Chevalier Day 2020 at Daramalan College
On Wednesday 21 October Daramalan College celebrated Chevalier Day with a small number of special visitors to mark the occasion. These included Fr Chris McPhee, Fr Jim Littleton, Fr Bob Irwin, Br Barry Smith, Alison McKenzie and Mark McGinnity. The College Chaplain, Fr Kimi Vunivesilevu, also attended for much of the day including working on one of the food stalls at lunchtime.
The day started with an online Liturgy of the Word which was led by the 2020 student leaders. Fr Chris McPhee spoke to the students about the idea of focussing on one positive thing in these challenging times. He also spoke of the importance of love and of not letting negative things in the world distract us from the one thing that really matters.
Fr Chris and Mark McGinnity then spent some time in a meeting with the 2020 and 2021 student leaders listening to the students speak about how this year has been for them and their plans for next year. The students spoke openly about some of the challenges they have faced and they recognised that from these challenges they have had opportunities to make changes to their traditional roles and responsibilities. They have valued their ability to look for other ways of doing things and recognised that they have developed the skills to be adaptable and innovative. They also spoke of how they have learned to appreciate much more the routine things they had taken for granted previously having experienced being in lockdown earlier in the year. Since returning to school they have become very confident in doing a range of online events from assemblies to fundraising and the 2021 student leaders said that they are keen to connect online with student leaders in the other three MSC schools in the future.
Following morning tea with the staff, Fr Chris blessed and dedicated the renovated McMahon courtyard and the plaques for this space were unveiled. The courtyard is dedicated to all Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who have lived and worked at Daramalan College from 1962-2019. Principal Rita Daniels spoke to the assembled students briefly about the history of the courtyard and why we wanted to dedicate it to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. She also informed the school during that day that the new building planned for the site of the former MSC Residence will be called the Issoudun Wing. This building will be a Performing Arts Centre for Drama and Music. It is hoped that it will be completed in 2022, the 60th anniversary of Daramalan College.
Excerpt from the blessing and dedication of the McMahon courtyard:
This courtyard, which was renovated in 2019-2020, is part of the original structure of the school and it was named after the founding Headmaster of Daramalan College, Fr John F McMahon MSC.
It was not originally called the McMahon courtyard. From the time when the school was boys only and even after co-education was introduced into the High School in 1996, it was known as the Year 10 quad as only Year 10s were allowed to spend recess and lunch in this space. In the 1970s and 1980s it was also the place where boys in Years 7-10 used to line up for an assembly and roll marking every morning – rain, hail or sunshine - and there was a podium against the McMahon Wing wall where the staff running the assembly used to speak from. In old College Yearbooks there are some interesting photos from those times.
Several years ago we opened up all the courtyards, except the Littleton courtyard, to all High School students and this was named the McMahon courtyard.
Fr McMahon who I mentioned as the first Headmaster was followed by four other Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priests who were Headmasters or Principals of the College including Fr Jim Littleton and Fr Bob Irwin who are both here today. I had the privilege of working with these men when I was a young teacher at Daramalan and they are both giants in the history of our College.
When Daramalan College first opened there were large numbers of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priests and brothers living in the Residence – part of what students know as Naughton Wing. There have been many Missionaries of the Sacred Heart priests and brothers who have lived and worked at Daramalan College since it opened in 1962 – I could not tell you the actual number but it would be possibly two hundred.
At the end of 2019, the last members of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart congregation to move out of the Residence were Fr Jim, Fr Harold Baker and Br John Walker. Br Barry Smith, who is well known to the older students here and to the staff, may recall that he left Daramalan in June 2018.
When the courtyard was being renovated we thought that it would be a fitting tribute to dedicate this courtyard to all the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who have lived and worked at Daramalan. Many of these men worked in the school as teachers and administrators, some worked as assistants, others worked in the Residence looking after their fellow Brothers and Priests and some worked in external occupations while residing at the MSC Residence.
The MSCs always warmly welcomed people into their home – they showed outstanding hospitality in this way. Mass was often celebrated for staff in their Chapel especially after the school’s former chapel was closed to make way for other needs. When the numbers of MSCs living in the Residence declined, they kindly allowed the school to make use of some of the space which became the Naughton Wing classrooms. Later again they enabled part of their backyard area to be used for staff parking. There was always a great generosity of spirit shown by them and wonderful support for the school and its activities.
So today, in the presence of the Provincial of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Fr Chris McPhee MSC along with Fr Jim who lived for well over 20 years of his life at Daramalan, Fr Bob Irwin who was Headmaster here for 6 years and Br Barry who lived here for well over 20 years also, as well as Mr Mark McGinnity who is Director of MSC Education and Ms Alison McKenzie who is the Director of the Chevalier Institute, we dedicate this space in honour of all Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who have been associated with Daramalan College. Part of the plaque which will be blessed today reads:
“The McMahon courtyard, which was upgraded in 2020, is dedicated to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who lived and worked at Daramalan College from 1962 until 2019.
While they no longer reside at the College, their vision and spirit will remain strong in our community.”
