After an extensive recruitment process in late 2022, the Aquinas College Foundation and Aquinas College are delighted to announce the following appointments to the Aquinas College Foundation Council, effective November 2022.

Ian Burvill (’79)
Ian commenced at Aquinas College in 1971 and was dux of the school in 1979. He has Bachelor of Engineering and MBA degrees from The University of Western Australia. Ian has lived in Perth, Sydney and Denver (in the USA). He has worked in the mining industry as an engineer, banker, private equity investor and public company director, and comes to the Foundation with extensive board and committee experience. Ian and his wife Sharon have three adult children. Ian is a keen sailor and has competed many times for Aquinas in the College Cup.

Michael Prandi (’81)
Born and raised in Kojonup, Michael attended Aquinas as a boarder from 1977 to 1981. In 1981, he returned to Kojonup to work in the building industry, taking over the family business which he successfully ran for 32 years. Michael has been married to Suzanne since 1992 and has had two sons pass through boarding at Aquinas (between 2010 and 2017). Well known to the Aquinas community, Michael has served on the Aquinas Advisory Council (2017-2022), the Aquinas Building and Grounds Committee (2012-2022) and the Boarding Parent Committee (2016). In 2020, Michael and Suzanne moved to Perth to pursue business interests. Michael is looking forward to contributing to the Foundation.

Kirsty Burnett
Kirsty is a qualified accountant with over 15 years' business and administration experience in the corporate sector. Over the last five years she has focussed her energy in the not for profit sector, in particular organisations whose work directly benefits children. Driven by the desire to improve the lives of children in need, both locally and overseas, Kirsty hopes to provide opportunities for children to thrive within the Aquinas community in her role at the Foundation. Kirsty and her husband Norman have a son in Year 10 at Aquinas.

College Captains Day was another success in 2022. It is a day I mark in the calendar as one not to be missed. It is so enjoyable catching up with fellow Aquinians from years gone by and, despite the 12 months between each event, conversations tend to continue from where they left off the year before. Matteo Conte provided an inspirational speech, his first as Captain of the College. His words and message to his fellow students was simple - be men for others. Mr Schumacher cited Mother Teresa’s selfless life in his address, following similarly humble themes to those explored by Matteo. It is so reassuring to hear those anecdotes being told to these impressive young men. What’s even more impressive is the way they live these values. As always, I had trouble leaving at the conclusion of the function. Old memories, different ones, came back to me wherever I looked. You might forget what happened, but you’ll never forget how a place made you feel. That’s Aquinas. As I looked back at the grounds when leaving, I knew that Aquinas remained in very good hands and will continue to produce men for others. There is no more important brief.

Daniel Spencer (’03)

An eclectic group of young and not so young men had assembled around a caravan. They had one thing in common: each had at one time been College Captain of Aquinas College. Tom Hoad (’57) and John McCormack (‘58) represented their decade. The younger cohort covered each of the subsequent decades right up until Naveen Nimalan the 2021 College Captain. The van was the Holy Ground Coffee Van. It was but one of the changes they observed on an area best remembered by those more senior as the Redmond Oval. Discussion within the group gradually became a synopsis of the growth of the College from when it was a solitary building with boarders sleeping in dormitories, to the magnificent educational edifice that spread before their eyes. The highlight of the day was the announcement of the incoming College Student Leadership Team. It had come a long way from when the students lined up in the quadrangle and the Head Master called up a dozen or so young men to present them with their Prefect Badges after which the College Captain was given access to the school phone to call his parents. This year’s family-centred ceremony gave this group a detailed insight into the comprehensive structure of 21st Century student leadership. Matteo Conte, the College Captain for 2023, won the respect of his predecessors as he gave an extraordinary acceptance speech. Aquinas will be in good hands in 2023.

