It was a great pleasure to welcome all members of the Scotch Family to the OSCA AGM & Presidents’ Dinner on Wednesday 15 November 2023.
AGM -Election of Councillors
The President noted that pursuant to Item 38 of OSCA’s constitution the following members of Council Messrs P Wright, B James and L Stanistreet ceased to hold office at the conclusion of the meeting, and each offered themselves for re-election. In addition, there was a fourth vacancy on Council. Four nominations were received: P Wright, B James and L Stanistreet, and E Meggitt. The President declared that as each of the nominees was eligible for election, and the number of nominations did not exceed the number of vacancies, Messrs P Wright, B James, L Stanistreet, and E Meggitt were duly elected.
President’s Dinner
The dinner has a lasting tradition of honouring members of the Scotch Family with the presentation of Honorary Life Membership and OSCA Merit Awards.
This year, Associate Professor Doug Lording (’63) AM was awarded OSCA Honorary Life Membership in recognition of his exceptional and significant service to OSCA and the Scotch Family.
Doug attended Scotch from 1960 to 1964, winning first class Honours in Pure Mathematics and Chemistry, and second class Honours in Calculus, Applied Mathematics and in Social
Studies. During his years at Scotch, Doug’s involvement in sport included playing in a cricket premiership team, and he was Vice-Captain of the basketball team. He was also involved in Cadets as a Probationer and a CUO. On graduating from Scotch, Doug remained connected with his old school as an early member and Captain of the Old Scotch basketball Club and the Old Scotch Cricket Club.
Professionally, Doug graduated with a BMedSc from Monash University in 1971, and he has pursued a long and distinguished career in endocrinology and andrology. An advocate for men’s health and welfare, he has contributed as a volunteer to community organisations, including founding The Men of Malvern Inc.
In 1991, Doug joined the OSCA Council. He was Vice President from 1995 to 1997 when he stepped down. Doug re-joined the OSCA Council in 2013 and was subsequently OSCA President from 2016 to 2017. Doug was also a member of the Scotch College Foundation board from 2014 and he was the Foundation Board President from 2017 to 2023. In 2015, Doug became a member of the Scotch College Council where he served until 2021.
Doug is one of only 14 Old Boys known to have served in the governance of OSCA, the Foundation and the School Councils.
In 2020, Doug was awarded Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for ‘significant service to medicine, endocrinology, andrology and to the community’. Congratulations Doug on being awarded OSCA Honorary Life Membership.
L-R: Scott Montgomery (’85), Sam Shearer (’10), Carol Davis, Richard Piesse (’59), Katherine McDonald, Peter Sim (’72), Stephen Webster (’73)
Congratulations to the five members of the Scotch Family who were awarded with OSCA Merit Awards for outstanding commitment to OSCA Clubs and Socieites:
Katherine McDonald | Old Scotch Music and Drama Club
Katherine has been involved with the Old Scotch Music and Drama club from the very first performance of Les Miserables in 2008. She has brought considerable expertise and contacts to the club and in 2019, Katherine was elected President of OSMaD, filling the very big shoes of founding President, Richard Beveridge (’64).
Through the difficult Covid period, Katherine guided OSMaD’s successful staging of The Scarlet Pimpernel in 2022 and we are looking forward to the Victorian premier production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame next month.
Katherine has a long connection with Scotch, with her brother Andrew (’97) and father, Donald (’62) being Old Boys.
Peter Sim (’72) | Koomerang Ski Club, Cardinal Club, OSCA Council
Peter’s association with Scotch began when he entered the school in Grade 3 in 1963. As a Scotch student, Peter was widely involved in extra-curricular activities including Cadets, the Radio and APT clubs and back-stage roles in Scotch plays.
This extra-curricular activity continued after Peter graduated in 1972. Peter served on the Koomerang Ski club committee from 1978 and he was President of the committee in 1988 and 1989.
In 1998 Peter joined the Cardinal Club committee. and in 1998 and he was President of the club in 2000 and 2002.
