St Margaret’s most outstanding former students
From judges, lawyers and doctors to actors, fashion designers and Olympians, St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School has a long list of amazing graduates. We profile some of its most notable alumni.
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We asked Brisbane schools to nominate their most outstanding former students and the response has been overwhelming.
Today we present the most notable alumni of St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School at Ascot.
The school has long been producing leaders in their fields, with former students including a Federal Court judge, an internationally-recognised fashion designer, medical professionals, lawyers, Olympians, actors and artists.
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Keri Craig-Lee (class of 1975) – Fashion designer and retailer
Keri Craig-Lee has played a pivotal role in introducing Queensland fashion to the world stage.
She launched her first collection at the age of 19. A lover of “classic fashion”, Keri took a lot of her design inspiration from old movies starring Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.
She opened her first boutique in 1977. Back then her retail network included three locations — the flagship store in Brisbane’s Wintergarden, an exclusive boutique in Sydney’s prestigious Double Bay, and the remaining store at Brisbane Arcade, which has been in business since 1977.
She has won more than 60 awards nationally and internationally, making Queensland fashion history when she won the first Retailers Association of Queensland (RAQ) Supreme Award in 1981 at the age of 23. She also won it in 1982 and 1986 and was the first inductee into the RAQ Hall of Fame in 1987.
Keri presented a garment to Diana, Princess of Wales and danced with Prince Charles during the royal couple’s 1983 Australian tour.
In 1984 she was commissioned to design and co-ordinate Elton John’s wedding to Renate Blauel.
Keri wrote her own fashion column for the Daily Sun newspaper in the 1980s. She has also self-published a 600-page fashion retrospective coffee table book, Keri Craig – The Label, The Lady, The Lifestyle.
Keri received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2017 for service to the clothing manufacturing sector, to business and to the community.
Keri and her husband Trevor Lee own Australian Country Choice, a fully vertically integrated beef supply chain which employs more than 1500 staff.
Keri was awarded the inaugural Distinguished Past Student Award from St Margaret’s.
Bronte Barratt (class of 2006) – Swimmer and Olympian
Bronte made her first open Australian swim team in 2005 at the age of 16. Over 12 years she competed in three Olympic Games, three Commonwealth Games and six World Championships.
In 2007, she broke the oldest record in swimming for Australian women when she broke Tracey Wickham’s 29-year-old record in the 400m freestyle.
In 2008 at the Beijing Olympic Games she was part of the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team which won gold and broke the previous world record by six seconds.
In January 2009 she received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to sport as a gold medallist at the Beijing Olympic Games.
Bronte added to her medal tally at the 2012 London Olympics, winning an individual bronze medal in the 200m freestyle and silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Bronte ended her swimming career at the 2016 Rio Olympics where she finished 5th in the 200m freestyle in a personal best time and won silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Bronte is a member of the Australian Swimmers’ Association executive committee and now works as a radiographer in Brisbane.
Phyllis Danaher (class of 1925) – Ballet dancer and teacher
Phyllis Danaher was one of Queensland’s most influential ballet teachers and choreographers, playing a significant role in helping talented students realise their potential.
She was the founder of Ballet Theatre Queensland in 1937.
Phyllis started her dance training in the early 1920s while attending St Margaret’s. She performed with the Pavlova company and in J.C. Williamson’s musicals before establishing the Phyllis Danaher School of Ballet.
She gained her elementary certificate in the first Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) examinations held in Australia and, two years later was awarded the RAD advanced teacher’s certificate.
In 1937, Phyllis became the first deputy organiser for Queensland of the advisory committee to the RAD. She was a RAD examiner for 25 years before retiring from the role in 1982.
In 1983 she received a Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Dance in recognition of her long and outstanding service to the organisation and to the art of ballet.
Phyllis also established the Queensland branch of the Australasian Society of Operatic Dancing (later Queensland Ballet Society) and, under her presidency, the group founded what would become Ballet Theatre Queensland.
