OSA CONNECTIONS NEWSLETTER

Dear Old Scholars

Welcome to our May edition of the OSA Connections newsletter.

We are very excited to announce, that as part of the St Hilda’s 130th Anniversary celebrations, the Old Scholars Association and St Hilda’s are sponsoring the Perth Symphony Orchestra to perform Fiona Stanley, WA Stories Chapter III, Story 7 at the Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre on Thursday 30 July at 7.30pm. You can purchase your tickets below.

Our OSA Mother’s Day High Tea was a wonderful success. We would particularly like to thank the OSA Events Subcommittee led by Victoria Parker (2016), OSA volunteers, student volunteers, TWG Hospitality Services, Facilities and School Development teams, Head of Music, Andrea Black (Shepherd, 1990), Fiona Johnston, Lizzie Warburton and Sandra Naude for their skills, time and effort.

The recent St Hilda’s 130th Anniversary Sundowners in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane were very successful, as was the Old Scholar Undergraduate Mentor Day. A sincere thank you to the Old Scholars and School staff who made these events such wonderful occasions.

Principal, Fiona Johnston, and Director of School Development and Philanthropy, Kellie Hasluck, will be hosting sundowners in Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Singapore in June-July, and invite you to join them. Please register below.

The OSA Committee would be delighted to hear from Old Scholars with accounting and/or auditing backgrounds who may be interested in volunteering. Please email oldscholars@sthildas.wa.edu.au.

Enjoy this edition of the newsletter, which includes Old Scholar news, recent and upcoming events, and an OSA Heritage focus on boarding through the years.

As always, we would love to hear from you. Please send us your news to the above address, and if you need to update your contact details, you can do so at the following link:

Click Here to Update Your Contact Details

Best wishes,

Dr Amanda Burt (Coad, 1989)
President of the GHS & St Hilda’s Old Scholars Association

We are very excited to announce, that as part of the St Hilda’s 130th Anniversary celebrations, the Old Scholars Association and St Hilda’s are sponsoring the Perth Symphony Orchestra to perform Fiona Stanley, WA Stories Chapter III, Story 7 at the Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre on Thursday 30 July at 7.30pm.

This intimate chamber production tells the story of Professor Fiona Stanley, Old Scholar, paediatrician, public health reformer, advocate for children and one of Western Australia’s most influential voices in medicine and social change.

Through live performance, evocative visuals and moving narration by renowned paediatrician and longtime friend Professor Desiree Silva, Co Director of ORIGINS, Fiona’s extraordinary journey will unfold through a powerful score featuring choral music, string orchestra and piano, with works by Philip Glass, Felix Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludovico Einaudi.

The performance will take centre stage on Thursday 30 July, at 7.30pm in the Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre.

This will be a particularly meaningful occasion with the school choir taking part in the performance. St Hilda’s will also use this special event to launch the Year 7 project, 130 Trailblazers, celebrating remarkable women connected to St Hilda’s who have helped shape our community, our state and beyond over the last 130 years.

We warmly invite you, your family and extended family to join us for this unique experience, as we honour the story of one of our own.

As part of this celebration, the St Hilda’s Old Scholars Association has been offered exclusive access to pre-sale tickets from Tuesday 12 May, before tickets go on sale to the general public on Tuesday 19 May.

To secure your pre-sale tickets,click on the link below:

Megatix – Fiona Stanley | WA Stories Chapter III

We hope you will join us for what promises to be a moving and memorable evening.

Principal, Fiona Johnston, and Director of School Development and Philanthropy, Kellie Hasluck, will visit a number of countries in Asia in the mid-year.

If you live in the region or will be in any of these cities at the time, we invite you to join us by registering on the links below:

Hong Kong Sundowner- 29 June

Bangkok Sundowner- 30 June

Kuala Lumpur Sundowner- 2 July

Jakarta Sundowner – 3 July

Singapore Sundowner- 4 July

We are looking to hold our OSA Country Lunch in Albany this year, incorporating an option to stay at the beautiful St Hilda’s Yeagarup Campus near Pemberton in October.  We hope that Old Scholars will then enjoy some of the cultural and community events taking place in Albany in celebration of the region’s historic biennial milestone (https://www.albany2026.com.au/events).

