Class of 1941

Thomas was a great all-rounder from an Aquinas family dynasty. Emerging from Aquinas as Dux of the College in 1941 he went on to distinguish himself in two disciplines that could not be more different: cardiology and winemaking.

Before leaving Aquinas College, he was a force to be reckoned with in whatever he turned his hand to. In his final year, Tom headed his year in English, Latin, French, Mathematics B and Chemistry consequently winning the Old Boys’ Memorial Prize for 1941. He was Vice-Captain of the Cricket team and won an Honour Cap in Tennis. He was a Cadet-Lieutenant and won the Perrott Cup as Best and Fairest player in Football. He studied at the University of Western Australia for one year before moving to Adelaide where he graduated in Medicine in 1947. After many years’ practising as a cardiologist in Australia and the UK, Tom took it upon himself to branch out on a totally different path.

In the mid-1960s Tom started trial planting vines in the Margaret River region after a report likening the area to France’s Bordeaux caught his eye. He became the pioneer of the Margaret River region and the WA wine industry. He planted Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Malbec and Riesling in what he named the Vasse Felix Vineyard.

He followed his dream: “to make the best wine possible” and kept going in the face of all opposition to “the mad Catholic doctor from Perth”. Tom faced down challenges such as disease and hard climatic conditions to establish what has become one of Australia’s best international exports and well knowndestinations for first-class wine and food.

Class of 1993

Mark stood out from the crowd at Aquinas because he was a great performer. He had a rare comic gift and regularly had people in stitches through his observations of the simplest things. His performance in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum will be remembered by many for years to come. When he left Aquinas College he took the Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cultural Activities with him. He was offered a place at NIDA in 1996 and graduated in 1999.

Unlike many actors starting out, Mark was successful early and regularly. He played a semi-regular role in The Secret Life of Us and had roles in two ABC miniseries Changi and The Farm as well as Blue Heelers. But it was his part as Dan Goldman in All Saints he will be best remembered for by the Australian public. He worked with the Bell Shakespeare Company and the Sydney Theatre Company. He played Silvio in The Servant of Two Masters and performed in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Major Barbara in 2003.

Mark Priestley was a unique and creative student. A quick thinker with wit and dramatic flair. He was a successful and accomplished actor, and those who knew him well at school and on-screen remember him as an outstanding individual. Juliana Hammond his drama teacher at Aquinas remembers him as: “warm, intelligent and a huge talent when he was just 17 years of age.”

Actor John Waters, who worked alongside Mark on All Saints said: “Mark the actor was intuitive, and graced every scene in which he appeared with a touch of whimsical genius that only he could apply.”

Mark struggled with his mental health and hid behind a mask of expertly played comedy. Everyone loved being with him because he made people feel special - a rare gift. Mark’s legacy continues at Aquinas College with an award named in his honour which is bestowed on a student each year in recognition of his dedication to the Arts at the College.

Class of 1945

When Denis’ father Thomas Cullity, son of Irish immigrants, began Cullity Woodworks in South Australia he planted the seeds of a family business, though he could never have envisioned what it would become or the mixed fortunes yet to come. Wood and the timber industry became a part of the fabric of Western Australia and Cullity family histories - and continue to this day.

At school, Denis did well. After all, he was a member of one of its biggest dynasties. He finished as Head Prefect and Captain of the College in the Class of 1945. He was proficient in the cadets as a Lieutenant and rowed, was in the shooting team and took the Science prize as well as second place. In his address at the end of the year, the Headmaster commended him for being “well worthy of his important office”.

Denis joined the family business and presided over the company’s expansion as chairman. When the company suffered a downturn at the turn of the 21st century Denis battened down the hatches and weathered the storm. The company Wesfi and Cullity’s became part of building products company the Laminex Group. However, Denis continued his close relationship to the timber industry as a major partner in Wesbeam and became known as the state’s “timber tycoon”. In October 1951 Denis married Sir Thomas Meagher’s daughter, Ann at St Mary’s Cathedral.

