今日吃瓜

Pippa Williams

Pippa Williams (1994)鈥grew up in Scarborough and, after primary schooling at St John鈥檚, came to Newman in 1990 for Years 8 and 9 at Newman Siena in Doubleview, and then for Years 10 to 12 at 今日吃瓜, Churchlands.鈥 

Pippa, who was followed by her younger sister鈥Mia Fox (Williams 1997), loved her time at Newman. She bonded with an incredibly strong group of friends and they are still her closest friends today, 30 years later. 

After school Pippa studied Physical and Health Education at UWA and, in her third year, completed a prac placement at the WA Police Academy in the Physical Training Department. At the time she had an inkling that being a PE teacher wasn鈥檛 perhaps the right fit, and liked what she saw at the Police Academy. Pippa finished her degree and then went to the USA where she worked at a summer camp and travelled for three months. On her return, aged 21, she joined the WA Police Force. 

Pippa spent four years with the Police, but a conversation with鈥Anna Wood (Georgiades 1994), one of her friends from school, changed the course of her life. At the time Anna worked for the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA), now the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) in Communications and Recruitment. She suggested that Pippa should have a go at applying for the Fire and Rescue Service as she thought she would really like it. 

Pippa applied, but didn鈥檛 get in on her first try. The desire to become a firefighter took hold however, and on her second attempt in 2003, aged 25, she was successful and part of Trainee Firefighter School 53. 

After graduating Pippa went to Perth Fire Station as a reliever, where she had the opportunity to work at many stations and with many crews across the metro area. After three years Pippa attained a position at Duncraig Fire Station where she worked for 14 years gaining experience in all operational aspects of the job including bushfire fighting, structural firefighting, rescue and HAZMAT. 

Pippa has also completed鈥痜our secondments to the Communications Centre where she answered 000 calls, dispatched jobs to crews and communicated with crews at incidents as a radio operator. Over the past five years Pippa has developed a keen interest in training, and has spent time at the Academy instructing trainee firefighters in Breathing Apparatus and Internal Structural Firefighting. She has travelled throughout the state in her role including to Christmas Island to train volunteer firefighters in Breathing Apparatus, and leading a Taskforce in Exmouth for the Total Solar Eclipse. 

After deciding to take the next step in her career progression, Pippa applied for and successfully completed the selection process for Station Officer training. After completing the course throughout 2020 she was promoted to the rank of Station Officer in November that year. Today she is one of three Station Officers at Daglish Fire Station on A Platoon, covering the Western Suburbs from Subiaco to the coast.鈥 

With over 21 years of service Pippa still loves her career as much as when she first started. She enjoys knowing that the work she and her crew do is meaningful, and is helping to make our community a safer place. She also loves the camaraderie amongst her workmates and the opportunity her career has provided for the perfect work-life balance for raising her family (operating on two 10-hour days followed by two 14-hours nights, then four days off).鈥 

As a Station Officer she enjoys the station management side of her role but also loves attending operational incidents, leading a crew. Whilst the work can often be under high pressure conditions, responding to critical incidents where members of the community are potentially having a very bad day, Pippa has found immense personal and professional growth in her role, dealing with the unexpected challenges and the opportunities to learn from every incident, every day. 

We hope to have Pippa at a future Careers鈥 Breakfast to inspire our Year 12s to consider a career in the Fire and Rescue Service after they have gained some life experience in the years after leaving school. 

Pippa鈥檚 partner is鈥Shane Chester (1994)鈥and they have three sons who have all come to Newman since kindergarten:鈥Jaxon (2023), Luca (Year 11)鈥补苍诲鈥Griffin (Year 8). Pippa and Shane chose Newman for their boys to have the same fantastic schooling experience they both had.聽

We weren鈥檛 surprised Pippa was one of the organisers of the鈥1994 Reunion鈥in October and had a great time catching up with everyone! 

