Scotch College

1940s

On their 59th wedding anniversary in November, Enid and Rupert Baxter (’42) made a sentimental pilgrimage from their home in Tweed Heads to the School Chapel, to revisit the place where they were married in 1947. Pictures of the smiling couple were taken, and one appears here in Great Scot. The Baxters previously visited Scotch 19 years earlier on their 40th anniversary, and pictures were also taken then. It was only when the couple arrived home and opened the camera that they discovered a small problem – they had forgotten to load it with film!

Ian Darby (’44), now retired and living at Point Lonsdale, recalls the wartime years when he and his father built a little two-seater car, which could reach a speed of almost 50km/h. He writes: ‘We lived close to Scotch, and I particularly liked to drive it in the School grounds, taking friends for a ride. I got a bit of a shock one day when the Headmaster, Mr Gilray, appeared on the drive and signalled me to stop. However, he was intrigued with it and let me drive on.’ Ian recalls that 1942 and 1943, when Wesley and Scotch were both at Scotch, were happy ones. ‘I wasn’t inconvenienced in any way, and classes and sport went smoothly.’

Richard Reyment (’44), now living in Sollentuna, Sweden, has been created a Jubeldoktor at an impressive ceremony in the Stockholm Town Hall. Richard writes that this is a Swedish academic custom which officially recognises those who were admitted to the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at least 50 years earlier. Richard was admitted to that degree in 1956 and also became a Doctor of Science 11 years later.

1950s

Now living on the Sunshine Coast, talented footballer Terry Waites (’52) went straight from Scotch to Collingwood in 1953, and played centre-half forward in Collingwood’s premiership team that season, captained by Lou Richards. Terry played 12 games in all with the Magpies over two seasons, kicking one goal. Prior to that, he played in the Scotch 1st XVIII for three years (1950 to 1952), and also played several games with Old Scotch after the School season finished.

Andrew McEachern (’55) is now semi-retired and living in Loganholme, Queensland. After his partial retirement in 1997, Andrew started a stamp – dealing business as a part-time recreation. He now runs weekend fairs and postal auctions, and he devised and still conducts the world’s only correspondence course for would-be stamp dealers.

During his working life, Andrew has worked in an incredible variety of spheres, including Myer (where he was part of the team which planned and opened Chadstone shopping centre) and the CFA (where he became Group Officer in charge of Chelsea and Frankston districts, and started Australia’s first national fire service magazine). He also operated a licensed private detective and security business, worked in home building, and in senior positions at Medibank, in the credit union industry and in the funeral industry. He was headhunted (so to speak) by a USA group to run its funeral, crematoria and death-care businesses across Australasia as Chairman/CEO, during which time he also made about 15 funeral business acquisitions in Australia and New Zealand.

Andrew and his wife Valerie will soon celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary. They have two sons, Craig (living in Bangkok) and Scott (living in Townsville). In semi-retirement, he and Valerie often travel interstate and overseas.

Bob Lester (’56) has been elected to the committee of the Victoria Golf Club.

Frank Nankervis set Peter Allard (’56) on the economics path, inspiring him to take an Honours Commerce degree at Melbourne University, and then to study economics at Cambridge (on a Shell scholarship). His working life comprised 20 years with Shell and the rest with Coles Myer, looking after their property interests. In retirement, he lives at beautiful Red Hill and enjoys tennis and golf. Peter and wife Adele have three children and four grandchildren.

While studying at the Melbourne College of Pharmacy from 1957 to 1961, Graeme Baker (’56) completed his apprenticeship with Wood’s Pharmacy in North Balwyn. In 1962 he began his pharmacy career in earnest at the Central Park Pharmacy in Frankston. He married Glenda Hanton in 1965 and joined her father in a partnership at Hanton’s Pharmacy, also in Frankston, in 1969. Graeme and Glenda moved to Mount Eliza in 1971, and two daughters, Julie and Kate, were born. In 1985, Graeme established Graeme Baker Pharmacy. These days, Graeme’s spare time is spent enjoying motor sport and snow skiing with his second wife, Jenny. He is also a member of the Rotary Club of Frankston.

Stuart Bales (’56) has had a varied working life, including farming, real estate, and financial and horticultural ventures in Melbourne. He is now enjoying retirement, and his interests include travelling, reading and the sharemarket.

Jack McKaige’s (’56) working life was in stationery, art and drafting supplies, based in Melbourne, Sydney and finally Geelong, mainly as a sole business proprietor or in partnership with one or two others. For the past 30 years he has lived at Point Lonsdale, where he relaxes and keeps an eye on an olive grove. Jack has been married for nearly 40 years and has three adult children.

Harold Weber (’56) qualified as a chartered accountant after leaving School, and ended up running his own practice in Hastings. He later switched into the commercial world, first working with Australian Industrial Publications and then starting up the Independent News, a Hastings-based community newspaper group. He is now living in retirement on the Mornington Peninsula and enjoys travel and the exploits of his four grandchildren.

