Old Boy in the News – April 2019

April 2, 2019

Our Old Boys have been busy, including:

  • Old Collegian and passionate Indigenous advocate Will Austin (SPC 2010-14) received some attention recently when he was involved in some commuter chaos in Melbourne, creating a cultural lesson instead. To read more, go to this link and this link

  • Well done to Matt Short (SPC 2008-13) who will spend the winter playing cricket in England after being part of Victoria’s Sheffield Shield title victory this week. Matt made solid contributions for Victoria and will have his first season as an overseas club professional in Essex. For more, go to

    this link. Read more about Matt’s chat with Australian cricket legend Greg Chappell and how it inspired his career-best form in this story at this link.

  • Well done to Old Collegian Tim Canny (SPC 1995-2000) who finished third in the Ballarat Sebastopol Cycling Club criterium earlier this week. For more, go to this link

  • Congratulations to Josh Brown (SPC 2012-17) who captained the East Ballarat firsts to a BCA premiership at the Eastern Oval against North Ballarat in this story at this link. He was joined by fellow Old Boy Brad Whittaker (SPC 2004-09) who put the game to rest at the end with 45 runs.

  • Two Old Collegians were named as debutants for the Greater Western Victoria Rebels including Ned Nash (SPC 2013-18) and Nick Stevens (SPC 2015-18, PY2019). Good lucks guys. To read more, go to this link

  • The Walk Off the War Within, now in its third year, was another huge success with about 1000 people taking part in the course at St Patrick’s College. The event is in memory of former soldier, Ballarat firefighter and father Nathan Shanahan (SPC 1988-93) who took his own life after battling depression and PTSD. Nathan’s father John Shanahan (SPC 1967-69), a former boarder, has been a strong advocate in his son’s memory. For more, go to this link and this link.

  • A great story on local businessman Danny Elliott (SPC 1967-72), who has been in machinery sales and service since he was 18, and is part of the Elliott family renowned for selling tools in Ballarat since the late 1950s on the corner of Armstrong and Eyre streets. To read, go to this link.

  • Well done to Jayden Hayes (SPC 2007-12) who finished seventh in the EJ Cleary Medal count, the Ballarat Cricket Association’s highest honour. Michael Snaith (SPC 2012-14) won the Bernie Davey Medal count with the Ballan all-rounder crowned the standout player in the second grade competition. Mathew Begbie (SPC 2006-11) won the Representative cricket MVP award and Brent Chiswell (SPC 1995-2000) won the 3rd XI champion player award. For more, go to this link

  • Great work by Paul Tatchell (SPC 1974, PY1979), mayor of the Moorabool Shire Council, who helped to officially open the Clarendon Community Centre recently, after it was devastated by fires in 2015. For more, go to this link

  • Crows AFL footballer Brad Crouch (SPC 2006-11) talks about overcoming injuries and his expectations for the season ahead in this story at this link

  • Well done to Liam Toohey (SPC 2003-08) who is studying physiotherapy at La Trobe University in Melbourne, who had a paper recently published by the Edith Cowan University. For those Old Boys in the physio field who may be interested in reading Liam’s paper on the -Comparison of subsequent injury categorisation (SIC) models and their application in a sporting population- can click on this link.

  • Great work by sport journalism student Ollie Nash (SPC 2011-16), studying a Bachelor of Media and Communication, who wrote a match report for Melbourne Rebels Super W round 1 clash and had his work published on Rebels Media, to for, go to this link

  • The priest of Ararat’s Catholic parish, Fr Andrew Hayes (SPC 1981-86), an Old Collegian, attracted considerable attention for his words at a Sunday mass recently. To read more, go to this link

  • We heard recently from Jay Pelchen (SPC 2002-07) who has recently arrived in Vienna to work with the United Nations. Good luck Jay!

  • We heard recently from Michael Robertson (SPC 1991-96) who is the founder of a few technology businesses, the current one being Trade Indy – www.tradeindy.com – a digital marketing specialist providing advertising services to clients across Australia, New Zealand, South East Asia and the Middle East.

  • We heard Ryan Knowles (SPC 2009-14) is currently on a month’s deployment in India and Sri Lanka with the Australian Army. We wish him well and look forward to him returning safely!