Author: Richard Morgan

Academic Achievement Recognised

Posted on by Richard Morgan

The annual tradition of the Academic Dinner to recognise the university achievements of our undergraduate students was held on Monday 10 March 2025. To celebrate the 2024 results, the best ever, old Pauline Professor Peter Anstey, gave the address and presented the College prizes for 2024. Peter discussed the real-life example of the philosophy of the separation of powers in the context of the fledgling Trump administration in the USA.

Professor Anstey (at College 1985) completed his BA in Philosophy in 1988, ThL in 1989 and PhD in 1997. We also learnt that he taught the Warden in Philosophy 1998 and continued to teach as Professor of Philosophy at The University of Sydney until this year specialising in European philosophy in the early modern period. He was appointed recently as the Commencing Director, Western Civilisation Program in the Faculty of Education and Art at the Australian Catholic University.

Michael Masi (guitar) [BE I] entertained the gathering with Angelina by Tommy Emmanuel (b.1955).

The College community congratulates all students who have worked so hard to achieve excellence in their academic work which is so beneficial to the individuals concerned and rewarding for the College.

2024 College awards were presented by Professor Anstey for:

PRIZE FOR HIGHEST ANNUAL AVERAGE MARK (FRESHER):

PRIZE FOR HIGHEST ANNUAL AVERAGE MARK (SENIOR):

ST PAUL’S COLLEGE TEACHING EXCELLENCE AWARD awarded to the most outstanding Tutor nominated by their fellow students:

  • Ben Varela

MCWILLIAM PRIZE (established through the generosity of Bruce McWilliam (College 1974-79, Fellow 2005-15 and Bursar) awarded for Law other than final year and for service to College:

  • Jason Zhu He

JUDGE HUMFRY HENCHMAN PRIZE (in memory of Hereward John Humfry Henchman (College 1922-28, Fellow 1938-94, Chairman 1976-79), Acting Judge of the Supreme Court of NSW and Judge of all District Courts in NSW) awarded to a student in final year Law: n/a

SIR IAN MCFARLANE PRIZE (in memory of Ian McFarlane (College 1941-44), engineer, economist, philanthropist and major innovator in exploration for shale oil in Australia)

awarded for exceptional results in Economics and/or Commerce and for service to College:

  • Ed Taylor

PORTUS PRIZE (in memory of Garnet Vere Portus (College 1903-04, Fellow 1918-34), the College’s first Rhodes Scholar) awarded for exceptional examination results in History, Economic History or Philosophy:

  • Orlando Throsby

UTHER PRIZE (established by a bequest from Allan Hammill Uther (College 1888-90, Fellow 1901-51), principal founder of the University Sports Union and Fellow of the College) awarded for three years’ distinguished examination results and service to College:

  • Austin Markwick
  • Ed Taylor

Academic Achievements, The University of Sydney 2024

EXAMINATION RESULTS 2024 – HIGH DISTINCTION AVERAGE (85-100)

  • Grace Anderson
  • Andrew Brennan
  • Kate Brenner
  • Aidan Cheung
  • William Defina
  • Gabriel Desiderio
  • Rebecca Galeano
  • Julian Guesnon
  • Sean Hamadi
  • Matilda Hayward
  • Liv Laverty
  • Ben Lee
  • Harry Ludwig
  • Juliet Malcolm
  • Austin Markwick
  • Owen Marschner
  • Grace Merrilees
  • Isander Mesimeris
  • Jack Parker
  • Samuel Richards
  • Christine Smith
  • Ed Taylor
  • Isabella Taylor
  • Lucy Tucker
  • Ben Varela

EXAMINATION RESULTS 2024 – DISTINCTION AVERAGE (75-84.99)