We recently welcomed Peter (’57) and Robin Aplin back to Scotch. Peter left Scotch in 1957 and had not been back at Scotch since then. He was amazed with the progress of the School, and fondly reminisced as he wandered through the Memorial Hall and quadrangle. Peter obtained his Masters mariners Certificate in 1968 and became Harbour master at Carnavon in Western Australia. From 1971 he piloted iron ore ships from Port Headland. He retired earlier this year and now works part time as a lecturer in maritime Studies at the WA maritime Training Centre in Fremantle.

1960s

Leigh Dawborn (’65) has been elected to the committee of the Victoria Golf Club.

Geoff Courtis (’66) graduated MB BS in 1973 from Melbourne University, and then worked for two years in Auckland, NZ. He met his future wife Nancy, a nurse, at the Royal Children’s Hospital in 1976, and they now have three daughters, all at various stages of tertiary education after their schooling at MLC. Geoff has been in rural general practice in Castlemaine since 1978. He still loves playing cricket with his local Barkers Creek club, and also enjoys travel, music and an involvement with the Castlemaine State Festival, held biennially. He has organised an ongoing cricketing exchange between Barkers Creek and the Cricket Club of India (CCI), which his club has played against and billeted six times since 1986. They also toured India for three weeks in 2002 at the invitation of CCI. As work becomes less arduous, Geoff plans to spend more time in Melbourne, and also join with like-minded cricket fanatics for protracted periods at the MCG.

John Tuttle (’66) worked in film and television, mainly for the ABC, until 2004 when he retired and moved from Melbourne to Point Lonsdale. He has four children.

Married to Heather for 34 years, Rob Turner (’66) has three children, Matthew (’94), Miranda and Lachlan (’98). He has spent 37 of the past 40 years in the legal profession. For the last 31 years he has acted as in-house/general counsel to a range of corporate entities, including Citibank, NAB, Ansett Australia and many others. He has been General Counsel for CPA Australia for the past five years. CPA is Australia’s largest professional accounting body and the world’s fifth largest, with some 110,000 members in 75 countries.

Tony Wark (’66) has been a general medical practitioner in Hamilton, Victoria, for 25 years. He is a happy family man with wife Felicity, and three boys – all of whom boarded at Scotch and are now young adults. Tony is a keen Rotarian and a wine buff, and enjoys holidaying at Barwon Heads and Bingil Bay in Queensland.

1970s

After studying mathematics at Monash, David Angell (’76) moved to Sydney to undertake a PhD at the University of New South Wales. Completing his degree, David stayed on as a tutor in the university’s School of Mathematics – and he is still there. A lecture course written in 2000 for his local students is now also in use overseas. David is intensely involved in music: he conducts two orchestras – the Bourbaki Ensemble and Orchestra 143 – as well as playing viola in various community orchestras and chamber groups. He has travelled extensively in Australia, Britain and the European Alps for bushwalking and cross-country skiing.

Selling his publishing business early in 2006, Bill Calder (’76) is now writing a novel. For the previous 15 years he had owned a publishing business, producing the newspapers BrotherSister, Melbourne Star and Bnews. Prior to that he worked as a journalist on a range of publications in Sydney and Melbourne, including The Melbourne Times. He is currently writing a novel.

Michael Summons (’76) has been offshore since 1997, working for Monsanto. For three years he was the Country Lead for New Zealand, based in Wellington. He then moved to Kansas City, USA, to be a Regional Business Director, working across Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma for four years. Since 2004 he has been the Marketing Director for Monsanto’s business in Thailand. Michael says living offshore has been a great experience, ‘but it might be time to get home, as our daughters, Amanda (16) and Emma (14), need to finish school in Australia in the next few years’.

Ross Thomson (’76) joined a division of the now defunct Ansett Transport Industries after leaving School, working as a trainee in sales and marketing and completing a sales and marketing certificate. He became state manager of Ansett’s purchasing and aircraft spare parts divisions, before deciding to branch out on his own. In 1988 Ross opened a vehicle – servicing equipment distributorship in Melbourne, operating this business successfully until 1994, when he and his wife Deborah decided to move to Coffs Harbour for a better lifestyle. They still live in Coffs Harbour, where Ross owns a retail automotive business. Ross and Deborah have two teenage daughters, Alexandra and Georgina.

1980s

Diplomat Andrew Shearer (’83) has been appointed as the Prime Minister’s new international affairs adviser. Andrew will take up the sought-after role early in 2007. The Sunday Age described Andrew’s new position as ‘one of the most coveted in Canberra, as it virtually guarantees an appointment to a senior bureaucratic office’. The paper said among former international affairs advisers are a former ambassador to the USA, the current ASIO director-general and the deputy secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department. Andrew is the brother of OSCA Executive Director, Tim Shearer (’85) and son of leading water-colour artist and former Scotch art teacher, Ben Shearer.

Peta and Adam Hall (’85) have a new son, Austin MacDougall, born on 20 October. Austin is a brother to Jazz.

After leaving School, Andrew Adams (’86) graduated in Science and Economics at Monash University and completed a CPA qualification. He now works as an accountant. Andrew married Jane Cudmore – who had been his partner at the 1986 School Dance – in the Scotch Chapel in 1997. They now have three-year-old twins, Laura and Lachlan, who were born on Andrew’s birthday. He still plays the bagpipes, and a major performing highlight was to play at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2000 with the Australian Army.

