain Wellington at the 

end of September. 

The purpose of the 

Biology excursion was 

to investigate the diverse 

species of plants and 

identify them. 

With the warm weather 

and clear skies, we felt 

excited to be like professional 

Philosophical Preparation 

by Sharon Vulimu 

I remember joining the 

Philosophy class two weeks 

after school had resumed. 

I wasn’t sure what I 

was to expect since it was 

something I had never done 

in my whole entire life. 

My first lesson was quite 

interesting, having grown 

up knowing certain things, 

such as the existence of 

God, which I had never even 

once questioned. 

We were introduced 

to the question ‘What is a 

human being?’ 

Preview of Rhia’s journey 

by Rhia Hunt 

Want to do something 

really different for your 

CAS Program? 

During the summer 

holidays I will be 

heading off to the coastal 

town of Mombasa in 

southern Kenya. 

I’m taking the trip 

through the Rural 

biologists on the mountain, 

each having expertise on the 

plant that we were assigned 

to talk about. 

We started at the pinnacle 

of the mountain, where it 

was frosty and cold with 

most of the ground covered 

in snow. 

It also happened to be 

snowing at that time. 

It was hard to grip a 

pen and work sheet, while 

trying to resist the cold air 

in our hands. 

We had a class 

discussion and I was 

shocked about how I took 

my existence for granted. 

I realised that the things 

I thought as obvious weren’t 

obvious in the real sense. 

And as time went by, 

the more I learnt about 

Philosophy the more I 

started challenging myself 

on certain things. 

All this seems like a 

week ago. 

I can’t believe the 

year is over already and 

soon I’ll be sitting for my 

Philosophy papers. 

Community Development 

Program (RCDP) 

volunteers, who organise 

a range of different trips to 

choose from. 

Kenya interested me 

because I’ve never been 

to that part of the world 

and have always found 

it intriguing. 

While there I will 

be staying with a host 

We experienced a tough 

time at the pinnacle as we 

were wearing thick warm 

coats while battling the 

bitter winds. 

We learned to use 

different kinds of apparatus 

to measure the physical 

conditions of the area such 

as the relative humidity, 

soil temperature and light 

intensity, using these 

measurements, as well as 

the physical conditions, to 

predict the adaptations of 

Philosophy is a great 

subject and I would 

recommend it to anyone. 

It helps students 

think critically and learn 

whole new things in an 

enjoyable way. 

In my opinion, preparing 

for Philosophy exams is 

quite challenging but, with 

the help of our Philosophy 

teacher who is so supportive, 

I believe all the students 

sitting for Philosophy exam 

this year will pass. 

I wish all those sitting 

for the Philosophy exam this 

year all the best. 

family and working in an 

orphanage during the day. 

I will also be 

attempting to climb Mount 

Kilimanjaro, the highest 

mountain in Africa at 

almost six thousand metres. 

I’m hoping to meet 

some interesting people 

and am looking forward to 

experiencing a completely 

different culture. 

the plants found around 

the area. 

We were relieved to find 

ourselves warming up again 

at a lower altitude. 

Here, the flora changed. 

and we found that weather, 

temperature, and the type 

of soil will cause different 

species of the same family 

of plants to grow in that 

particular area. 

At lower altitudes, more 

luxuriant plants were found, 

similar to the plants found in 

the rainforest. 

We had a little bit 

of trouble identifying 

Tasmannia lancelata (native 

pepper plant), as it was a 

shrub in high altitudes, but 

in lower altitudes, it had 

an average height around 

four metres and had much 

broader leaves. 

This was the first time 

I went on a field trip where 

The IB Biology Class embracing the cool weather of Mount 

Wellington. From left to right: Chris Bray, Daniel Ferguson, Amy 

Li, Jessica Tresize, Sarah Reynolds, Rhia Hunt, Sherry Zheng, 

Sharon Vulimu, Nimeshi Fernando, Anne-Louise Knight, Raziqah 

Ramli, Mary Beadle and Christopher Small. 

Photo by Ailsa Fergusson 

Looking back on the year 

by Bing Jun Li (Amy) 

I came to Hobart at 

the beginning of Year 11 

from China. 

The first lesson I had was 

History and when I entered 

the classroom, I was nervous 

and I couldn’t completely 

understand what the class 

was about. 