  • Zoe Anderson
  • Abigail Ballhausen
  • Jack Beck
  • Annica Bendall
  • Scarlett Benias
  • Heidi Best
  • Charlie Bishop
  • Ryan Bond
  • Eric Bong
  • Jack Bouvier
  • Rex Bouvier
  • Sophie Bradshaw
  • Sakura Brennan
  • Jackson Broad
  • Rohan Cameron
  • Eleanor Campbell
  • Libby Carey
  • Freya Carmody
  • Joshua Chanmugam
  • Thomas Chassat
  • Luke Chopra
  • Angus Clifford
  • Robert Clinton
  • Bryson Constable
  • William Cox
  • Sophie Davis
  • Jack Dawson
  • Charlotte Digges
  • Charles Dight
  • Tia Durovich
  • Jack Earwaker
  • James Edwards
  • Louis Eglinton
  • Aya-Lani Elias
  • Oscar Everett
  • Allegra Fleming
  • Tom Forsythe
  • Maddy Freeman
  • Ella Graves
  • Lachlan Green
  • Chloe Gunning
  • Josh Hall-Johnston
  • Natalie Hee
  • Phoebe Henry
  • Jesse Henry
  • Olivia Hills
  • Charlotte Hocking
  • Archie Hyles
  • Samantha Janssen
  • Arlo Johns-Hammond
  • Annika Johnson
  • Finn Johnson
  • Matilda Johnson
  • Mack Johnston
  • Harry Joils
  • Sophie Jones
  • Hugh Jordan
  • Helen Jordan
  • Emma Juneja
  • Dominic Kadmon
  • James Kerr
  • Harry Kirton
  • Dan Kovacs
  • Armand Larche
  • Gillian Lawrance
  • Matthew Leijer
  • Christopher Lennox
  • Joshua Lindon
  • Ryan Lynch
  • Rocco Marcolongo
  • Velvet Martino-Zlojutro
  • Sam Matruglio
  • Luka Mattani
  • Samuel Mccredie
  • James Mccreery
  • Hunter Mcgregor
  • Fraser Mclaren
  • Olivia McMillan
  • Molly Mcphillips
  • Ruben Mead
  • Cameron Morris
  • Grace Morrow
  • Will Nicholas
  • Milly O’Connell
  • Sebastian O’Connell
  • Lachlan Oldfield
  • James Parker Kelly
  • Alessandro Petagna
  • Maximilian Philips
  • Jennifer Pilarinos
  • Thomas Ramsey
  • Alex Ranson
  • Dylan Reid
  • Maisie Reid
  • Francesca Richards
  • Abbey Ridgewell
  • William Rivlin
  • Alex Robinson
  • Elise Rosser
  • Jack Sandelin
  • James Saywell
  • Gabe Scott
  • Spencer Selikowitz
  • Belle Sherlock
  • Connor Sinn
  • Victoria Spark
  • Jack Sproats
  • Georgia St John
  • William Stafford
  • Maya Stapleton
  • Valentina Steele
  • Toby Symons
  • Joshua Taleb
  • Olivia Thoma
  • Hugh Thompson
  • Zoe Thomson
  • Orlando Throsby
  • Charlotte Toll
  • Elinor Trevelyan-Jones
  • Katie Tyo
  • Luka Vujanovic
  • Tom Wait
  • Matilda Walker
  • Bligh Walter
  • Gemma White
  • Levi Williams
  • Ella Winterbottom
  • Adam Wong
  • Lily Wood
  • Sophie Wright
  • Will Wright
  • Andy Xie
  • Bailey Yeates
  • Jason Zhu He

VICE CHANCELLOR’S INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP

  • Benjamin Scott-King

PJ JACK PRIZE FOR ARABIC LANGUAGE:

  • Rocco Marcolongo
  • Armand Larche

ACADEMIC MERIT PRIZE

  • Austin Markwick Bella Taylor
  • Elinor Trevelyan-Jones
  • Isander Mesimeris
  • Benjamin Varela

DEAN’S LIST OF EXCELLENCE

  • Austin Markwick (Engineering)
  • Bella Taylor (Science)
  • Elinor Trevelyan-Jones (Law/Arts)
  • Isander Mesimeris (Law)
  • Jack Lockhart (Science)
  • Kate Brenner (Engineering)
  • Luka Mattani (Veterinary Science)

