The Notable Alumni Award is bestowed each year and honours past students who continue to uphold and live by the values instilled by the School. The recognition of these alumni not only serves to inspire current students but also provides staff, past and present, with a great sense of pride and satisfaction in knowing their former students are making a positive impact on the world. This Award is an initiative of the Alumni Association

The Notable Alumni Award was introduced in 2017, our sesquicentenary year. The following past students all received the Award in recognition of their outstanding achievements.

RAY HORSBURGH AM (1943 – 2022)
A student at the school in the 1940s, Ray Horsburgh has been a tireless advocate for and supporter of Westbourne Grammar throughout his entire adult life. A driving force behind the campaign to secure the school’s long term future and establish it as the leading learning community in Melbourne’s fast growing west, Ray Horsburgh served as Board President 1980-1984 and as Vice-President 1978-1979 and 1987-2002. A past parent and current grandparent, Ray’s enormous contribution to Westbourne’s success has been substantial and lasting. The Horsburgh Centre at the Truganina campus is named in his honour.

MARY-JANE IERODIACONOU
Appointed an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2015, Mary-Jane Ierodiaconou completed Year 12 in 1986. She then proceeded to the University of Melbourne, subsequently graduating Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and the later Master of Laws. Following a successful career as a solicitor, she founded the law firm Justicia – the name reflecting her ‘passion for justice’. Described as a ‘powerful and inspirational voice’, from 1996 to 2006 Associate Justice Ierodiaconou volunteered her time to work pro bono on behalf of immigrants and refugees, while also advocating for flexible work practices and better understanding of mental health issues amongst the legal profession.

DIANE JOHN OAM (TOOP) 
A student at the school in the 1940s, Diane John joined the Board in 1973 and would become one of the small group of champions dedicated to the challenge of making a bold vision a reality; to secure land and financial resources to build a new independent, co-educational school for the young people of Melbourne’s west. In the decades that followed, Diane John’s service has continued and includes the positions of: Board President 2003-2008, Vice-President 2008-2012, Secretary 2013-2014, and current member. An enormously philanthropic individual, her contribution to Westbourne over a period of forty-four years has had a profound impact on the fortunes of this school. The Diane John Centre at the Williamstown campus is named in her honour.

DR PRUDENCE PEREIRA-FANTINI
An exceptional emerging scientist who has developed important new concepts and techniques in the field of paediatric proteomics, Dr Pereira-Fantini was one of our 1993 School Captains. Since then she has gone on to complete a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and a Doctor of Philosophy – both at the University of Melbourne. As a molecular pathologist working at the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, her work has helped clinical paediatric research in vaccine development and identification of new molecular pathways to improve the care of preterm infant lungs. She is well regarded for her willingness to mentor students and young scientists, especially female scientists.

 

 

 

Awarded Posthumously

JACK JOEL OAM (1932-2017)
A highly successful businessman, Jack Joel attended the school in the late 1930s. Described as a ‘cheeky mischievous larrikin’, his working life included establishing Australia’s first frozen chicken processing business and the Surfers Paradise Ski Gardens, a successful career at Kay Rent A Car and launching Australia’s first car leasing company JMJ. In addition to his business commitments, Jack was very community minded and was the founding president of the Rotary Club of Brighton. In 1999, he was awarded an OAM for his contribution to public life and philanthropic causes.

DR HECTOR MACLEAN (1862-1934)
One of the most well-known and esteemed residents of Williamstown, Hector Maclean attended the school in the 1870s. After completing his education at Melbourne Grammar and Melbourne University, he followed in his father’s footsteps and established a medical practice in his home suburb, subsequently founding the Williamstown Hospital in 1894. Following the outbreak of war in 1914, Dr Maclean served with the Army Medical Corps in Egypt, Palestine and France.

SIR CHARLES MERRETT (1863-1948)

A successful merchant and agriculturalist in later life, Sir Charles was a student at the school from 1870-1875. As a citizen-soldier, his service in the armed forces began in the colonial era and ended with his retirement as lieutenant-colonel of the 5th Light Horse Brigade. Related to his military service was a long association with the sport of rifle-shooting. Active in public life he was a South Melbourne councillor 1915-37 and mayor 1922-23, chaired the Canned Fruits Export Control Board, the Big Brother Movement, the Empire Day Movement, the New Settlers League, the State Employment Council and the Society for the Protection of Animals. A justice of the peace from 1919, Sir Charles was appointed CBE in 1929 and knighted in 1934.

