10 December 2020

Newsletter Articles

THINGS FRANCISCAN

Dear Paduans,

Who of us are rejoicing that this pandemic year and its many restrictions is coming to an end? For you all, your families and your workplaces have been challenged by the regulations imposed on us for the good of our health. The first hurdle at Padua was setting up online learning for those who were not to come to school, then providing for learning at Padua for the sons of essential workers. Loads of extra work for the staff.

Sadly, there were implications for the sports program. Modified Football and Rugby games without the sideline support of parents, Old Boys and the "Nest." Then during school holidays some consolation - there were Rugby League games at Mt Maria College. Our cultural life was impacted by regulations limiting our FCIP performances.

Although Friday Mass continued in limited form, we could not celebrate a number of House Masses, nor Grandparents and Mothers' Mass. There was no Amaroo weekend with the Mums. Camps at Amaroo went ahead but again modifications were called upon. The boys celebrated Year 11 Semi Formal and Senior Formal at venues that complied with restrictions. They were especially grateful for these events organised by staff. The Senior Graduation rituals again were celebrated at venues that provided statutory space. The final Senior Eucharist and Dinner were held at the Convention Centre - this extra space was appropriately decorated for our Seniors to leave the College with fond memories for them and their families.

I had the good fortune to join Year 2000 graduates for a 20-year reunion. 2000 was my last year as Padua's Rector. A good crowd, but regulations made the attendance of Old Boys from interstate and overseas impossible.

On a personal note I must thank Padua for helping me celebrate 50 years as a Franciscan Priest. About 30 of these years I have been at Padua and enjoyed and thrived on it as a place so steeped in the Franciscan Tradition. You as Paduans have been an essential part of that - for which I thank you.

May you and your families celebrate the Feast of the Birth of the Christ child, with peace, tranquility and joy. Let's all pray that 2021 will be a year of reconciliation, healing and health for all who call Australia "home."

Pace e bene
John

Please click on the attached link to listen to the John Boyd-Boland - A Franciscan Life podcast

Join host Mark Howard (Howie Games) and Franciscan friar John Boyd-Boland as Fr John reflects on an inspirational life. From his childhood, 50 years as a priest and 30 years at Padua College in Brisbane, Fr John provides reflective, warm and humorous insights into life, growing up in Australia, the priesthood and being a Franciscan.

THE RECTOR

Despite the obvious challenges of the year, there have also been many achievements and milestones as we reflect on the school year that has just ended. Our Year 12 class of 2020 has just graduated, being the first class to sit external exams in over 30 years. Like graduating classes before them, they have left as wonderful examples of a Franciscan education and they are now ready to assume the title of ‘Old Boys’ and make their mark in the world. They would agree that the year has certainly had its moments with the closure of the school for 5 weeks in Term 2 and the move to online learning during this time. We also had a disruption to sport, music and other co-curricular programs during the year. However, we are also grateful for the many achievements and milestones that occurred in the year. These included the celebration of Fr John’s 50 years of devoted service to the friars. In true Franciscan style, he was humble as we all reflected on his many achievements and we acknowledged the unparalleled influence he has had on this community. Included in his 50 years with the Franciscan Friars is his time at Padua, which spans over 30 years, including his time as Rector from 1990 until 2000. The year also marked 25 years of service to Padua College for Mr Jon O’Driscoll (OB 1987). Jon is currently the Learning Area Leader for Science Years 10-12.

I trust that you enjoy the pages of this edition of our Old Boys’ newsletter and I hope that it brings back good memories of your time at Padua.

Purchase of Brisbane City Council Stafford Depot and College Building Master Plan

The purchase of the former Brisbane City Council Stafford Depot marks an exciting step forward for Franciscan education on the hill at Kedron. Padua College, in partnership with Mount Alvernia College, has agreed to terms for the purchase of the over 5-hectare site of the former Brisbane City Council Works Depot. The site is made up of a number of buildings and structures, with road frontages to Wood Street, Wayland Street, Lennon Street, Hutchins Street, Broughton Road and Bradley Avenue in Kedron.

