Principal

As a School that has always sought to nurture intellectual courage and a commitment to service, we are deeply troubled by the events of this week and our thoughts are with 

Dr Haines, her family, her staff and the Indi community. We also spare a thought for those local members in our own neighbourhoods and communities who will have been left shaken and possibly questioning their decision to pursue a life in public office. Whatever our views on any politician or policy, an attack on someone doing the work of public service is an attack on all of us.

Our democracy depends on ordinary people being willing to stand for office and to serve their communities, but that willingness, as we know only too well, is fragile. When public life begins to feel dangerous, good people decide it is not for them, and we are all the poorer for it. We are incredibly proud of the mothers and Old Girls from our School who, despite the barrage of online abuse and threats, have chosen to step forward, regardless, and of the many others who serve in parliaments, councils, courts and community organisations. And, as I watch our girls walk along the Nil Magnum corridor outside my study, pointing to a face or peering in to read a bio more closely, it is especially clear that we want the next generation to be able to follow them without fear.

Our students are growing up in a world where rage bait and disagreement is embedded in the algorithm, and it is easy to mistake confected outrage for thoughtful, considered conviction. At St Catherine’s, we teach our girls that they can hold a view firmly and still listen to and respect the person who disagrees. And whilst we have no interest in teaching them what to think, we make no apologies for supporting them in learning how to think. In our timetabled Critical Conversation program at Year 9, we teach them to test an argument by its evidence rather than the volume or heat of its delivery; importantly they learn to have their own world view expanded by the opinions and arguments of others as the best defense against the echo chamber that threatens to engulf modern consciousness.  

It’s perhaps not surprising that this very theme was taken up by The Hon. Linda Dessau AC CVO ('69) when she addressed our students at the recent opening of The Alexandria: 'It is my hope for you that here you will come to know the power of reasoned and respectable discourse in every aspect of your lives. These skills will help you to build a better, safer, kinder and more coherent community.' Never has that hope felt more important than it does, this week. 

We ask our families to join us in modelling reasoned debate at home. Ask your daughters what they think, and why. Disagree with them respectfully and let them disagree with you (which, in my experience with adolescents, isn’t terribly hard!) These small habits are how a democratic culture is built, one conversation at a time. And next time, as you walk past the aptly named Jeanie Hood Forum, to the right of the Heyington Gates, I hope that you will see in bricks and mortar (and soaring glass windows), the strength of our commitment to the tenets of a democratic society laid bare by a single round table. 

Nil Magnum Nisi Bonum.

Ms Natalie Charles

Principal