Denis took on the role of executive chairman of Wesfi, then listed, from 1971 to 1996 and chair from 1999 to 2001. He was a founding chairman of Wesbeam from 2001 to 2013 and remains its major shareholder. Denis developed five major softwood manufacturing facilities in WA.

He was one of the co-founders of Swan Television in 1962 which was bought soon after and became the western arm of Channel Nine. Denis was also a director of Bankwest (1988-95) and was named Ernst and Young Champion Entrepreneur in 2006.

Class of 1940

Pat Prendiville was the patriarch of one of the great pioneering families of West Australia. He provided the foundation of values on which the Prendiville business empire has been built. He was also one of the few students to experience Christian Brothers’ education at both “The Terrace” and what was then the new Aquinas College campus.

The Prendiville gene pool is synonymous with good all-around sporting ability and Pat features heavily in the old victory photos of the First Eleven and the First Eighteen as well as swimming, hockey and golf, his life-long passion. He boarded at the school from 1936 until 1940 when he left as Prefect.

Originally from Castleisland, County Kerry, Pat’s father Pat Garrett Prendiville was one of a family of fourteen! Following in the tradition of the day Pat went on to have eleven children having married Paddy Malloch in 1953. In 1965 Pat bought and ran the iconic Balladonia Roadside hotel on the Eyre Highway. When his eldest son Peter was 12 in 1966 he remembers going to the sheep station for holidays there: “We’d be up at 4 am and sweep the driveway and be driving tankers and dozers from an early age. We rode horses and mustered sheep it was a great upbringing”. Paddy made sure dinner was on the table for a family of eleven nightly, plus hangers-on.

Swimming training began at 5 am and after a full day’s schooling at Aquinas there would be cricket or tennis training.

He built up quite an empire as a publican eventually owning roadhouses, a sheep station, and fuel service stations including some well-loved historic sites, such as the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse on the Nullabor and later the Windsor in Perth.

Pat was a very keen golfer who regularly won awards such as the Mt Lawley Cup. He also has a hole dedicated to him in the “the World’s Longest Golf course” which reaches across the Nullarbor. His hole is called Skylab after the satellite which was the first US space station to fall to earth in July 1979. A space scientific research station, it fascinated the world in the daily news of the late 1970s as everyone wondered where it would land. It came crashing down in pieces scattered around the Balladonia Roadhouse, causing the US President Jimmy Carter to phone the Balladonia to apologise for any inconvenience.

Pat was endowed with a great sense of service and regularly sent one of his numerous family to look after someone less well off than his own clan. After a lifetime of success in business very sadly he passed away at the respectable age of 96 in 2019. Those who remember him well say of him that he was a principled, quiet man who led by example and who possessed a strong faith. He was loved by a great many and commanded the respect of all who knew him.

Class of 1975

Anthony, or Tony as he is better known, was born on the same day as Queen Elizabeth II of a poor Irish policeman and a Chinese mother. His father left Ireland and moved to Palestine at the end of WWII and later moved to Hong Kong to work for the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. There was a great deal of travel right from the start for Tony who was born in Edinburgh as a direct result. Both parents came from large families of 11 and incredibly both were number five in the family running order. Growing up in the privileged Hong Kong expat community, Tony spent a lot of time holidaying in Ireland. But by the time he was 16 he was fluent in Cantonese. It wasn’t until his second last year of secondary school that his parents decided to relocate to Perth and Tony entered Aquinas College in Year 11.

He arrived to find a completely different culture and set of life conditions. Gone was the privileged upbringing and freedom of Hong Kong. However, he found Aquinas College a very welcoming place and one that changed his perspective on life completely. He says: “there was an innate sense of honesty about the people and Aquinas had an impact on me. It gave me a sense of belonging to something.”

After graduation, Tony studied Law at UWA, where he met his wife Jane. He joined Jackson McDonald Lawyers starting out in litigation but was naturally curious and found different types of law stimulating. He said: “you need to be prepared to work hard. It’s a lifestyle decision to be a lawyer and you need to be creative. I think you need to have a good sense of what is right and wrong, and that is what I got from Aquinas.”

