Author: Richard Morgan

An approach from the head coach of Strathfield Croquet Club, Ruth Bridger, led to a croquet reactivation of sorts. A small group of undergraduate Paulines ventured off to the club in August and gained a better understanding of two croquet games after learning the basic skills needed for both. Quite a number of attendees really stood out as natural players. The session was run as a Club Hub activity to provide an opportunity to strengthen croquet community ties between the Club and the College.

Ruth Bridger is writing about the 120 years of Croquet in Sydney’s Inner West and stumbled upon mention of St Paul’s College playing in local tournaments around the time of Federation. She approached Richard Morgan about the College Archives to see what material on croquet was in the collection. So far we have found some mentions, as below, and a number of photos from the 60s and 70s.

If any Paulines have croquet references or memorabilia they’d like to share, both the College and the Strathfield Club would be very interested. 

The earliest mention of members of the College playing croquet dates back to 1878 in the dairy of Arthur Feez, a prolific sportsman of his time (Alan Atkinson, Heats and Minds, 2017, p. 133 ff).  Some great photos are emerging as you can see.

Ted Griffin (at Paul’s 1965-68) joined the undergraduate visitors. Ted was an early, if not the first, Lord Warden of the Mallets and can be seen pictured here with friends at a Mummers Croquet game in the Quad sometime in 1968!  

A fitting speaker for the 60th Monday Dinner Seminar¹ held in Graduate House was Sydney-based Endocrinologist Professor Roger Chen. Roger is Senior Staff Specialist in Endocrinology at St Vincent’s Hospital, Visiting Scientist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Conjoint Professor in Medicine at the University of New South Wales and Clinical Associate Professor in Medicine, University of Sydney.

Roger’s talk “From Toronto to the Gila Monster and Beyond” discussed the history and advancements in the prevention and treatment of Diabetes, noting it has been 100 years since the invention of Insulin in Toronto, Canada. This life saving drug has linkages across many diseases because of the interaction of hormones feeding glands, through the endocrine system in the human body. He explained how recently development of insulin manufacturing and delivery methods have greatly improved from a delivery system taking many minutes to just a few seconds these days.

In the mid 1990s, Drs John Eng and Jean-Pierre Raufman found that a hormone in the venom of the Gila monster—a large lizard native to the southwestern United States—stimulates the body’s insulin production.  

Beyond the Gila Monster, ‘smart insulin’ is in the developmental stages in laboratories including at the Garvan Institute, UNSW and Sydney University. There is emerging evidence of the protective effects of these and sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, such as preventing heart disease. Also, the relatively new injectable Ozempic is being used these days for its spin-off properties of weight loss which is now causing supply problems.

Roger made very clear that we all must take away the key message that losing weight greatly improves one’s health and lowers chances of type 2 diabetes (he said his work would be greatly reduced if we could teach people how to eat!), and we are yet to create an oral insulin delivery medication, something that will greatly improve the lives of many who suffer diabetes.

A lively Q&A followed his presentation and with the Chalmers Common Room filled by Med, Science, Law and Humanities students and one or two studying Business/Commerce, this seminar had much to inspire a range of future careers.

1. Since its inception in 2019 ↩︎

Vered Lalrinpuii who holds a LLM from the National Law University of New Delhi, discovered the Sydney University Law School to fulfil her dream of studying overseas. She met Graduate House Alumna Zoe Brereton (at College 2019) while studying in Delhi who explained the life and benefits of living at St Paul’s while studying for a Sydney higher degree.

Vered arrived at Graduate House in July 2022 and is enrolled in LLM. She is the recipient of a Sydney University Dean’s Scholarship as a result of Professor Simon Bronitt’s visit to India and becoming aware of the limited opportunities for the minority community of Mizoram in Northeast India. Simon is Dean of Law and was a resident academic at Paul’s 2019-20.

Vered was part of the India-Immersion program as a liaisons officer signing MOUs with law schools and meeting Vice Chancellors with Dean Simon Bronitt. Her stance on anti-corruption law has allowed her to undertake comparative studies with her alma mater in Delhi. She has also discovered many shared passions between Indians and Australians beyond cricket, curry and the Commonwealth!

Vered is on a pathway towards a Law PhD. When her studies are over Vered wants to give back especially in her own country where there are formidable challenges. She aspires to establish a research centre for Northeast India within the University of Sydney. She draws inspiration from two remarkable Northeast Indian scholars, Dr Yankee Modi, co-director of the Centre for Cultural-Linguistic Diversity at Sydney University and Dr Dolly Kilkon, Anthropologist at Melbourne University.

Whilst being part of St Paul’s College Vered has put Mizorma on the map and added significantly to the diversity of culture and thought in the Graduate House community. She is inspired by the genuine engagement of the College community with its First Nations students. After a year living at Paul’s she is contributing to the life of the Graduate House community in many ways, enjoys the traditions of college and is fast becoming a leader and mentor to newer students.

St Paul’s will host a Touch Football Gala Tournament on the St Paul’s College Oval on Friday 15 September from 3 pm as a fund raiser. This intercollegiate event will support the non-for-profit charity ‘Boys to the Bush’ provides boys from disadvantaged backgrounds the opportunity to participate in camps where they are surrounded by positive influences that help them to maintain resilience, feel a sense of belonging and ultimately learn how to be a good man.

