Scotch College

Whimsical Walker bounces 813 at annual dinner

With his broad grin and wealth of stories, guest speaker Max 'Tangles' Walker, the former Test cricket hero and now best-selling author, greatly entertained 813 enthusiastic diners at the 1999 Old Scotch Annual Dinner.

OSCA President, Richard Nelson set the cricket theme for the evening right from the start, by introducing the two 'teams' at the top tables. Diners were asked to imagine that Max Walker was captaining 'Walker's Whimsicals', while School Principal Gordon Donaldson was leading the 'Scotch Invincibles'. Richard provided 'scores' throughout the dinner, with Max's team narrowly 'winning' after the tangle-footed Test bowler grabbed three cheap wickets right at the end.

Welcoming diners, Richard singled out the oldest old boy present - 93-year-old former teacher Frank Stuckey ('24), who was joined at table 28 by other 'roaring twenties' old boys Archie Glenn, Alan McDonald and Boyard Taft (all '29), and Keith Wilson ('26). At the other end of the time scale, there were 60 class of '97 attendees.

After an appropriately cricket-orientated grace led by School Chaplain Graham Bradbeer, diners tucked into 'wee bitties o' chuckie' (warm chicken salad), the celebrated haggis, 'right guid stirkie' (fillet steak) and 'an ashet o' bonnie sweeties' (self-explanatory!) washed down with fine wines from Campbell's and Brown's.

The haggis was appropriately piped in, with pipers and escorts led by Lts Glover and Collins, then OSCA Executive Director Leigh McGregor ('55) again conducted 'slanchy va!' with alacrity. Richard Nelson led the toast to the school, and invited Gordon Donaldson to 'send down a few Irish flippers and googlies'.

Responding to the toast, Dr Donaldson said the excellent attendance of 813 at the dinner was clear evidence of the unrivalled support for the school shown by the old boys, and he thanked them for their continuing dedication. He said this commitment was tangibly shown in the old boys' contribution of $1 million towards the cost of the magnificent new James Forbes Academy, now taking shape at Scotch.

Referring to his recent overseas trip, which included visits to schools in the USA, the UK and South Africa, Dr Donaldson there was no doubt that the best Australian schools can stand scrutiny from anywhere in the world.

But there was an unfortunate dark side to Scotch affairs, Dr Donaldson said, referring to recent out-of-school-hours incidents involving Scotch and Melbourne Grammar boys. He said that such incidents would be dealt with appropriately, and would never permanently sully Scotch's hard-won good name, nor its excellent relationship with the other APS schools.

The brighter side of the picture, he said, was the performance of Scotch boys in last year's VCE, with two boys being awarded the maximum score of 99.5. In sport, the cross-country, water polo and swimming/diving teams had all won their respective premierships, and the 1st XI had made two scores over 300 including 318 against Xavier in a thrilling tie.

Despite temporary strains, the spirit of Scotch is still well and truly alive, Dr Donaldson said - and cited as evidence the application by a year nine boy to join the Student Forum. The boy said that by joining the forum he would hope to make Scotch a place boys would look forward to coming to every morning - and besides, being a forum member would look good on his CV!

Dr Donaldson concluded that Scotch will overcome the difficulties referred to earlier 'because the fundamentals are right at Scotch'. He spoke of the educational experience to encourage every student to achieve to the limit of his ability, the strong christian basis of the school, where responsibility to and for others is a core, and the commitment of the dedicated and highly qualified teaching staff. He also referred to the unequalled support for Old Boys', 'regarding with a keen but loving eye.'

'It is a formidable formula that can and will face current and future challenges and then rise above them with resolve to produce an even better school.'

The nature of the response from those present indicated that Dr Donaldson can certainly count on Old Scotch Collegians and their support.

Proposing the toast to the guests, Dick Briggs, who described himself as 'an unexceptional member of the class of '57', spoke eloquently about the all-important friendly rivalries and traditional good sportsmanship in contests between the APS schools. For example, Dick said, the statistics showed that there was little between Scotch and Melbourne Grammar on the sporting field - so there had always been triumphs to enjoy and disappointments to bear courageously by boys from both schools.

Dick said that guest speaker Max Walker was a product of Friends, a Tasmanian public school with a similarly great tradition of academic and sporting excellence to Scotch's. Although steeped in that tradition, Max had perhaps been a little indiscreet on one occasion. He handed in a note explaining that his absence from school on the previous day had been due to sickness - while the daily newspapers were that day headlining his achievements in a cricket match he had been playing while 'sick'!

Max Walker, recalling his days at Friends, said that kind of incident had led him to become all too familiar with the headmaster's cane, which was rather ominously named 'Excalibur'. Despite that, Max said, Friends had given him a feeling for the sort of school spirit that he said was very much in evidence at our dinner.

Power of the mind

Max spoke of the great power of the mind, and asked his audience to close their eyes and imagine they were bowling a series of unplayable balls to West Indian immortals Gordon Greenidge, Vivian Richards and Clive Lloyd. "Now open your eyes," he said. "There you are - three for none - that's what your mind can do!"

Speaking of other strong influences in his life, Max referred to World Series Cricket, where the WSC Australian players had to stick together once they had made their decision to break ranks with the cricket establishment; and of the influence of legendary football coach, Norm Smith, who had made a powerful impression on Max, as a young Melbourne footballer.

Max urged old boys to 'have a dream, trust yourself to achieve your dream, and test your limits'.

Winding up the formalities of the evening, Richard Nelson thanked Max Walker for his address, and paid tribute to the hard work of dinner convenor Peter Wade ('75), speaker liaison Campbell McComas ('69) , MC Stewart Faichney ('64), music and songs coordinator Ken Howden ('74), as well as Geoff Speed ('59), Hugh Wilson ('65), and Leigh McGregor and Lynley Nimmo from OSCA. It was another memorable and successful annual dinner.

by David Ashton
Photography by David Clark