Cathedral Equestrian Team

Cathedral Equestrian Team

The Cathedral School has a small but talented team of riders, competing in various Equestrian events in around the North QLD region.
Recently, two students from Year 7 competed in the Moondarga Horse and Pony Club Interschools Competition with great success.

Pictured: Madisen McKenzie and Lily Lowis at the Moondarga Horse & Pony Club, Kelso.

‘On the last weekend of the school holidays, Madisen McKenzie and I represented Cathedral at the Moondarga Horse and Pony Club Interschools Competition.
Twenty-two schools from Townsville and surrounds attended the two-day event and Cathedral came fifth, which was an amazing achievement with only two riders competing!
Madisen received a First in Best Presented and Reserve Champion for Showjumping and Dressage on her horse Ronaldo.
I achieved 2 thirds in the Gymkhana events and a Highly Commended in the Show Jumping 60 cm, with my new horse, Dolly,  who I had only been riding for three days and she had never jumped before.
We look forward to having a bigger team and further success next year!’
– Lily Lowis, Year 7

To find out more about the Cathedral School Equestrian Team, please contact Katie Godfrey.
katie.godfrey@cathedral.qld.edu.au

ANZAC Day 2024

ANZAC Day 2024

Cathedral Boarding students and staff at the ANZAC Day Dawn Service, ANZAC Park, The Strand.

There Was a Year Once

By Anneliese Stillwell – Year 8

There was a year once,  
And is a year still, 
When the sun’s light ceased to shine, 
And left a place that nothing could a-fill.  

There was a year once, 
And is a year still, 
When the hearts of mothers and daughters a-wept, 
For places a-lost that could never be filled.  

Many a hero fell unpraised, 
Many a father would never be raised.  
Many a champion would go enclaved, 
Silenced once and forever by a poppy-red grave.  

The world bled that year, 
It bled and bleads still.  
Weather it was open wounds on battle fields, 
Or hearts that didn’t cease to spill.  

Many a brave soul was called home, 
Many a soldier left their body of bones.  
For fathers, sons, husbands and friends, 
The world would cry out, and cry it does still.  

There was a year once, 
And is a year still, 
When the hearts of mothers and daughters a-wept, 
For places a-lost that could never be filled. 

Many a hero fell unpraised, 
Many a father would never be raised.  
Many a champion would go enclaved, 
Silenced once and forever by a poppy-red grave. 

In the morning, they rose a-ready, 
Many a sleepless night they marched on a-weary. 
With endurance they fought on, 
And in courage they faced the fields they would fall upon.  

From the playing of the bugle,  
To the fall of restless heads upon pillows, 
Our brave men fought on and on, 
Even in the midst of the gathering billows.  

The hearts of their loved ones raged another battle.  
 One of doubt, and pain, and – oh- endless heartbreak.  
Theirs was a battle that made many a steady breath a-rattle, 
Caught on emotions of which suppression was the not the only sprattle.  

There was a year once, 
And is a year still, 
When the hearts of mothers and daughters a-wept, 
For places a-lost that could never be filled. 

Many a hero fell unpraised, 
Many a father would never be raised.  
Many a champion would go enclaved, 
Silenced once and forever by a poppy-red grave. 

And so now, on this day, almost a century a-since, 
We will pause, we will recall, we will honour many-a prince 
For they didn’t need a title, nor royal descent, 
To be the greatest men and soldiers that this world will ever a-let.

 

Science & Engineering Challenge 2024

Science & Engineering Challenge 2024

By Maddi McLean & Miles Lyster (Year 10).

Photos: JCU Townsville

32 students from both Year 9 and 10 participated in the Science & Engineering Challenge on Wednesday in the first week of school, term two.

The students were split into groups of four to take on a series of challenges throughout the day.  These included building earthquake-resistant towers, building planes, powering a city and more.  However, the climax of the day is undoubtedly the results of the bridge-building competition. While most groups take on two different challenges, one group from each school spends their day building a bridge to carry a weighted cart across it.