Alumni, parents: can you help? Need are a range of prizes for the raffle – all proceeds going to charity. Please contact Richard Morgan in the Community and Advancement Office (community@stpauls.edu.au).

All are welcome to come along from 3 pm to cheer on the teams, sausage sizzle, drinks and college bands The Dirty Dishes and Salted Ham perfoming from 5 pm to 7 pm. 

As a university student residing at St Paul’s College, the oldest residential college in the country which until this year was a male-only environment; I understand the importance of providing young men the important opportunity to learn how to be a good man and treat each other and their female counterparts with respect.

Each year, St Paul’s hosts an intercollegiate charity event, raising money for an organization of the colleges choice to give back to the community. This year, I proposed ‘Boys to the Bush’ as the charity in which we support.

St Paul’s understands the importance in giving back to those from disadvantages backgrounds and raising money for a charity that is playing such an important role in the lives of so many young boys within NSW and the rest of Australia.

The Intercol Debating fixture is part of the Palladian competition and over a two day tournament in August Paul’s was victorious. Led by Debating Convenor and coach Sophie Jeffries, the team members were Bryson Constable, Isander Mesimeris (2nd highest speaker score in the whole competition), Jack Sandelin, Will Nicholas, and Will Defina.

The final debate was “That we support the imposition of a significant inheritance tax” (Negative) (won against Drew’s in the final). During the competition the following motions were debated by Paul’s:

• “That we support the rise of youth wings of political parties” (Negative) (Won against Wesley)
• “That we regret the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe” (Affirmative) (Won against Drew’s)
• “That we regret the norm of parents financially supporting their children after they become adults” (Negative) (Won against John’s)
• “That Latin American countries should form an economic and political bloc similar to the European Union” (Affirmative) (Lost to Women’s)
• “That we regret the prioritisation of sportsmanship over maximising competitiveness in sport.” (Negative) (Won against Sancta)

Paul’s was very successful at characterising the debates in a way that was advantageous while each topic and opposing team presented their own challenges too.

Congratulations to the Debating Team on their impressive weekend campaign and bringing home the Debating Trophy once again.

An interesting line-up of Semester 2 speakers at the Graduate House “Dinner Seminar” series has dug deep into considerations about the future society into which our postgraduates will be emerging.

In Week 1 Jordan Baker, Chief Reporter at the SMH, spoke about the future of news and the future of education. Jordan was previously the senior education reporter and has often written about St Paul’s and the other colleges. Jordan focussed on the future of educational choice, government funding, and the need for more excellent teachers. 

In Week 2 Frances Foster-Thorpe, the founding director of NSW’s strategic foresight team – Shaping Futures and Data Insights, spoke about shaping the vision for the future within NSW Government. Her lifelong interest is in public policy and how the public service can be evidence-informed, effective and accountable. As a strategic policy professional, Frances has worked on complex, national reforms ranging from the NDIS, education, water policy and data for the Commonwealth, NSW Government and (briefly) as a consultant. As a senior executive over the past five years, Frances has become focused on how the public service can transform itself into the capable and trust-worthy institution needed to tackle the multiple challenges of our times. Her presentation raised many questions about ethics and public perception of politics and leadership and the important part university research can play in developing trust and respect for future governments.

Alumnus Angus Dawson (at Paul’s 1991-94) gave the Week 4 Seminar. He engaged those present with a global perspective on assumption versus fundamental belief in a world full of rapid change by asking the audience for their perspectives on WW2, the Cold War and COVID-19. Angus is Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company and is the former Managing Partner for McKinsey in Australia and New Zealand. He is one of the thought leaders at McKinsey and used world-wide resources from statistics to primary sources to well-researched scholarly articles that define the world in which we live and what leadership is needed. He shared his insights on where the world is going and what our future standard of living will look like. 

These seminars are very popular, drawing together guests, post graduates, undergraduates, and staff. The discussion and debate kicked off at the seminars continues at formal dinner in the Refectory and after dinner back in the Chalmers Common Room.

On the heels of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, Intercol Soccer was being held. Football fever had certainly settled at St Paul’s for August; the Matildas were making history, the games all being broadcast on the big screen in the Salisbury, and the Rawson and Rosebowl teams were flying. Support for both teams was huge. The hard work given to both campaigns was evident with the men notching up their fifth consecutive campaign victory, and the women finishing the tournament in a valiant 3rd place.

RAWSON: Paul’s 3 def John’s 0; Paul’s 3 def Wesley 0; Pauls 2 def Andrew’s 0

ROSEBOWL: Andrew’s 2 def Paul’s 1; Pauls 1 def Wesley 0; Women’s 1 def Paul’s 0; Paul’s 1 def Sancta 0; John’s 1 def Paul’s 0.

Congratulations to the St Paul’s College Rawson Football team on their win. This brings the Rawson Cup into contention with Andrew’s on 21 and Paul’s on 17 points. With Basketball, Tennis and Athletics to go there is great hope in a Rawson Cup victory for 2023.