In the beginning, my 

abilities to comprehend 

and speak English were not 

good enough to understand 

everything the teachers 

said, so the first two 

months at school were a big 

challenge for me but after 

eight months, I have built 

more confidence. 

In these eight months, I 

have participated in many 

activities, both academic 

I learnt names of plants in 

English, as I come from a 

Chinese background. 

We were glad that we 

had the opportunity to be 

and extra-curricular, 

which provided me with 

more opportunities to 

communicate with other 

students and teachers. 

I met many Year 12 IB 

students in TOK day and 

TOK presentation day, 

and saw the work they had 

done so far. 

It helped me to better 

understand the purpose of 

the course. 

This reminds me of a 

Chinese saying that says, 

‘People are not afraid of what 

would happen, but are afraid 

of the unknown’. 

The reason that I felt 

IB was unknown for me, is 

that the method of studying 

we’re used to in China is 

different from what we are 

doing in IB. 

involved in the field trip, and 

develop our field work skills. 

Thanks to Mary Beadle 

and Ailsa Fergusson for 

organising this trip. 

For example, we would 

not have ‘presentations’ in 

Chinese class on the topics 

we’ve learnt, instead, the 

Chinese students do lots of 

paper work and textbook 

based learning. 

Because we had many 

topics to learn every year, 

teachers had to teach us 

as much as they could in 

a short time, which means 

we seldom had a whole 

period of class to present. 

So a presentation is one 

of the new events for me. 

It is quite pleasant to 

look back on the first year 

of the IB Diploma. 

I have enjoyed my 

time in the first year of 

IB; I have had so many 

new experiences and look 

foward to more ahead.

22 


News 

Students glide through the holidays 


Students ready to slide. 

by Henry Sealy 

“Fantastic trip”, “I 

learnt heaps”, were some 

of the comments of the 47 

students, four teachers, 

and one keen parent of the 

September Friends’ School 

Falls Creek Ski Trip. 

We all headed to 

the airport early on a 

Sunday morning. 

All were feeling very 

excited as, for many 

students, this was the first 

experience of “real snow” 

covered mountains. 

Those wo had been skiing 

before raised the anticipation 

with their anecdotes of 

past adventures. 

After a short plane trip 

and a long bus ride, the 

Friends’ group arrived late 

at their destination, picked 

up their gear and rushed 

down the mountain to 

the Lodge. 

After a night settling 

in, four to five people per 

room, a welcome and a 

crazy jumble of showers, 

the Friends’ group headed 

up the mountain early with 

skis or boards in tow and 

excited about what was 

to come. 

Starting off the week 

was our first lesson on 

the snow. 

We saw many 

competent and not so 

competent students and 

teachers begin the skiing 

and boarding adventure. 

The lessons were 

categorised by beginner, 

intermediate and advanced. 


After some fantastic 

lessons and an unfortunate 

fall, we all tackled the slopes. 

It was fantastic to 

see everyone pick up 

their desired skill, either 

boarding or skiing, with 

impressive pace. 

Many people were keen 

to push their boundaries 

and learn as much as they 

could before the next 

lesson arrived. 

Lots of smiling faces 

appeared back on the bus 

that evening, telling stories 

of falls and things they had 

learned or seen. 

The week continued in 

this fashion, with an early 

and sometimes reluctant 

rise, joined alongside a 

yummy breakfast. 

Our lessons were first 

thing in the morning, then 

the rest of the day was 

spent on the snow and back 

to the bus at four. 

Nights were all about 

card playing, table tennis, 

socialising, pool and 

hurrying to a cosy bed. 

Everyone progressed 

well, even if there were a 

few slides backwards in 

our learning over the week. 

One day was very gusty 

and most students retreated 

back to a hot chocolate in a 

warm café. 

On another day we had 

a whiteout where the cloud 

cover came so low we 

couldn’t see our hands in 

front of our faces. 

The rest of the days saw 

some with sunburn and 

quite a few red noses. 

Steve Bunton and Tony Barrett taking a break from their trip. 


The highlight of the trip 

for us was being able to ski 

well after a few days. 

This trip also gave us 

the opportunity to meet and 

mix with people we might 

not have got to know before 

and many firm friendships 

were formed. 

With Thursday 

came a change in the 

slope conditions. 