DENISON RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP

  • Owen Marschner

BETA GAMMA SIGMA INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS HONOURS SOCIETY ELECTION

Jack Beck

ENGINEERING ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP

  • Benjamin Varela

STUDENT MANAGED INVESTMENT FUND SCHOLARSHIP

  • Tom Collins

THE GREGG HUMANITARIAN SCHOLARSHIP

  • Myroslav Boroviak

Awards on entry to The University of Sydney 2025

DALYELL SCHOLARS (Awarded for applicants who demonstrate a guaranteed ATAR of 98+)

  • Jessica Allen-Waters
  • Zoe Beattie
  • Rupert Begg
  • Riadh Bowler
  • Lola Cayzer
  • Harry Chu
  • Emily D’Souza
  • Charlie Dale
  • Charlotte Ellis
  • Molly Espie
  • Tom Fisher
  • Tara Gold
  • Rory Lambert
  • Lachlan Larsson
  • Jack Laurie
  • Jessica Li
  • Mischa Lim
  • Abby Long
  • Angus Malcolm
  • Elliot McKay
  • Matthew McKee
  • Maxine McKellar
  • Patrick McLeish
  • Anna Morrison
  • Audrey Newman
  • Jack O’Brien
  • Sarah Poolman
  • Rachel Poon
  • Will Powell
  • Lily Richards
  • Lucas Robertson
  • Oliver Stafford
  • Anneka Steele
  • George Tait
  • Harry Tanner
  • Jasper Tuckwell
  • Isabella Watson
  • Jemima Williams

ERIC CONSTANCE SHAW LAW SCHOLARSHIP (awarded to students who are from a regional or remote area of Australia, are commencing a Bachelor of Laws or Juris Doctor and demonstrate leadership experience, communication skills, personal interests and community engagement)

  • Ved Patel

WALTER REID MEMORIAL PRIZE (awarded to students in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

  • Ved Patel

ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE MERIT SCHOLARSHIP (to encourage and support domestic students commencing an undergraduate degree in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Sydney with a guaranteed ATAR of 96+)

  • Oliver Stafford

ERIC CAMPBELL SCOTT SCHOLARSHIP (supports academically excellent students studying in the Business School)

  • Jack Laurie

CHANCELLOR’S SCHOLARSHIP (awarded to applicants who have achieved an ATAR (or equivalent) of 99.90 or above)

  • Rachel Poon
  • Jessica Li
  • Matthew McKee

FACULTY OF ENGINEERIG WOMEN IN ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP (awarded to applicants for Engineering who have achieved ATAR of 98 and above)

  • Jessica Li

SUSF ELITE ATHLETE SCHOLARSHIP

  • Audrey Newman
  • Milana Henderson

JUDGE RALPH J PERDRIAU FIRST NATIONS SCHOLARSHIP FOR BACHELOR OF LAWS (to support First Nations students undertaking a Bachelor of Law at the Sydney Law School)

  • Harry Tanner

College Council Elections 2025

Posted on by Richard Morgan

In accordance with schedule 2 part 2 (4) of the Saint Paul’s College Act 2018 (NSW), an election will be held in late March 2025 for the election of two (2) Lay members of Council for terms of six years. Persons are entitled to vote in this election if they are a graduate of the University of Sydney and have resided on the premises of the College for at least four (4) University terms or three (3) University semesters. 

Five (5) nominations for Lay Fellows have been received by the Returning Officer and therefore an election will be held to conclude on Friday 21 March at 11.59 pm.

The College has gone to all reasonable efforts to include all known information of eligible voters on the Roll of Voters. Each voter will be sent an email with a unique link to cast their vote electronically. If you believe you are an Elector and did not receive the Notice of Election sent by email on 10 February 2025, you are invited to contact the Returning Officer to up-date your details if required, via email: returningofficer@stpauls.edu.au before 5.00 pm Sunday 2 March 2025.