It would be very helpful to know what interest there might be in this trip and the options.  We hope this will be an opportunity for Old Scholars who are based in the South West and the Great Southern to come together for a lunch, together with those travelling from Perth.

The Old Scholars’ Association has organised limited places for an overnight stay at Yeagarup Campus (for those who would like to see it), and plans to organise a lunch in Albany, depending upon interest.

The cost for an overnight stay at the Yeagarup Campus is $60 per person (two people sharing a chalet room, BYO sheets for a single bed and towel), pizza evening, and a continental breakfast in the morning.

Individuals should arrange their own transport for this visit.

The draft outline itinerary is as follows:

Friday 9 October

5pm arrive at Yeagarup for pizza, and overnight stay.

Saturday 10 October

7am Continental Breakfast.

8am Drive to Albany (2 hours 40 mins) to visit the biennial attractions.

12.30pm OSA Country Lunch (TBC).

Following the OSA Country Lunch, on Saturday 10 October, there will be no further organised event, and Old Scholars may continue to enjoy the numerous activities and exhibitions in Albany or return to Perth.

Please fill out the short survey via the link below by 1 June, and we will plan according to the interest.

OSA Country Lunch 2026 Short Survey

For more information on the Albany biennial events please see the program on the Albany government website Albany 2026 » City of Albany.

We look forward to welcoming you to these upcoming events. Links to these events will be provided as the dates approach.

OSA CROCHET
Date: 3rd Wednesday monthly (20 May & 17 June)
Time: 1.00pm – 3.00pm
Venue: Heritage Centre, Hope Nicholas House

INTERNATIONAL SUNDOWNERS

HONG KONG
Date: Monday 29 June
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: The Hong Kong Country Club

BANGKOK
Date: Tuesday 30 June
Time: 5.00pm
Venue: Indus Indian Restaurant, #71, Sukhumvit Soi 26, Klong Toey, Bangkok 10110

KUALA LUMPUR
Date: Thursday 2 July
Time:  6.00pm
Venue: Four Siblings Bar, Kimpton Naluria Hotel

JAKARTA
Date: Friday 3 July
Time:  6.00pm
Venue: Function Room – Ground Floor, Tower 2 The Residences at Dharmawangsa

SINGAPORE
Date: Saturday 4 July
Time:  6.00pm
Venue: The Bar at 15 Stamford, The Capitol Kempinski Hotel

PSO WA STORIES CONCERT
Date: Thursday 30 July
Time:  7.30pm
Venue:  Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre

OSA 70+ MORNING TEA
Date: Wednesday 12 August
Time: 10.00am – Midday
Venue: School Hall

OSA PIN PRESENTATION ASSEMBLY / LUNCH
Date: Monday 14 September
Time: 12.20pm – 2.00pm
Venue: Joy Shepherd Performing Arts Centre & Heritage Centre, Hope Nicholas House.

OSA ART EXHIBITION OPENING NIGHT 
Date: Thursday 17 September
Time: 6.00pm – 8.00pm
Venue: JSPAC Foyer

OSA ART EXHIBITION 
Date: Thursday 17 – Sunday 20 September
Time: 10.00am – 3.00pm
Venue: JSPAC Foyer

OLD GIRLS’ GOLF DAY
Date:  TBA

OSA COUNTRY LUNCH
Date & Venue:  9 – 10 October TBC

OSA AGM & THANK YOU EVENING FOR OSA YEAR REPRESENTATIVES 
Date: Tuesday 13 October
Time: 6.00pm – 8.00pm
Venue: Gallery, Heritage Centre, Hope Nicholas House.

OSA SOCIAL GOLF DAY & LUNCH
Date: Friday 6 November
Time: 8.30am – 2.00pm
Venue: TBA

OSA CHRISTMAS CHAPEL SERVICE & REFRESHMENTS
Date:  Wednesday 2 December
Time: 6.00pm – 8.00pm
Venue: Whitby Chapel & Gallery, Heritage Centre, Hope Nicholas House.