With four centimeters of 

snow over night freshening 

the slopes, we were given 

a fantastic texture to ski or 

board across. 

Many people were 

pushing new limits and very 

successfully progressing. 

The beginners were 

now quite competent on 

their skis or snowboard. 

A fractured wrist on 

Thursday stopped one of 

our skiers in her tracks 

but her positive attitude 

kept the spirits of our 

group high. 

When the last day 

on the slopes had come, 

people hoped to have a 

positive day that they 

would remember. 

One student lost control 

and injured her leg. 

Another came off his 

skis in a spectacular fashion. 

However a few bumps 

and bruises were to be 

expected and neither student 

was seriously injured. 

Our group headed back 

to the lodge for the last 

time, many talking about 

the excitements on the trip 

and the extreme day we 

had experienced. 

That night we had 

two new groups join us at 

the lodge. 

Most still managed 

to enjoy their last night 

at Falls Creek reflecting 

on the fantastic week we 

had shared. 

The Lodge staff were 

complimentary about the 

behaviour of the Friends’ 

students who were polite, 

punctual and goodhumored 

throughout the 

whole trip. 

The students’ behaviour, 

their punctuality and 

manners more than 

exceeded expectations and 

they endeared themselves 

to everybody and would 

certainly be welcome to 

come again, said organiser, 

Steve Bunton 

An early start, a 

large pack up, and we all 

headed off with our bags 

for the long bus trip that 

was ahead. 

We had a safe, if bumpy 

trip back home to Tasmania 

after the amazing week we 

had just experienced on 

the snow. 

Thank you to all 

the teachers involved, 

particularly Steve Bunton, 

the driving force behind 

our trip, for the fantastic 

time that we, both staff and 

students, experienced. 

It was a great group of 

people who all successfully 

learnt heaps during 

the week. 

What a wonderful 

trip, with many exciting 

adventures! 

Sophia Cretan, William Perry and Harry Van Der Woude smiling 

for the camera. 

Photo supplied by William Perry 

Peter, the Canadian ski instuctor with Steve and Kathy Bunton. 


James Driessen, Ruby Visoiu, Charlotte Stubbs, Adam Flower, 

Marcus Hlebian, Anthea Bennett, Sophia Cretan, Lyn Johnston 

and William Perry enjoying what the slopes have to offer. 

Photo supplied by William Perry 

Zdenek Vitesnik skiing to success. 

Photo by Steven Bunton 

Students ride the chairlift before heading back down the slopes. 


Oscar Stevenson and Charlotte Stubbs having fun. 


Students excited after a full day of skiing. 

Photo by Zdenek Vitesnik

Girls Basketball 

by Amy Harris 

Basketball is seen as 

a popular sport within the 

Friends’ community. 

During Term 3, two Year 

10 and one Year 9 Girls 

Basketball teams played in 

the SATIS roster. 

The teams played 

on a weekly basis on a 

Tuesday night. 

All teams are made up 

of students with a range of 

abilities and have faced a 

large learning curve during 

the season. 

The Year 10 Red Team 

was made up of Edwina 

Flakemore, Dariel Roper, 

Focus sport November 2010 23 

Grace Gunn, Sophie 

Chesterman, Peta Tabor, 

Tori Bliss and Alex Knight 

and were coached by Ben 

Ogada-Osir. 

The Red Team made 

it to the basketball Grand 

Final against Sacred 

Heart College. 

The teams enjoyed the 

season and are looking 

forward to continuing with 

their development in the 

2011 season. 

Huge thanks goes to the 

coaches for this year, Ben 

Ogada-Osir, Trish Menadue 

and Erin Stephens for their 

time and expertise provided 

as well as team managers. 

SATIS Athletics 

Alice Patterson-Robert running to the finish line. 

Budget Fun Run 

by Ella Hind 


Girls’ teams added their 

times together and receieved 

both first and second place in 

the annual Budget Fun Run 

held on 15 August this year. 

Friends’ School 

students look forward to 

this event each year and 

several student teams have 

been succesful competitors 

in the past. 

Students see it as an 

opportunity to show off 

their athletic abilities 

while raising money for 

worthwhile causes. 

The course consisted of a 

two and a half kilometre run 

around the city centre and 

wharf area. 