Declaration of the 2025 Election of Two Clerical Fellows

Nominations were also called for two vacancies for Clerical Fellows for the St Paul’s College Council. The only nominations received were for Rev’d Philip Bradford and Rev’d Dr Kimberly Sawyer. Accordingly, Rev’d Philip Bradford and and Rev’d Dr Kimberly Sawyer have been elected as Clerical Fellows.

Welcome to New Paulines

Posted on by Richard Morgan

Perfect weather greeted over 130 freshers joining the undergraduate community and 31 arriving postgraduates joining Graduate House on their first day at St Paul’s on Monday 17 February. Many of the undergraduates were accompanied by their parents, care-givers and, for those from overseas, their locally-based relatives.

A packed program included arrivals, keycard pick-up and move-in, the traditional welcome ceremony and signing of the College Register, parents’ cocktail party, then Chapel for all new students followed by formal dinner in the Hall. What is exciting this year is the growing number of new Paulines from outside Sydney: 33 from regional NSW, 19 interstate and 20 who live overseas.

Student leaders are briefed
First arrivals at the Albert Archway
The SClub merch stall
Keycards and check-in
Perfect weather for the welcome

Our new members of Graduate House were welcomed at a rooftop lunch by the Dean, Dr Antone Martinho-Truswell, and are representative of a range of higher degrees from across the spectrum of courses offered at The University of Sydney. 

Dr Antone Martinho-Truswell welcome
Postgrads from Canada, USA, South America and Australia
Welcome lunch on the Roof Top Terrace

The undergraduates have chosen a wide range of degrees, from Commerce and Engineering being the most popular, to Science (Medicine), Arts, combinations with Law and a range of degrees in the Applied Sciences, Psychology, Design and Politics. We are also seeing the resurgence of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Science amongst the choices.

The welcome ceremony was held in the Waddy Performance Centre Theatre which comfortably catered for the gathering of 400 people. A number of key messages were delivered to the students: the Warden encouraging our students to be “other-centred” and be there for their fellow Paulines; Senior Student Tilly Walker asked freshers “to be your unique self”; and Head of Admissions TJ Christie emphasised that “Paul’s is a place to make deep connections”.

2025 freshers
Senior Student Tilly Walker speaks
The Warden’s welcome to each fresher
Signing the register with Head of Admissions TJ Christie
The Warden addresses the parents

Before the formal dinner in Hall the freshers attended their first St Paul’s College chapel service welcomed by Chaplain Antony Weiss with wonderful music led by the Chapel Choir under Director of Music Jack Stephens.

First Chapel Service for Welcome Week
Director of Music Jack Stephens speaks

Welcome Week continued with a broad and deep programme of history, culture, academic writing, drugs and alcohol risks, code of conduct, city and beach visits, university campus tour and visits to other colleges.   

…Food for hungry freshers
Welcoming guests from other colleges
Lunch with guests
intercol tip
intercol tip

The St Paul’s community welcomes our fresher cohort and look forward to seeing and hearing about their achievements throughout 2025.

Chief Justice Opens the 2025 Judicial Year

Posted on by Richard Morgan

Pauline, The Hon Andrew Bell, the Chief Justice of NSW, gave his Opening of Law Term address on 6 February and made news headlines with his remarks on a number of current issues. Law students at Paul’s in 2025 would do well to reflect on the matters His Honour has raised, particularly for those shortly to embark on their practical legal training. Andrew states that the costs for this graduate diploma, essential to be admitted into law practice in NSW, “may well present a significant barrier to entry to the legal profession”. He has been able to address some of the issues with the College of Law in Sydney and is about to launch an independent survey through the Legal Professional Admission Board.  

His address also reaches deep into the issue of racial, religious and ethnic hatred, activities which have recently become the leading items on our nightly news and, quite rightly, widely condemned as a ‘stain on the soul of our city’ (Archbishop Anthony Fisher, 3 February 2025). He has highlighted the spread of antisemitism in Sydney and attacks on innocent people and destruction of property. Andrew commented: “Freedom from fear is a cardinal element of a liberal democracy as is the freedom to practice or indeed not to practice a religion” and “the lessons of history cannot and must not be forgotten”.

