What's Happening
For those interested in viewing the photos of Old Boys who attended the Annual Dinner, check them out
The Fiji reunion is being held at Golf Terraces, Denarau, Nadi, on Saturday 25th November. The point of contact in Fiji is Anthony Brown Ph 00-679-672 0418. Kiwis who wish to go, please contact Bede Brittenden Ph 09 625 1380.
Tony Waters (’46) SHCOBA member and College Historian recently suffered a stroke. He is slowly recovering. Tony is the author of the Centenary book ‘Confortare, A History of Sacred Heart College’. Copies are available <More Old Boys News >
Check out the Old Boys Business listings.
The Newsletter Confortare is published and posted twice a year. To receive a copy contact us to make sure we have your correct mailing details. shcdf@sacredheart.school.nz
Overseas Connections
Chris Nightingale (’93)
Design Engineer and Projects Manager, living in London for last three years.
Tony Banks (’70) OSA
Just a quick note from Australia. I am an Old Boy from 1970 and lived in Australia since completing University at Auckland. I joined the Order of St Augustine years ago, ordained in 1984 and have been recently appointed as Provincial of the Australasian Province with residence here in Sydney. My area covers Australia, Vietnam and South Korea and through the greater region I help develop the Order in the Philippines, Indonesia, China, Thailand and India.
James Doolan (‘99)
 Previously at Bell Gully, James is now living in Hong Kong working for Norton Rose. His Cantonese is good enough to give his home address, and say ‘here’, when the taxi is about to go roaring past. There are beaches 15 mins away from his flat, China is 45 mins north on the train, and there are lots of places to travel for weekends away. His flat is 25 floors up with views over the harbour/centre city, and is a ten minute walk to his office. He reports that accommodation is hideously expensive.
Ken Loach (’53) has retired Professor Emeritus of Plattsburgh State University of New York after an illustrious career as an analytical chemist.
Features
Simon Comber (’95)
Simon Comber
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Since I played at the last SHC fundraising gig in 2003 all kinds of amazing oppotunities have come my way.
At that gig I met Neil Finn, Dave Dobbyn and Mike Chunn. I gave them copies of my songs and next thing you know I was recording my debut album at Neil's Roundhead Studios. I also got to perform on TV for the first time for the Play It Strange Music telethon organised by Mike Chunn. At the time I was studying music at Otago University in Dunedin where I finally finished off recording the album in late 2004. My commitment to my studies combined with looking for a distribution deal meant a long delay in getting the album out. It was finally released earlier this year to great reviews and I was featured in the Sunday Star Times NZ Music Month special. Organising my own nationwide tour was a crazy, stress-filled experience but ultimately rewarding. I am now working on a follow-up album. I can hardly wait to get more music out there."
For more info go to www.simoncomber.com
You can buy Simon's debut album "Pre-Pill Love" at all good music stores, or online at www.amplifier.co.nz
Here's a link to an article that Roy Colbert wrote on Simon’s album in the Sunday Star Times, thankfully archived on the web: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3645930a4500,00.html
Paul Turney (’76)
writes to the organising committee of theBackpac concert (held in September)
Paul Turney, Ella and Danny M&G
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“Wow, what a great night you have planned, I only wish I could be there with you but alas I am too far away now.
Sacred Heart has taught me the values and principles that I still use during my working life. I see some of the old boys I went to school with and have just come back from a week in Wales with my family and Damian Matich's family.
I love the Backpac name of the event as it reminds me of the last time I attended a Sacred Heart concert with the Split Enz members and at that stage I was running a diesel van back and forth to the airport with backpackers, which
in turn led me to seek my full potential in music on distant horizons and see where that may take me.
Confortare esto vir would be
The coat of arms reminding me
To be man take courage when you fall
Face up, it's not your fault
We were
Locked away inside our hearts
So many people contemplating
All the Little Stones on Zig Zag Road
I send my very best wishes to all the boys I knew at school and I know you will all have a great night!”
