Giuliano Hreglich (SPC 1941-46)

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Old Collegian Giuliano Hreglich (SPC 1941-46) who passed away, aged 93 years, on December 19, 2022.

Although our College Annuals record Giuliano (or Giulian as he was preferred) as being a boarder from the city, Giulian came to SPC with the help of the Catholic Bishop of Melbourne under somewhat special circumstances.

As this was during war times, Giulian’s Italian family, including himself, his parents and sister, were ordered from Singapore aboard the ship, the Queen Mary and sent to an internment camp in Australia, based at Tatura, in northern Victoria.

With the assistance of the Catholic Bishop of Melbourne at the time, Giulian was taken out of the camp to attend school in Ballarat as a boarder.

During the school holidays, Giulian would take the train back to the Bishop in Melbourne and then onto Tatura, returning to the internment camp, where his family were, until they were later released and gained jobs in Melbourne and later Sydney.

Giulian was incredibly fluent in languages including English, Italian, French and Latin and he excelled academically and in school life.

He finished Second Dux in his first year at SPC. He was awarded overall Dux of the College in 1946, and received special distinctions in Italian, in fact coming first in the State in Italian. He was also Dux of his matriculation class.

Giulian was also a member of the 1946 Champion Firsts rowing crew in the bow, First XI Cricket side, as well as involved in the senior literary and debating society, poetry and Platoon No. 2 in the cadets.

He went on to study chemistry and economics at the University of Melbourne and later worked for Southern Cross Windmills in Melbourne before landing a job in Sydney with the privately-owned Italian shipping company, Flotta Lauro, based in Naples with a very large fleet of cargo and passenger ships, where he spent most of his working career, before moving to the worldwide Italian alcohol company, Martini Rossi, as their Australasian manager.

When the company was eventually taken over, Giulian semi-retired and consulted for some years.

Giulian has two daughters, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

As Giulian was born in Venice, his second wife of 40 years, Maria, has shared that the family plan to take Giulian’s ashes back to the family crypt at Venice’s San Michele Island (where only people who have been born in Venice can be buried).

We send our deepest condolences to Giulian’s extended family on his passing.