The participants could 

either decide to run the 

course once, or complete it 

twice for a total length of 

five kilometers. 

The time of each runner 

was recorded after they had 

completed the course. 


sponsored by Budget Cars 

and is held to make people 

aware of issues facing the 

community at the time. 

This year the fundraiser 

was held to highlight 

the shortage of money 

available for the Royal 

Hobart Hospital. 

The Friends’ Girls 

High School team, which 

consisted of Grace Rowe- 

Smith, Olivia Chung and 

Ellie Chesterman, placed 

first in this year’s five km 

Fun Run. 

Not far behind in second 

place were the College girls, 

Sarah Lock, Sara Moon and 

Heather McGushin. 

Overall, it was a 

successful effort to 

raise awarness of a 

wothwhile cause. 

More than $5,000 was 

rasied for the paediatric 

ward at the Royal 

Hobart Hospital. 

Several hundred athletes 

ended up taking to the streets 

for this amazing oppitunity. 

Well done to all who 

participated in this year’s 

Budget Fun Run. 

Joseph Taylor jumping for the school. 

Rebecca Direen throwing her way to victory. 

James Rodway running in the U/13 100m. 

Ebony Alexander and Clare Rayner working as a team to 

complete the 4x100 m relay. 

James Ince competing against rival schools for first place. 

• Open Saturdays 

• Same Day Appointments 

• Personal Training 

• Group Exercise Sessions 

• On Site Gymnasium 

• Hydro Therapy 

• Easy Parking 

221 Murray St Hobart | Tel: 03 6231 3939 

sportscare@bigpond.com.au 

Sarah Lock competing against other Tasmanian school students. 

All photos supplied by Ian Murray

Three victorious Hockey teams 

Boys’ First Hockey team with their Southern trophy. Back L - R: Jay Daft, Douglas Shephard, James 

Barrenger, Daniel May and Cameron Topfer. Middle L - R: Oliver Wood, Nicholas Hill, Lachlan 

Oakford, Fergus Reid and Alex Vittorio. Front L - R: Henry Curtis, Patrick Meaney, Ben Read, Jared 

McKenzie, Julian Vittorio and Nick Hutton (coach). 

Photo supplied by Helen Manson 

by Jamie Brown 

The 2010 Boys First 

Hockey team had a 

successful season. 

They went undefeated 

the entire season and showed 

full dominance on the turf. 

Led by Captain, Ben 

Read, and teammates, Nick 

Hill, Lachlan Oakford and 

James Barrenger, the team 

was solid from the forwards 

to the goalkeeper. 

Being undefeated 

throughout the season did 

not guarantee the Friends’ 

team a spot in the finals. 

The only way they could 

get to that final was by 

defeating Hutchins. 

With a score of 2-0, goals 

scored by Alex Vittorio and 

Nick Hill, Friends’ shut out 

their cross-city rivals in the 

semi-finals. 

In the final against 

Scotch College, from 

by Robert Salter 

The senior athletics 

carnival for Years 7 to 12 is 

held every year in May. 

For many students this 

is a great time to show some 

team spirit, whilst for others 

it is a day to show their 

athletic abilities. 

In 2010, Ransome won 

the girl’s aggregate trophy 

while the boys trophy was 

won by Unwin. Hodgkin 

won the combined trophy. 

From this carnival, a 

team is selected to compete 

at both Southern and State 

SATIS athletics carnivals 

Launceston, things were a 

little easier. 

Ben Read scored a 

game-high four goals and 

Nick Hill contributed to 

the team’s score again with 

two goals in an 8-3 rout of 

Scotch Oakburn. 

It was a fantastic way to 

finish the season for Friends’ 

with a flawless record and a 

trophy to add to the school’s 

trophy case. 

The Friends’ Girls 

hockey team also had a very 

successful season. 

Captains, Amelia 

Spence, Sanchia Watchorn 

and Nina Khoury, led their 

team to victory in both the 

Southern and State finals. 

They convincingly won 

11-0 in the Southern Final 

against Collegiate. 

The State final was a 

much more challenging 

affair with the girls 

eventually overcoming a 

which were held during 

October. 

The Southern SATIS was 

held at the domain in perfect 

running conditions. 

Congratulations must 

be given to the 2010 Year 

7 group, who are the most 

keen group of athletes I have 

seen in my time at Friends’. 

