born to fly

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

2

born to fly

born to fly GERALDINE MOSES 1980“Celebrity” Pharmacist

NANCY TSUNG 1979Violinist

ANNABEL TULLY 1989Artist

WINIFRED DAVENPORT OAM 1941Marine Engineer

DR GAYLE MAYES 1973Olympian

JANETTE GIBSON AM 1954Community Service

KATE CARNELL AO 1972Business

DALMA NOVAK 1983Electrical Engineer

HÉLÈNE DENNIS OAM JP 1953Community Service

BIRGITTA STEPHENSON 1977Pharmacist/Archaeologist

SUZANNE MAYO 1978Sports Director

DR LOUISE MAHLER 1974Business

PAM REISNER 1944Biologist

ANNE-MARIE RICE 1991Lawyer

born to flyThe lives of 10 eminent Australian women were recently put under the microscope by Monash University’s Dr Leonie Kronborg for her PhD thesis. The purpose? To understand the ingredients needed to produce a woman who society perceives as successful.

The women, who ranged in ages from 40 to 82, were chosen because they held decision-making positions in myriad fields of endeavour such as acting, anti-discrimination, law, politics, medicine, academia, social work, business and sport. Despite the women working in vastly different occupations, the study revealed they had many personal, family and schooling characteristics in common: most attended single-sex secondary schools; each grew up in a family where there was an expectation that girls could do anything; they could identify a specific time in their lives when the importance of their talent crystallised for them; supportive, encouraging parents who enabled each woman to believe in herself; they demonstrated an intrinsic motivation to achieve and had similar psychological qualities, including self-belief, perseverance, work ethic and resilience; and each of them wanted to make a difference in society.

The study concluded effective schools and highly supportive teachers had a pivotal role in each woman’s life, by providing opportunities that matched their abilities as well as nurturing their talent and applauding their successes. This second edition of Born to Fly is yet another way we promote and celebrate our very own St Aidan’s success stories.

I commend this second edition to you.

Karen Spiller

B.A., B.Ed.St., M.Ed.Admin., MBA, FACE, FAIM, FACEL, FAHRI, FAICD

Principal - St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

GERALDINE MOSES 1980“Celebrity”Pharmacist

It was the multitude of opportunities she experienced at St Aidan’s that gave Geraldine Moses the confidence to host her own radio talkback show just three years out of university. “Had I not had such a positive sense of infinite possibility from my school days I doubt if I could have achieved this goal,” Geraldine said.

The well-known Brisbane pharmacist said St Aidan’s gave her the chance to shine at many things. She successfully participated in activities ranging from debating to sports, foreign languages to singing the (male) lead in school musicals; and in her senior year still managed to be Hartland House Captain and graduate as Dux.

Geraldine’s claim to fame was formed by combining her love of educating people about medicines with the power of the media. Her media career began in 1990, when she hosted her own regular medication talkback segment on ABC Radio, which ran until 2004, including two years co-hosting ABC Radio’s Conversation Hour. During this time she also hosted medical talkback on Radio 4BC and Vision Radio, was a regular guest on

Channel 9’s Extra program for many years and was one of three hosts on the popular Your Health television program on Channel Briz31. She continues to be interviewed by local news and current affairs programs for her opinion on pharmacy matters, hosts medical programs on Rural Health TV and writes columns for several health-related magazines.

As a spin-off from her early media work, Geraldine and colleagues at Brisbane’s Mater Hospital established The Medicines Line, Australia’s first drug information telephone helpline for the general public. For this work she has won many awards, including a Churchill Fellowship in 1999 to fund travel to investigate international trends in consumer drug information and in 2002, she was named the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Pharmacist of the Year.

She employed her “I can do anything” attitude at the University of Queensland graduating with her Doctorate in Clinical Pharmacy in 2005. On the personal front, Geraldine is married and her daughter Rebecca will soon join the next generation of Moses girls to call St Aidan’s home.