The Chief Justice also called on the judicial profession to consider strongly the largely unregulated sources of information through social media platforms and the “Truth Decay”[1] of our society. A new Supreme Court Practice Note has been promulgated to deter the legal profession’s use of Gen AI – another topic that will be of great interest to Paulines as our University opens-up the usage of Gen AI for student work.

Judicial independence is another of Andrew’s themes and he addresses the use of the USA Presidential Pardons as “gravely undermining the rule of law in the United States”.

  • To read the full transcript of Andrew Bell’s speech follow this LINK.  
  • ABC News report CLICK HERE

[1] the diminishing role of facts and analysis in American public life. See: https://www.rand.org/research/projects/truth-decay.html

Choir Excels in London

Posted on by Richard Morgan

Expectations about a visiting Australian choir in London were well and truly exceeded when St Paul’s College Chapel Choir sang their first notes in St Paul’s Cathedral London on 28 December 2024. 48 choir members and supporters are on an international tour this Christmas-New Year season.

The St Paul’s College Choir Tour has wrapped up its services at St Paul’s Cathedral London and Westminster Abbey. Over 4000 people experienced the choir in London which was packed with people for the end of year events.

There are great photos shared here and for the article in SMH (3 Jan 2025) CLICK HERE


The Choir Tour to UK and France – 28 Dec – 9 Jan

Posted on by Richard Morgan

The St Paul’s College Chapel Choir will embark on a highly anticipated tour from Saturday, 28 December 2024, to Thursday, 9 January 2025, performing in some of the world’s most renowned churches and cathedrals.

If you are nearby, all Paulines, their families, and friends are invited to attend the public services and concerts during the tour. Please REGISTER here.

The touring choir consists of members of the 2024 Chapel Choir, as well as choir alumni from the past three years now living in the UK and Europe, all under the direction of Jack Stephens, our Director of Music. Their repertoire spans English church service settings, psalms, responses, anthems, motets, and music ranging from Gregorian Chant to contemporary works composed by current students.

The Choir will be accompanied by our Organist and Composer-in-Residence, David Drury, along with Organ Scholar Bailey Yeates. They will also give solo performances on the grand organs of St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral, York Minster, La Madeleine, Saint-Sulpice, and Saint-Eustache.

For a download of the program poster below CLICK HERE

Gift of Recent Portrait of Pauline

Posted on by Richard Morgan

Michael Lodge, at College 1961-62, brought his old friend Prof Garth Nicholson, at College 1961-66, back to College to finalise an agreement for Michael’s portrait of Garth to be given to the College. After studying architecture Michael has been a life-long artist with work as an illustrator for the Canberra Times, The Bulletin and the Australian and more generally in advertising and publishing.

Garth studied MBBS and PhD, is a neurologist who has focused his research on hereditary diseases of nerves, including a number of world-first studies. Garth is currently Professor of Neurogenetics at the University of Sydney.

The College is delighted to receive portraits of its interesting alumni and in this case we have received a double-header because the artist is also a Pauline! An interesting point from a story Michael happily told us is that the Nicholson portrait was one of the 1,005 entries in the 2024 Archibald Prize but it didn’t make it into the 57 selected works.

New Public Art for the College

Posted on by Richard Morgan

In memory of Zac Lerner (2003-24) who died peacefully in his sleep at College on 16 March 2024, his family has donated to the College a new major work of outdoor contemporary art by David McCracken, a sculptor based in Auckland. According to McCracken Carlyle and Kurzweil, chasing chasing was a slightly flippant choice of name initially, but turned out to be particularly appropriate. This is his fourth work in a series of circular works, hand-made in steel employing symmetry and “a slightly baroque machine aesthetic” (McCracken), giving a nod to the life Zac led—from Tennis Convener to musician to Paul’s Formal committee to his afro.

