MAGNOLIA MAGAZINE / GENERATIONS
9
PASSING ON THE TORCH
Charne Hamer (STC1965), Brooke Copland (Hickman, STC1994) and Stella C (Year 8) have carried the St Cath’s spirit over three generations.
In the early 1950s, a Sydney builder took a job at a school overlooking the water in Waverley. What was meant to be a couple of months’ work ended up reshaping the future of his entire family. He fell in love with the school and quickly enrolled his daughter
“I felt very nervous that everyone would have forged new friendships and moved on,” Brooke said, “but I remember coming in and seeing a lot of familiar faces. They welcomed me back, and I knew it was all going to be OK very quickly.” Brooke has remained close friends with many of those girls who welcomed her back. “I still compete every Saturday swimming with one of the girls I swam with at school. It’s been 40 years,” she explained, adding that she feels incredibly lucky to still have her school friends in her life. These lifelong friendships are part of the reason Brooke decided to send her own daughter Stella to school at St Catherine’s in 2023. Incredibly, Stella and Brooke actually shared the same art teacher, Mrs Israel, despite attending the school nearly 30 years apart. As Brooke said: “My old classrooms have become Stella’s new classrooms. She’s making new friendships in the same places that I did. Stella is now writing her own St Catherine’s story.”
Charne in the Kindergarten class. She remembers her time at St Catherine’s as being full of joy. “Each year, I was more grateful that I had the opportunity to come to school here because I realised how special it was,” Charne said. When Charne grew up and had a daughter of her own, Brooke, there was no question where she was going to school. Charne recalls feeling nervous about bringing young Brooke into school for an entrance interview with Miss Faith Patterson, Headmistress. “The problem was that she was the same headmistress I had at school. I had sat in that office a few times as a student,” Charne said, “but Brooke was accepted to the school so everything must have been OK.” Brooke attended St Catherine’s for a short time before the family relocated to Queensland. But in Brooke’s final years of schooling, they returned to life at St Catherine’s.
SCAN FOR THEIR STORY Want to hear more of this wonderful family story? Scan to watch the interview.
1965
In 1965, St Catherine’s students enjoyed many of the activities that still happen today. Barker had a successful year winning Clubs and Choirs, the Athletics Carnival and Physical Culture (PC), while Bronte won the Swimming Carnival. A special event took place on Saturday 25 September when the school welcomed alumni and acclaimed soprano, Dame Joan Sutherland OM, AC, DBE (STC1943), to a garden party held in her honour.
PART OF HER STORY
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software