DR GERALDINE MOSES 1980“Celebrity” Pharmacist

NANCY TSUNG 1979Violinist

NANCY TSUNG 1979Violinist

Memories of early morning assemblies, prayers said and hymns sung on a daily basis for eight years while attending St Aidan’s (beginning in Year 5) paved the way for an awareness of the value of seeking ‘truth’ and fostering good habits, for violinist, Nancy Tsung.

Currently, Professor of Violin at the Taipei National University of the Arts, and living in Taipei (Taiwan), Nancy is former Concertmaster of the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and mother of five children.

“It is in my role as a mother, that I realise the value of finding a warm and encouraging environment that assists parents in the nurturing and guiding of children as they grow and develop in their formative years,” Nancy said.

“As a former St Aidan’s student, I know it was good to be a part of a small school where everyone could find her own niche, and have the opportunity to participate in a variety of school activities. I remember enjoying early morning athletics and swimming training sessions and preparing for GPS meets.

“I also remember taking part in Goethe Institute competitions – having learned foreign languages at St Aidan’s came to be very useful as I studied music.”

Nancy spent a year studying at the University of Queensland before moving to New York City at the age of 17 to study at The Juilliard School, majoring in violin performance and graduating with a Bachelor of Music, Doctor of Music and a Doctor of Music Arts. She was presented in her Debut Recital in New York, performing as soloist in Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center in Washington DC. While studying at The Juilliard School, Nancy was chosen to film and perform in an AT&T commercial, which aired for three years in the US. But it is not the fame or kudos she remembers fondly, it is the friends made along the way.

“There is no better looking glass than an old friend. I’m happy to say that I made a few ‘good friends’ at St Aidan’s.”

“A friend loves at all times.” Proverbs 17:17

ANNABEL TULLY 1989 (nee Pettigrew)

Artist

ANNABEL TULLY1989 (nee Pettigrew)Artist

Annabel was born in 1972 and lived on the urban fringes of Brisbane. Attending St Aidan’s between 1982 and 1989 she combined her studies with childhood mud fights and finding secret hideaways in the scrub on her parents’ land.

She remembers her days at St Aidan’s as some of the happiest of her life.

“The environment was encouraging and supportive in both the academic and extra-curricular fields. I feel that the support plus the friendships that I have made formed a strong basis from which I began my journey into the world at large,” Annabel said.

It was this supportive environment combined with her wanderlust that drew Annabel’s sights towards more creative pursuits. While grateful her career as a primary school teacher introduced her to the beauty of Outback Australia, she felt as though something was missing. It was meeting and marrying fifth generation Channel Country pastoralist, Stephen Tully in 1999 that opened Annabel’s

eyes to the colours of country. She tapped into Stephen’s love of the land and began exploring how to transfer her messages on to canvas.

Her first solo exhibition, Nostalgia, represented the pioneering generations of the Quilpie district. With this exhibition, Annabel built a connection between the old world and the new. In conjunction with Nostalgia, she opened Grass Castles Gallery on the Tully family property at Pinkilla, Quilpie in south-west Queensland.

Annabel is currently on the cusp of her career as an emerging artist. She is renown for her subtle and sensitive contemporary landscapes that demonstrate a kinship with the land. She explores deeply all that is naturally raw. Annabel’s works are held in private collections in Australia, London, Hong Kong and France.

She also travels extensively throughout the Channel Country spending endless hours with pigment and dirt on her hands as she paints her visions and dreams her dreams.

WINIFRED DAVENPORT OAM1941 Marine Engineer

Graduating from St Aidan’s in 1941, Marjorie Winifred Davenport helped blaze the way for Australian women in the field of engineering.

Known by her middle name of Winifred, she began her career as a cadet draughtswoman at ship builder Evans Deakin while studying civil engineering at night at, what was then, the Queensland Technical College.

In 1950 Winifred joined the Harbours and Marine Department as an associate engineer and continued working there until retirement in 1989, earning an Order of Australia for services to the engineering industry in 1990.