Danny Green

Danny Green (1990)鈥痠s the youngest of four siblings, including鈥Narelle (1984),Sharni (1986),鈥补苍诲鈥Brendan Green (1988).鈥聽Danny鈥檚 father Mal, who he considers an 鈥榓bsolute legend鈥, taught Danny the values he learnt growing up in the bush, and fighting his way out of really tough times. He was firm, fair, and raised his boys to never pick a fight or throw the first punch.鈥

Many will remember Mal, as he coached with the Marist Junior Football Club (MJFC) for 50-odd years, coaching AFL players like鈥‘Spider’ Burton (1987),鈥Quenton Leach (1989),听Matt Connell (1989; current Mathematics and HPE Teacher)鈥as well as Danny and his brother Brendan, who was a 1993 West Coast Eagles draft who played for Claremont before going to work with Danny.鈥

Growing up, Danny loved surfing and ping-pong – but really wanted to be a boxer. To that end, Mal suggested Danny go into martial arts when he was about 12, around the time he came to Newman.聽

After finishing Year 11 in 1989, Danny entered into a carpentry apprenticeship, believing it was important to always have something to fall back on. After completing that, he was laser-focused on boxing.聽

In 1993, aged 20, he competed in his first amateur match and subsequently began to win title after title. In 1998, he won a scholarship to the Australian Institute of Sport and a bronze medal at the Liverpool International Boxing Tournament. He was selected for both 鈥痶he 1998 Commonwealth Games and the 2000 Summer Olympics, and remains immensely proud to have represented his country.聽

In 2001 Danny moved to Sydney and turned professional, training under three-time world champion Jeff Fenech. Over the next 17 years he fought 38 times, winning 33 and losing five. His first loss in his professional career was not until his 17th fight against Markus Beyer in Germany in 2003. He lost to him again in his 21st match in 2005. 

Danny’s third loss was to Anthony Mundine in his 24th fight in Sydney, in 2006. At the time, the two were engaged in an ongoing feud, resulting in their fight being the most-watched pay TV event in Australian history. They went the full 12 rounds. Mundine won but, as difficult as it was to accept, Danny acknowledges Mundine was the better fighter on the night. 

In 2006, director Mick Angus produced 鈥楾he Fight Game鈥, a documentary about the early part of Danny鈥檚 boxing career, which Danny followed up with 鈥楥losed Fists Open Heart鈥, his biography published in 2008. That year he also retired from boxing and appeared in Season 8 of Dancing with the Stars. He was very light on his feet and he and his partner, Natalie Lowe, came second overall. 

In April 2009 he came out of boxing retirement for eight years. He won all his fights except for two in 2011. His last was in Adelaide in February 2017, when he finally beat Anthony Mundine and retained the Australian cruiserweight title.鈥 

Danny has broken many boxing records in his time, won many titles all over the world, and is the only Australian to win the World Championship four times. 

In 2002 Danny married Nina, and they are tremendously proud of their two children, Chloe and Archie. 

He still loves surfing and is often at the beach, for which at least one man is particularly grateful. In October 2006, Danny was out in some massive waves at Yallingup when he spotted someone being dragged out to sea in a rip. Danny grabbed him and paddled him safely back to shore, his actions that day resulting in him later being awarded a Commendation for Bravery. 

In 2009 he was part of the Sydney to Hobart team on supermaxi yacht Investec Loyal. Danny recalls the first night was horrendous! At one point he nearly fell off and thought for sure he was going to die.鈥 

鈥淕ive me a fight any day,鈥鈥痟e says, 
鈥淚 thought I was tough, but those ocean racing sailors really are!鈥 

In early 2013 Danny heard how young Daniel Christie (18), had been king hit in Sydney, on New Year鈥檚 Eve 2012. The punch knocked him unconscious, and he fell and cracked his head. His grieving family had no choice but to turn off his life support system 11 days later.鈥 