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THE BIG NIGHT –
Town hall
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BACKPAC – Formal Dinner at the Auckland Town Hall,
The Inaugral Arts Awards Dinner marked 50 years of PTA involvement at Sacred Heart.
It was a glamorous occasion, everyone sparkled, the Town Hall was resplendent, and packed to overflowing. Many people helped make this a night to remember: Special thanks to Kelvin Mephan and the PTA Committee, Mike Chunn who organised the sound presentation and musicians, and to everyone who took part with such enthusiasm and good will. It was a special night and really captured the spirit of Sacred Heart College.
The recipients of the Inaugral Arts Awards were:
Professor Michael K Joseph (’30),
College Dux, studied at Oxford, returning after serving in the war to become lecturer, then Professor of English. He built an international name for himself through his novels, science fiction stories, poetry and literary criticism. His best-known novels ‘I’ll Soldier No More’ and ‘A Soldiers Tale’ were highly acclaimed in the UK for their realistic portrayal of Army life and war.
Milan Mrkusich
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Milan Mrkusich (’41) ONZM
Milan showed his early promise as an artist at school. He worked as a commercial artist and designer on leaving school, and became a full time artist from the early 1960s. His pioneering experimentation flowered into his mature expressionist paintings and his work is some of the first NZ abstract art that truly influenced international art movements. Milan’s iconic work is the huge set of coloured enamel windows across the front of the national Te Papa Museum building in Wellington. He was awarded the NZ Order of Merit for his services to Art and in 2003 was named as one of ten Inaugural Living Icons of the Arts in NZ.
Dan Davin (’30) CBE, MA (Otago), MA (Oxon)
Dan Davin
Dan came to SHC in 1930 from Invercargill. After brilliant studies at Otago University, he won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in 1936. Returning to Oxford after serving in the British and NZ Army, he became academic publisher for the Oxford University Press, a role he held for 33 years. His literary output during those years was significant, including seven novels, many short stories, and a huge volume of literary reviews. He also wrote the official war history of the Crete campaign. For his major literary role Dan Davin was awarded both a CBE, and an honorary Doctorate in Literature from Otago University.
Peter Bush
Peter Bush (’47) QSM
After working as a photographer for the New Zealand Herald, the Truth and various government departments. Peter began to focus on the field that would bring him international repute - sport. Today Peter is recognised as New Zealand’s most renowned sports photographer and photo journalists. His uncanny ability to be ‘on the spot’ at the critical moment has captured pictures of All Black rugby that are famed. Peter won the Qantas Prize for best sports picture and was awarded the QSM for his services to pictorial journalism. The New Zealand Institute of Photography awarded him a rare honorary Fellowship. Peter Bush is regarded as a New Zealand photography icon.
Vincent O’Sullivan (‘55)
VIncent O'Sullivan
After completing an Arts Degree in Auckland, he gained a scholarship to Oxford where he graduated BLit and was named both Post-graduate Scholar and Commonwealth Scholar at Lincoln College, Oxford. His writing output is rich and prolific. Poetry, novels, drama and critical research have won him the highest accolades in the contemporary New Zealand literary scene. In 1994 he won the Montana Book award for his novel ‘Let the River Stand’, in 1995 won the top Montana Poetry prize. He was Katherine Mansfield Fellow in Menton, France during 1995. In 2004 Vincent O’Sullivan was the first recipient of the $100,000 Creative Arts New Zealand Writers Fellowship.
Dave Dobbyn (’76)
LEFT to RIGHT Barney Chunn. Dave Dobbyn, on the drums is Dave's son Eliah Dobbyn.
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The band Dave formed at SHC, Th’ Dudes, claimed the famous Battle of the Bands competition in 1976. In 1979 it was were named NZ’s Top Group of the Year and became a major national attraction with stunning repertoire, written in the main by Dave and schoolmate Ian Morris. After Th’ Dudes, Dave went on to form DD Smash, which also filled the pop charts with golden titles. His subsequent solo career shows no signs of waning and he is regarded as a national treasure in New Zealand. Dave won a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards, and in 2005 he was named Songwriter of the Year. Wherever New Zealanders gather around the world, it is likely to be songs by Dave Dobbyn they sing when thinking of home.
