1940s
1950s
1960s
What they ' re doing now – compiled by Mr David Ashton
LEFT TO RIGHT: LACHLAN SHACKLETON-FERGUS, ROWAN REID( CREDIT: CORMACK PHOTOGRAPHY), JOHN DE RAVIN, MATTHEW REES, RICHARD ASHTON, ADAM KORNAUSER
1940s
RUPERT BAXTER(‘ 42) and his wife Enid, now living at Buderim in Queensland, celebrated their 70th, or platinum, wedding anniversary on 22 November. They were married in the Littlejohn Memorial Chapel at Scotch, by the Rev. Alec Fraser, on 22 November 1947.‘ We remember a cool, blustery day with a little rain, all those years ago,’ Enid wrote to Great Scot. She said the couple has returned to the Chapel on a couple of occasions, and once visited Scotch to see Rupert’ s name on a paver in Old Scotch Square.‘ Rupert’ s family comes from Nagambie in Victoria, and his grandparents settled on land near the Goulburn River, over 100 years ago,’ Enid wrote.
IAN SUTHERLAND(’ 48) who before retirement was Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Engineering( chief engineer in the RAAF) was invited recently to a senior officers’ symposium at Amberley, Queensland.‘ I was most impressed with the range of very modern equipment held by the current RAAF, and by the enthusiasm they show for the role of air power in the modern day Australian Defence Force,’ he said. Ian received an Officer of the Order of Australia award( AO) in 1984, for service to the RAAF.
Ian’ s wife, Mary, is now in residential care, and to gain a better understanding of Alzheimer’ s disease, Ian attended an international dementia conference, and he is also taking subjects in the University of Tasmania’ s Bachelor of Dementia Care. Ian is a proud grandparent of a budding commercial law barrister named Manu Jaireth, who lives in Sydney. Ian is also involved with a Calder Action Group, trying to upgrade parts of the Calder Freeway, and is a member of a friends group supporting his local cemetery in Sunbury.
1950s
At Mooloolaba, Queensland, TERRY WAITES(‘ 52) is enjoying a very busy life in retirement, and the company of his grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, while continuing his lifetime interest in competition pistol and rifle shooting. Terry stepped straight from Scotch into a Collingwood premiership team in 1953, a feat repeated in 2008 by CYRIL RIOLI(‘ 07), playing in a Hawthorn premiership team in his first year after leaving school.
Terry and his wife Dawn have long been interested in travelling around Australia, dating from a round-Australia camping trip in 1960 which kindled a lifetime desire to see Australia rather than visit places overseas. They retired to Mooloolaba in 1985, and now enjoy motor-homing and four-wheel drive touring.‘ I do not follow AFL football these days with the same interest as when I was living in Victoria,’ Terry told Great Scot,‘ but I’ m occasionally in touch with Collingwood.’
For the last seven years before he retired from BHP in 1998, ALAIN PURNELL(’ 53) headed the company’ s corporate environment department as General Manager, Environmental Affairs, in which he addressed BHP’ s environmental challenges worldwide, and introduced the company to the then-new concept of sustainability. In this role he was on the board of Landcare Australia Ltd, as BHP was the first corporate sponsor of that organisation. Following his retirement to Lorne, Alain served on the Surf Coast Shire’ s Environment Advisory Committee, and the boards of the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority and the Western Coastal Board, in each case dealing with environmental challenges.
He co-founded a conservation group in Lorne and also convenes a Community Fireguard Group and chairs a Committee for Lorne working group that aims to help the local community to be better prepared for bushfires and other emergencies. Alain contributed this item for‘ What they’ re
doing now’ in support of Scotch’ s environmental management program.
1960s
‘ Supreme Traditional Marmalade Maker in the World’ – that accolade has gone to LACHLAN SHACKLETON-FERGUS(‘ 64), whose marmalades have won five gold medals over the years at the World’ s Original Marmalade Awards and Festival, held this year in Cumbria in England’ s north-west. At the 2017 festival, his grapefruit marmalade with honey picked up the supreme Double Gold award, entitling Lachlan to be called the‘ Supreme Traditional Marmalade Maker in the World’. Lachlan and his wife Julia travelled to the UK to receive the award, and Lachlan was also asked to be a judge at the UK / Australian Marmalashes Competition, a marmalade-making competition between England and Australian contestants, which was also held in Cumbria.
Making jams and preserves is a Shackleton family tradition, dating from the eighteenth century. As well as excelling in marmalade, Lachlan works as a business development consultant helping overseas companies find partners in Australia, and he is Senior Vice President for Australasia of a major German defence company.
RICHARD ASHTON(‘ 67) currently works part-time in the Bursar’ s office at Melbourne Girls’ Grammar( MGGS), and he also volunteers one day a week at Elwood Primary School as a class assistant. After leaving Scotch, Richard’ s first employment was as a scrip clerk in a sharebroker’ s office, and he later worked for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and then the Country Roads Board. From 1987 Richard was Assistant Bursar at Strathcona Baptist Girls’ Grammar School, and in 1999 he was appointed Assistant Bursar at MGGS. He has
www. scotch. vic. edu. au Great Scot 91