But Winifred didn’t think she was anything special. The St Aidan’s scholarship recipient never felt discriminated against as a woman in the industry. She handled all of the manual work (crawling over machinery for inspections) with no problems. She also learned to design rivet holes for ships in the days before welding.

Her 47-year career in Queensland as a maritime engineer saw Winifred assisting in the designs of the Manly Boat Harbour

and the government survey ship Trigla. Winifred gained her Master Mariner’s Certificate through her work in the engine rooms of Moreton Bay cruise vessels SS Koopa and MV Mirimar. She also authored the book, History of the Harbours and Marine Department, which traced the movement of shipping in Brisbane’s harbour from 1845.

Winifred earned a Bachelor of Engineering and became the first woman to be granted Corporate Membership of the Institution of Engineers and later, the Royal Institute of Naval Architects. Pamela Davenport, also a former St Aidan’s student, fondly remembered her elder cousin as an affectionate, determined young woman with a particular passion for mathematics and animals.

“My earliest memories of Winifred go back to her years at St Aidan’s School in Corinda where she kept a close eye on my safety and wellbeing and always thought of me as her young cousin – even at my increasingly advanced age,” Ms Pamela Davenport said with a smile.

Winifred passed away after a long illness on 13 May 2003 at the age of 80.

WINIFRED DAVENPORTOAM 1941Marine Engineer

DR GAYLE MAYES 1973Olympian

DR GAYLE MAYES 1973Olympian

Almost 20 years to the day after she competed in the Barcelona Olympics, kayaker, Dr Gayle Mayes has won Gold; this time at the 2012 World Outrigger Sprints in Canada where at the age of 56 she represented Australia in the Senior Master Women’s category.

“I won four medals including two Gold – one of the best medal hauls of our 66-member Australian team,” Gayle said.

But, the win was hard fought. She gave up competitive paddling at the elite level after the 1992 Olympics due to a severe back injury, which required surgery. At the time she believed she could never train or compete in paddle sports again, so she directed her sporting success into teaching and for the past two decades has coached and trained athletes at all levels while pursuing an academic career and completing a PhD at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Currently a researcher for the Sustainability Research Centre and a tourism lecturer at the university, Gayle slowly built up her paddling fitness by training with the Caloundra and Mooloolaba Outrigger Clubs, and drawing from the expertise of Dr Enid Ginn – her Olympic Sports Scientist and the trained staff at the university. She credits this dedication and determination to her time spent at St Aidan’s.

“St Aidan’s laid the foundations and taught me the important lessons. The School introduced me to competition, cooperation, winning, losing (and everything in between), teamwork, resilience, planning, pride, leadership and fellowship and gave me the ability to take a knock or two and to get back up.”

After graduating from university with a degree in Physical Education, Gayle worked as an outdoor pursuits/outdoor education leader. A year later she went back to study and completed a post graduate degree in Outdoor Education. After a decade in this field, Gayle started her career as an elite athlete where she spent 10 years representing Australia in a variety of paddle sports including outrigging, dragon boats and marathon kayaking before reaching the peak of her sporting career in Barcelona.

She wants the current St Aidan’s cohort to understand that school is the most valuable place for laying the foundation for their future – no matter what their goals.

“Make your dreams a reality. No matter how crazy they seem or how high you aim, these dreams are what life is all about. I can honestly guarantee that dreams definitely can come true.”

JANETTE GIBSON AM1954 (nee McKay)Community Service

Janette Gibson credited St Aidan’s with instilling in her a need to help those less fortunate. Her commitment to ensuring girls everywhere were given a strong start in life saw Janette become a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 1992. The award recognised the many years of volunteer work she had done within Brisbane’s wider community.

This ‘Service to Others’ ethos began at St Aidan’s when Janette was just a schoolgirl in the ’50s.

“The Senior School at St Aidan’s was very small then, which gave all the girls the chance to participate in many activities, both cultural and sporting. We were always busy,” Janette said.