Toa Fraser (’92)
Toa Fraser
Son of SHC Old Boy Eugene Fraser, Toa came to Sacred Heart from England. This future playwright and film director showed his early promise by winning the Senior College Prize for Languages in his final year. After university, Toa launched into his writing career and his first play, Bare, premiered in 1998 to national acclaim, winning both Best New Play and Best New Playwright at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. His best known play so far, No 2, won a prestigious Scotsman Fringe First in Edinburgh. Now a box office hit film, No 2 has recently scooped four top prizes at this years Air New Zealand Screen Awards. No 2 also won this years World Dramatic Competition Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
Tim Finn (’70) MBE
Tim Finn
Tim was a boarder at SHC from 1966 to 1970. Music was always a passion and he pursued his dream into a brilliant musical career. With friends he established Split Enz in 1972, developing a musical style described as eclectic, wildly original, incorporating influences from art rock, vaudeville, swing, punk, rock and pop. As a member of Split Enz, Crowded House with his brother Neil, and with his international solo career, Tim has performed on more than 15 albums with sales all around the world. He has written more than 250 songs, many of which are still played in thousands of homes every year. Tim has received many accolades in recognition of his stellar musical career including an MBE. His influence New Zealand musical history is profound.
Br Gerry Steele,
who taught at Marcellin College in 1978 and 1979, sends this letter:
“Here is a cutting of an ex-student from your College. I am here in Emerald, a town in Queensland, three hours drive from Rockhampton. We are situated just about on the Tropic of Capricorn and 50kms from allegedly the biggest gem fields in the world, a little town called Saphire near Anakie near Rubyvale. The extract is from a book called “A History of Emerald – a Place of Importance” written by Marie Reid. Hoping this will add to the history of your College.”
Mike Monteagle (’40)
Man of community in the Queensland Gemfields.
Extract from “A History of Emerald – a Place of Importance” by Marie Reid.
There was a man on the modern day Anakie Gemfields keeping alive the tradition of a town with more characters than any in Australia. He was Michael Dorn Bryon Monteagle who over the years became known as the master of the unfinished. This is probably a little unfair because Mike in reality has achieved so much for his community. When there was a battle looming, Mike was in the vanguard: when there was a new and interesting project, Mike was usually the brain behind it. He was a quiet achiever.
Mike Monteagle was born in Sydney on 13th January 1926. His family moved to New Zealand where he finished his education at Sacred Heart College, Auckland, and Auckland University. He served during the Second World War in the Royal New Zealand Air Force for four years in the Pacific and Japan.
Mike married his wife Daphne on 21st May 1947, and they raised seven children. He visited the Gemfields first as a tourist in 1969 and was taken with the freedom of the life. He returned with his wife and three children and after a short stay in Emerald settled on the Fields. He was not one to let life pass him by. The list of his public activities is long and varied with a definite emphasis on the history of the area, writing and publishing many items including the nationally distributed C.Q. Gemfields Newsletter.
He was an avid historian, continually researching and leaving much valuable research material to the local historical association on his death. He wrote a tourist guide and books on the Gemfields as well as his Newsletter. As well as that he was involved with the Small Miners Association, the Rubyvale School of Arts Hall Committee, the Centenary Committee, and the Australian Miners Historic Association and many other committee formed to help the local community. He also served on the Emerald Shire Council in the hope he would be able to influence it on matters the people from the Anakie Gemfields considered of vital importance.
He is best known for his Roman villa style hotel-motel. The concept is a delight, being a building constructed around a central pool with colonnades on the ground floor facing inwards. He had almost completed the building at the time of his death. He commenced the building in 1970 and now at the turn of the century it is fitting memorial to a man of vision although it has passed into others hands.
