Scotch College

1950s

Now retired and living in Goa, India, RON THONEMANN (’52) had a distinguished career in automotive journalism and public relations. In the mid-1950s he was editor of the Australian Motor Manual, and then in 1957 he set up Automotive Public Relations Pty Ltd. He began the Armstrong 500 touring car race in 1960, which is now known as the Bathurst 1000. Ron later took on senior appointments with large advertising agencies; then, in a change of career, produced the South Australian ‘Sell Your Own Home’ kit, before joining the McCann Erickson advertising agency to handle the General Motors account. His final appointment before retiring was as motoring editor of The News (now defunct) in Adelaide. The Thonemann family has an Austrian title, dating back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, which Ron has inherited as Baron Ronald von Thonemann. ‘Like all titles in Austria it is not allowed to be used in Austria, but it can be used everywhere else,’ Ron told Great Scot.

After a successful business career, TONY (‘Fizz’) PALMER (’54) retired in his 50s, to sail and backpack the world. At 62, with life, as he says, ‘a little in the balance’ Tony set off on a solo circumnavigation of the world in a 14 metre yacht. He also motor-sailed on European waterways in an 8 metre yacht. As well, Tony has backpacked across Europe and into Turkey, Asia, South America, Central America and Cuba. Last year he backpacked the legendary Silk Road, from China to Istanbul. In June he told Great Scot he was in Northern Siberia. ‘The Russians are wonderfully friendly people,’ he said, ‘and do not fit the disinformation model that has circulated in Oz over the past years.’ Tony was scheduled to return to Australia in the first week of September. He lives at Sunshine Beach, near Noosa Heads in Queensland.

1960s

The Loved Ones, a 1960s rock band formed by IAN CLYNE (’63) were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry (ARIA) Hall of Fame last October, along with JOHN WILLIAMSON (’63) . John’s award was reported in the May issue of Great Scot. The Loved Ones’ eponymous debut hit

The Loved One, released in May 1966, reached number two on Australian top 40 singles charts in 1966 and was named by the Australasian Performing Right Association at number six in the ‘top 30 Australian songs of all time’ in 2001. Other hit singles by The Loved Ones familiar to the teenagers of the 1960s are Ever Lovin’ Man and Sad Dark Eyes.

DAVID MACDONALD (’65) lives in Sydney. While he was overseas this year, David spent a month driving a 1928 Le Mans Speed 6 Bentley around Britain with 100 other Bentley ‘WO’ cars.

RICHARD SMITH (’67) was sworn in as a judge of the County Court on Wednesday 10 August 2011.

1970s

JOHN KOLM (’76) has just finished building a new 150-student school in Haiti. Based near Leogane, the epicentre of the February 2010 earthquake which killed an estimated 300,000 people, it replaces a school which collapsed during the quake. The school is scheduled to open for the new term in the second week of September, and John will be back in Haiti to help with the opening and the celebrations. The project was funded by the US branch of John’s Melbourne-based company, Team Results Pty Ltd and some Rotary and private donors. There has been significant media interest in this project, and a professional mini-documentary has been produced.

John told Great Scot that sponsorships for Haitian children, at $25 a month, are still badly needed. ‘This pays for a child’s education, clothing and meals,’ he says. ‘To sponsor a child, go to www.soleilfoundation.org, and follow the links.’

1980s

SCOTT MONTGOMERY (’85) travelled to Central Australia with his family (wife Rowena, and children Eddie, Penny and Kate) earlier this year, towing a pop-up caravan, an adventure which Scott described as an experience of a lifetime. ‘Spending quality time with the family and exposing them to cultures and communities outside their own backyard was priceless,’ Scott said.

CRAIG GRIFFITHS (’86) is working for a mining company, Boliden in Sweden, as the manager of the company’s mining technology department. He also spent eight years living above the Arctic Circle

in Kiruna at the LKAB company’s mine. Craig is married (Katarina), and the couple has three children – Emilia (14), Hannah (12) and Sofia (12) – and a black labrador called Billy.