On Saturday 9 May we opened the doors to the School Hall to welcome over 140 guests, including mothers, daughters and grandmothers, to the first OSA Mother’s Day High Tea. The afternoon was supported by the favourite Boarders’ stall of freshly made produce, native flowers and potted plants.  And also, an OSA staple of Jill Binning’s (Mansel, 1960) jams, and three other stalls who have been long standing attendees of OSA events.

Thanks to Victoria Parker (2016), Teelia Peploe (1993), Alice Hamilton (2015) and many other Old Scholar volunteers for all their work behind the scenes, setting up and serving on the day.

Our Patron and Principal, Fiona Johnston, travelled nearly 5,000km in April and met up with Old Scholars in Melbourne (21 April), Sydney (22 April) and Brisbane (23 April) as part of the St Hilda’s 130th Anniversary celebrations.

Nearly eighty Old Scholars attended across the three venues, and nearly as many year groups were represented.  Lynette Matthews (1955) was the oldest of our Old Scholars who lives NSW, and Melbourne was particularly well supported by the younger years many of whom are at university in Victoria.

The sundowners are about Old Scholars coming together, across many year groups, and hearing about the latest developments and plans for St Hilda’s.  It is also about reconnecting and celebrating St Hilda’s 130th anniversary and the amazing Old Scholars that we have in our community.

Thank you to everyone who could attend these events and to Flora Davies (2021) and Maddie Wilson (2021) who were able to help out with the large group logistics in Melbourne.

The class of 2006 celebrated their 20 year reunion on Saturday 18 April with drinks and a tour of the school before moving on to the Cottesloe Beach Hotel for more drinks and canapes. We brought together more than a third of the year group and had a fantastic evening reminiscing on old memories and catching up on the last 20 years.

It was very special to have classmates travel from around the country – including Melbourne, Sydney, Noosa, Esperance, Dunsborough and farms across the wheatbelt.

On Wednesday 22 April we welcomed some of the parents from the Class of 2006 for a morning tea.  Most of these parents are regularly in touch with one another, but it was especially nice to welcome them back as some are about to become grandparents of new St Hilda’s students, 20 years after their daughters left.

Date:  Saturday 19 December
Time & Venue: 4.30 – 6.00pm – Heritage Centre & Tour of School
Next Venue: From 6.00pm Mosman Park Bowling Club
Details: TBA

Organiser: Sarah Wallace 

SAVE THE DATE

Date:  Saturday 31 October
Details: TBA

Organiser: Kate Buffham

SAVE THE DATE

Date: Saturday 21 November
Time & Venue: 4.00 – 5.00pm – Heritage Centre & Tour of School
Next Venue:  From 5.00pm – The Albion Pub, Private Room, Cottesloe
Details: TBA

Organisers: Pia Rigby Marazzi, Sue Ransom (Clarke) and Jane Henderson (Dadour).

Date:  Sunday 25 October 2026
Details: TBA

Organisers: Sue Gillett (Wisbey) & Ann Treadgold (Cariss)

SAVE THE DATE

Date:  Friday 11 September
Time & Venue: 

RSVP:  oldscholars@sthildas.wa.edu.au

Organisers: Deanne Newman (Benney) & Robin Creswell (Cummins)

SAVE THE DATE

Boarding at school creates lasting memories, whatever the era, whatever the length of stay. It might be a brief few years over a lifetime, but those memories linger and friendships endure far longer than the years spent in a cubicle in Parnell House or the draughty confines of Catherine House.

For each generation, and there have been many of them, the experience is different. Lining up for meals in the prescribed tea dresses, watching Kommotion on Sunday nights in the Margaret House Common Room. Long Sunday afternoons hoping for a visitor and the disappointment of another meagre dinner. Times change; the girls have gradually been granted more freedom, the boarders are in a single building where homely touches are encouraged, and the rules more in keeping with requirements of a modern boarding house.

