News from Alumni, Archives and Foundation
Class of 1982 – 30 Year Reunion
The first day of Spring 2012…
…what a day to have a reunion! The crowd that lined the banks of the Johnson was incredible; there was not a space left of green grass. The crowd cheered the 1st XV through a heart stopping final three minutes, as the Black & White’s defense was put to the test resulting in a win against Shore 27 – 24. This placed the 1st XV in the Championship round.
Warwick ‘Gibbo’ Gibson (ON ’82) and Rob Tredinnick (ON ’82) led the tour of the College. As current teachers they were able to provide their peer year with an insight into their day to day lives.
Moving into Prescott Hall for the evening, Chaplain Michael Bennett (ON ’87) recognised some faces from the past and led them in grace. The evening was attended by 70 guests; some who had even travelled from interstate. The reunion provided the chance for many of the Old Boys to reconnect with their long lost peers.
A special thank you to Bruce Millar (ON ’82) and James Fisher (ON ’82) for coordinating the event. A fantastic day was had by all.
The 70 Club Lunch—4 September 2012
Spring was in the air and the magnificent weather could not be faulted. It was just made to order!
Morning tea was held on the steps of Centenary Hall and guests gazed out onto the Johnson with students rushing by to get to their next class and the building works in full swing. It is safe to say Newington was seen at its best; alive and buzzing. All in all 115 guest—including special guests from the Laying of the Foundation Stones Ceremony that preceded the luncheon—moved into Centenary Hall.
The Annual General Meeting was also held. Congratulations to The 70 Club Committee:
- CHAIRMAN John Carroll 1947-52
- VICE CHAIRMAN Gilbert Morgan 1947-58
- HON SECRETARY Robert Hill 1947-54
- HON TREASURER Warren Green 1944-53
COMMITTEE:
- Doug Cameron 1940-46
- Roger Davidson 1932-40
- Richard Garvey 1947-55
- Ron Leckie 1931-39
- Barry Collins 1949-52
- Barry Titcume 1949-51
A special thank you to Reverend Vernon Prowse (ON ’57) for providing Grace, Gil Morgan (ON ’58) for the Loyal Toast, Ron Leckie (ON ’39) for delivering the Toast to Newington College, and to Phil Davis for adding in Any other Business to the AGM agenda with his “crown jewels” joke.
We look forward to seeing everyone at the next luncheon on 12 March 2013.
Michelle Tanti
Alumni Assistant
From the Archives
The exhibition ‘149: Watching Time Take Form’ (reported on in detail here) featured both works inspired by material from the College’s Archives collection and collection objects themselves.
One of Aniss Fakhri’s works, Kaleidoscope, used images from one of the gems of our collection, a set of astronomical lantern slides dating from 1866. The lantern slides belonged to Rev Dr James Egan Moulton, who served as Newington’s first ‘Head Master’ in 1863 and as President from 1893 to 1900. He served as a Wesleyan missionary in Tonga from 1865 to 1888, establishing Tupou College under the patronage of the King. We know that he taught astronomy while in Tonga and it is almost certain that he used these lantern slides for this purpose.
24 of the original 38 slides have survived, along with their sturdy box and an accompanying booklet. The slides are hand painted and each is set in a mahogany panel. Subjects include the planets, the phases of the moon, comets, constellations, eclipses, the tides, and the Ptolemaic, Pythagorean and Newtonian Systems.
The slides, along with a slide show of their digitised images, are on display in the Chaplain Peter Swain Exhibition Room, on the top floor of the Founders Wing and open from 2-4pm each weekday and at other times by arrangement.
David Roberts
College Archivist
