2005 Annual Reunion |
Report Added: November 2005 |
On Friday October 24, over 80 Old Boys gathered in the refurbished Ryan Hall for the 2005 Annual Reunion Dinner. This marked our return to the College for this function. All agreed that the refurbished hall was an ideal place for the dinner and the catering by the College was excellent. The photo gallery can be viewed here. Those who attended were:- As both Ian’s speech and Br Vince’s response focused on the significance of our 115 years of College life and success, these two speeches are offered for all to share. Ian Marshall’s Toast to Nudgee and the Christian Brothers.In 1868 the three masted Barquentine, “The Donald Mackay “ dropped anchor in Sydney Cove. On board were three Christian Brothers who had travelled from Ireland. Among them were two remarkable men - one, Br D F Bodkin, who would go on to become the first Principal of Nudgee College and the other, the even more remarkable Br Patrick Treacy, who as Provincial of Australia, would make the decision to found Nudgee. In 1891 he wrote …“ I commenced building Nudgee without either the money for the building or even a promise of a staff of Brothers to work it.” Prophetically, he wrote, ”In the years to come I expect that this college will occupy a prominent place amongst the educational institutions of Queensland.“ Great inspirational and visionary men like Bodkin, O’Brien, O’Hagen , Hughes, Cotter, Duggan, Moroney, Magee and the great man, J C Ryan whose memorial is the hall we dine in tonight. All these men nurtured and guided this college on its path to success. One of Australia’s greatest Headmasters, the late Harry Roberts, Headmaster of both Toowoomba (1935-46) and Churchie (1947-69) wrote … “Nudgee is held in high esteem. We all know that a victory over Nudgee in scholarship or in sport is hard to win – a great victory if it is won, and a defeat with honour if lost;… for Nudgee is worthy of the mettle of the greatest schools…. For the college that teaches men to work well - and to play hard and skilfully, year after year is a GREAT College”. A school spirit cannot be defined; it can only be experienced; it cannot be described; it can only be felt. No one who comes into contact with Nudgee can doubt the existence of an indefinable atmosphere that grips so many students, parents, old boys and staff. It is as essential for a school to have its corporate tradition as it is for an individual to have personality. This mysterious personality of Nudgee is a product of all generations who have passed through it. Each newcomer assimilates it, contributes to it in his turn and leaves it as a legacy to those who follow”. Gentlemen, as tonight we pay our respects to our old school, we must also acknowledge with a touch of sadness that one era has closed and we stand at the dawn of another. It is no longer fashionable to devote oneself to a religious life of dedication and self sacrifice and the line of succession of the Christian Brothers has drawn to a close. We now have Daryl Hanly, our first lay Principal; the first of many to come. But if they can emulate the vision and the inspiration of those who have gone before, we have every confidence the school will continue to prosper and succeed for another one hundred and fifteen years. So that in another one hundred years, someone may repeat the words of the great Harry Roberts when he also wrote:- "Nudgee is a great school. It has given Bishops to the Church; legislators to the Parliament; Judges to the Supreme Court Bench; men of honour and integrity to our professional and commercial life." So gentlemen let us stand and toast Nudgee for what it was; what it is and what it will be. Let us also salute that band of men who helped shape many of us into what we are today and certainly moulded Nudgee into the mighty institution it is. Gentlemen…the Toast is Brother Vince Connors responded with the following speech...I wonder, gentlemen, when Edmund Rice founded the Christian Brothers in 1802 did he even remotely imagine what the end result would be? When Brother Ambrose Treacy began Nudgee eighty-nine years later I wonder if he could have envisaged what Nudgee has become today? As we have just heard from Ian Marshall he did appear to be very optimistic. When you were students here, however many years ago I wonder how much of your future you could see? So many of you have made a wonderful success of your life and I sincerely congratulate you on that. Many years ago I had a Principal in Charters Towers who used to tell the odd boy, “The only thing you’ll ever be good at son will be shovelling smoke up a chimney”, or occasionally, “Son, the only job you’ll ever get will be polishing the railway line out to Mt Isa”. You have all obviously done considerably better than that. Tonight I would like to issue you all with a challenge. The Nudgee motto is ‘Signum Fidei’ – Sign of Faith. I want to suggest to you that a much better measure of your success in life than what you have achieved, is how well you have become a sign of faith. How well do you exhibit the values you learned here? Is the world just a little better place because of you? By the world I don’t mean that great big amorphous world – out there somewhere. I mean your world – the one you come directly in contact with. Is your wife a better person because you are her husband? Are your children better people because you are their dad? Are your friends better people because they call you a friend? And are your workmates better people because they work with you? As I said the answers you give to these questions are a better measure of how well Nudgee has fitted you for life than the material success or particular position you have attained. How have you made a difference? It has been a tremendous privilege for me this evening to speak on behalf of Christian Brothers like O’Connor, Hodda, Fogarty, Wallace, Tierney, Miller and Green etc who many of you would have known so well is certainly a humbling experience. I am deeply grateful to Ian for his kind words about the Brothers and to you for the enthusiastic way in which you responded to his toast. Thank you very much. You do us great honour. One of the real pleasures for me tonight has been the fact that this dinner has been held in this ‘old hall’ or ‘picture theatre’ as so many of you would have known it and which I had the privilege of renaming ‘Ryan Hall’ after Br J C Ryan who was Headmaster of Nudgee on four occasions for a total of fourteen years. I think the renovations are really beautiful and I congratulate the school on the wonderful result. Thank you once again for the opportunity to be here and may you continue to enjoy the night. |