“This active participation and the leadership skills I developed while School Captain in my senior year have carried me through my life and are really the foundation for what I have achieved.”

Janette’s ‘community service’ journey saw her become involved with Girl Guides when her eldest daughter joined the organisation in 1970. She held the positions of State Commissioner for the Girl Guides Association of Queensland and

then later the Chief Commissioner for the Girl Guides Association of Australia. In 1998 Janette cemented her commitment to the association, by being appointed a member of the Asia Pacific Regional Committee of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. She was also the Chair of St Aidan’s School Council for nine years and regularly delivers food for Meals on Wheels as well as being a member of Red Cross. Janette is currently a member of the Board of the Olave Baden-Powell Society, which is the philanthropic arm of the world association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.

“Australians enjoy the basic amenities of life such as clean water, plenty to eat and a solid education. My work with the Girl Guides Association gives me the chance to see if we can ensure that every girl in every country gets these same opportunities.”

Janette, who is one of four sisters who attended St Aidan’s, wanted her own three daughters to develop a strong community conscience so she enrolled them at St Aidan’s – the place where her journey had begun. Her granddaughter, Meg, who graduated in 2009, continued her legacy.

JANETTE GIBSON AM1954 (nee McKay)Community Service

KATE CARNELL AO1972 (nee Knowlman)Business

“Superwoman (the book) was the worst book ever written,” beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell said.

“To say that somehow you can have it all and do it on your own is just ridiculous. If you want a full-on career and want a work-life balance, you have to pay other people to help you out on the home front. You can’t have a great garden, a clean house, the ironing done, be a good partner, friend and mother AND have a thriving career without support – it’s that simple!”

Kate’s incredible work journey is testament to this fact. Her career has spanned both the private and public sectors and with two children in tow she made sure she had a strong support base around her at all times. After graduating from St Aidan’s, Kate went on to receive a Bachelor of Pharmacy from the University of Queensland. That same year she moved to Canberra; in 1981 she bought her first pharmacy. She served as the President of the Australian Capital Territory branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and became the first woman to serve as National Vice-President of the Guild. She also served on the ACT Chamber of Commerce and on the boards of various charities and community organisations. In 1991, Kate joined the Liberal Party; she was

elected to the second ACT Legislative Assembly in 1992, became Leader of the Opposition in 1993 and then Chief Minister of the ACT in 1995 becoming the first Liberal woman to be elected as Chief Minister or Premier in Australian political history. She resigned in 2000 and has since served in a number of CEO positions and on a variety of boards including the Australian Red Cross.

But, it is her current role as CEO of beyondblue that Kate considers her “passion” job. Diagnosed with anorexia at 14, Kate understands the constant struggle involved with battling a mental health issue and she brings this awareness to her leadership role.

Kate was awarded an Order of Australia in 2006 for services to the community through contributions to economic development, knowledge industries and medical technology.Her advice to current students?

“Get involved. The reality is if you don’t get involved in the things you’re passionate about, how do you expect the world to change for the better?”

KATE CARNELL AO1972 (nee Knowlman)Business

DALMa NOVAK1983Electrical Engineer

DALMA NOVAK1983Electrical Engineer

Graduating Dux in 1983, Dalma Novak said it was the dedication of St Aidan’s teachers and the extra support given to her during her senior years that gave her the confidence and credentials needed for a career in engineering.

“When it was discovered that one of the maths’ prerequisites for engineering at UQ was not part of the School curriculum at the time, it was quickly arranged to be taught to me one-on-one during the main class,” Dalma said.

Dalma went on to study Electrical Engineering at the University of Queensland. After obtaining her PhD in 1992, she embarked on an academic career at the University of Melbourne. In 2004 she was appointed Chair of Telecommunications, the first woman professor in the history of the University’s Faculty of Engineering.