In 2004, Peter joined the OSCA Council and despite stepping off the council in 2016, he has continued to support OSCA with his involvement in the Data and Communications committee, providing IT support and advise to the OSCA office and he was instrumental in the implementation of OSCAConnect.
Carol Davis | Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation
Carol has been a volunteer with the VSHCF since 2012 and CEO since 2017, assisting the organisation in realising its role in promoting, preserving and celebrating Scottish culture in Victoria and nationally. Carol has been the driver of the Tartan Festival a joint initiative of VSHCF and Scots Victoria. The Tartan Festival commenced in 2018 and Carol was the driver of putting the initiative into an actual event. The Tartan Festival has grown to include Victoria wide events over a span of at least 10 different activities. The Gala Dinner held annually, now hosts over 300 guests and is of the centre piece of the Tartan Festival. Carol is the leader of the organising committee but in practice undertakes a significant volume of the tasks required. This task is effectively almost full time for 6 months of the year. It should be noted Carol acts in a voluntary capacity.
The standing of the Tartan Festival has grown significantly since commencement and the activities of the Tartan Festival in 2023 have reached a new level of success that has been experienced by a wide range of OSCA family members.
As CEO, Carol is well known to the OSCA community through her Scottish history and role within the VSHCF. Many know her through her persistent drive to recruit, persuade and help her achieve success for the VSHCF.
Sam Shearer (’10) | Old Scotch Cricket Club, Old Scotch Soccer Club
Sam Shearer has been playing for OSSC Seniors since he was in Year 12 at Scotch. In 2014 he was made Captain at the club and has remained in that role to the present day. Sam has been a committee member since he was made Club Captain. Not only has his on field contribution to the Seniors been immense but his overall influence over the culture of all teams and sincere interest in the welfare and running of both Saturday and Sunday squads has been outstanding.
It has been the Seniors where he has flourished though, playing alongside teammates both from school and countless other backgrounds, from young players to players in their late 30’s and he was their leader at a young age. Sam was part of promotion to State League 2 in 2013 and then lead the Seniors to promotion to State league 1 in 2022. He has won the League Best & Fairest twice and the club Best & Fairest twice as well. In addition, 2023 is his 10th straight year as Club Captain – a club record.
Sam has also made significant contributions to the Old Scotch Cricket Cub playing over 140 matches, recently having scored 5,120 runs for the club and captaining three premiership teams in the 2019/20, 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons. He has also served as Secretary, Club Captain and has been awarded Club Champion, Batting Awards and the Bill McNaughton Trophy multiple times since 2017.
Richard Piesse (’59) | Old Scotch Bushwalking Club, Old Scotch Tennis Club
Richard was a member of the Old Scotch Tennis Club for almost 40 years. He was one of the founding members of the Club when it was formed in 1959 by Frank Stuckey, a newly arrived teacher at the College. In that year the Club entered two teams in the winter competition run by the Grammarians and Public Schools’ Association (later to become the Past Students’ Tennis Association). Richard was a member of one of those original teams, and he continued to play competition tennis for the Club for many years, most often at the A Reserve or A Grade level.
Richard was a good player, who was well respected and who was selected as captain of his team on a number of occasions. He played in a number of Premiership teams over the years. I had the good fortune to be Richard’s doubles partner for several years in the early seventies, so I was well aware of his loyalty and talent.
Richard served as Treasurer of the Club for two years in the period commencing March 1977, and then as Vice President for S successive years commencing in March 1980. By the end of this five years, membership of the Club had grown to over 100 players, and the Club had 11 competition teams, with Old Scotch being the largest Club in the Past Students’ Tennis Association.
As time passed, Richard’s arthritis curtailed his tennis activities, and he became involved in other activities such as athletics and bushwalking with other Old Scotch Clubs. He resigned as a member of the Tennis Club in 1998, but he has continued his support by attending major celebrations of the Club since that time such as the celebration of Frank Stuckey’s 100th birthday and the 50 year Anniversary of the Club.
In summary, Richard was a loyal, well respected, and contributing member of the Old Scotch Tennis Club for 39 years from 1959 until 1998.