Mike O’Meara (’66)

66TH ANNUAL PSA GOLF DAY
28 OCT 2022

What a great day at Cottesloe GC where 128 players representing all seven PSA schools, gathered to play for the Shield this year. It was great to enjoy the camaraderie of old and new school friends and foes. In what turned out to be a tough day on the course with the conditions warm and windy, the scores certainly reflected that was the case. As is expected the Cottesloe was in superb condition and the greens very challenging. Needless to say there are always some players that rise to the challenge and manage the course.

This year the best score was Peter “Fingers” Annear who scored 39 points for his Christ Church Grammar School team. Despite Fingers’ mighty effort it wasn’t enough to carry his school to the Shield on this occasion.

As we have seen before the Scotch team rose to the challenge and amassed enough points from their top four players to take hold of the Shield for 2022. Well done Scotch College. No doubt some local knowledge was useful on the day but a big congratulations to Tony “Bo” Bovell, Rod Sedgwick, Richard Young and Alex Gordon for getting the job done! A small history of this event, Scotch College won the very first event in 1959, and at that time the best six scores counted and the event was Par.

Since then Scotch has continued to stand on the podium 23 times, the latest being 2019 before COVID hit. There has only seen one recorded draw in 1983 between Aquinas and Christ Church. Hale has won the event 15 times, Aquinas 10 times, Wesley seven times, Guildford six times, Christ Church three times and Trinity once.

We hope everyone had an enjoyable day and found the event met their expectations. There has been some welcome feedback in regard to playing off the blue tees which we plan to implement the option of players aged over 75yo playing off the white tees with a two shot penalty on their handicap. As well we plan to introduce a perpetual trophy for best individual score on the day. A number of players have suggested sponsorship options and if you are interested for 2023 please contact us.

There are a number of people to thank for making the day such a success including the Cottesloe Golf Club and staff. Thanks to Tracey-Lea, Luke, Damian and Connor I the pro shop, Ben and his staff in the bar, Kurt and the catering team who all went above and beyond to make the day a success, well done. In addition all of the schools alumni and development offices assisted the promotion and communications with the event to their respective alumnis.

As advised on the day we were generously sponsored by Peter “Pumpa” Hughes from the Apil Group. Thanks Pumpa your sponsorship is much appreciated Finally the day is about having fun, catching up with old and new friends, and competing in a game of golf. Thanks to all who participated, organised teams and replacements when required. We want to keep it simple and we would like any feedback on the event to make it even better going forward. We look forward to seeing you next year.

Phil Willis & Mick Stroud
Organisers

The Foundation and the College were delighted to host the Old Aquinians Coffee Club for the very first time on College soil. This well-established group has been meeting at Next Generation Club Kings Park on a monthly basis for many years. On July 15, 23 of its members - all Old Aquinians -attended the catch-up in the Churack Pavilion, with toasted sandwiches and coffee (their Coffee Club staple) provided by Holy Ground Coffee. As well as providing a change of scenery for the Coffee Club’s monthly meeting, the morning was a wonderful opportunity for Geoff Churack (’55) to welcome his peers to the cricket pavilion he made a reality. A big thank you to the group for donating their residual coffee funds to the Foundation’s Annual Bursary Appeal. We look forward to welcoming you all back to the College on a yearly basis.

Support Year 11 Aquinas boys Benjamin Clarke and Travis Shearer as they challenge themselves to walk or run as far as they can on January 4th 2023 in order to raise money for breast cancer.

1 in 2 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime which includes Travis' aunty and Ben's mum, which is why they are putting their bodies to the test to raise funds and show their support.

Visit https://bit.ly/3g8CEsF to donate and support the boys!

Three Year 10 Boarders recently had the rare privilege of a private cricket clinic with legendary cricketer and Aquinian, Brad Hogg (’88), courtesy of a Major Auction item purchased at the 2021 Foundation Ball. After several cancellations due to COVID, Seb Fulwood, Judd McKenzie and Toby Fuchsbichler - who all play Senior Cricket for Aquinas - enjoyed an afternoon at the Boarding nets facing the spin bowler.