Meals are less formal; lunches spent with day girls rather than in the dining room, and the choices are broad and healthy.

The boarding house has had to weather a range of challenges – often the same challenges that the wider community is experiencing – but complicated by having the care of so many girls in one place. Pandemics like the Spanish flu, which affected Australia from 1919, the Polio outbreak throughout the 1940s to 1960s, and, more recently, the Covid epidemic. Just how the School dealt with them was a snapshot of the times. Keeping girls healthy, in the early years of Girls High School and St Hilda’s, the formidable Nurse Roberts was in charge and that entailed daily throat treatment with Condy’s Crystals (potassium permanganate).

But perhaps the biggest disruption to life in the boarding house was the outbreak of war, both in 1918 and 1939.

The Second World War brought major challenges for Headmistress Catherine Small. Numbers dropped dramatically by 49%, as parents worried about a Japanese invasion on the City and sought safety for their daughters in the country.

Bencubbin 1942-1944

Staffing the boarding house was also a major challenge and so short were food supplies that the School began growing its own vegetables. It was under these conditions that a decision was made to seek a safer place for the boarding house girls outside Perth and the Wheatbelt town of Bencubbin, with suitable spare buildings, was selected.  The first task was to help clean the three small shops in the town in which some of the girls were to live.  About 20 girls slept in a wing of the Bencubbin Hotel, with younger girls in the Country Women’s Association cottage, which they named Margaret House.

They kept a combined diary which details how they spent their days, their time away from the makeshift classrooms and the social activities in which they were able to take part. It begins with a quaintly appropriate quote from Shakespeare’s play, As You Like It: “Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile, hath not old custom made this life more sweet than that of painted pomp? Are not these words more free from peril than the envious court?”

Less literary, but perhaps more heartfelt, was the opening contribution by Helen Morcombe (1942) who bemoaned the fact that there would be no more Saturday night dances with the Christ Church boys. There were, she reported, heartaches and sighs aboard the train from Mosman Park, and at the Perth Station, where “frenzied parents” wondered where on earth their daughters would be spending the night.  On arrival at Bencubbin, our diarist reported: “Everyone was pleasantly surprised … as the township proved on inspection to be better than we had imagined. The hotel welcomed us with coffee and it was deeply appreciated.”

One of the highlights of the first afternoon was the discovery of the garden and plans were immediately formed to plant vegetables. Their cultivation was to provide an opportunity for fierce competition among growers.

“After tea we had our first prayers in St Mark’s Church, which was to be our School Chapel.” The diary includes contributions from Headmistress Miss Small, who made several visits to Bencubbin.

While there were some complaints at the cold mornings, the routine of Saturday morning washing and cleaning and the tedium of classroom time, the girls were also able to go on picnics, play tennis and golf, and to hold their own impromptu dances. One much-enjoyed outing was in a truck to collect mallee roots, presumably for heating.

This meant Miss Small was responsible for two campuses and found herself working out ways to continue the teaching curriculum at both.

The girls were spread across five buildings in Bencubbin and, perhaps unsurprisingly, adapted well to the novelty of their changed circumstances. Teaching was conducted in two-week cycles with teachers coming from Perth for particular subjects and then being replaced for another two weeks by other staff.

Miss Small herself was a regular visitor and a diary kept by the girls; each had to contribute regularly to it and it is now a prized display in the Heritage Centre. The diary records their walks in the countryside, golfing exploits, horse riding, the excitement of the film nights and the arrival of the Hale boys during holidays.

Miss Small reported that the health of the girls was “exceptionally good, (due to) that inland country air”, she believed.  The girls remained at Bencubbin throughout 1944, returning to St Hilda’s the following year, when the threat of invasion was lessened.

Fire at Parnell House – 1999

Another challenge to the management of the St Hilda’s boarding house was the Parnell House fire in 1999.

1999 Caroline Phillips (1999) with her rescued teddy, a week after the fire.

Recalls Old Scholar Fiona Anderson (2002): “We mustered outside in front of the Hall and watched the Boarding House burn to the ground.”