Daniel鈥檚 story touched Danny deeply. Despising street violence, his disgust led him to launch the ‘Stop the Coward Punch鈥 campaign, which changed how coward punches are now reported and perceived. It has had an effect on lowering the number of attacks overall, but it breaks Danny’s heart to hear of one, saying people need to learn the difference between being tough, and just being a thug. The campaign,鈥痵till going strong, and his anti-violence advocacy led to him being nominated as WA Australian of the Year in 2017.鈥 

In 2014 Danny launched an online health and fitness program to offer everyday people the chance to embrace a healthier lifestyle. Working with him were the country鈥檚 top sports and exercise specialists, dietitians and nutritionists. Later that year, with Tim West, he launched a new kind of boxing gym, called 12RND which, as implied, has 12 stages/rounds, each of which takes just three minutes to complete. This revolutionary method means people are no longer bound to session times, and can do their rounds when it suits them. 

The idea has since spread all over the world, with 90 sites around Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, with an estimated 15,000 members. In 2020 the franchise united under one brand – UBX (You Box), which is now rolling out across the US, UK and Ireland, making UBX the largest provider of boxing for fitness in the world.鈥 

While Danny inspires everywhere he goes, with his energy, enthusiasm, and giant heart, he continues to inspire at 今日吃瓜 too, where he is featured on one of five Alumni Inspiration Walls, in company with鈥Prof Barry Marshall AC (1968),鈥Dr Rosanna Capolingua AM (1976),鈥David McAllister AC (1980)鈥共曰邂Daniel Ricciardo AM (2006). Danny鈥檚 feature is at the entrance to the Weights Room in the Frank Ehlers Swimming Pool rooms where, every day, his words encourage students to pursue their dreams, no matter how wild. Danny’s still busy, pursuing his! 

Dale Neill

鈥業f you鈥檙e short on talent, make up for it with tenacity.鈥  

Born Anzac Day 1944 Dale Neill (1961) spent his formative years at St Brigid鈥檚 in West Perth and Our Lady of Victories in Cambridge Street, Wembley and, on 7 February 1954, he was among the founding cohort of St Joseph鈥檚 Marist Brothers in Salvado Road, Subiaco.  

At 13 Dale had a brief but serious flirtation with the notion of becoming a Marist Brother. An even briefer flirtation with a Brigidine Convent girl in the back row of the Piccadilly Theatre put paid to that idea! 

Dale鈥檚 favourite subject at St Joseph鈥檚 was Physics with Br Ernest, particularly the study of light and lenses and, in the 1959-1960 holidays, Dale started a serious 鈥榮ummer romance鈥 with photography. While Dale鈥檚 mates were swimming and surfing, Dale sweated and sweltered, spray painting caravanettes for seven weeks at 拢3-10-00 ($7 today) a week. With his hard-earned pay he bought a Hanimex C35 rangefinder camera for 拢24, and started shooting on film. Incredibly, he still has all those negatives today.  

After leaving school Dale went for a job as cadet photographer with The West Australian, but the jobs were eliminated due to budget cuts, so he and everybody else who鈥檇 applied missed out.  

After two years studying at Graylands Teachers鈥 College Dale was posted to remote Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley, starting in Halls Creek.  

It was there in August 1964, in Australia鈥檚 most remote area, in the desert halfway between Halls Creek and Alice Springs, Dale used up one of his nine lives. He set off with three other young male teachers from Balgo Mission. On their return from Alice Springs across the Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts, their Holden EJ station wagon bogged and jammed in second gear, 60 miles east of the Northern Territory border. Three inches of unseasonal rain then caused a lake to rise, for as far as the eye could see, around their car.  

Dale and his three teaching mates knew this was it. There was no panic; just no way out. Resigned, they stayed with the car and wrote last letters home to their mums. Three days later a geo-survey group in 4WDs happened to pass by. With one seat spare, they left food for the others and took Dale with them to Balgo to raise the alarm.  