After watching with bated breath, our bridge group which consisted of Year 10 students Maddi, Sam, Alyssa, and Chelsea tied for first, securing our landslide win at the competition, and beating the next school by 200 points. Due to the nationals being held in Townsville, our school has been able to skip the states and advance straight to the national finals in October.  Hopefully we manage to place highly there, too.

Photos: JCU Townsville

To find out more about the Science & Engineering Challenge visit JCU Townsville or via Facebook

‘Hidden Worlds’

‘Hidden Worlds’

Townsville City Council’s annual Short Story Competition provides a platform for the vibrant creative literary talent in our community, inviting writers of all ages. This year’s theme ‘My Fabulous Summer’ inspired Cathedral Year 8 student Alice Acton to pen ‘Hidden Worlds’ which earned her the Runner-Up prize in the Young Adult category (12-17).
Thank you Alice for allowing us to publish your story.

Pictured: Alice Acton receiving her prize at Townsville’s ‘Riverway Library’.

She silently padded up to her room, cautious not to step on the wrong floorboard and wake her sleeping dog. Julia settled down in a beanbag nestled in the corner of her pink, floral-patterned room. She reached over her heart-shaped cushion, lying abandoned on the cream carpet, picking up her most favourite book.

Julia slipped her bookmark out of the tattered book’s pages, placing it gently next to her. She began to read, her hazel eyes skimming over the tiny black font covering the torn, well-worn pages. As she read on, she was oblivious to the wind beginning to rush as if it was late for work and the room twisting and turning out of proportion. A sense of spinning snapped her subconscious reading and quickly brought her back to reality, just as she became engulfed in a washing machine sensation.

Dirt, ferns, moss, and the occasional lizard spun around her before she landed with a soft thud. Confused and lost, Julia sat almost frozen in time on the chocolate-brown, dampened earth. Slowly, she blinked and craned her neck to the left and right, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Perplexed, the girl delicately stood up and took in her lush, green surroundings. The call of exotic wildlife and the crunch of twigs and sticks were the only thing breaking the blissful quiet.

While the rainforest seemed quite familiar, it wasn’t anywhere in her hometown. An answer seemed to settle in the girl’s mind, just beyond her grasp. The sights, the sounds, the smells, it was too familiar for her to never have been here before. Julia began to scroll through her memory, trying to solve her confounding riddle. Suddenly it dawned on her. Months ago, she had ventured to this same rainforest. “The…the Daintree!”, she exclaimed as she remembered the tropical rainforest’s name.

As Julia‘s mind began to settle, she noticed something in her hand. A book. The book she had been reading. Her favourite. As she clutched the book tight and allowed its warmth to fill her up, she didn’t notice a cassowary sneaking up behind her, bobbing its head forward and backward. The black flightless feathered bird dashed past her, snatching her most treasured book from her reach.

Julia gave chase, the two of them dashing and dancing along the path, scattering rainforest debris as they flew. Despite the cassowary being much faster than the girl, she kept an eye on the bright blue neck of the endangered bird. As the bird rounded a bend, Julia took a shortcut through a small patch of King Ferns, Fan Palms, and a sharp Pandanus tree that tore Julia’s ankles like papercuts.

She arrived back on the path just in front of the runaway, sending the startled bird into the air. The bird landed ‘SMACK!’ on the rocky ground. She snatched the book out of the creature’s beak and the bird took off running down the path again, getting lost in the never-ending green maze. Julia continued to wander through the Daintree. 

Image digitally created by A.I.

As she pushed aside plants that covered the path, all she could see were more plants and more dirt. It was going to be impossible to find a way out of the biggest rainforest in Australia, and the oldest in the world. At least 135 million years of plants began to cover the path as she walked on, and Julia quickly lost sight of it. Thunder suddenly clapped, and grey clouds rolled in from all angles like police cars, swarming above the monstrous trees like bees.

