Sean Colahan

Recently, a post was made on our Past Pupils Facebook page by one of our many male past pupils, commenting on the under representation of the boys. Contact was made and during the course of that day 42 emails were exchanged between us! The following morning, the ‘boy’ in question, Sean Colahan, was standing in the Devlopment Office and took a tour with me of his old haunts, recalling that the room in which we were standing was a toilet block and the room next door, Room 22, had been his Prep classroom in the mid 50s. Sean was one of a couple of generations of Colahans to attend Kilbreda, his sisters Patricia and twins, Mary and Deborah, completed their entire schooling at the College, finishing in 1962, 1973 and 1975.

Sean recalled making his first Communion while here and the Communion Breakfast was held in our old Hall. A group of boys from Kilbreda, who can be seen with Kilbreda badges on their pockets (if you look carefully) can be seen, dotted amongst the boys from St Pat’s Mentone. One of Sean’s aunts, Mary Colahan, was awarded the inaugural ‘Edmond Ryan Cup for Courtesy’ in her final year, 1940, which is displayed in our new Heritage Area. Sean recalled that the building which now houses our Music Centre was built in the time he was here and that the top section was a room where they ate lunch. A favourite pastime was climbing in the hedge, which bordered the oval in those days, for which they were chastised at least once by a scary nun when one of the boys fell out and hurt himself.

Sr Reba Woodwiss csb

A recent visit by Sr Reba Woodwiss csb to speak to our Year 12 students revealed another gem. As we were walking through the Peace Court, Reba looked up at one of the windows of Room 4 and recalled that one night, when she was in charge of the junior boarders, she was awoken by the sound of a kerfuffle in the dormitory. On investigation, it turned out that one of the Year 7 students, while sleepwalking, had climbed out of the dormitory window and was standing on the vent below, shown in the picture and holding on to the window sill about 4-5 metres above the ground. At the same time, a sister on the other side of the courtyard noticed the girl out her window and ran, with an accomplice around to ‘save’ the girl. They arrived on the scene in time to see Reba dragging her in the window to safety!

Damian Smith
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