Back in Perth Dale read the ad for a lecturer in Photography at TAFE. A panel of five professional photographers grilled him unmercifully for 20 minutes before the chairperson summed up the interview, saying 

鈥楳r Neill, you shouldn鈥檛 be lecturing this course, you should be doing it鈥.  

So, Dale enrolled in the TAFE photography course. He flourished, achieving straight 鈥楢鈥檚. Two years later Dale applied for the lecturing job again, and got it. He had found his niche. He taught photography, trained new TAFE teachers, set up TAFE鈥檚 first TV station and Audio-Conferencing Centre, and progressed to be an Associate Director. He never regarded it as work for it was fun. He had fun every day.  

Then, at 53, Dale was redundant because he was 鈥榯oo old鈥.  

After a brief emotional wave receded, he took stock, and set up three small businesses. FACEZ studio in East Fremantle, teaching at UWA, and WILDHEART Tours. He estimates it cost him in income, but rewarded him in quality of life by 200%. 

Twice or three times a year for the next 20 years, Dale led photography tours around the world.  

On 26 December 2004, an undersea earthquake with a magnitude of 9.1 struck off the coast of Indonesia. A few days later Dale joined a group of seven Perth volunteers to rescue newly-orphaned children on the east coast of India, where 15,000 lives had been lost.  

Dale鈥檚 job was to photograph the rescue of orphans from four villages and their relocation to Hebron orphanage. It was the early days of digital photography, and Dale dutifully burnt all images to CD. On return to Australia he felt utterly sick when he discovered he had a faulty batch of CDs and no images. He called his videographer who also backed up, and saved the cause. Those images, and the video, raised enough money to buy new land on which to build a new orphanage. Dale鈥檚 images also won him the WA Professional Photographer of the Year Award in 2005.  

Dale鈥檚 next best love was cycling. He cycled anywhere and everywhere, raced professionally for ten years and toured for 40, much of it on a tandem with his wife Margaret. They鈥檝e pedalled through France, Germany, the British Isles and Indonesia, as well as numerous trips through Kalgoorlie and Tasmania. He loved cycling so much that, in 1974, he co-founded the Cycle Touring Association of WA which is still active today.  

Another love is flying and, in 1992, he qualified as a private pilot. Besides local 鈥榦verseas鈥 flights to Rottnest, he flew up the Murrumbidgee in the ACT and down the Rhone in France.  

Of the hundreds of thousands of images Dale has taken over the years (including around 60 wonderful images of his friends, classmates, events and buildings from his time at St Joseph鈥檚 and beyond, which he kindly donated to our Archives in 2021) is 鈥The Wounded Princess鈥, one of his favourites, of a troubled, young Fremantle girl, whose life changed dramatically for the better after Dale took her portrait. The band The Zimmer鈥檚 Apprentices wrote a song of the same name in 2021 (available on Spotify and YouTube).  

As Dale reflects on his life, he realises success is not measured by traditional metrics like money or fame, but by the joy he feels every single day. Part of that joy is in coming along to our annual Year 12 Career Breakfasts where he inspires our youngest, soon-to-be alumni with his amazing accomplishments and his life鈥檚 motto:  
“If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right.” 

To that end Dale, who turned 80 this year, and his wife Margaret took a trip up to the Kimberley in May. They went by bus up to Broome, glamped at Cygnet Bay, sailed through the Buccaneer Archipelago, and visited the Horizontal Falls, enjoying 鈥渢he most exciting two weeks an 80 year old can have!鈥 

Alessandro 鈥楢lec鈥 Epis

Raised in the dusty streets of Boulder and educated at St Ildephonsus College in New Norcia, Alec Epis carved out an extraordinary path鈥攆rom homesick schoolboy to VFL legend with Essendon. Along the way, he picked up a memorable nickname, found joy in vineyards, and never forgot the school footy jumper he longed to wear.