The Lerner family has a close association with St Paul’s that began with the commencement of Zac’s eldest brother, Jacob, in 2018. He was followed by brother Ben in 2020 then Zac joined as a fresher in 2022 though his life and time at College were tragically cut short. For Zac’s story CLICK HERE.

The sculpture was unveiled at a ceremony attended by Zac’s family, friends and mates at which it received a Karakia, a Māori blessing, from Paul Samuels, a family friend from NZ.  Entirely handmade, manually cut and welded, it employs no high-tech design or manufacturing. Jacob shared: “McCracken was listening to audiobooks by both authors as he worked on this piece and after hours and days of repetitive welding and grinding it felt like the spirits of the two men were chasing each other around inside his head. Thomas Carlyle, the fulminating reactionary, thundering against progress, and Ray Kurzweil, the hesitant tech-guru sage with his dreams of a techno-optimist future. Only later did Carlyle, who was also a mathematician, do the work in geometry which led to him discovering the so-called Carlyle circle. McCracken went on to find that Ray Kurzweil had written a book entitled The Age of Spiritual Machines.”

The work is impressive and is carefully positioned in the grounds so it is captivating from every angle and frames views of the College, plus those Paulines and visitors who will be passing it every day. 

The College acknowledges the generosity of the Lerner family for such an exciting gift that honours a Pauline whose loss is deeply felt.

First Rawson Cup Victory Dinner since 2017

Posted on by Richard Morgan

The Senior Student’s Speech at the Rawson Cup Victory Dinner:

I’m going to touch briefly tonight on a few stand out moments from our Rawson campaign this year and moments that defined the entire outcome of the Rawson Cup and are the very reason we are sitting here tonight. While I raise a few toasts to some deserving teams and individuals, I’d like you to keep in mind that we are joint holders of the Rawson cup this year, meaning that we finished on the exact same point score as St Andrew’s. Had even a single game in a single sport not gone our way, we would not have won.

Firstly, I would like thank and congratulate all of the Rawson athletes who have dedicated themselves to their sports. We have had over 100 Rawson athletes compete this year, it truly has been a team effort. Of all the individual contributions to the campaign, there are a couple of standout performances that demand our recognition.

And what better way to start off than with the embodiment and personification of hard work pays off – the rowing team. Rowing training this year has consisted of 8-9 sessions per week, morning starts were at 4:55 with 40km on the erg and 60km on the water each week for the first 8 weeks of semester which was eventually enough to bring home our 5th consecutive rowing victory. This is unbelievable commitment. Their dedication laid the solid foundation upon which our campaign has been built, and without their hard work and sacrifice we would not be enjoying our time here tonight. Could everyone please raise a toast to the rowing team, to their hard work and to their sacrifice—to the rowers!

Podium on 9 April 2024
Rosebowl Rowing Champions
Rawson Rowing Cup
The 2024 Rowing Team

The Rawson soccer campaign was successful for the 6th year in a row, securing the repeat 3-peat. Reliable as always, the team was strong across the board, however there were 2 moments in particular that defined the campaign:

  • We were playing Wesley on our home turf. They’ve gone up 1-0 late in the second half and things are looking dire. Little did Wesley realise, St Paul’s had just flown Matthew “The Magician” Leijer back from France on a 22 hour flight that morning. Enter Matty Leijer, a header in the dying minutes of the game to secure a 1-1 draw which proved crucial for winning the soccer and as a result, the Rawson Cup,
  • The soccer campaign had a second highlight. Paul’s needed to win the final against ‘Drew’s, not just draw, to secure the Rawson Soccer victory. Had we drawn, we would not be having our dinner tonight. We were up 2-1, it was back and forth and could have gone either way, but big game players step up in the big games. Nick Efstat put Paul’s on his shoulders late second half, teammates were screaming at him to pass, he beat 2 defenders, struck from the edge of the box and put home what was the defining goal of the match which we ended up winning 3-2.

In Nick Efstat’s own words: “I got the ball, touch backwards, … spun around, beat two men, beat one man beat another, Sam Andrews was … yellin at me to pass it, … saw the goal and took my shot, nailed it”. Thank you Nick for your enlightening take on what was another crucial moment that defined our Rawson campaign. I would like to raise a toast to our Rawson Soccer Champions and their repeat 3-peat—to the soccer team!