There were some great 

performances on the day 

with the Friends’ School 

winning the Junior Co-Ed 

trophy and the U/16 girls 

winning their age group. 

A special mention must 

be made of Rebecca Direen, 

who broke the U/16 Girls 

determined Marist Regional 

College 1-0, in extra time. 

The girls are a close 

knit team with everyone 

contributing to the 

successful year. 

The captains of the team 

believe that there is a good 

deal of talent coming up 

through the ranks ensuring 

future successes. 

The Girls’ Second team 

also had a pleasing season 

and, under the guidance 

of Paddy Ward, should 

continue to improve. 

The Year 10 Girls hockey 

team also had a successful 

year but, disappointingly, 

the roster was not very big. 

Their division does not 

have a state final, but they 

won their southern final. 

Congratulations to all 

three of these teams and 

we hope to see Friends’ 

continue this successful run 

into the future. 

Southern and Statewide Athletics 

Shot Put record with a put of 

10.70 m. 

Well done, Rebecca. 

Other mulitple winning 

performances came from 

Rebecca Direen, who also 

won the U/16 Girls Javelin 

and Discus; James Ince, 

who won the U/15 800m and 

Triple Jump; Anna Wade, 

who won the U/16 90m 

Hurdles and Long Jump; 

and Eleanor Brennan, who 

won the U/16 100m (eq) 

and 200m. 

The relay teams did not 

fare quite so well but, to 

their credit, two of the girls’ 

teams came second and four 

Members of the very successful Girls’ First Hockey team after their Southern final. Standing L - R: 

Celia Watchorn (manager), Eleanor Brennan, Ebony Alexander, Rebecca Nichols, Sophie Booth, 

Ellie Goss, Sanchia Watchorn, Amelia Spence and Paddy Ward (coach). Kneeling L - R: Catherine 

Webster, Sophie Chesterman, Grace Calvert, Nina Khoury, Madaleine Castrisios and Jessica Tanner 

with Olivia Castrisios in front. 

Photo supplied by Helen Manson 

Happy and victorious, members of the Year 10 Girls Hockey team after their Southern final. Back 

L - R: Emily Ridler, Caitlin Davie, Isabelle Morris-Baguley, Isabelle Mortl, Rebecca Butler, and 

Katherine Davis. Middle L - R: Mehr Gupta, Brittany Nugent, Harriet Thorne, Scarlett Bowen and 

Elinor Jones. Front L - R: Veronica McArdle and Alexandra Taylor. Photo supplied by Helen Manson 

more teams came third. 

The State Carnival was 

held in Launceston, which 

began with a bus ride 

starting at 6am. 

This unfortunately 

deterred a number of 

athletes, especially in the 

open age group with a 

relatively low turn out. 

Some great performances 

were achieved with the U/16 

girls again continuing their 

dominance by winning their 

age group. 

Individual winning 

performances at the State 

Carnival were: Rob Salter 

in the Open 200m, Anna 

Wade in the U/16 100m 

and Long Jump, Rebecca 

Direen in the U/16 Discus 

and Shot Put, Peter Stone 

in the U/16 Shot Put, Grace 

Rowe-Smith in the U/16 

1500m, Erin McGilvray 

in the U/16 High Jump, 

Harrison Bailey in the U/15 

High Jump, James Ince in 

the U/15 800m and 400m, 

Eleni Kalimnios in the U/15 

800m and 1500m, Grace 

Calvert in the U/15 Discus, 

Alice Patterson-Robert in 

the U/15 400m, Georgia 

Robinson in the U/14 Long 

Jump, Harry Bourchier 

in the U/14 1500m, Ira 

Abrahams in the U/13 

Javelin and Ben Austin in 

the U/13 1500m. 

A special mention must 

be given to the School’s 

Intermediate Girls Knock- 

Out team which has qualified 

for the national Knock- 

Out final in Melbourne in 

December, which is the 

first Friends’ team to ever 

be selected. 

The girls Ellie Brennan, 

Rebecca Direen, Eleni 

Kalimnios, Erin McGilvray, 

Alice Patterson-Robert, 

Grace Rowe-Smith and Anna 

Wade, will be accompanied 

by Helen Manson.

Focus November 2010 - The Friends' School

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