Primary Update – Term 1 Week 10

Here we are at the end of Term 1! What a fantastic term it has been, full of exciting learning opportunities across the Primary! Our students (and staff) have worked extremely hard this term and everyone is ready for a well-deserved holiday break to rest and recuperate!

Easter Liturgies

This morning, we held Easter Liturgies at both Primary campuses. Both of these were joyful and reverent occasions, reminding us as a 今日吃瓜 community of the true meaning of Easter. Special thanks to our Year 2 students and teachers for organising the Marian Liturgy, which saw all of our Marian students participating.

Easter Raffles

A huge thanks to all families who purchased tickets and also donated eggs for our Primary Easter Raffle. We have raised a great deal of money for Caritas Project Compassion 鈥 a truly worthy cause. Your donations will make a huge difference in the live of many people in need around the world. Many students will be coming home today as winners of the raffle 鈥 enjoy all of that chocolate! You can find out more about Project Compassion by visiting .

Assembly

Last Friday 2 Red shared their wonderful Term 1 learning with us. 2 Red started their assembly by signing the beautiful song My Lighthouse reminding us that Jesus is always there for us, ready to listen to us and help guide us in the right direction. 2 Red then took us on a journey around the world 鈥 teaching us all about the Continents, sharing wonderful facts, jokes and songs along the way! Thank you 2 Red for helping us to learn about our amazing world and inspiring us to travel!

Newman Norms / Medals of Marcellin

Each fortnight at each Primary campus, one person will be drawn out of the raffle and receive a small prize for living out our Newman Norms. Congratulations to Mateo, Shubh and Noah (Week 8 Lavalla) and Heath (Week 9 Marian) who were our recent winners! Each raffle ticket received is swapped for a token and the Guild with the highest number of tokens at the end of the term wins a prize for the whole Guild!

As advised earlier this week – the winning guilds for Term 1 2025 were as below:

The tokens now reset, with a fresh start for Term 2 Medals of Marcellin!

Mother鈥檚 Day

We invite all Mothers and Mother figures to join us for our upcoming Mother鈥檚 Day celebrations. Please see the flyer below for more information about these events, which are occurring early next term. RSVP form can be found

The Fathering Project

In exciting news, the College is looking to expand the Fathering Project into the Lavalla and Marcellin Campuses this year! Over the past couple of years the Fathering Project has run events with Marian fathers and children, which have been hugely successful.

Matt Hamilton, who is a Year 3 and Pre-Primary parent, has coordinated these events with a small group of dad helpers over the past couple of years and we are now looking to expand this group as we open this up to all of the Primary dads.

As such, we are looking for dads who are willing to get involved in helping to organise and run future events, particularly dads of students in Years 4, 5 & 6 (but also welcome dads of any year levels).

If you are interested in helping out, please contact Matt Hamilton directly: matt@wildchiropractic.com.au

Primary Staffing

Nikki Cresp (currently on leave this term) will step into our Primary Library teacher role in Terms 2-4 this year. Having worked across both Primary campuses, Nikki knows the students and will be a wonderful addition to the Library team.

Hannah Barnsley joins us as our Sport Teacher, taking over from Mrs Richards for this year. Hannah is an experienced teacher who has taught across PK-12 in Physical Education, Special Education and Learning Support in her career.

URSTRONG                                                       

A reminder that parents continue to have access to a . We hope that as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

Long Service Leave

As you will be aware from Andrew Watson鈥檚 email to parents earlier this term, I will be taking Long Service Leave across Terms 2 and 3 to travel around the world. The plans for the coming together of the Primary Campuses are well and truly in-hand and I am excited for my return to one Primary Campus at the start of Term 4.

During my leave, please contact Mrs Sarah Pagett (Acting Head of Primary Terms 2-3) or continue to contact the front office at either Campus who will direct your queries to the appropriate member of the Primary Leadership Team.

I wish all Primary families a restful and happy Easter with your families and a fruitful Terms 2 and 3.

Ryan von Bergheim

HEAD OF PRIMARY