From The Archives - OGA eNews Issue 1 2024

Thanks to Wendy Johnston and Pru Reed from our amazing Marketing team, the “Notables” page is a great read. But for our Archive Centre, it has led to some very significant donations from total strangers with no connections to our school.

In August, we received a phone call from someone in Melbourne who had found a book with the St Margaret’s book plate on the inside cover. It piqued the man’s interest to google where St Margaret’s Albion Heights was and then he went on to our website and discovered that the book belonged to one of our notables. That notable was our school captain in 1929 – Patricia Bell. He also came across more books with the school’s book plate and we were able to organise for the items to be sent to us – what a find!!

Just before the school closed for Christmas, we received an email from someone in Sydney enquiring about a possible donation. As I was in Sydney over Christmas and New Year, I arranged to meet this gentleman.

Did you know that Old Girl Daphne Mayo, an internationally renowned sculptress, was commissioned to create one set of the doors for the Mitchell Library in Sydney? This gentleman had purchased one of her practice bas reliefs, upon which she modelled her door work. He and his wife were downsizing their apartment and were looking to see where it could go. He had researched Daphne and discovered that she had attended St Margaret’s. He then went on to our website and accessed the notables page and made his decision that the bas relief needed to come home to St Margaret’s. This bas relief dates from 1940 and is culturally, historically, and archivally significant.

If you feel there are St Margaret’s Old Girls who should be considered for inclusion on this notables page, please contact me via msurtees@stmargarets.qld.edu.au.

Per Volar Sunata

Mary Surtees