DOROTHY RICHARDS (HICK) (1917-2016)
Born in Williamstown, Dorothy Hick’s memories of her early school days remained incredibly vivid for the rest of her long life. Describing the school as ‘a place of learning’ she completed Grade 6 in 1927 and then went on to finish her education at the Methodist Ladies’ College in Kew. A well-known writer, Dorothy was a prize-winning author of articles, short stories, poetry and several books including her wonderfully evocative memoir of family life, An Anthology of Aunts: Growing Up in Williamstown. In 1970, she became a founding member of the Society of Women Writers (Victoria), later serving as its President.

2018 | DR JACQUELINE MEIN OAM

A member of Westbourne’s first Year 12 at the Truganina campus, Dr Mein was a winner of the JP Pascoe award and the Neville R Hudson Award for the Dux of the School;

subsequently completing her Higher School Certificate with six As. Having also won a major residential exhibition to Queen’s College she commenced her studies in first year medicine at the University of Melbourne in 1984.

Now a James Cook University Adjunct Professor in Medicine and Director of Medical Services with the Wuchopperan Health Service in Cairns, Dr Mein’s distinguished service to the community has involved work in a wide range of medical fields, including family planning, population health and general practice. More specifically, her work over several decades with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has been focused on promoting health literacy through the development of a culture of education. Teaching people about how to best manage their health is, she believes, the very cornerstone of successful preventative programs.

We congratulate Dr Mein (1983) on the award of a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday honours. This award is in recognition of Dr Mein’s outstanding service to medicine and community health.

CLASS OF 1983
2019 | DR ROBERT MITCHELL

Rob Mitchell is a specialist emergency physician working between the Alfred Hospital Emergency & Trauma Centre in Melbourne and Lifeflight Retrieval Medicine/QGAir Rescue Helicopter in Cairns, Queensland. A strong interest in global emergency care has led him to complete Australian Volunteers for International Development assignments in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Solomon Islands. Currently undertaking a PhD as a National Health and Medical Research Council Postgraduate Scholar, Rob’s research is focussed on emergency care systems in developing settings. Concurrently, he is leading an Australasian College for Emergency Medicine development project in the Highlands of PNG, funded by the Australian
Government.

In 2014, Rob was awarded a Churchill Fellowship focussed on postgraduate training in global emergency medicine, and is currently Deputy Program Co-ordinator for the University of Sydney’s Resource Limited Critical Care program. He is a former Chair of the Australian Medical Association Council of Doctors in Training and, in earlier years, was President of the Australian Medical Students’ Association. In addition to Fellowship of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, he holds a Master of Public Health & Tropical Medicine and a Postgraduate Certificate of Disaster & Refugee Health.

In Year 12 at Westbourne, Rob was School Captain (with Kelly Tink) and a standout performer when he played the leading roleof Mack Sennett in that year’s production of Mack and Mabel. A talented musician, he also played trombone in the school’s bands, violin/viola in string and orchestral groups and performed with the barbershop quartet

CLASS OF 2002
2020 | JANET TODD

Janet came to Westbourne on a music scholarship, making an enormous contribution to music and the performing arts program, playing the trumpet and violin, singing in choirs, participating in the orchestra, string ensemble and bands and performing in music theatre productions.

On leaving school she continued her studies at the College of the Arts graduating with a Bachelor of Music. Since then, Janet has forged a very successful career as a professional singer both in Australia and the United States, performing soprano roles in operas, operettas, concerts, pantomimes, choirs and choral societies. She completed her Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music in New York in 2016. Since then Janet has sung world premieres of new chamber works and has starred in new comic opera short film collaborations. Other performance highlights while in New York include soprano soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, and soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand in a collaboration with the Manhattan School of Music and the New York Oratorio Society.

In 2019, Janet performed Cio-Cio San in Pacific Opera Project’s bilingual production of Madama Butterfly, performed in Japanese and English. She joined the company again as Yum Yum in The Mikado, and Mimi in La Boheme. She is currently a member of the Los Angeles Opera chorus.

CLASS OF 2006
2021 | STUART ELMSLIE

Stuart Elmslie is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Open Universities, having been appointed to the position in January 2018. Previously Chief Financial Officer and Executive General Manager of Corporate Services from February 2016, Stuart is responsible for finance, legal and regulatory, strategy, business planning and architecture, ICT, people performance and culture, and the transformation of the business to become the largest digital marketplace for accessing higher education in Australia.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Finance Officer and Executive General Manager of Corporate Services, Stuart was the General Manager of e3 Learning QUA’s high growth online corporate compliance and training business. With responsibility for all dimensions of the business including sales, digital and marketing, product, strategy, ICT, HR, legal and compliance, finance and operations, Stuart managed an organisation of over ninety employees across Australia and the United Kingdom (Leeds), growing revenue and profits in the lead up to a successful divestment of the business in 2016.