During her tenure, Dalma also spent several years at a ‘high tech start-up’ company in the United States, leading a small engineering team that was developing hardware for a new ultrahigh capacity undersea optical communications network.

“I was fortunate to have had this great opportunity in what was a particularly exciting time in the telecommunications industry. The work was challenging and stressful, but ultimately very rewarding as I realised the skills needed to be an effective academic were not so different from those needed to be a successful technologist in the ‘real world’,” Dalma said.

It was this experience that ultimately led Dalma to leave her academic life behind to take on a new challenge: starting her own engineering company. She is a Vice-President at Pharad. Products being developed by the company are found in many present-day wireless and communications systems, from cellular phone systems and satellite communications links to military defense systems.

“I have great memories of St Aidan’s and my five years there influenced me tremendously. All of my teachers were exceptional. I can still remember most of my high school German, thanks to Mrs Evans and her memory drills.”

HÉLÈNE DENNIS OAM JP1953 (nee Holdsworth)Community Service

Hélène Dennis’ life story reads like a community service advertisement. The nurse from Geelong met and married a grazier from Gippsland in 1959. The couple had three children while running 2000 acres and 500 breeding cows – all with very little outside help. If this doesn’t sound exhausting enough, Hélène’s commitment to helping others ensured she deserved that OAM she was bestowed in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2000.

She has held the position of District Commissioner of Guides as well as President of both the local branch of the National Council of Women of Australia and the intellectually handicapped children’s home, Kyndalyn, in Maffra. She served on the board of the local Heyfield Hospital for 12 years; one of its projects included the building of a 30-bed hostel for the elderly. In 1977 she was appointed a Justice of the Peace and in 1988 a Bail Justice. Five years ago Hélène and Michael handed over their property to their youngest son, but rather than enjoying a relaxing retirement, she quickly became involved in the Anglican Church’s

many charities, the Heyfield Ambulance Service and the Heyfield Hospital Auxiliary.

Hélène grew up in Geelong. Her strict English father was a cloth designer at a woollen mill. In 1951, when Hélène was 14, her father was offered the managerial role at Morris Woollen Mills in Redbank. The family moved to Brisbane and Hélène and her sister enrolled at St Aidan’s.

“Sister Lois, Sister Rowena and Miss Armstrong are imprinted on my mind as being great educators. Sister Lois took an interest in me and has always been my mentor. I can see her now on the tennis court, habit flying, showing us strokes she had made in gaining her University Blue,” Hélène said.

“I had three wonderful years at St Aidan’s. I will never forget my time at the School. It is in such good hands with Karen Spiller at the helm.”

HÉLÈNE DENNIS OAM JP1953 (nee Holdsworth)Community Service

BIRGITTA STEPHENSON 1977 (nee Thomas)Pharmacist/Archaeologist

She taught aqua aerobics to the Saudi royal family, ran a hat business called Shady Business in Saudi and produced documentaries for CNN throughout Asia, Africa and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. However it was while exploring the Arabian deserts that Birgitta Stephenson rekindled her life’s passion – archaeology.

However, Birgitta’s professional life started out quite differently. After graduating from St Aidan’s in 1977 she wanted to go to NIDA, but her parents told her she had to get a degree first, so she looked around and settled on pharmacy.

“I thought I’d do the degree and still go on to NIDA, but that didn’t happen. I graduated, felt obligated to become registered, met Cameron, got married, had children and moved to Saudi Arabia,” Birgitta said.

“We used to make these amazing treks into the desert where I would find beautiful stone artefacts. I used to drive my friends insane talking about these stone tools until a wise girlfriend told me to go back to uni and become an archaeologist – so I did.”

In late 2000, she did Honours and combined pharmacy and archaeology to develop biochemical staining applications for ancient residues. This technique led to the start of her business, In the Groove Analysis Pty Ltd. Birgitta’s work routine can include her being ‘choppered’ and flown around breathtaking sites in Australia including Kakadu, the Pilbara and the east coast of Australia. There are days spent trekking the desert, talking and walking with traditional owners, climbing escarpments being amazed as the stories meet science. She is also involved with research projects with the National Museum, ARC grants and presents papers around the world.