She choreographed several original works for Ballet Theatre Queensland and continued to produce and direct ballets (and even design costumes) for the company until the early 1980s. She also produced a work for the North Queensland Ballet’s opening season in 1970.
She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1969, becoming the first Queenslander to receive such an honour for services to dance.
Phyllis taught ballet at St Margaret’s between 1964 and 1985. She died in 1991.
Ballet Theatre Queensland awards an annual Phyllis Danaher memorial scholarship to a BTQ dancer.
Honourable Justice Sarah Derrington (class of 1984) – Federal Court judge
Sarah Derrington is president of the Australian Law Reform Commission.
She graduated from the University of Queensland with arts and law degrees before being admitted to the Bar in 1990. She also graduated in 1996 with a masters in law and in 1999 with a PhD in marine insurance law.
She was an associate to The Honourable Desmond Derrington, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland, and inaugural associate to The Honourable Tony Fitzgerald, former President of the Queensland Court of Appeal.
She became a Professor of Admiralty Law in 2008 and as a barrister specialised in maritime and shipping law, commercial law and arbitration. Her research interests lie in the areas of admiralty jurisdiction and practice, the carriage of goods by sea, and marine insurance.
Sarah became UQ’s first female Dean of Law in 2013, and was sworn in as a Federal Court judge and Australian Law Reform Commission president in January 2018.
She was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2009 and of the Nautical Institute in 2013.
She is a Past President of the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand.
She has also served on the board of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority and as a member of the Admiralty Rules Committee and the Council of the Australian National Maritime Museum. She is currently a director of the Australian Maritime College.
She attended St Margaret’s in her senior years after previously attending St Anne’s School in Townsville, Mentone Girls’ Grammar in Melbourne and St Hilda’s, Southport.
Sally Kehoe (class of 2003) – Rower and Olympian
Sally Kehoe discovered the sport of rowing in Year 8 at St Margaret’s and, since then, has become one of Australia’s most successful female rowers, competing at Olympic Games in Beijing (2008), London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016).
Sally won her first national championship when she was 14, and won gold for Australia at the Junior World Championship two years later, while still in Year 12.
Sally continued to move through the ranks of the national team, winning her first World Championship medal at 18.
Sally also won a record number of national championships in various boat classes and represented Queensland at the Interstate National Championships, becoming champion a record-breaking five times.
Sally remains the joint World Record holder for the women’s double scull; the record was set at the 2014 World Rowing Championship in the Netherlands.
While rowing full time, Sally successfully completed Bachelor and Master qualifications in economics and finance and, since retiring from rowing in 2016 after a back injury, has pursued a career in banking and finance.
Daphne Mayo (class of 1908) – Sculptor
Daphne Mayo has been acknowledged as one of Australia’s most important sculptors. She used the mediums of stone, clay, plaster, wood and bronze and, later in her life, turned to painting portraits.
After leaving St Margaret’s she attended the Brisbane Technical College. In 1914 she won a travelling scholarship enabling her to pursue her studies at the Royal Academy of Arts Sculpture School in London. There she was awarded Silver and Bronze medals and, in 1923, won the Gold Medal for sculpture and the Edward Stott Travelling Scholarship to Italy.
She returned to Australia in 1925 and completed monumental works in Brisbane. Some of her significant larger works include the Brisbane City Hall tympanum, the Queensland Women’s War Memorial in Anzac Square and the statue of Sir William Glasgow in Post Office Square.
Daphne undertook extraordinary physical labours creating her sculptures, with most carved in situ. She also had many private commissions for portrait busts in Queensland and interstate.
From 1940 she established a career as a sculptor in Sydney and, in 1960, returned to Brisbane where she remained until her death in 1982.
In 1950 she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to art.
Daphne was very committed to the promotion of art in Queensland, and was the first woman trustee of the Queensland Art Gallery from 1960 to 1967.