The building was uninhabitable and the girls lost many of their treasured possessions; their clothing and their schoolwork.  Alternative accommodation was essential.

“The most amazing memory is the sense of community in the School. Families opened their homes, wallets and arms to welcome students who had lost their ‘home away from home’.”

“Girls got together and started photocopying their notes, lending their textbooks to try to help each other through their exams which were only a few weeks later.”

As luck would have it an Education Department building at Chidley Point was available and, with a lot of hard work from Old Scholars, parent volunteers and staff, it was made ready for the girls.  Uniforms were replaced, often again by contributions from parents and friends.

I joined St Hilda’s in Year 8 with huge excitement for the breadth of cultural opportunities on offer. It felt like a place that encouraged curiosity, creativity, and a real interest in arts and culture – qualities that would later shape my career in ways I couldn’t have anticipated at the time.

Just as importantly, it was where I formed some of my most enduring relationships. I met my two best friends at St Hilda’s, and those friendships have stayed with me ever since – a constant through all the different chapters that followed.

One of my most formative experiences was being part of the Chorale and St Hilda’s Orchestra. A particular highlight was travelling to England to celebrate the school’s centenary where singing in York Minster Cathedral remains a vivid memory.

1996 Centenary Orchestra and Chorale tour of UK

Academically, I was drawn to English Literature and still remember my teachers with great fondness. I loved Art and also ran the Media Club for some time – a taste for what was to come.

After leaving St Hilda’s, I went on to study a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication at Curtin University. During my time at university, I also assisted an interior designer — something that, in hindsight, was a quiet foreshadowing of the work I would return to later in my career.

From there, my path into journalism began. I moved to London and worked at Condé Nast inside the famed Vogue House, an experience that was both exciting and formative. Being immersed in such a fast-paced and globally recognised publishing environment sharpened my skills and gave me invaluable insight into how great content is created.

I later returned to Australia and continued working in publishing with ACP Magazines and Pacific Magazines in Sydney. These roles further developed my editorial skills and deepened my understanding of how to craft stories, manage content, and bring together the many moving parts that make up a magazine. Luckily for me, there was travel involved alongside myriad product launches and press events. It was a time!

Eventually, Perth beckoned (this time with my first baby in tow) and my career took another turn with a pivot into digital media. I worked for a popular home and interior design website which was a natural evolution that combined my background in publishing and lifelong interest in design.

Now working for myself, I’ve come full circle in many ways. Much of what I do still reflects the skills I developed in my early career – concepting, curating, writing, styling and bringing ideas together – but work is now largely focused within the architecture and design space. I work as an interior stylist on photo shoots, collaborating closely with designers, architects, and photographers, and I also handle the written communications that sit alongside that work, from editorial features to project narratives, social media and content creation.

Looking back, there isn’t a single moment where I can say I moved definitively from ‘here’ to ‘there’. Instead, it has been a series of steps (some planned, others less so) that have shaped the direction of my career. What began as natural curiosity has evolved into a multifaceted career that blends visual and written communication.

It is true that careers rarely follow a straight line but the most valuable thing you can do is stay open — to opportunities, to change, and to the possibility that your interests may evolve over time. My own path has taken me across countries, industries, and disciplines and while it hasn’t been linear, it has been rich, varied, and rewarding.

Ann-Margaret Stow (MacDermott,1987) sent through photographs of a get-together last week, with Didi Furlonger (de Pledge,1956) in the UK. The Old Scholars are both UK based and had first met in London at the Thames Yacht Club Lunch for Old Scholars, a few years ago and stayed in touch.

Didi drove from her home in Hampshire to Gloucester to visit the gardens of High Grove with Ann-Margaret and her daughter, Aurelia, last weekend. It is wonderful to know being Old Scholars is a foundation of friendship across all year groups.

We are very sorry to announce that the following Old Scholars have passed away.

When she graduated from St Hilda’s with a Leaving certificate, she sent a portfolio of her artwork to the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art in London. It was an unusual honour for the Slade to accept students who had not attended an art school, but Romola was granted an interview and the whole Clifton family sailed to England to launch Romola on her career in art.

