The Hallowian - Volume I 2021 - Flipbook - Page 37
Sister Stories
Annabelle Watt
Realising Her Ballet Dream
Annabelle Watt attended All Hallows’ from 2014-2016
(Years 8-10) until she was awarded a scholarship to
train at The Australian Ballet School in Melbourne in
2017.
All Hallows’ staff nurtured and encouraged Annabelle’s
ballet dream by allowing her to train at her local ballet
school one day a week during Year 10. During that year
she also travelled to New York to compete in the Youth
America Grand Prix—one of the most prestigious
ballet competitions in the world and was awarded
The Australian Ballet School scholarship at the Sydney
Eisteddfod later that year. Whilst at All Hallows’,
Annabelle enjoyed performing in the Dance Ensembles
and built solid friendships with her Gorry girls.
Annabelle trained at The Australian Ballet School for
four years and after a difficult graduate year in 2020
where all performances were cancelled and Zoom
ballet classes became the norm due to the Melbourne
lockdown, Annabelle enjoyed an extended stay in
Brisbane catching up with her All Hallows’ friends
whilst continuing her training.
After an audition in December 2020, Annabelle was
one of two students offered a job at The Australian
Ballet by new Artistic Director, David Hallberg. She
started her professional ballet career in January this
year and will perform in Melbourne, Sydney and
Adelaide in 2021, and hopes to perform in Brisbane
when The Australian Ballet tours to her home city in
the near future. Congratulations, Annabelle, on your
outstanding achievements and best wishes for your
career!
Sr Denise Coghlan –
A Graced Journey
Sr Denise Coghlan rsm AM (Class of 1956) is well
known and loved by our All Hallows’ community. We
asked Sr Denise to reflect on her journey from the
tiny town of Linville to work in Cambodia for over
thirty years and share the Nobel Peace Prize for the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
What steps led Denise of Linville in the Brisbane
Valley to Cambodia? Linville had a one-teacher school
so All Hallows’ was enormous by comparison to a
12-year-old. I remember getting lost on the way back
from the dining room to my classroom on the first
day. All our teachers were Sisters of Mercy who gave
us an approach to God, appreciation of the arts and
possibilities for lifelong friendships that I will be ever
grateful for.
After teachers’ college, I joined the Mercy Sisters
and spent four happy years teaching at St Stephen’s
Cathedral School and in Maryborough before
volunteering for the new Mercy High School Yarapos
in Papua New Guinea. There my eyes were opened to
the core message of the gospel in this very new setting.
Many of the accretions of Christianity practised in the
‘West’ did not speak to a people, deeply attached to
their own land and ways and sometimes troubled by
the power of evil spirits. It was a wonderful time in
the first high school for women on the New Guinea
mainland.
“I love to welcome students from All
Hallows’ here so they have a chance to
see the world through different eyes.”
as they celebrated the Ottawa Treaty and the Nobel
Peace Prize for their work and that of campaigners
worldwide. Survivors calling us to ban the landmines of
the heart as well as the landmines in the earth still ring
in my ears.
My time in Cambodia has involved me with some of
the big refugee crises of the times, notably the Uighurs,
the Rohingyas, the Montagnards and the Syrians. Now
our hearts cry for Myanmar and the Palestinians. From
our Reflection Centre named Metta Karuna (Mercy and
Loving Kindness), addressing poverty, development,
disarmament, environmental and displacement
issues that affect our world have become the tasks of
everyday. I love to welcome students from All Hallows’
here so they have a chance to see the world through
different eyes. I have been so lucky and so graced by
God.
A video of Sr Denise’s work with Jesuit Refugee Service
Cambodia can be viewed here.
Nine years later, I was on the leadership team of the
Sisters of Mercy and taught at All Hallows’ part time.
After some study overseas, I coordinated the Institute
of Faith in Brisbane and then volunteered for the
refugee camps in Thailand with Mercy Refugee Service/
Jesuit Refugee Service.
Thousands of Cambodians had fled from the atrocities
of Pol Pot and its aftermath to the Thai border where
many spent 13 years in bamboo houses with food and
water trucked in. Here we listened to their stories of
unbelievable suffering, established a teacher training
institute and advocated for peace.
In 1990, our team entered Cambodia to work for
reconciliation. We began with work for peace, inclusion
and full human development and started activities
in the rural villages, such as cow banks, school,
income generation and water programs, along with a
vocational training centre for people with disability.
The villages were very poor but with idyllic scenery and
resilient people.
Addressing the causes of disability led to the landmines
campaign and on to the world stage for our survivors
34
The Hallowian | 2021
2021 | The Hallowian
35