Mike was finally recognized for his achievements on 23rd December 1977. Yvonne Marsom, president of the Gemfields Lioness Club, presented him with the James D Richardson Humanitarian Award.
He went about his daily toil with little or no fuss, helping the community when he found the need. The results of his efforts were largely unsung. Telling his story, a community member declared that “during his 28 years of residency on the Gemfields Mike’s achievements for the community have been outstanding.”
Michael Dorn Byron Monteagle died on 4th March 1999, completely incapacitated by the debilitating Shy dragger Syndrome.
In Brief
Terry McGeough at right
Terry McGeough at swearing in of Gov General
Terry McGeough (SHC border 1986-87), Currently serving as a Logistics Instructor with NZ Defence (Army) and have served 18 years so far. Based in Wellington and have a wife Lillian and three boys who I would love to board at SHC some time in the future.
Have spent time overseas with various deployments including Middle East, East Timor, Solomon's, UK to name but a few. Have crossed paths with other old boys who are also serving including Ben Haines (Late 1980s), together we distributed stationary supplies to a Catholic School when serving together in Timor. The stationary was kindly donated by the SHC junior school from fundraising activities.
My brother Chris (boarder 83-85) is currently working and living in Ireland and has just had his second daughter there.
Always looking for Old boys to join one of the three services, it offers you training, travel and experiences that keep the job interesting. A recent highlight was being on parade outside parliament for the swearing in of his Excellency the Gov General (another SHC old boy).
Hope to bump into you old boys in the future, Terry.
Aaron Stockdale (‘94) has been appointed Manager of the NZ Mens Waterpolo team.
Clarke Tamariki (’90) (who won the Sports Foundation cup for Best Sports Performer in 1990), is now living in San Francisco.
Quentin Smith (’91) (winner of the same award in 1991) caught up with him there recently. Along the line they must have been reminiscing about school days, because they decided to ring Mr Chris Hayward. It was 3 in the morning, nice one guys!
Peter Conway (‘87) It was a big year for Peter who got married, completed a Masters of Environmental Science, and became a father to daughter Mila. Congratulations!
Brian Linehan (‘55) now residing in Hamilon, has been elected Pro-Chancellor at Waikato University for 2006. Brian has been a university council member since 2002 and its Representative on the Human Research Ethics committee.
Tom Cotter (‘52) celebrates his 45th wedding anniversary
Cotter-Blandford. The wedding of Miss Frances Lynette Blandford of Belmont, Auckland, to Mr Thomas Worthington Cotter of Mt Eden, Auckland took place at St Luke’s Church, Belmont on Saturday, 2nd September, 1961. The Rt. Rev. Monsignor J. J. Kelly officiated.
Simon Fitness (99) Dux and Head Boy, LLB and admitted to the Bar.
Neil Clarke (’45), OBE, JP Received the QSO in 2005.
On recommendation from the Bishop, he was made a Papal Knight of St Silvestri, for services to Church and community.
Retired in 2004 as Chairman of Waikato Regional Council
In June 2006 retired from the Hamilton Diocese Finance Council
Now living in Mt Maunganui.
Keep in touch with Old Friends
ORGANISE A REUNION – IT’S EASY!
Would you like to organise your own class reunion? It can be a lot of fun and the SHC Development Foundation Office can assist you - contact
Lyn Luxton on shcdf@sacredheart.school.nz;
(09) 529 3743; PO Box 18377, Glen Innes, Auckland 1006.
Update your details
Update your details – the next issue of Confortare will be published in May – make sure you get your copy by letting us know your current address. If you think your mates are not receiving SHConnect or Confortare send us their details or ask them to contact us. If you are travelling and have no permanent snail mail address, Click to View
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contact details
College Development
Development Foundation ran a successful Annual Giving Programme during 2006, the proceeds will go towards resources or equipment for current students.
We were also involved in the organisation of the wonderful Arts Dinner at the Auckland Town Hall and the Sports Dinner at Waipuna Lodge. Both occasions highlighted the great spirit and heart of the College.