As a chartered accountant with more than two decades of experience, Stuart began his professional career with Deloitte, before taking on senior finance and commercial leadership roles with Macquarie Bank, UBS, AG and Granada Media across multiple locations including Australia, Switzerland and North America. In these roles he gained broad and deep levels of experience in managing and growing technology and digital based businesses both as start-ups and mid-sized organisations in sports and business media, fine arts, photography and print, and tertiary education.

After completing Year 12 at Westbourne, Stuart enrolled at LaTrobe University, where he completed a Bachelor of Economics (Honours) degree, later qualifying as a chartered accountant and GAIDC. At school he was involved in drama, debating and team sports.

CLASS OF 1988
2022 | JOINT RECIPIENTS

Stacey Morlang Sullivan

As a member of the current Australian Women’s Lacrosse Team that competed at the Women’s Lacrosse World Championships being hosted by the USA in July of this 2022. Stacey has sustained a long career on the pitch both domestically, collegiately, and internationally. Having played in four World Cups, earning gold, silver, and bronze medals. Stacey is a 3-time Australian Team Captain and 3-time All- World Team selection.

Stacey was recruited to Loyola University, Maryland, USA on a Division 1 scholarship and helped change the model of what a collegiate women’s lacrosse player could be. She remains the top 5 of all-time leaders in goals and points for Loyola. Stacey was inducted into the 2016 Loyola Hall of Fame class. Stacey was the Head Coach of the U19 Australian Women’s Lacrosse Team helping them win Bronze in the 2019 World Championships. Stacey has spent the last 15 years coaching and mentoring players at her local club Newport Ladies Lacrosse Club, as well as coaching and playing for her State. Stacey is currently the Head Coach and Player for Newport Ladies Lacrosse Club State League Premier Team along with being the Director of Coaching for the club.

Stacey has also built a successful lifestyle business and most recently she has joined the leadership team of Aleda Collective with footballers Luke Darcy and Matt Wadewitz as a facilitator to elite leaders in all fields.

CLASS OF 1998

Dr Dirk Welsford, BSc (Hons), PhD, MAICD 

For the last 20 years as a university and government research scientist, Dirk has been leading research teams delivering real-world outcomes using science, with a focus on the conserving the marine environment and Antarctica.

After completing his Victoria Certificate of Education at Westbourne in 1991, Dirk completed a Bachelor of Science Degree with First Class Honours at Melbourne University. He then worked at the Marine and Freshwater Resources Institute in Queenscliff before moving to Hobart to undertake a PhD at the University of Tasmania. Work at the Tasmanian Fisheries and Aquaculture Institute was followed by an opportunity to lead the fisheries team at the Australian Antarctic Division in 2006. During this period, he worked on at subantarctic Heard Island and the McDonald and the McDonald Islands were recognised as the most sustainably managed in the world. He acted as the Chief Scientist of the AAD during 2020/21, before leading the development of a science strategy for the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment. He is currently the Science Convener for the new Department of Climate Change, Energy the Environment and Water, leading a team enhancing the role science plays in government decision making.

Dirk has produced over 150 scientific publications, including being a co-author of the Antarctica chapter of the Australia’s 2021 State of the Environment Report. He has represented Australia and chaired forums across the world, and was the first Australian elected as chair of the Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, SC-CAMLR in 2019. 

CLASS OF 1991
Robert Luri

A member of the Class of 1999, Robert has had a most distinguished career in the Victoria Police.  On leaving Westbourne, he enrolled in a Bachelor of Commerce degree at Deakin University. Having completed his tertiary studies, Robert worked in the field of human resources and recruitment, ultimately specialising in engineering recruitment for significant oil and gas and mining projects. After about seven years in this career, a new opportunity beckoned, and Robert was accepted into the Victoria Police Force; graduating from the Police Academy in 2010.

Following his early days in uniform at Footscray and Werribee, Robert has since worked in a range of other law enforcement areas including as a detective for the Hobson’s Bay Crime Investigation Unit and the Embona Armed Robbery Taskforce, as an Acting Detective Sergeant for the Alliance Taskforce where he was investigating serious and violent crimes committed by networked youth gangs and the Echo Taskforce as a detective sergeant investigating Middle Eastern organised crime.

At school, Robert was actively involved in Flinders House events, being described by his Head of House as ‘very reliable and conscientious in his approach.’  In Year 12 he was co-captain (with Shaydon English) of the school’s champion softball team which won the season’s Grand Final in a hard-fought match against St Leonards. Robert returned to Westbourne as Guest of Honour at the Class of 2023 Valedictory dinner.

Class of 1999