CENTAUR PUBLIC SCHOOL, BANORA POINT, ART SHOW
Page: 19073
Mr NEVILLE NEWELL (Tweed—Parliamentary Secretary) [4.25 p.m.]: Last Friday evening, 14 October, the Centaur Public School Art Show 2005 was opened, and the school celebrated its eleventh birthday, which was officially on 10 October. The two co-ordinators of the art show were teachers Margaret Burgess and Jenny Foster. They met with a team of parents and staff and, of course, the parents' and citizens association fundraising committee, on a regular basis for up to two terms to plan and present the art show, which was as a major fundraiser for the students. The invitations were a scrapbook of the visual art on offer and were sent to all the VIPs and business houses in the Tweed and beyond. The invitations caused quite a stir as the RSVPs came in, congratulating the students on that innovative and wonderful effort.
The range of visual art on exhibition was extremely varied, from copies of the masters to Aboriginal influences with wide-ranging mediums used to the best effect. As each piece of work was for sale to the families of the children, the committee was also involved in accessing community resources to enable parents to have their child's work professionally copied, laminated and/or framed as a memory of the special event. A great many of the school staff were heavily involved, not only the art teachers, throughout the process in collating students' works. They supervised the students in constructing the display areas and encouraging the school community to support the students.
More than 600 students from kindergarten to year 6, including the wonderful exhibited examples from the students from the special education unit at Centaur Public School, displayed a piece of their artwork in the school hall that had been converted to function as the art gallery. Each piece of the students' art work was labelled and displayed in class sections and hung on the specially designed and constructed wall hangings to ensure the lighting was appropriate and showed their work in the best possible manner. Along with the display of student work, pieces were displayed by three professional artists and photographers who are members of the school community. The opening was attended by many VIPs who have been patrons of and involved with Centaur since the school's first year.
Centaur Public School is a living memorial to those who served on the ill-fated hospital ship, which gave the school its name. The school is steeped in the history of the Centaur and everything that revolves around the Centaur theme, from the large model of the ship in the library to the uniforms with a distinct nautical theme, to its philosophy on education. House patrons have been chosen from the honour roll of the hospital ship, and the house colours are the colours of the hospital ship. The school's houses are Colefax, whose house colour is white, named after Basil Douglas Colefax, who was with the field ambulance and died aboard the Centaur; Moss, whose house colour is red, named after Leslie Moss, who was a crewmember on the Centaur; Lawson, whose house colour is green, named after William Lawson, who was in the 2/12 Field Ambulance before joining the Centaur; and Savage, whose house colour is blue, named after Sister Ellen Savage, the only nurse to survive the Centaur sinking.
I attend the school's annual celebrations of Centaur Day, which are usually held at Point Danger, where there is a memorial, on the New South Wales-Queensland border, on 14 May in any year that my parliamentary commitments allow. This moving memorial service plays a significant role in ensuring the commitment and sacrifice of our service men and women. They are remembered and wound into a living history for the local community and the young people who attend Centaur school.
It was wonderful to see students receiving their scholastic medals and certificates from the VIPs in attendance, and to watch them interact with families and descendants of the Centaur hospital ship. The Tweed Heads-Ballina education director, Mr Ron Hankin, officially opened the art show. Mr Hankin, along with VIP guests, was then asked to nominate six pieces of student work for special awards. Some of the guests invited included Mr Warren Keats, Mrs Nella Hunt, Mr and Mrs Phil Butcher, Jean and Less Mooney, Danny and Margaret Ware, Mr and Mrs Finch, from Kyogle, Mr and Mrs Fendley, Mrs Dulcie Pearse, Mr Mike Fraser, Mr and Mrs Bode, Mrs Maree Judge and Dr Allan Deece, principal of Banora Point High School.
Each of those VIP guests has an historical link with the school through the Centaur and has maintained an active relationship with students and the community through the school's 11 years. Mrs Butcher and Mrs Jean Mooney are sisters of one of the house patrons, William Lawson. While they are well into their later years they represent for our students a tangible link with the past. The Moran sisters from Casino were invited but were unable to attend and, therefore, the special medals they present to students, who have endured and successfully overcome hardship throughout the year, will now take place during the school's end-of-year presentation assemblies.
During the opening over 150 parents and students attended, along with the special guests, and the show enjoyed the support of local businesses, which enthusiastically supported the school community by donating items that were bid on by many of the visitors to the art show. I regret that I was not able to attend this year's art show due to prior commitments, but I look forward to next year's show and to the many other events that I attend at Centaur Primary School, including the end-of-year presentation. [Time expired.]
[Private members' statements interrupted.]