Tony was elected to the Bar and joined Francis Burt Chambers in 1999. He worked in nearly all courts and tribunals as well as the Corruption and Crime Commission and Royal Commissions. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame and Murdoch University, where he teaches trial advocacy. He is also a strong mentor to many across all levels of the legal profession.

On 1st May 2018, Local Government Minister David Templeman asked Tony to hold an Inquiry into the City of Perth. In a typically modest style befitting of the best Aquinians he says they picked him: “because I came across as impartial and thorough”. He is driven by a firm belief that it is important to restore confidence in the City of Perth. Retrospectively, Tony says of his time at the College: “there were things I didn’t like but, whether or not you like it, I am grateful for those lessons.”

Class of 1938

Tom Perrott was born the second of five children in Perth of an Irishman from Cork who stepped off the boat in 1913, and mother Kathleen Delaney who hailed from Fremantle. Study did not come easily to Tom but he made up for what he lacked academically with stellar performances on the field. A strong runner he also played in the 1st XI and the 1st XVIII. Leaving as a Prefect, Tom’s contribution to both sports gets many mentions in the Annual of that year. He returned to the Terrace to finish his studies before joining his father’s business. Probably today we would say he was dyslexic, but it didn’t hold him back. He left school as a great storyteller and able in accounting.

Tom arrived in time to catch a huge wave of need for his skills in WA, in decorative and commercial painting and he smelt the opportunity. Tom could sell: he worked hard and developed really sharp business acumen. In 1957 Tom, an entrepreneur like his father, took over the family business now named DC Perrott and Son. Six years later after 40 years of trading, it included Gardner Brothers of Melbourne. He arrived at the perfect time to build a profitable business, Perth was growing fast and the need for his services was strong. Soon he was running an international firm Gardner Perrott Group with more than 1,200 employees. In 1986 it was named WA Company of the Year and he was awarded WA Citizen of the Year.

Tom was blessed with a very strong faith and indeed he had contemplated entering the priesthood while spending a year in the Novitiate of the Jesuits until ill health forced him to return to Perth. Michael, his son, remembers him saying the rosary as he drove them to school in a ute carrying a full load of paint tins in the back. Only a near-crash along the way would stop him reciting long enough to vent at some poor driver who crossed his path, before continuing where he left off without missing a line.

Tom was a member of the St Vincent de Paul Society for 65 years and a central figure in coordinating Pope John Paul II’s visit to Perth. As well as being a major driver of commerce in the state, a member of the Confederation of WA Industry, his philanthropic contributions to the community were phenomenal. He was a founding member of Southern Cross Homes, president of the WA Society for Crippled Children, founding member of the Child Accident Prevention Foundation, the Diabetes Research Foundation and he chaired the Channel Nine Appealathon Foundation. In 1982 he was recognised with an Order of Australia for his service to disabled children and was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to the community and commerce. Another great payoff for his considerable skills and love of cricket was to be president of the WACA from 1990 to 1998.

Class of 1963

Michael Delaney Perrott’s family history and that of Aquinas College are inextricably linked. His father Thomas was a student at CBC on the Terrace in 1938 and one of the founders of Perth’s business community throughout the early part of the last century. Michael continued his father’s work, inherited his faith and his love of cricket all in the spirit of the school his family still has ties to with generations carrying on the family tradition and attending Aquinas College.

Both Michael’s parents were born in Australia, grandfather Perrott having brought his painting business from Cork’s High Street, all the way from Ireland. It became generationally successful for both the Perrotts and WA. Like his father, Michael’s journey has embraced a sense of community, strong faith, successful marriage and incidentally, excellence in cricket and commerce.