During 2006 Principal Philip Mahoney resigned and a new Principal has been appointed.
We would like to hear your stories. Tell us of your adventures, careers, families and other accomplishments and excitements so we can pass it on to classmates and other old boys via SHConnect. For many old boys living overseas it’s a link with home. Contact shcdf@sacredheart.school.nz
Ways to Help
Annual Giving 2006
Initiated in 2001, Annual Giving benefits current students immediately. It supports projects and provides resources that are not able to be included in the current budget.
click
here>> to download an Annual Giving form
The Marist Scholarship Fund
You can support this fund at any time. The capital raised is invested, and the interest only used to support cases of financial hardship and other scholarships for generations to come. All donations are receipted and are usually tax deductible.
Click
to contact us or
post your contribution to PO Box 18377, Glen Innes,
Auckland, New Zealand.
Take Your Seat
There are less than 30 seats left for purchase in the Auditorium. This is a lasting way to record your time at Sacred Heart and the seat you purchase will have a dedication plaque attached with words of your choice.
Click
here for Take Your Seat form >>
Bequest
A practical way to endow the College for the future. For a brochure or to speak to a trustee about making a bequest click here to request information >>
COLLEGE PRIEST and TEACHER
GOD BLESS YOU WOODY
Fr Bill Wood
Tony McKenna pays tribute to a devout and humble man
Ireland, more than any other country, has over the centuries gifted to the world a vast armada of energetic, caring, ambitious and spiritually-driven young men. They came in the form of Irish Priests.
I was reminded of this recently upon hearing of the death of Fr Bill Wood, a much loved and respected local Catholic Priest. My school motto, Confortare Esto Vir, also came to mind. My alma mater, was Sacred Heart College, an all-boys Catholic boarding school in Glen Innes, Auckland. It was an appropriate and relevant motto for its translation from Latin meant “Take Courage and be a Man.” Fr Bill Wood (Woody) was our school chaplain and along with the Marist Brothers it was his challenge to oversee that fraught metamorphosis in changing us from boys to men.
I loved this school. The discipline and concern Father Wood and the Marist Brothers practised suited my temperament. Receiving 48 canings in my first term they soon sorted me out. It wasn’t that I was cheeky. However I certainly did have an overdeveloped sense of personal justice and a fiery temperament if stirred. Fr Wood and the Marist brothers tempered the moods and developed the characters of young men who came from state houses and Remuera mansions, from hill country sheep farms and hydro construction sites. We were a rag-tag bunch of kids. The comradeship of my peers and respect for the selfless work of Priests and Brothers will remain life long memories.
Fr Wood was born in Cashell, County Tipperrary. He was ordained in 1943 and left family and friends in 1944 to give the remainder of his life in Christian service. A bounteous export of which we Irish can be justly proud - Catholic priests. Twenty years after leaving school Fr Wood was to figure in my life again. He buried my father. We carried dad’s coffin out of the requiem mass to the music of his favourite song, Panis Angelicus, sung by the great Irish tenor Fr Sydney MacEwan. Fr Wood appreciated and enjoyed that choice of music.
In 1996 “Woody” was our special guest at a reunion here in Hamilton called “The Class of 66 – 30 Years On.” So typical of the Irish, he stayed till the end. His Irish ‘brogue’ and that endearing Irish charm made him popular with all.
At the end of our reunion as I escorted Fr Wood to his car I knew it may be the last time we would see each other. Yet I felt that I couldn’t watch him drive off without expressing my profound respect for him. So I said to him what I have never said to any other, “God bless you, Father Wood,” to which he replied looking me directly in the eye, “And may God bless you, my son.”
So, to Fr Wood from one Irishman to another but more importantly from a boy now a man, “May God bless you, again and again and again.”
We will keep you in touch ….
We would like to hear your stories. Tell us of your adventures, careers, families and other accomplishments and excitements so we can pass it on to classmates and other old boys via SHConnect. For many old boys living overseas it’s a link with home.
Contact shcdf@sacredheart.school.nz
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