“Toby, Judd and I had an awesome arvo with Hoggy,” said Seb Fulwood. “He’s a great bloke and he made the training session lots of fun.” According to Seb’s mum, Jo Fulwood, the boys “were all very pleased with themselves that they were able to at least hit some of the balls bowled by a former Australian spin bowler.”

A big thank you to Brad Hogg for donating the clinic for the 2021 Foundation Ball and for giving the boys an afternoon they will never forget.

Recently, Finn Chadd (Class of ’21) and Kurtis Tanna (Class of ’22) attended a ceremony at Government House to be awarded their Duke of Edinburgh Gold Awards by His Excellency, the Honourable Chris Dawson APM Governor of Western Australia. Hard-earned and highly prized, the Gold Award is the pinnacle of the Duke of Edinburgh program. To achieve this Award, Finn and Kurtis had to participate in 54 hours of voluntary community service; improve in an area of physical activity over 54 hours; undertake 54 hours in developing a skill of personal interest; planning, training for and completion of a 4 days/3 nights camp; and participate in a residential project staying and working away from home doing a shared activity over 5 days/4 nights.

Congratulations boys!

Senior Old Boys were impressed by the upgrading of buildings at the College and the breadth of the modern curriculum when they returned as guests of the College on September 7.

After being greeted with a mid-morning coffee, courtesy of the Holy Ground Coffee van – staffed by students learning to become baristas – Old Boys and their wives moved to the spacious new library, the “Angelicvm”, previously the College Hall.

There they were entertained by a variety of items ranging from a drama sequence and public speaking presentation, to singing from the Junior Choir.

In his thoughtful homily during Mass in the magnificent St Thomas Aquinas Chapel, Old Boy Father Greg Donovan (‘66) reassured those present by expressing the view that wisdom increases with age. Then it was off to the generous lunch prepared by the Dining Hall Staff and assisted by the College Ladies Auxiliary in the Hughes Dining Hall where we were entertained by the extremely talented Year 10 Jazz Group.

During lunch several Old Boys shared memories of their time at the College when facilities were far more spartan. They included Bob Kestel whose last year at the College was 1952 and Bruce Sinclair (‘56). John Maslin (‘56) explained how he kept in touch with contemporaries and Dan Duggan (‘59) spoke of the significance of the Aquinas “experience” to three generations of his family.

Michael Nevin (‘64) recalled coming to the College after completing the Junior Certificate in Bunbury, and Wilfred Hendriks (‘72), who – along with classmate Kim Cowcher (’72) - was attending his first Seniors’ Day, explained the challenges linked with having a non-English speaking background.

Those present would like to thank the College and especially the Acting Head of Development Sean Henderson, Alumni Administrator Nichole Rowson and Louise Symonds who administers the Aquinas College Foundation, for hosting a very informative and enjoyable reunion.

Peter Kennedy (’59)

On Monday 5^th September 43 Middle School and 37 Senior School students shaved their head in support of the Leukaemia Foundation’s mission to shave the world from Blood Cancer. The idea to bring this event to the College was instigated by Year 11 Students Thomas Eade, Luke Porteous and Conor Nolan who need to be commended for their efforts and organisation. The current total money raised is $43,850 eclipsing the original goal of $20,000 set by the boys.

The event could not have happened without the generosity of the Aquinas Community in their donations as well as the commitment of a dozen Hairdressers who offered their time to shave the students head. A huge thank you goes to the following Hairdressers: Rebbeca Richardson, Jaimi Frase, Lea Hugget and Taaj Arden from Barbershop Express Booragoon, Zeleha McAdam and Tanesha Dougan from Hair at the Zoo in Leeming Forum, Samnatha Urquhart, Kelly Chinnery, Ros Borgomastro, Roby Eade, Carla Peca and Melissa Burych.

Well done to the following students who committed to the cause, without their efforts we would not have been able to run such a successful event.