In his leaving year Michael was Prefect, College Captain, won titles at the State Athletics Championships and Honours for his ability in cricket, football and athletics. Michael left Aquinas and graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from UWA before being called to join the armed forces. He contemplated a career with the Church but decided, having met his match in Rhonda, that family should come first. He joined his father’s painting business, on returning from Melbourne in 1971, and over the next 18 years helped expand it into an international company. His commercial interests have spanned as many as 40 enterprises over several decades.

Michael’s ability to play cricket is a skill he has passed on to generations of Aquinians. He coached the 1st XI in 1981-82, 1984 and 1985. His return to his alma mater was not confined to the cricket pitch as he also chaired the Aquinas College Board for a decade from 1985.

He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in June 2008 for services to “mental health, suicide prevention and further education”. The driver behind his external success is strong faith. He and Rhonda are motivated by a sense of spirituality that encompasses faiths of the world, but always finds a home in the Catholic Church. In a prayer he wrote for his 50th Wedding Anniversary, his words sum up the spirit of the school: “In this changing world we pray for all people and ask for the wisdom to be an example befitting our talents”.

Headmaster David McFadden and the Aquinas College Foundation welcomed past Captains Jeremy Burke (’17) and Tim Bodlovich (’18) back to the College for the commissioning of the Peer Scholarship Program plaques for the Classes of 2017 and 2018 on Friday 3^rd May.

Following in the inaugural footsteps of the Class of 2017, it is now College tradition for each leaving class to contribute the life-changing gift of a two-year half-scholarship for a boy as their parting gift to the College. Students are asked to consider a contribution of $50 in their final year at the College, with a further contribution of $50 per year for the first two years out of school – that’s around one dollar per week for three years.

With the completion of renovations to the Heritage Room last term, the plaques commemorating the gifts from the Classes of 2017 and 2018 now take pride of place on its north-facing wall, with plenty of space for future contributions.

Speaking at the ceremony, David McFadden thanked the boys for their support of the Peer Scholarship Program, a program that exemplifies the mission of our Founder Edmund Rice - making a difference in the lives of boys from challenging financial positions.

Contributions to the Class of 2019 Scholarship Gift can be made by visiting the Online Store and selecting “Peer Year Scholarships” from the drop down menu, or by contacting Louise Symonds at foundation@aquinas.wa.edu.au

Geoff was the son of one of Perth’s most famous architects. He travelled from Mosman Park to Salter Point on three buses every day to get to Aquinas.

By his own admission, not a huge scholar, Geoff found he excelled at Maths and Music. He was also in the cadets, the Radio Club and played Rugby in the 1st XV. Geoff felt a sense of belonging at Aquinas. He found his marks improved and it was a very happy time.

After leaving he went to Curtin where he graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree, Business Administration and Management and then studied at the University of NSW for a post-graduate management qualification.

While at Curtin he experimented, setting up a windsurfing franchise and a sail making business. He became Captain of the local yacht club; then segued into nightclubs, learning a great deal about general management along the way. In growing his entrepreneurial skillset Geoff probably did not realise how relevant this experience was to become.

He was hired by international construction and property company Lendlease with a brief to find opportunities for growth. Geoff was assigned Development Manager on Sydney’s Darling Park project and then with the re-zoning of Pyrmont Peninsula into a multi-use zone. Having made a success of both he was asked to breathe life into MLC, one of their financial services companies, which was subsequently sold to NAB. He was poached to become the CEO of Suncorp Life.

When someone with the ability sees a financial institution through a crisis like the “GFC” they just keep climbing. In spite of his plan at the time to take time off, he was hired onto the Board of APRA, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. In this role, he has behaved like a true Aquinian and found a way to change the world for the better.

Geoff has been the first Australian regulator to make a public comment on the financial risks of climate change and has confronted the world with the cost of ignoring it. It is his intention to move the debate away from ethics and towards finance.

His legacy will be a fresher, more forward-looking APRA, and one that makes the organisation successful for the next 20 years. But looking back he attributes a great deal of what he has achieved to his start at Aquinas College. It instilled in him a sense of purpose and knowing right from wrong: “a sense of identity about who I was and what I had to contribute.”