Rachael Lionel's Kapi Wankanya
A Special Gift to the College
The Waverley College Mothers’ Club, which merged with the Waverley College Parents and Friends Association in late 2016, has gifted the College an artwork which has been hung in reception this week. The gift is in honour of all of the great women who have volunteered for the College over the many years that the Mothers’ Club served the College community.
The new artwork is by an Aboriginal woman, Rachael Mipantjiti Lionel. Rachael comes from the third generation of Lionel women painting at the Ernabella Arts Centre in the Pukatja Community, at the eastern end of the Musgrave Ranges in the far north west of South Australia.
Rachael draws inspiration for her paintings from the stories and messages she receives through her dreams. Her painting, Kapi Wankanya, represents one of these dreams and tells a story of ‘living water’. Living water is spoken about in the bible: “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water“(John 4:10). In the context of the dream, Rachael speaks of the sensation of floating in water and also feeling its healing force inside her body. She says, “Kapi Wankanya is a powerful water story.” Living water is also known as Holy Water and is used in baptisms for cleansing and renewal.
Ernabella Arts, established in 1948, is one of Australia’s longest continuously running Aboriginal arts organisations and Rachael is considered one of its rising stars. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, 2016 and the National Museum of Australia, 2016. Also in 2016 she was an Indigenous Ceramic Art Award Finalist and a National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Finalist. The painting was sourced via Nichola Dare at Aboriginal Contemporary in Waverley.
Early next year we will invite past Mothers’ Club volunteers to an event to acknowledge this generous gift. My warm thanks go to Linda McGuiggan, a member of the 2016 Mothers’ Club Executive, for coordinating this gift.
Rachael Mipantjiti Lionel paints about the helping power of water.
Acknowledging George Rummery QC
On Monday 13 November, myself and Chris Balkizas, Head of Music welcomed Mr George Rummery QC to the College to acknowledge his significant contribution to our school.
George’s son George William Rummery, attended Waverley College until he passed away tragically at the age of 13. He was in Year 8. George and his family established the George William Rummery Scholarship fund shortly after, which has allowed for an annual scholarship to be given to a Waverley College student, musically gifted, to cover the cost of their co-curricular music tuition.
George was able to meet current scholarship recipients James Eveleigh (Year 7) and Gabriel Kidston (Year 9) and their parents, at a special morning tea.
George sees this scholarship as an opportunity to extend the life of his son, who was also gifted musically, by fostering a love of music and learning in Waverley College students and I would like to extend my deepest appreciation for his family’s generosity.
George Rummery with Head of College, Graham Leddie, Head of Music, Chris Balkizas, Keiran Kossenberg, and the Kidston, Eveleigh and Corcoran Families
May Procession Time Change
In the light of overwhelming support from all parties involved, an earlier start to the Annual May Procession and Feast of Edmund Rice has now been confirmed for 2018; please note that this event will now commence at 12.00pm on Sunday 6 May, 2018.
Parent Association AGM
The Waverley College Parent Association AGM was held on Tuesday 14 November and I supervised the election of a new Executive and Committee. It was pleasing to see quite a number of families in attendance who will have sons commencing at the College in 2018.
Retiring Executive Members
After three years as President of the Association, Greg Bodkin resigned at the AGM. Greg began his formal role on the Executive of the Parent Association in 2014 when he shared the role of Vice President with Michael Jaeger, working with Scott Munro as President.
He took the reins as President in 2015 and during this time we have seen the Association refine existing activities and extend its services to our parent community.
Over the past three years we have seen the increasing popularity of the annual welcome cocktail party, which was has recently seen attendance by around 700 members of the college community. This is an important expression of the sense of engagement felt by parents, and I thank Greg and the rest of the Association for the work they have done to make that happen.
In Greg’s time as President the Association has hosted three parent forums each year, again, achieving increasing popularity. Close to 700 parents were in attendance for two separate evenings with adolescent Psychologists, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg in 2016 and Dr Andrew Fuller in 2017. This was a result of the Association’s strong support for our new Student Wellbeing Strategy, and our staff and students also benefitted, with separate daytime sessions held for them by both psychologists.
In 2016 our Mother’s Club approached the Parent Association to discuss a merger and Greg became an integral part of the team which oversaw this transition. The constitution for the organisation had to be re-written and plan for transition was put in place. There was also a name change from the Waverley College Parents and Friends Association to the Waverley College Parent Association to reflect the integration of the two groups. At the same time, we saw the expansion of the original committee structure to include Year Group Representatives, with these roles commencing in 2017 – and I am sure that you will agree that the new structure has been a great success.
Having been appointed to the College Board late last year, Greg leaves the Parent Association in a stable and strong position to continue to support our parents, teachers, students and our community.
Also retiring in 2017 are Kathy Davies, who has been Secretary of the Parent Association since 2013 and Treasurer, Christina Fragias, who became a Committee member in 2015.
I am sure you will join me in extending our warmest thanks to all of the 2017 Executive and Committee for their hard work and dedication to Waverley College. They are:
2017 Parent Association Committee
President, Greg Bodkin
Vice President: Hayley O’Sullivan
Secretary: Kathy Davies
Treasurer: Christina Fragias
Clothing Pool: Patsy Thompson
Clothing Pool: Sandy Templeton-Martin
Year 5 Michele Dubois
Year 5 Patricia O’Keefe
Year 5 Alison Maree
Year 6 Mel Cahill
Year 6 Mary Kate Ramsay
Year 6 Stephanie Schofields
Year 6 Lisa Sullivan Smith
Year 7 Sonya Deal
Year 7 Tanya Halbert
Year 7 Lara Waterson
Year 7 Alison Maree
Year 7 Sonja Rodriguez
Year 8 Mel Cahill
Year 8 Clare Corban
Year 8 Mary Kate Ramsay
Year 8 Nora Shahinian
Year 8 Marty Wilson
Year 9 Sarah Hope
Year 10 Rox Deluca
Year 10 Suzie Ruse
Year 10 Lamya Sadi
Year 11 Maureen Andrews
Year 11 Michelle Griffths
Year 11 Linda McGuiggan
Past Parents Donna Drew
I would like to offer my warm congratulations to our new Parent Association Executive and Committee, particularly our new President Mary Ramsay. New appointees for 2018 are listed in the Parent Association story in this edition of Nurrunga, along with the 2017 President’s report.
