The May Update of this website contained a report of the opening of the refurbished hall in which we presented the following information and invited relevant comment from Old Boys.

That report described that

”through removing the old stage area and including the one time projection room refurbishment has extended the length and thus usable space of the Hall. Prior to the commencement of the refurbishment, all Honour Boards, photographs and memorabilia previously located therein were removed and stored.
Discussion is taking place regarding the new location of these items for it is not intended that all of these be returned to the refurbished Hall. Comments and opinions regarding the location of these items would be welcomed".

This request provoked many replies using the email link provided, phone calls together with some written responses:

Paul Daly, (1970-74) Chairman of St Joseph's Nudgee College Rugby Parents Support Group responded as follows…

Nudgee has a strong tradition, history and culture surrounding its sporting achievements. It is imperative that Nudgee continues to recognises this and retain such honour boards within Ryan Hall. I place particular emphasis on recognition of the Captains of First's GPS Sports I,e., Rugby, Soccer, Swimming, Basketball, Chess, Debating etc.
It is also imperative that we recognise those who have represented their State and Australia in these sports. I note there are a number of other non-GPS sports that have also been recognised on the honour boards and whilst I encourage this I believe they are secondary to the core GPS sports and should be recognised elsewhere i.e. Activities Office. Others such as House Captains etc should also be located in the Activities Office leaving room in Ryan for Academic and School Captains

Bede O’Mara, (1990-91) of 11 Thomas Pde Goondiwindi Q made the following comments…

I am of the view that all honour boards and memorabilia should be replaced into the Hall as it was for a long time.
Ryan Hall has been in existence for as long as the College itself and being the heart of the College should remain the home of all honour and recognition associated with it.

These two responses are typical of the numerous replies to our report regarding the Ryan Hall opening. More importantly however, the immediateness of the responses supported the NCOBA Executives’ anxiety regarding the rumoured positioning/repositioning of the Honour Boards removed prior to the refurbishment.In February 2003 at our AGM, Mr Graham Leddie canvassed opinion of Old Boys regarding this refurbishment including removal of the Stage and Proscenium. Unanimous agreement was given to the concept of refurbishment to allow optimum use of the area for assembly, teaching and social activity whilst retaining the integrity of Ryan Hall as a repository of the history and spirit of the College.

Old Boys were given assurance by Mr Leddie that the Association would be consulted before and after the work commenced. Regrettably the only contact with the Association has been to advise that some of the Honour Boards will be replaced and that these will be ‘cleaned off and made uniform’.

One would not expect the Honour Boards to be perfectly uniform as their compilation has spanned many years thereby exhibiting differing timbers, varying sizes of fonts and colours of inscriptions which is all part of the preservation of the history and spirit of this historic educational institution.

Our Association wrote to the Principal seeking a meeting with those implementing the refurbishment to discuss progress, actions proposed as well as rumours of policy decisions already made and/or implemented.

This meeting with Mr Leddie took place on May 27 prior to the ‘Cocktail Party under the Stars’ to celebrate NC 115. At this meeting we were given the following prepared statement

ST JOSEPH’S NUDGEE COLLEGE
RYAN HALL HONOUR BOARDS
CRITERIA TO BE MET FOR INCLUSION ON HONOUR BOARDS

Preamble
Ryan Hall holds a very significant place in the history and development of Nudgee College. With the refurbishment and modernisation of the hall to be completed in 2005 it is proposed that specific criteria be established for inclusion on Honour Boards for Ryan Hall.

The current Nudgee Honour Boards have a mixture of Sporting, Academic and
Community achievements. Some are for achievements at a State Level others for National Honours. There is no consistency amongst the Boards, which has also lead to some Boards being dated quicker than others.

It is proposed that not all Honour Boards be returned. Those not returned to Ryan Hall will be relocated elsewhere within the College

To achieve more consistence, a criteria needs to be agreed upon that clearly sets out what category and names will be within Ryan Hall.

Suggested Criteria & Boards

• Academic - Rhodes Scholar, Senior College Dux, Byrnes Medallist, Ist Place Queensland – Junior (to 1971)
• Australian Schoolboy Honours
• State Senior Level (could be Qld, NSW) and
• National Senior Representative Level.

In sports where only a National award or team is selected and there is no international competition, would also qualify for an individual to be included. An early example might be Lifesaving.

A significant sample of the cleaned, restyled and refurbished Boards utilizing the criteria listed above was already positioned in Ryan Hall on the night our meeting took place. We believe that the opposing responses by Old Boys, typified by the two presented above, seem to support the NCOBA Executives’ anxiety regarding the lack of promised discussion preceding any relocation of the Honour Boards.

So please let us know your feelings on this issue of location, presentation and criteria for the placement of Honour Boards which recognize the achievements of students, past and present of St Joseph’s College – Nudgee.

For your convenience please use this Email Link to the Editor