St Margaret’s recognises and honours Daphne Mayo with the biennial MAYO Arts Festival and the Friends of MAYO who raise funds to acquire artworks for the school.
Mel Buttle (class of 1999) – Comedian
Mel Buttle is a comedian, television and radio presenter and writer.
She currently co-hosts Foxtel’s The Great Australian Bake Off alongside Matt Moran, Maggie Beer and fellow comedian Claire Hooper.
She has also filmed a few episodes for Network Ten’s Celebrity Name Game.
In 2018 Mel was nominated for an AACTA award for Best Subscription TV female presenter.
Mel also writes a weekly column for The Courier-Mail’s QWeekend Magazine.
A boarder at St Margaret’s, Mel graduated in 1999 and completed a Bachelor of Secondary Education (Drama) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Marketing before deciding to pursue stand-up comedy.
In 2010, Mel performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Brisbane Comedy Festival and was nominated for Best Newcomer.
In 2012 she performed at the Sydney Fringe Festival and won Best Comedy. She returned to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, winning a Directors Choice Award.
Since then, Mel has toured the world with stand-up comedy, after being asked to perform in India, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, New York and Hong Kong.
Mel has appeared on television shows including The Project, The Weekly with Charlie Pickering and Hughesy and We Have a Problem.
Dr Hannah Krause (class of 1985) – Urogynaecologist
Hannah Krause completed her senior years at St Margaret’s and graduated from the University of Queensland with Bachelors of Medicine and Surgery in 1991.
In 1995, in Ethiopia, she witnessed the problems low-income women faced from complications arising from limited access to obstetric care, an experience which encouraged her to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology.
She completed her obstetrics and gynaecology specialty training with the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and was made a Fellow in 2003.
In 2006 she became a certified urogynaecologist.
She also has a Master of Philosophy from the University of Queensland.
Since 1995 Hannah has undertaken regular, self-funded volunteer medical missions in developing countries.
In 2016, she was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to medicine in the field of urology and gynaecology, particularly through surgical assistance to women in developing countries throughout Asia and Africa.
Una Prentice (class of 1931) – Lawyer
Una Prentice (nee Bick) started an Arts Degree at the University of Queensland after finishing school, and was then one of four people to enrol in the new law course offered through the TC Beirne School of Law in 1936.
She was the first law graduate of her cohort in 1938 and the first female admitted to the Bar in Queensland.
It wasn’t easy for Una to find work. She spent some time cataloguing the library of Sir James Blair (which became the nucleus of the UQ Law Library) and also worked for the Brisbane firm of Stephens & Tozer.
She was offered work with the Commonwealth Crown Solicitor at the start of World War II and, in 1942, became the first female lawyer employed in the Department.
She was also the Australian President of the Business and Professional Women’s Association.
Una married barrister Tony Prentice in 1946 and resigned upon the birth of her son in 1952.
In 1985, Una received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from UQ in recognition of her distinguished service to the cause of women, to the legal profession and to the university.
The Women’s Lawyers Association of Queensland presents an annual Una Prentice Award to recognise the achievements of the highest graduating female law student from each law school in Queensland.
Una was a keen supporter of St Margaret’s and was actively involved in the Old Girls’ Association as its vice president over many years. She was made an Honorary Life Member of the OGA in 1985.
Una died in 1986.
Geraldine Turner (class of 1967) – Actor and singer
Geraldine Turner began performing professionally as a child. She trained in ballet for 10 years and was a member of the Ballet Theatre of Queensland.
She received a Diploma of Education after leaving St Margaret’s but never taught, apart from master classes in musical theatre. She also studied classical singing at the Queensland Conservatorium for five years.
In the early 1970s, she began her adult career with the Queensland Theatre Company. She has continued to perform roles in theatre companies and major musical productions throughout her career, as well as television, film, recordings and radio.