Philip Stokes (’86) has recently exhibited his glass artworks at the Mercator Gallery in Abbotsford. The exhibition was opened by Old Boy The Hon. Sen. Rod Kemp. Philip’s art will be on display at next year’s Ken Field Art Show at Scotch College.

Alistair Wright (’86) is a specialist physician at West Gippsland Hospital in Warragul. He and his wife Sari live on a country property with their three children, and run a few poll hereford cows. Alistair’s interests include health systems research, farming, stonemasonry, tennis and hockey.

Charlie Robinson (’86) lives in New York, where he is a partner with the international law firm, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Charlie graduated from Bond University in 1992 with degrees in Law and Commerce, and then worked for the law firm Mallesons Stephen Jaques in Melbourne and Sydney, before moving to New York in 1996. The next move was to London in 1997, and he returned to New York in 1999, when he joined Freshfields.

Charlie enjoys his summers in the Hamptons on New York’s Long Island, and also likes to make an annual visit to Melbourne during the Australian holiday season. He lives downtown in Manhattan, in a loft in Soho formerly owned by Bob Dylan’s manager, who had also been Men at Work’s US promoter in the early 1980s. The former owner left him a framed signed quadruple platinum album of I Come From a Land Down Under as a house-warming gift, and this is the first thing you see when the lift door opens. ‘It’s a nice reminder of home’, Charlie says.

Emma and Stephen Rutter (’86) have a son, Harrison William, born on 9 June 2006. Harrison is a brother for Benjamin who was born in 2004.

Tim (’88) and Susie Lawson welcomed Madeline Pearl Lawson on 18 November in Singapore. Madeline is a sister to Harry and Toby.

Steve Thomas (’88) is living in Shanghai, working as Director of Corporate Affairs for Citigroup China. Prior to Shanghai, Steve was based in Hong Kong for five years. In December 2005 he married Shook Liu in the Scotch Chapel, and on 10 September Robert David Liu Thomas was born.

1990s

Daniel (’90) and Fee Luth have announced the birth of Samuel William Luth on 19 November. Samuel is a brother to Holly.

Nick Chan (’91) is a partner with US law firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey LLP, which employs more than 800 lawyers in 30 offices. A proud Old Scotch Collegian, Nick lives in Hong Kong with his wife and two children. Nick’s core practice areas include telecommunications, global sourcing, petroleum and aviation, venture capital, commercial, competition, e-commerce, logistics, information technology and labour law.

He regularly advises government and private sector clients on projects in 17 countries. Nick received the AT&T Asia/Pacific President’s Award – the highest form of performance recognition in the AT&T organisation – where he served on secondment with regional responsibilities. Nick was named in the AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers in 2004 and 2005 as one of the top lawyers in Asia.

He publishes widely, and has served as an international panellist/speaker in forums/conferences held in Australia, China, Singapore and Taipei, with guest appearances on television and radio programs. Nick also serves as a convention ambassador for the Hong Kong Tourism Board. And just to avoid the ‘all work and no play’ syndrome, Nick is the captain of the Law Society of Hong Kong’s volleyball team.

Curtis Reid (’91) and his wife Belinda have recently had a daughter, Pippa.

Simon Starkey (’95) married Stephanie Janeczko at Belhurst Castle, on the edge of Seneca Lake in Geneva, Upstate New York, USA. Simon’s brother Andrew (’93) travelled from Singapore to be best man, and Alex Buirski (’95) hopped over from London to be one of the groomsmen. Family and friends arrived from Australia, England and all over the USA to enjoy the celebrations. Simon recently completed his PhD at Cornell University. Both he and Stephanie (also a vet) are now working at the university. Simon is doing post-doctoral work with avian and exotic animals.

Michael Rieusset (’96) is an Engineer at Ford Australia.

After graduating from the Australian Ballet School in December 2000, Matthew Tusa (’99) was one of 24 boys from around the world to be selected to audition at the Grimaldi Forum in Monte Carlo, for which the Princess Grace Foundation paid all his expenses. At the audition he won a 12,600 franc scholarship and a contract with the Deutsche Operam Rhein Ballet, in Düsseldorf, Germany, a company which performs in the neo-classical style. The highlight of his time there was performing the Young Prince in Swan Lake.

In the following year, Matthew joined the Royal Swedish Ballet in Stockholm. A highlight of his time in Stockholm was performing in a Swedish version of The Nutcracker for the Queen of Sweden’s 60th birthday. Matthew then sought further experience in Madrid with Victor Ullate’s company, a modern ballet company which tours throughout Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France and the USA.

Last year Matthew joined the Hessische Staatstheater Ballet in Wiesbaden, Germany, has been on tour in Japan and is currently performing as Charlie Chaplin in Ben van Cauwenbergh’s Keep Smiling. Not only has Matthew experienced a wide range of ballet/dance styles in his six years overseas, but he also speaks three foreign languages fluently and has had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout Europe.