The Colleges have recently lodged a Development Application for a preliminary approval to change the existing Special Purpose (Utility services) Zoning to permit the Colleges to utilise the existing buildings and immediate surrounds for Education Purposes. The application includes a high-level masterplan that will be further developed in the future as the two Colleges look towards developing the site in future years. Any building works, and even access to the site, will not happen until after August in 2021. Details of the development have been made public. The project, once underway, will promise sporting fields and new educational opportunities that will be transformative and give the two colleges a comparative advantage in future years.

Running alongside this exciting development is the College’s own Building Master Plan. The new plan will be delivered to the College Board early in 2021 and it too has many exciting developments that will create dynamic and contemporary learning environments. A first step in this master plan will be the air-conditioning of all classrooms which will be completed over the current Christmas Holiday period.

Padua College – Alumni Article Courier Mail

In August the College was approached by a journalist from News Limited to provide a list of our famous alumni. The subsequent article titled Padua College’s Alumni – From doctors to dancers, football stars to entrepreneurs, provided a broad cross section of some of the accomplishments of past students. As an educator, it is always wonderful to see students make their mark in the world and the list of past students certainly makes for interesting reading.

As is the case these days, the article was available online for subscribers only but for the purposes of those who didn’t see the article the following is a list of the Padua Old Boys that was provided by our Marketing Team to the Courier Mail for the article. Not all of the list made the Courier Mail article.

Chris Mitchell – former Courier Mail and Australian editor
Judge Bernard Porter QC
Peter Nowill – Olympian
Peter Dale – Olympian
Damian Garvey – Actor
Dr John Wilsteed – member of the band the Go-Betweens
Dr Darren Walters – Head of the Prince Charles Hospital
Dr Geoff Harding OAM
Jim Holding – former Chair Queensland Cricket and international partner DLA Piper
Barry Dunphy – Partner, Clayton Utz
Dr Michael Stevens – researcher
Dr Mark Shillington – orthopaedic surgeon and inventor
Daniel Purdie Qld – MP State Member for Ninderry.
Harris Andrews – Brisbane Lions Vice Captain
Paul Vautin – Footballer and TV presenter
Frank DePasquale – Quality Foods and Entrepreneur
Richard Pointing (dec) – Crown Prosecutor
Graham Grant – GM Leela Palaces, Mumbai
Daniel Gaudiello – former principal Dancer – Australian Ballet
Lindsay Collins – NRL Footballer, Roosters
David Camerlengo – former Queensland Trade and Investment Commissioner for North America
Jamie Young – Brisbane Roar Goalkeeper
Joel Howley – World Men’s Slalom Water-skiing
Daniel Paddison – World under 19 Triathlon Champion
Lucas Brankovich – Australian Gymnast
Stephen Dunn – former AMP Capital CEO
Craig Wright – computer scientist and alleged developer of the Bitcoin
Dom Maguire – Australian Rugby Player
David Shillington – Australian and State of Origin player
Paul McCabe – Australian and State of Origin player
David Stagg – Brisbane Broncos player and State of Origin Player
Dane Carlaw – Australian and State of Origin player
Gerry Mapstone OAM
Eddie Groves – founder ABC Learning
Oskar Baker – AFL, Melbourne Demons player
Jacob Allison – AFL/Lions player
Rohan Ahern – former Broncos player
Brad Watts – former Storm and Rabbitohs player
Marty O'Brien and Danny Procopis – Small Mercies band
Jason Healy – entrepreneur in the US
Phil Hennessey – Managing Director KPMG

Congratulations to Ben Lowrie

In August of 2020, I announced that Ben Lowrie had been appointed to the position of Deputy Principal at St Laurence’s College, South Brisbane. The position begins in January 2021. Ben’s appointment to this role after 19 years at Padua is a recognition of his reputation as a school leader and we are all pleased for him as he begins a new phase of his leadership journey. Ben’s dedication to his work, his calm manner during difficult times, and his strong commitment to the staff and students at Padua are all qualities that he will take with him to his new school community. I know that Ben has many strong connections with the Padua community, and this makes his decision to move schools a challenging one. However, I am sure that Ben will leave Padua with many good memories of his time here, and his grounding in the Franciscan charism will be forever part of his leadership style.

