Welcome to the December edition of Lion.
Looking towards our 160th anniversary next year, we spotlight a Wesley family whose own story is intertwined with the story of our school. Five generations of the Hartnett family have attended Wesley College, starting with 12-year-old William Parker Little, who was Pupil Number 38 in 1866. We thank John Hartnett (OW1959) for providing us with much of the information on which the feature is based.
Our cover story investigates the remarkable strength of Wesley Cross Country in the APS competition since 2012. Our girls’ team won the premiership for a startling 11 years in a row from 2012 to 2023, and this past winter season, our boys won the competition for the ninth consecutive year. We spoke with Head Coach of Athletics and Cross Country, Tim O’Shaughnessy and past and current team captains to uncover the secrets of their unparalleled success. A key one was Tim’s ‘small steps’ approach. To Wolfgang Cotra Nemesi (OW2023), that meant ‘stacking days and weeks of training over years to improve; to chisel away at the marble statue of yourself.’ Sometimes good things take time...
Another wonderful example of that sits behind our story 'The Mayo College Exchange'. In the late 1990s, a firm friendship formed between an Australian and an Indian - Peter Rosenberg (OW1963) and a revered teacher, Raghu Raj Singh. The two men often passionately discussed forging closer ties between Australia and India and long envisioned setting up an exchange program for students and teachers between Wesley and Mayo College, often called the ‘Eton of the East’ in Rajasthan state, India.
Knowing these things develop slowly, Raghu suggested they start with reciprocal cricket tours between Old Wesley and Old Mayo teams, beginning with great success in early 2019. This year marks the long-awaited flowering of that partnership, with the start of the student exchange program. Our story offers a look-in on a life-changing experience for our Year 10 students Audrey, Harry, Ekam and Max.
My predecessor as Lion editor, Dawson Hann, knows about things developing slowly. Over the past 25 years, he has drawn on his well-lived Wesley life and his frequent travels to inform the ‘writing of a poem now and then’. The result is the publication of his first poetry collection, Bottled Oddities: The Collected Poems of Dawson Hann by London publishers Austen Macauley. Lyrical, insightful, funny and profound, his poetry is deeply affecting. You’ll find our review of the collection here.
Sometimes good things take time. In a world that foregrounds instant gratification and an instant response, it’s easy to lose sight of that, isn’t it?
Wishing everyone in our community a warm and wonderful festive season.
Paul Munn, Lion Editor and Features Writer