Her advice to the current crop of St Aidan’s students?

“Stay true to who you are and don’t try to be who everyone wants you to be. Get involved in stacks of stuff at school and don’t lock yourself away to do just the academic. Extend yourself as it’s the additional activities that help you become who you want to be – live your dream!”

BIRGITTA STEPHENSON 1977 (nee Thomas)Pharmacist/Archaeologist

SUZANNE MAYO 1978 (nee Mowbray)Sports Director

Photograph by Brent Matthews 2012

Suzanne Mayo’s senior year saw her and her classmates knocking down walls to create their own Common Room.

“Our senior year was not allocated a Common Room, so using some lateral thinking with a little paint and physical strength and a lot of team effort, the Seniors of ’78 created our very own Common Room, which gave us a sense of ownership and pride,” Suzanne said with a smile.

Suzanne is the General Manager and Director of ‘Learn to Swim’ for a fitness and leisure group that oversees a number of Brisbane City Council facilities. She credits the lateral thinking involved in creating a Common Room at St Aidan’s with helping her establish the foundations of her business. Her first swim school was located in a renovated service station.

Suzanne’s career began in England in 1980 where she became a strong advocate for water safety; she also worked with the Red Cross in Fiji. Today, Suzanne is recognised as an international speaker and author. Her books and papers have covered all

aspects of aquatic education and business practices for the swimming industry as well as her methods of teaching children with a disability and infant aquatics. She has also served on national boards and government advisory groups.

In 2008 Suzanne was the youngest recipient of the New Zealand Swim Coaches and Teachers Association’s Master Teacher Award for her outstanding contribution to teaching and water safety.But, it is Suzanne’s role as a mentor to the younger generation that she regards as her success story. She believes in celebrating every win, and encourages her managers and teachers in creating a positive work environment.

“This has become a personal value; mentoring managers and teachers alike to create the best workplace culture,” Suzanne said.

“St Aidan’s recognised the small successes as the proudest moments. It is with honour, I will always carry the pride in being a St Aidan’s girl.”

SUZANNE MAYO 1978 (nee Mowbray)Sports Director

DR LOUISE MAHLER 1974 (nee Camens)

Business

Louise Mahler has two great passions in life – the creative world of the performing arts – and the unfulfilled creative genius of the business world. In order for her to feed both parts of her soul, she combined the two into a niche business that specialises in presence and influence through a unique research she calls ‘Vocal Intelligence’: the mind-body-voice connection. Trained in opera in Queensland, Louise spent nine years in Europe singing, most notably at the Aldeburgh and Salzburg Festivals as well as fulfilling a two-year soloist’s contract at the Vienna State Opera.

“But, the other part of my passion is for people and learning in organisations. That journey has taken me from a degree in economics, to time in BHP in Quality Management and many years of speaking, training and coaching,” Louise said.

Surprisingly, Louise’s singing accomplishments were sadly lacking during her school days. Preferring to spend time on the

netball courts in A-Grade competition, she also won the GPS High jump in her senior year – breaking the record.

On the other hand, “I remember the sounds of assembly and the classrooms: the booming voice of Mrs Jones in grade one, the theatricality of Miss Harper, the singing of Sister Anne up and down the aisles of assembly and mostly the singing of hymns every morning. After 12 years at St Aidan’s I can sing almost half the English Hymnal off by heart!”

Working with business leaders, federal politicians, international film actors and Olympic athletes, Louise was interviewed by IBM in January 2011 as one of 50 Top Creative People and she is the winner of the award for PhD Innovation at RMIT. She has received numerous music scholarships and awards including two Australian Council Awards and was the first recipient of the Walter Legge Elizabeth Schwarzkopf Award in Europe. Louise lives in the Yarra Valley with her husband, two children and a menagerie of animals, including Wally the kangaroo.

