Echoes from the Archives

Marina Demarchi (now Marina Maggs) 1964-1969 student

The year was 1964 and a shy schoolgirl in a new oversized uniform complete with hat and gloves, got onto the North Sunshine bus going to Sunshine. Soon another girl got onto the same bus with the same oversized uniform. Her name was Liz and we were to become, and we still remain, the very best of friends. Another bus took us down Glengala Rd to the new school – Marian College. 

We were the first Form 1 class (Year 7) in the new building. There were older girls there in other classes, but we were the first girls to go from Form 1 to Form 6 in the new school building. The building was very basic with no sewerage connected for a while – an interesting me... we had to wear aprons over our uniforms so they would stay clean, and indoor shoes. There were no fences around the school so the open paddock behind the building, was our “play area.” Classrooms were huge and we were a mixture of Aussies, Maltese, Italian, Irish, Greek, Polish, Ukraine etc.; a very multicultural group. 

My best memories of school were the “non-scholastic activities” – although I was a reasonable student and enjoyed most classes too. The main activities I enjoyed involved sports and school plays. We had softball and netball teams (tennis too I believe, but I did not play) and we competed against other schools. We were not necessarily champions but we always had fun. Swimming classes and competitions were also enjoyed. We were all split up into 4 teams – Tara, Clonard, Kildare and Iona (I was team captain for Clonard in 1969 when we won the yearly sports day and was pretty chuffed!) These sports groups encouraged team spirit and a sense of belonging and learning to work together as a team – which we took with us and used as adults, when we left the school.

This text first appeared in the 2016 June Alumni Newsletter