The basketball campaign followed, and I think we all know where this is going. Game 2, Paul’s down by 1 with 8 seconds on the clock and Hugh Jordan pulls the trigger. 3 in the bag, thanks for coming, Paul’s win 53-51 over John’s. Again, I would like to emphasise that if a single moment of the campaign had not gone the way it did, we would not be here tonight. A little more or a little less on the shot and we wouldn’t be Rawson Cup champions. I know there was a lot of hard work that went on behind the scenes from our basketball team. I would like to thank them all, however on this occasion the toast goes to the game winner himself. I would like to propose a toast to Hugh Jordan—To Hugh Jordan!

This takes us to athletics. The equation is simple, Paul’s must beat Andrew’s to clinch the Rawson cup. ‘Drew’s have an Olympian who just competed at the Paris Olympics and made the triple jump final, coming 12th in the world. 12th out of 8.2 billion people isn’t bad, and the competition doesn’t get much easier. ‘Drew’s have a state runner and two elite sprinters. On paper a stacked roster. The only thing they were missing was a team. Across the board Paul’s stuck in the fight, scraping out 1sts, 2nds and 3rds where we shouldn’t have even been allowed to come close. Finally, we get to the last event of the day, the 4x400m relay. The ‘Drew’s state runner is running the final leg for their relay, but Gus Gregg had just pushed him to his limits in the 5km immediately beforehand. The ‘Drews state runner was knackered and had nothing left. Tom Collins, Jesse Cochrane and Nick Efstat laid the foundations of our 4x400m relay race and put us in a close 2nd place. They gave the baton on to Gabe Scott and he put the College on his shoulders. Coming into the final 100m, the ‘Drew’s state runner was gassed, the 5km against Gus Gregg taking its toll at the critical moment. Gabe took the lead and the race for Paul’s, securing the athletics victory and bringing home the Rawson Cup. I would like to propose a toast to the entire athletics team and their underdog win—to the athletics team!

And that brings us to tonight, we are here because of all the countless hours that have been laid down by our Rawson athletes in the pursuit of victory. The Paul’s Rawson campaign this year exemplified dedication and commitment, and cemented the old adage: “hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard”.

I would like to finish by raising a toast to the entire Rawson team, and the entire College. We are all now Rawson Cup champions—to St Paul’s!

Ed Taylor

Students Club Election Results

Posted on by Richard Morgan

The Undergraduate community has chosen its Students Club executive and committee for 2025. Congratulations to the newly elected:

  • Senior Student: Matilda Walker
  • Honorary Secretary: Jack Dawson
  • Honorary Treasurer: Gus Gregg
  • Committee Members: Kate Brenner; Will Cox; Jack Rowe; Harry Scambler and Ollie Webster.

The committee-elect begin their roles in the New Year with a retreat to coalesce as a team and to work with the Warden, Dean and residential life staff to formulate plans and goals for the year ahead.

Readers will notice our Senior Student[1] for 2025 is Tilly Walker and we offer her particular congratulations being the first woman to hold this most significant role at St Paul’s. Congratulations on this electoral result. We all wish Tilly and her committee the very best for next year.

The College community acknowledges the work of the incumbent committee under Senior Student Ed Taylor and thanks them for their untiring support for the College, Intercol, and the work they have done and are still doing for the benefit of every member of the St Pau’s community.   

2024 Senior Student – Ed Taylor; Hon Secretary – Alex Robinson; Hon Treasurer – Mitchell Arcus; Rawson Rep – Banjo Cole; Palladian Rep – Nick Stack; and House Committee – Natalie McRory.

[1] In July 1928 the St Paul’s College Students Club was formed under its first constitution and in so doing elected the Senior Student and committee. Prior to this the senior student was the resident who had been longest on the books of the College.  [see Alan Atkinson, Hearts and Minds, 2017 p 246]