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This photo is a favourite of mine. It was taken 50 years ago in what is now Cuirt Saorse. There are many interesting things about this picture. One of them is the position of Mother Barbara Matthews in the centre. Barbara was a strong character, about whom one past pupil wrote “she was always the boss”. That may be why she is seated front and centre despite no longer being the Principal. She had held that position from 1966-71 and had basically taken charge as Vice Principal under Mother Margaret Mary in her final years. Seated to her right is Pius Kennedy, who lived to the age of 99. Pius was the Principal when this photo was taken. One wonders why she was not in the centre. Among the other nuns, seated in pride of place in the front row, which has never happened, before or since, are three past pupils, two of whom are still living. Far left is Margaret Cassidy, 1952 College Captain, known at this point as Sr Consolata. At the other end of the front row are Marie O’Kelly and Pauline O’Callaghan. Marie, who was College Captain in 1946, currently lives at Corpus Christi in Clayton. Pauline lived locally and died in the last few years. Other past pupils on staff at that time were Barbara Moss (1960) Mrs Smith of Cheltenham and Denise Schiller nee Rice (1959) who are fifth and sixth from the left in the third row.
A couple of others have not been gone long from Kilbreda’s staff. They include Sr Catriona Devlin, fourth from the left in the front row; Carmel Francis, directly behind her; Patsy Riordan, long-time Coordinator and mother of current staff member Camille, fourth from the left in the back row and next to her Danny McConnell, who currently holds the record as Kilbreda’s longest serving staff member ever.
Others of note are Sr Kieran Mongan and Sr Christina Byrne, seated second and third from the left in the front row. Kieran was the first Kilbreda Archivist and collected many items together and made enquiries about our early days, which were later put in order by Sr Maree Simm. Sr Christina is remembered by many, including current staff member Marian Le Bas, for the quirky sayings and interesting stories she told. I interviewed Christina for our College history, but not much of what she said was usable for all sorts of reasons! Marian always speaks fondly of Mrs Adela Jarzebski, who gave her a great love of history. Mrs Jar as she was called, was a guide at the Jewish Holocaust Museum in Elsternwick for many years and her first-hand view of modern European history came through in her teaching. Other past pupils seem only to remember her hair style, which never moved an inch or altered from one day to the next. Mrs Jar and her hairdo are immortalised far left in the third row.
The only nun I have yet to mention, is probably the most famous; Sr Felicitas, the Skipping Girl! Sr Felicitas taught current staff member Carolyn Callaghan in about Grade 5. When she died in August 1984, the Age reported her passing thus: “Skipping Girl (Sr Felicitas) dies, aged 76”. Reporter Louise Carbines went on to say, “Melbourne’s Skipping Girl has died. Sister Felicitas Minogue, 76, a Brigidine sister, who was the model for the original Skipping Girl logo, died at Frankston hospital yesterday. In 1915, Sister Felicitas’s older brother, James, sketched her jumping over a red-handled rope, a red ribbon in her hair. He won a competition for a vinegar company’s emblem with the sketch. Sister Felicitas did not talk about her skipping days publicly until four years ago. ‘It wasn’t the sort of thing that nuns did, but now times have changed a bit,’ she said, when she spoke of her past. ‘I was only eight or nine when the drawings were done, and I didn’t really know what was going on. I do know I never shared in any of the prizemoney. If I had, my memory would have been better,’” she said.
Damian Smith
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