Thanks - heaps

 A big thankyou for all the wonderful things you did for me in the last week of term.  Thankyou for all the gifts which were so thoughtfully chosen – right down to the pearl guitar pick.  Thanks to everyone and especially to Tony, Ted, Katie (ever so thoughtful - and for the prayer session on Wednesday), Nat (that wonderful jacket from Victoria Park will be ever close to me), Mel (great words to the song), Lesa (for organising the Town Beach party), Paul (the speechmaker of the staff), Sarah and just everybody who wishes us well for our change in Crow Creek. Hopefully it comes off – still organising the work permits and visa etc.

 Ever since I’ve been at this College I’ve been privilege to work with a great team of people.  The dedication and sense of fun of the staff have made this place a home for all of us.

 The students of St. Marys College continue to surprise and endear their hearts to ours.  They are the prime reason I have stayed so long at this school. 

 We can be all justly proud of what we have achieved over the last 33 years.  The conversion of a dream to a developing reality.  Through the hard times of the redundancies in 1992 - to the difficult task of Amalgamation in the mid 90’s.  From the closing of the boarding hostels, Nulungu College and the close association with the Christian Brothers, to the opening of Notre Dame University. St. Mary’s College holds so much hope and energy for the future.  It makes me proud and humble to have participated in the journey.

 I like to thank Tony sincerely for giving Kate and I the opportunity to live and work in the U.S.A. with the Native American students in Crow Creek South Dakota.

 Ted has been my Broome brother.  He is a wise father to the students, a strong leader and a person who has a loving arm for the staff.

 The TA’s are my ‘bubblies’ who help renew my spirituality and the things that are most precious in our lives.  I thank them for their laughter and gracefulness.

 When I can’t be  in Melbourne with my own mother, Broome has been my second mother – an isolated chunk of normality in a troubled world.

 I carry the St. Mary’s family in my heart as I journey into the unkown.  A time to enrich, to ponder and to move in Kate’s world.

 I like to thank you all - and when the cold snowy nights close in, I’ll long to hear the birds of the bush, the tug on the line and the voices of my friends so far away.