Romola’s artistic career has spanned 70 years. During that time she mounted several exhibitions of both oil and watercolour paintings in Perth and Canberra. She completed numerous portrait commissions (among them the official portrait of Sir Paul Hasluck as Governor General, which hangs in Parliament House Canberra), taught drawing and painting at the Canberra School of art, illustrated books and created a massive series of greeting cards.

5 September 1941 – 11 April 2026

1958 L-R S Watson (Sports Captain), A Palmer (Head Girl) and S Dempster (Senior Boarder)

After a long struggle with Parkinson’s, Alison Rigg passed away peacefully on 11 April 2026, survived by her husband John, her three children, Fiona, David and Jeremy and her three grandchildren, Jacob, Zoe and Yvette. A service to celebrate Alison’s life was held at the St Hilda’s Whitby Chapel on Saturday 2 May 2026.

Alison had an idyllic childhood growing up on a farm at Bridgetown where she attended the local primary school, often riding her horse to school. Alison left Bridgetown to attend high school at St Hilda’s, where she became the School Prefect and graduated in 1958.

After school Alison enrolled in a library course at Perth Technical School, graduating in 1962. She was appointed as a librarian at the WA State Library, a job she enjoyed immensely. When Alison was aged 14 she attended Sue Broad’s wedding in 1956, where she met a young John Rigg. In 1960, when John was a student in residence at St George’s College, they reconnected and have been inseparable ever since. They married in St George’s Chapel in 1965.

In 1968, Alison and John moved to Melbourne with two young children and in 1971, after the birth of their third child, they relocated again to Hamilton in Ontario, Canada.

During a ten-year period residing there, Alison and family embraced all that Canada had to offer. It was here she was introduced to the Junior League, a young women’s charitable association, where she quickly made friends. She was appointed as Treasurer of the organisation and able to make a significant contribution to the Hamilton community in that role.

The family returned to Perth in 1981, and Alison maintained a strong connection with the Old Scholars Association since that time. Alison’s daughter, Fiona Rigg (1982), and grand-daughter, Zoe Thornley (2023), are also alumni of St Hilda’s.

Alison was a keen bridge player and was President of the WA Bridge Club from 2009 to 2011. During this period, Alison was instrumental in negotiating a smooth transition from the Club’s former premises in Dalkeith to their new premises in Swanbourne and she was made a Life Member in 2018.

Kate with her children.

A beloved member of De Grey and the Class of 1983, Kate will be remembered for her beautiful smile, rosy cheeks and signature hair ribbons. Always caring and kind, it was no surprise that she went on to complete a nursing degree after school.

Kate’s nursing career took her to London for work and adventure, where she met her husband, Jag. Together they built a wonderful life and raised three children; Dhan, Dhillon and Neena. While London became home, Kate remained a keen traveller and, in recent years, found much joy in alpine and fell walking, especially in the Lake District.

Kate battled her long illness with a quiet dignity and a positive attitude. She was much loved and will be much missed.

On Wednesday 6 May the Year 10 cohort were immersed in a Course Information Day, to support the students as they make decisions on subject choices, pathways and universities.

We were very lucky to have five enthusiastic Old Scholars return to talk about their very different university experiences, and their own journey to find the right pathway.  We are very grateful to Huldah Nwoko (2023) (Nursing at Notre Dame), Velvet Valentino (2023) (Fine Arts at Curtin), Sophie Seymour (2022) (Commerce at UWA), Caitlyn Robson (2023) (Electrical Engineering and Bachelor of Philosophy at UWA), and Madeleine Blair (2023) (Politics, Philosophy and Economics, and Indonesian at UWA) for giving up their morning to speak to the Year 10s.

It was a valuable session as the Old Scholars remembered their own experiences and could give helpful insights and valuable advice on this important stage of High School.

Currently, St Hilda’s is advertising one position:

Teacher of Politics & Law (closing date for application, Monday 18 May).