Commemoration Day 2022

On Friday 7th October, 2022 the school celebrated the 123^rd commemoration day. The school welcomed approximately 100 old girls back on campus including 25 from the Class of 1962 who were celebrating their 60^th year reunion.

Class of 1962

Mrs. Kiepe reviewed the history of the school’s birthday celebrations. The school was established on 5th October, 1899 and every year commem day marks the anniversary of the founding of the school. Mrs. Kiepe further summarised the war efforts during WWII under the stewardship of principal Miss Craig. Mrs Kiepe likened the efforts of the campus movements and curriculum by correspondence during the war years to those recent efforts of the staff and students during the covid pandemic. An old girl from Class of 1945 was in attendance for the official ceremony and the light lunch.

There were four old girl guest speakers including award recipients.

L to R Janet Hine (Class of 1979), Kate Golder (OGA President), Vidya Makan (Class of 2011), Kim Kiepe (Principal), Lilia Ben Dekhil (Class of 2019) and Nance Haxton (Class of 1988)

• Janet Hine, 3^rd generation old girl (Class of 1979) costume designer for stage, TV and large arena events, gave an insight into her career path. Please see the below showreel showcasing Janet Hine's costume designs. For further information on Janet's incredible career please see our earlier news story HERE. 

• Vidya Makan (Class of 2011) currently appearing in the musical SIX, performed Home from “The Wiz”, and gave a brief account of her musical theatre career to date
• Lilia Ben Dekhil (Class of 2019) received the Young Old Girl Award for 2022, she spoke of her law and environmental studies to date including receiving the New Colombo plan scholarship for 2022. Please see our earlier story on Lilia HERE. 
•  Nance Haxton (Class of 1988) received the Old Girl Award for 2022. Nance has twice received the Walkley award for investigative journalism. Please see the announcement of Nance as award recipient below and her acceptance speech.

Nance spoke of her career and her divergent pathway to creating pod casts for those without a voice and her passion for social justice.

Please see our earlier Inspirational Old Girl feature on Nance HERE.

Despite their different career paths, all four speakers had the same message for the student cohort.

1. Follow your passion. Stay curious and inspired.
2. Small consistent actions help you along your career path. Maintain resilience. Learn from failure and maintain your enthusiasm. Be patient.
3. Be grateful to those that help you along your way. Collaborate with others.

Please see a selection of photographs from the day below. The full gallery of photos can be seen HERE. You will need to login to the OGA portal in order to view the gallery.