My best wishes for the Christmas season.

Peter Elmore

Virtual Tour

Museum

We have already received some fantastic donations and loans for this project.

Do you have anything you could donate or loan to the Padua Museum?

Your assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Sportsman’s Dinner 2021

We are really looking forward to its return as a great event in 2021 with this new/old format.

Rector’s Tours

Back to Banyo 2021

Open Day 2021

Gold V Gala Rugby League Day 2021

Padua Old Boys & Memorial Mass 2021

Reunions

2000 20 year reunion

First and Seconds Rugby League 1973 & 1974 reunion

All members of the First and Seconds Rugby League 1973 & 1974 teams were invited to catch up for lunch at the Prince of Wales Nundah on October 2020. We were able to find all previous Firsts from 1973 and 1974 except for two. Six attended from each year but many couldn’t attend due to COVID travel restrictions.

There was a lot of debate on which was the better team but 1974 was the obvious choice as the team was undefeated all year including wins over Kedron State High and Wavell State High.

Mark Dufficy

Padua Reunion of the Grade 12 Class of 1971 - 50 years in 2021

2020 Memorial Mass

Held in November under COVID-19 restrictions, the now annual Mass has already established itself as an important event for our community. The Mass was presided over by Fr Mario Debattista (OB 1976) and music provided by Dan Allen (OB 2005).

Where are they now?

John Carroll (OB 1975)

Paul A. Skelton (MB) - Former Manager of Operations, Whistler British Columbia, Professional Mountain Rescuer, Medal of Bravery (Canada) for rescuing a stranded ice sailor who broke through the ice of Green Lake in March 2005. (Blackcomb Helicopters owner Steve Flynn dipped the skid of a helicopter into the water and scooped out Humbel’s arm so that long-time professional mountain rescuer Paul "Bones" Skelton and Whistler Search and Rescue member Vincent “Binty” Massey could grab him and pull him into the helicopter.).

(Editor: this information was submitted to the College Facebook page in response to a request for famous Paduans)

John Wilsteed (OB)

Alister Jones (OB 2000)

Jason Healy (OB 1990)

Jean-Pierre Lenartz (OB 1965)

Editor : Trancscript from email received after viewing the new College Virtual Tour. How amazing that it has reached so far already.

Subject: Padua College Memories

Dear Padua College,

I take the opportunity to contact you as the result of a discovery I recently made whilst putting some order in my library and paperwork. The named discovery I will disclose later in this memo.

But first, I would like to share with you my profile.

My name is Jean-Pierre LENARTZ, I am a Belgian citizen and I was born on October 20, 1949.

My parents unfortunately both passed away already, mother was housewife and father was a civil engineer.

From 1950 to 1960, we lived in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) here my father participated in the construction of airstrips, electric power stations, dams and also some activities in the gold and diamond mines.

I studied mostly in Belgium where I succeeded my secondary education and went on to the Free University of Brussels where I got a Masters Degree in Physics.

Following my studies, I worked for a US company from 1974 until 2012 as a project manager and instructor, after which I took my pension.

Now here comes the story of my discovery!

Following the Congo independence, we immigrated to Australia in 1961 and lived in South Australia in a little town then called Reynella, just a few miles south of Adelaide.

My father was busy in the elaboration of a refinery in Port Stanvac.

When this building site was closed in 1964, we went on to live in Brisbane; Chingford Street in Chermside. And my father was again busy in the construction of the Pinkenba refinery.

And here comes the discovery I made: I retrieved the PADUAN of 1965 annual magazine, yes, I was a student in Padua College in 1965 grade 9 brown.

It was a beautiful experience and I have good memories of this time in the college, I remember having as teachers Father Isidore and Father Fidelis, especially the latter with his leather strip on our hands when we went “a little off road”

I took a look at your video of the college on YOUTUBE , and things have changed since then in 1965.

My little brother went also to school in Wavell Heights, which was run by sisters if I remember well.

I have attached some pictures I retrieved from the then magazine.

