College News
From the Archives
From our Archivist Anthony Kelly.
Well it always surprises me when old objects reappear from out of the earth that may have been in there for 80 or 100 years. just recently our groundsman Terry unearthed another fantastic hand blown bottle.
When I started working at the College in 86' I loved nothing better then crawling under the floor boards or in the ceiling to look for objects in the hope that I would find more treasured item's. I have gratefully accepted several De la Salle magazine's and item's from Old Boy's and happy that our future archives will have some fantastic things that our students can look at, looking back on our rich history. Thanks to my fellow archives team, Wendy Baker and Jenny Pigram for their continued support. Also Caroline Chapman who keeps a keen eye on eBay for old De la' or St Ursula item's.
PHOTO: Many of the interesting items which have been unearthed during building and maintenance projects.
PHOTO: One corner of the College archives collection.
The Archives welcomes donations of items or printed information that will help in our journey to piece together the rich history of De La Salle, St Ursula and O'Connor Catholic Colleges.
Remote Learning
Our College staff, students, parents and carers have showed great tenacity and flexibility through the experience of changing to a remote learning format over the last two and a half weeks. It is how we respond to challenges that defines us and our students have really stepped up to the mark in learning news ways to communicate.
The following novels have been supplied to students. If your child still needs a copy, they can be collected at the front office during office hours.
Our daily and weekly challenges have been a great way to remain connected to each other via social media and have promoted exercise, problem solving and creativity.
One of the challenges that many students responded to was the scavenger hunt. We saw some fantastic collections!
Food Technology
Mrs Healey has been enjoying receiving photographs of our student's cooking creations which they have been undertaking at home during this time of remote learning. Keep up the good work everyone!
PHOTO: Hospitality student Phoebe Jones' Chicken Kiev.
PHOTO: Toby Ryder got busy at home in the kitchen producing a nice batch of scones.
Textiles
Students have been busy perfecting their sewing skills at home and also being helpful in contributing the the fight of COVID-19 by producing much needed masks.
PHOTO: Emma Gray working from home on her textiles project
PHOTO: Making masks to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Textiles and enterprise come together. Isabelle and Lilly Kelly positioned at their production line.
Mary Poppins
It was with regret that the College needed to cancel their production of Mary Poppins due to measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19.
The cast and crew had been working hard on rehearsals, set and promotion since the beginning of Term 4 2019. Countless hours of singing, dancing, acting, prop making, set building, costume creation, designing sound and lighting, music learning, sewing and even flying lessons over the last seven months have been spent to bring to life this massive production.
We were grateful however, that before we were forced to cancel our season of performances, the cast was able to get the cast together on stage in full costume, accompanied by some beautiful tech elements, to showcase what this show would have been!
To the cast of incredibly talented, creative, open and dedicated young people, we thank you for all the time and effort you put in to 'Mary Poppins', your resilience has been inspiring.
Report from Mr May - Army Reservist
It’s been a busy fortnight since I received an evening phone call from my Commanding Officer in Brisbane requiring me to present to the headquarters of the Joint Task Group (JTG) that is providing Defence Force support to the Whole Of Government (WoG) response to the COVID19 pandemic. 36 hours after the phone call and many hours spent trying to sort out contingency plans for family and school, I was doing a Cannonball Run north along the highway with ten other Army personnel from Armidale and Tamworth to get inside the QLD state border before it was closed.
My initial assignment was as the acting Operations Officer for the 9th Battalion, Royal QLD Regiment based at Gallipoli Barracks at Enoggera (Brisbane). Whilst there we planned and carried out one of the fastest recalls of Army Reserve personnel ever, going from nothing to having seventy Reservists deployed to Brisbane Airport to meet and greet passengers at the international terminal (you would have most likely have seen images of the activity at Kingsford Smith airport at Sydney on the TV news, Brisbane was no different). The work was frantic to say the least, coordinating their recall, arranging transport, accommodation and catering support with other Army elements.
One week into this posting and with the work of Reserve personnel at Brisbane Airport well in hand, I received another phone call, this time redirecting me back to the JTG headquarters where I, along with six other officers was tasked as a Liaison Officer (LO) to the Queensland Disaster management committee. My particular area of operations is based on the Warwick Disaster area, encompassing the Southern Downs and Goondiwindi local government areas where I am assisting with the conduct of the border closure.
The closure of QLD borders is just that – all roads leading into QLD have either been physically blocked with concrete barriers, or have 24hr Vehicle Checkpoints in operation. There are six in the Warwick area – Goondiwindi, Texas, Wallangarra, Stanthorpe and Killarney, east of Warwick. Each of these is manned by a combination of Queensland Police (QPOL) and Transport and Main Roads personnel, and soon to include Army Reserve personnel. Their role is to check all vehicles arriving into the state, confirming that the passengers have a legitimate reason to be in QLD, or turning back unauthorised arrivals. Freight vehicles are not halted, and the vast majority of vehicles arriving have had legitimate reasons to be crossing the border.
Some of the VCPs are extremely busy – Goondiwindi regularly records over 1500 vehicles a day, whilst others are extremely quiet – one VCP was shut down and the road physically blocked after only six vehicles crossed in a 24 hour period. The setup of the VCPs is evolving, and will continue to evolve as the situation progresses – however long that may be. Some VCPs are nothing more than a sun shelter and portaloo, whilst others have RBT vans or roadwork site vans to provide shelter to the personnel conducting the checkpoint.
Since arriving in Warwick on Friday I’ve travelled almost 1000 km – thank goodness I’m not driving my own vehicle or paying for the fuel(!). I have a strong suspicion that I will become very familiar with the route Warwick – Goondiwindi – Texas – Wallangarra – Stanthorpe – Warwick in the near future. As I type, I am working on plans for the deployment of approximately 120 Army Reserve personnel into the Warwick area which involves sourcing accommodation and catering options from the local community, a plan intentionally devised to try and pump some much needed money into the local economy. I think the soldiers posted in southern QLD will have it much easier than the members of my own unit, the Hunter River Lancers, who I believe are going to be conducting VCPs in far western QLD and probably living on ration packs and sleeping in tents for some time yet.
The terrible reality of this pandemic was brought home to me last week when one of the Sergeants I was working with advised me that his mother in law had passed away from the virus and that his father in law was in intensive care (he has now passed away). They were passengers on the Ruby Princess. Up to that point I, like so many others, was a little blasé about this disease and the risk it poses. This is no longer the case.
I hope that everyone is keeping safe and well and look forward to being able to cross south of the border to resume my ‘normal’ life.
Late news: had a phone call at 1030 this morning telling me I'd been reassigned AGAIN... I'm now back in a command position in charge of a company of soldiers looking after crossing points in western QLD, west of Roma. I had four hours to hand over to my replacement and then a five hour drive from Warwick to Roma.
At present I'm sitting alone in an Army Reserve depot. Tomorrow my soldiers will arrive and then we will be on the job for the next... who knows how long?