Author: Richard Morgan

With a 165 year old dining hall designed and built for a College of about 50, the popular Mothers’ Dinner was held over two nights on Friday 8 and Saturday 9 September. Welcomed by the College Chaplain, Revd Antony Weiss, on Friday and Warden, Revd Dr Ed Loane, on Saturday both nights were a joyous celebration of mothers and motherhood. Toasts were proposed on Friday by Jonah O’Sullivan, Simon Toscan and the Vice Warden, TJ Christie, on Friday and Tom Nivison, Sophie Jeffries and the Warden on Saturday with responses from Mrs Melinda Toscan and Mrs Naomi Jeffries respectively. Highlights included musical performances by jazz combo Max Phillips, Ben Varella, Charlie Smith (Friday) and Michael Dowe on guitar and vocals (Saturday)

“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” (Rudyard Kipling)

Scroll down for the photo gallery.

The English Renaissance composer William Byrd is considered amongst the greatest composers of the Renaissance and is regarded as one of the major influencers on the development of western polyphonic music. This year marks the 400th anniversary of his death in July 1623 was remembered in a service of evensong in the Chapel on 12 September. During the sermon the College Chaplain, Revd Antony Weiss, gave a Biblical survey of the importance of music before a fascinating account of the life and musical influence of Byrd on the Catholic Church, the Church of England and his protection by, and patronage from the (Protestant) Queen Elizabeth I, linking it all to the wonderful musical tradition of the Anglican Church today.

The College Choir sang Psalm 122 Laetatus Sum arranged by David Drury based on Byrd’s setting.  Similarly the Magnificat, Nunc Dimittis as well as the Preces and Responses were all from Byrd’s Service. The accompaniment was reconstructed for viols by David Skinner. Guests of the College were the critically acclaimed chamber group Josie and the Emeralds, Australia’s finest viol players, who accompanied the choir for all of the works by Byrd. They also played Byrd’s In Nomine à4 as the postlude. The organ accompaniment as usual was provided by the College Organist and Composer-in-Residence, David Drury.

The College Choir and musicians continue to delight congregations at our weekly services of Evensong at 5.15pm every Tuesday during Semester. Many visitors now attend and all are welcome to join us – the main gate at 9 City Road is open from 5 pm for all those interested in joining the service, and often are able to stay for dinner in the Hall with the undergraduate members and staff of the College. The Chapel Choir sings a wide range of musical styles especially from the English cathedral choir repertoire as well as contemporary works, including those written by music students associated with St Paul’s.

The Choir is directed by Jack Stephens, Director of Music at the College. Jack, David, Antony and the choir are preparing the itinerary for the Choir Tour to UK and France in December 2024 and January 2025 and we are looking for support from the wider Paul’s community to help supplement the costs of this trip through a donation to the College’s Music Fund [click here]. This trip will be significant for its ‘international showcasing’ of the quality of the musicianship of St Paul’s.

When Freshman John Kenny arrived in the UK on June 13 to join the crew at Oxford Brookes University Boat Club he wore his St Paul’s College rowing zootie. John is a national-level rower and was part of the victorious Rawson Cup College crew in 2023. In his June trip to Henley as a member of Sydney Rowing Club he was a stroke-side reserve for the men’s squad, prepared to substitute into either the Thames Challenge Cup VIII, or the Britannia Challenge Cup coxed IV.

John rowed with the bow-side reserve in a Pair (minus cox) at the Marlow Regatta, hosted at Eton Dorney, the venue for the 2012 Summer Olympics. John’s Pair came 4th in the A final behind Oxford University in 1st, 2nd and 3rd!

His team’s Henley campaign went smoothly in the sense that there were no injuries, however, both the IV and the VIII were knocked out in the semi-finals. 

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.