DR LOUISE MAHLER 1974 (nee Camens)Business

PAM REISNER 1944 (nee Pennycuik)Biologist

PAM REISNER 1944 (nee Pennycuik)Biologist

Pam Reisner was enrolled at St Aidan’s during the Great Depression and World War II. School was very different then; the Sisters of the Sacred Advent were under financial pressures and resources like laboratories didn’t exist. In fact, at one stage the teachers were asked to take a cut in pay to ensure the future of the School. “In spite of these limitations, the women who taught us succeeded in making the subjects we were studying interesting and enjoyable. To this day, I remember them all with both affection and gratitude,” Pam said.

After graduating from St Aidan’s, Pam obtained a Bachelor of Science from the University of Queensland before enrolling in a Masters degree in Zoology.

She worked for a short period of time in the university’s Zoology Department before spending 18 months in the United Kingdom. She returned to Brisbane and a position in the university’s Physiology Department where she studied for her PhD. During World War II this department carried out studies on the “effects of exposure to high environmental temperatures on man”

(Australia had troops fighting in the tropics at the time). But by 1954 the emphasis of the experiments had shifted from “man” to “mammals”. Pam was allotted the rat and for the next few years, she investigated the effects of continuous exposure to 34°C on the wellbeing of these little beasts – on their food intake, growth rate and their ability to reproduce successfully.

In 1961, Pam moved to Sydney and to the CSIRO’s Division of Animal Genetics, where her model animal was the mouse. The study objective was to gain an understanding of why it was that mouse populations in the wheat-growing belt of eastern Australia reached plague proportions in some years but not in others.

Pam married Alex, a molecular biologist, in 1986. She published 51 papers (in collaboration with other scientists) in a variety of publications during her extensive career. Her advice to current St Aidan’s students is to aspire to be the best they can be, but be prepared to sometimes be practical. She also encourages all of the girls to venture out into the world at large and “experience and experiment”.

anne-marie rice 1991

Lawyer

Anne-Marie Rice graduated from St Aidan’s with a social conscience.

“When I think about my St Aidan’s experience (both as a student, and as a member of the School Council from 2002 to 2009) I become acutely aware of how fortunate I have been in my life. I didn’t have any comprehension at the time that what St Aidan’s, in conjunction with my parents, was giving me was a deep sense of the importance of human kindness. But it is a touchstone that has served me well,” Anne-Marie said.

The Collaborative Lawyer and Family Law Specialist said the importance of having a focus on others as much as on herself was ingrained into her psyche during those formative years.

“We were expected to respect ourselves and each other. We were expected to try hard regardless of whether or not we were victorious and to be gracious in defeat. We were expected to be ambassadors of St Aidan’s whenever we were in uniform and we were, collectively, admonished whenever someone (frequently an Old Girl) called the headmistress to say she had seen some girls failing to stand up on the train when adults were without seats,

or some other such indiscretion,” Anne-Marie said.“But it could never be said that the School, and the staff and the Sisters who ran it, were anything other than fiercely supportive and protective of the girls. That pervading sense of peace and security (which is present still) is a rare thing in the busy modern world.

“I am so much the better person for having experienced it. It never occurred to me that I could not do anything I set my mind to (though some stronger prodding towards the things I wasn’t prepared to set my mind to probably wouldn’t have gone astray!).”

The working mum of two “fondly” remembers the humble things that also made St Aidan’s special – the unattractive sports uniform, the cold unpainted grey cement of Le Fanu and the small pond of horrid white water you had to wade through to get out of the swimming pool change room. But, she also acknowledged that the education she received – and the lessons learned outside of the classroom – were invaluable.

anne-marie rice 1991Lawyer

per volur sunata

born to fly

11 Ruthven Street Corinda Qld 4075T: 61 7 3373 5999 F: 61 7 3379 9432

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A School of the Society of the Sacred Advent

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ Schoolconfidence and success