Hoping to have interested you in my little discovery, receive my sincere salutations.

Jean-Pierre LENARTZ

Lindsay Collins (OB 2013)

Interesting interview with Lindsay Collins on the QRL website.

State of Origin success
Lindsay Collins pictured with Christian Welch – son of Padua Teacher Mrs Lyn Welch.

James Sullivan (OB 1999) and Dan Purdie (OB 1990)

Congratulations to James Sullivan, Padua Old Boy and 1999 College Captain, who was elected as the Labor Member for Stafford in the recent State Election. This is a seat that his father Terry held for many years.

James joins another Padua Old Boy, Dan Purdie (OB 1990) in State Parliament. Dan is the LNP Member for Ninderry on the Sunshine Coast.

Lawson Creighton (OB 2015) & Hudson Creighton (OB 2017)

Great news! They are both in the REDS squad for next year as well. Congratulations!

Peter Dale (OB 1980)

The College is very pleased to announce that Peter has joined Kirk Taylor and is now on our swimming staff. Peter was sportsman of the year and currently holds school swimming records, University of Iowa USA 1984/85, BA Communications University of Canberra 1987.

He made his first Australian Swimming team in January 1981, training in the original Padua pool under the direction of Merv Stinson and later achieving Australian Swimmer Number 313 when attending the Pan Pacific games in 1983. He was a scholarship holder Australian Institute of Sport, finalist 1984 LA Olympics, 1985 World Student Games, Gold & Silver 1986 Commonwealth Games, 1986 World Championships, past national champion and Australian record holder 200m freestyle.

Prior to joining swim coaching team at Padua was Director/Owner flying fish SWIM SCHOOL from 2002-August 2020.

Married to Nicola with our 20-year-old son studying in Brisbane. He is juggling travel from the Sunny coast and staying with family in Stafford. Weekends include volunteer lifesaving with over ten years’ experience patrolling at Marcoola Surf Life Saving Club.

Trent Millard (Current student) Brandon McMorrow (OB 2018) Jamie Young (OB 2000)

Congratulations to Trent Millard (pictured bottom centre) on making his debut for the Brisbane Roar A-League Team recently. Trent played 45 minutes in the win against local side, Easts. Also pictured in the photo are two Old Boys - Brandon McMorrow (OB 2018) (next to Trent) and Jamie Young (OB 2000) (back row, right of centre, Maroon shirt). Great to see Paduan footballers continuing to and starting to make their mark in the game. Well done Trent.

Mike Smith (OB 1969)

Great to see Mike when he dropped into the College for a quick tour.

Tom O’Toole (OB 2005)

Joe Higgins (OB 2013)

Dean Bilton (OB 2009)

Ashleigh Sitton (OB 2012)

Structural Engineer for Structural Integrity Engineering Pty Ltd. Our primary focus is Design and Auditing of rail-mounted machinery in the mining industry (iron ore, coal). I have conducted multiple designs and Audits including the largest rail-mounted machinery in the southern hemisphere.

Have completed an Associate Degree in Civil Engineering and a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering (Honors).

A registered member with Engineers Australia and Australian Steel Institution.

Have done other smaller courses, including Dale Carnegie Skills of Success.

Michael Kennedy & Michael O’Flynn

Always wonderful to hear from these old boys,

Padua Old Boys Michael O'Flynn and Michael Kennedy pictured admiring the colours of spotted gum tree with no bark on. Re being earthed to our environment/St Francis maybe each student should be taught to identify 10 birds, six trees and know why Brisbane is hilly. Caring for our environment comes with a degree of knowledge of it too. Going out into the world needs us to be well earthed in where we have come from. Our thoughts are our Christmas present to St Francis' school.

From Michael and Michael

Kyle Britto (OB 2015)

(Editor: Extract from email from Kyle to the College)

After finishing my time at Padua, I continued with a Bachelor of Economics at UQ. In my second year at University, I began volunteering for the Young Achievers Program (YAP) – a mentoring program for low socioeconomic students throughout their final 2 years at high school, with scholarship opportunities once they come to university to support their transition from their hometowns closer to Brisbane. Straight away I fell in love working with these students. I was granted such an opportunity to go to a wonderful school like Padua, and have access to amazing teachers such as yourselves, who care so much about their students, whilst many of these kids had never had a great teacher, and always believed their dreams were out of reach because they lived rurally or because they wouldn’t be able to afford university.