Julia dashed through the slowly darkening forest, following a familiar path. Rain began to spit, and she raced through the undergrowth to a huge Curtain Figtree. She pressed her back up against the ancient wise giant and curled into a ball clutching the soggy book to her chest. Just as she reached cover, the thunder began a hearty applause, the lightning cracked, and the rain pelted down like hail, causing shallow craters in the dirt.

“Sunshine, sunshine, are you still there?”
“Of course, you are, you must be, you always are.”
The clouds were low and dark, but the sunshine was just above, ready to appear as it always does.
The girl slowly slid her fingers between the wet pages of her now ruined book and prised it open. Slowly she began to read.

The wind howled and the trees swirled around the girl. Julia was picked up by the cyclonic winds and whisked back through the flora and fauna. But this time there was no goanna in sight. Instead, as her room slowly came back into focus, she dodged a dog wandering across the carpet, scarcely missing the poor things tail.

‘PLONK!’ Julia landed on her beanbag bone dry just as her mum stuck her head through the girl’s timber doorframe to announce they were going on holidays to the Daintree. Half-conscious in a trance of confusion, Julia closed the book, stood up and reached into her cupboard to grab a bag. The first thing she packed was an umbrella.

Athletics Carnival 2023

Athletics Carnival 2023

The Middle and Senior Athletics Carnival was held at the ‘Red Track’ with Bede House taking out another win for both Middle and Senior schools.

The Interhouse Athletics Carnival was held at the Townsville Sports Reserve on 20 May, 2023. 

Photography by Jo Duncan.

The carnival consisted of three track (100m, 800m, 4x100m Circular Relay), and four field events (Shot Put, Discus, Javelin, and Long Jump).

House Results
Middle School    

1 BEDE 883    2 MORE 872   3 LANGTON 769   4 CHATHAM 741

Senior School   

1 BEDE 545   2 MORE 479   3 LANGTON 432   4 CHATHAM 407

Age Champions & Runner Up

12 Year Girls – Harpa Miles M 20, Emily Walker M 15

12 Year Boys Noah Shiells C 20, Hayden O’Neill B 15

13 Year Girls – Jillian McCauley B 24, Lara Burgers C 23

13 Year Boys – EQUAL Kolby Walters B 26 / Lucas Goodwin B 26

14 Year Girls – Lilly Johnston C 29, Mia Clive B 24

14 Year Boys – Aaron Roberts B 20, William McCallum L 18

15 Year Girls – Halle Burgers C 22, Kyla Grieve L 21

15 Year Boys – EQUAL Jeshua Cronje M 27 / Jayden Porter M 27

16 Year Girls – Celicia Niemandt L 32, Shaquana Castors C 25

16 Year Boys – Nathaniel Talbot B 23, Jett Mason M 22

17 Year Girls – Janae Pearce B 27, Ashlee Tengbom B 21 / Charlotte Smith M 21

17 Year Boys – Charlie Patrick L 22, Joshua Tonkin C 21

18 Year Girls – Milla Armitage B 29, Neve Rankine-Johnson M 21

18 Year Boys – EQUAL Daniel Keough B 20 / Julius Levenell M 20

Musicals & Instrumentals 2023

Musicals & Instrumentals 2023

The Interhouse Musical and Instrumental performances on Friday 24 March were highly entertaining. Congratulations to Bede for their drought-breaking win in the Musicals, with More edging out Bede in the Instrumental by 4 points.
Thank you to all performers and staff for their hard work behind the scenes, to Bonnie Nicholas – Head of Arts, Kellie Rich – Head of Instrumental Music and Dance, Jo Duncan – Photography, and our amazing adjudicators, Tony Woodhouse and Claire Dickson.
The results were:
Instrumental
1st on 186 points – More
2nd on 182 points – Bede
3rd on 180 points – Langton
4th on 177 points – Chatham
Musical
1st on 184 points – Bede
Tied 2nd on 179 points – More and Chatham
3rd on 170 points – Langton

Bede House

Chatham House

Langton House

More House