She has appeared in the musicals Wicked, Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Oliver and Guys and Dolls. Her film credits include The Wog Boy, Break of Day and Careful He Might Hear You and she has appeared in plays such as Don’s Party, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll and Vagina Monologues.
Recent appearances include Ruthless: The Musical and in the television drama House Husbands.
Geraldine has also performed in operetta – including HMS Pinafore and The Mikado – and in cabaret – in Australia, New York, London, Vancouver and Berlin.
In the recording world, Geraldine is recognised internationally as a Stephen Sondheim interpreter – being the first artist to record and release an all-Sondheim album, shortly followed by another.
In 1988 she received a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the performing arts.
She has also won two prestigious Green Room Awards (in 1984 and 1989) and two Mo Awards (1988 and 1989).
Geraldine was federal president of Actors Equity for many years and stood as an independent for the Wingecarribee Shire Council in the 2008 NSW local government election.
Prue Galley (class of 1961) – Physiotherapist
Prue Galley, who was school captain in her final year, graduated with Honours in Physiotherapy from the University of Queensland in 1965.
She then worked as a clinician in Australia and the UK. She completed a Master’s Degree in Education and an Advanced Diploma in Choreology (Clinical).
She was a lecturer at the University of Queensland for many years.
Prue’s vision and advocacy in the 1970s led to the adoption of patient self-referral to physiotherapists, which had not previously been allowed. Australia led the world with this change and since then first-contact practice for physiotherapy has been adopted in many countries.
The World Confederation for Physical Therapy awarded Prue with its International Service Award (Practice) in 2011.
She is an Honoured Member of the Australian Physiotherapy Association and in 2013 received an Honorary Fellowship of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (London) for her pioneering work with the first-contact ethic.
She is also a Dame in the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem Knights Hospitaller.
Kate Gibson (class of 1996) – Lawyer
Bangkok-based Kate Gibson is an international lawyer, currently appearing as counsel before the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Kate, who was school captain in her final year at St Margaret’s, studied Arts/Law.
After working as a corporate lawyer in Brisbane, Kate entered the Master of Law program at Cambridge University in 2003. Both fascinated and horrified by conflicts and events around the world, she worked on a trial before the United Nations Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda in Tanzania.
Kate spent five years living in Tanzania and representing Rwandan accused, after which she appeared as counsel in international criminal trials involving conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2016 Kate was appointed as a Senior Consultant (Africa) with the International Development Law Organisation in Rome. In this role she presented training to counsel appearing in genocide cases before Rwandan domestic courts, as well as members of the judiciary hearing these cases.
In 2018 she was appointed as a legal consultant to the United Nations Fact Finding Mission for Myanmar in Geneva, working to produce a report detailing the human rights abuses committed in Myanmar since 2011.
Kate was awarded Bond University’s Alumni Award for Community Achievement in 2017.
Madeleine “Maddie” Edmunds (class of 2009) – Rower and Olympian
Maddie Edmunds is a five-time national champion rower who competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She started rowing at 13 and, inspired by past students including Sally Kehoe, made it her goal to represent Australia one day.
Maddie made her first Australian team at the age of 16, representing Australia at the world junior championships.
She won silver at the 2009 Junior World Championships and gold at the 2012 U23 World Championships.
At the senior level, she won medals at all three 2013 World Cups as part of the women’s quad scull.
In 2018, Maddie won the open women’s coxed eight title at the Australian Rowing Championships.
In February 2019, she announced she was stepping away from rowing.
Sarah “Sal” McConnel (class of 1914) – Doctor
Sal McConnel enrolled as a boarder at St Margaret’s in 1911.
She went on to study Medicine at the University of Sydney – perhaps inspired by her grandmother Mary McConnel, who established the first children’s hospital in Queensland.
She graduated in 1920 and, in 1922, sailed to England to do hospital work for some months, before settling in Western Australia, where she worked as a pathologist at Perth Public Hospital.
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