Following this, I joined the Outreach program, a program with similar goals to YAP, however on a mass scale. Instead of mentoring select students, we ran presentations and workshops in school on resilience, goal setting, career planning, etc., as well as bringing them on campus to get a taste for University life. Throughout Outreach I fell more in love with working with these students and being in their schooling environments gave me a tangible feel for the educational equality gap. Students from educationally disadvantaged are, on average, 3 years behind their inner-city counterparts by grade 10, and often lack the opportunities their counterparts are granted.

Loving these programs, I came back for a second cohort of YAP as Senior Mentor, helping facilitate the week-long camps the program runs as well as mentoring the mentors. I was also promoted to the position of a Senior Student Ambassador in the Outreach program. My university life has been engulfed by these programs and I’ve loved every second of it!

Last night, I got the call notifying me that I had been successful in my selection for the Leadership Development Program at Teach for Australia. TFA aims to decrease educational inequality by gathering leaders from non-teaching backgrounds, putting them through a Master of Teaching whilst they simultaneously teach in an educationally disadvantaged school, with the support of mentors and school leadership. I hope to use this as a springboard to be a principal at one of these schools one day and enact change within their communities.

Padua Very Old Boys - Coffee Morning – Tues July 21, Kedron Wavell Services Club.

A good attendance and good catch-up.

See you all in Jan or Feb 2021 ... maybe.

Attendees (25)

Rod Brewer
Mick Brosnan
Graeme Costin
Mike Curtin
Michael Bourne
Zane Devlin
Jim Doherty
Peter Hottees
Dare Jones
Rob Lynam
Peter Metcalfe
Peter Murdoch
Richard Nikola
John O’Keeffe
Neil Short
Ray Simon
George Smith
Terry Thistleton
Peter Thistleton
Mike Vincent
Paul Woodward
Mike Willett

Making their début –

Michael Curtin
Paul Woodward
? Walters

Mike Willett

Please pray for the departed.

May they rest in peace.

Keep connected with your community. Update your details here

Around the school

David Shillington (OB 2000)

Oskar Baker (OB 2015)

Padua Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial

The Padua College Vietnam Veterans Committee would like to advise that a new memorial plaque for Padua College Vietnam Veterans has been recently been laid in the college grounds.

The new updated plaque has been organised by Veterans Committee members together with the College and consolidates veterans’ names to a single plaque.

We are proud to announce that our Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial is now included within the Australian Places of Pride website of the Australian War Memorial. Many thanks to Mike Willett, (OB 1965) for the suggestion, and Brian Cunningham, Sam Sammartino and Jim Doherty for their assistance also.

Article for the Catholic Leader about Fr John written by Joe Higgins (OB 2013)

Water Polo success

Congratulations to the Years 10/11 Water Polo Team who shared (with Ashgrove) the perpetual trophy recently at Iona.

ASDC

It was with great pleasure that we received an email late last week from Lachlan Young, President of Space Design Competitions Australia, announcing that Padua’s 2020 ASDC Project had been judged in the top 10 entries across Australia!

This is now our 12th consecutive year of achieving this feat, and we will again be sending a 12-student team to University of Qld, St Lucia Campus on January 23-24 to compete at the 2021 ASDC National Finals. A number of our strong Qld rivals - St Laurence’s College and Sheldon College, did not qualify this year.

Peter Morris

QUT STEM Internship

Congratulations to Ruairi O’Kane who was chosen to participate in the QUT Stem Internship earlier in the year. The placement was researching water treatment processes, in particular using iron nano particles and clay minerals as effective and environmentally friendly alternatives to water treatment. Ruairi was able to collaborate with Associate Professor Yunfei Xi and his PhD students in their research into this area.

2021 College Leaders

Padua @ Home and COVID - 19