ROHAN KERR, who was School Captain in 1989, is now working three days a week as a general practitioner in Claremont, Tasmania. He also looks after his three-year-old son one morning a week, and works as a medical educator with General Practice Training Tasmania for the rest of the working week.

Rohan is an excellent tennis player, and spent two separate years in Europe playing professional tennis. In 2006, he captained the Australian over-35 tennis team in the World Championships in South Africa.

Among many professional interests, Rohan has worked twice for the Royal Flying Doctor Service - once during fifth-year medicine at Monash, and later after a period working in north-west Tasmania.

1990s

Scott Montgomery’s brother, ED MONTGOMERY (’90) recently participated in a team which completed a 45 km English Channel swim, raising funds for Amazon Watch, a non-profit organisation founded in 1966 which protects the Amazonian rainforest and advances the rights of local indigenous people. The more than 12-hour swim, undertaken in adverse conditions in one of the world’s busiest waterways, was a tag-team event which raised $6,000 plus for the Amazon cause.

DUGALD MCWILLIAMS (’91) and Fiona welcomed their third son, Maxwell Quentin, born on 1 July. Dugald says all three sons are booked in to attend Scotch.

Now based in Kuala Lumpur, KAI SCHLICKUM (’92) is vice-president, passenger car sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz Malaysia. After Scotch, Kai completed a Bachelor of Business degree at Swinburne University and joined Daimler-Benz in 1996, working as a salesman in the Mercedes-Benz branch in Aachen, Germany. He entered the three-year DaimlerChrysler international graduate trainee programme in 1998, and after that worked in South Africa and Dubai before returning to Germany. He took up his current role in April.

SIMON ZRNA (’93) and Narelle welcomed a son, Nicholas Denbigh, born on 21 March; a brother for Oliver. Nicholas is a nephew for MATTHEW ZRNA (’91) .

After completeing a TAFE building management course, MICHAEL WIPFLI (’97) embarked on an entirely different career tack. He began as a broadcaster in Port Augusta, South Australia, later obtaining casual work at Fox FM in Melbourne, where he became a regular on the Hamish and Andy Saturday morning show. Meanwhile his TAFE qualifications gained him a weekday job as a project manager for a building company. He transferred to Perth to work in a breakfast slot at station 92.9, before returning to Melbourne in 2009 to co-host Nova FM’s national drive show.

2000s

ROD GERSTMAN (’02) captained the Hong Kong Dragons AFL team which won the Asia Cup in 2010. Rod currently works as a senior manager, office services for CB Richard Ellis Limited, a commercial real estate company. Rod attended the 2011 Hong Kong Scotch Family cocktail party on 16 June.

MATT TARGETT (’03) was a member of the Australian 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay team which won gold at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Shanghai during July. Matt and team-mate Matthew Abood swam strongly before Eamonn Sullivan held off challenges from the French, Russian and American teams to bring home the gold. Matt also won a silver medal in the 50 metre butterfly at the world titles.

ED TUDOR, School Captain in 2004 , is currently doing his first rotation at Mallesons in banking and finance, which he describes as ‘a very steep learning curve, but very enjoyable’. He now lives near Melbourne Grammar in South Yarra, but says: ‘I’m not at risk of converting to the navy blue just yet’. At Easter, Ed hiked the Kokoda Track with his father Rick and 24 Trinity Grammar boys, which he says was ‘a very challenging and very, very special experience’.

BEN SINCLAIR (’09) made his debut for Collingwood in the game against Essendon at the MCG on 31 July, becoming the 162nd Old Scotch Collegian to play VFL/AFL football.

ED BARLOW (’05) , NATHAN DJERRKURA (’06) and LIAM JONES (’09) are senior list players at the Western Bulldogs, and they were all in the Bulldogs’ senior team in rounds 12 and 13 of the 2011 AFL season. Regrettably, both CAMPBELL BROWN (’01) of the Gold Coast Suns and JAMES STRAUSS (’08) of Melbourne suffered season-ending injuries in round 20 of the 2011 AFL season.

CHRIS STOCKDALE (’10) is going to Pittsburgh, USA, to try to become a gridiron punter at Duquesne University. Chris has been awarded an academic and athletic scholarship from the university, and will major in sports marketing and sports business.