St Peter’s Lutheran College’s most outstanding former students
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 Peter’s Lutheran College at Indooroopilly.
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We asked Brisbane schools to nominate their most outstanding former students and the response has been overwhelming. From Supreme Court judges to musicians, artists and more than a few politicians, their lists prove our schools have long been producing leaders in their fields and continue to do so. Today we present the most notable alumni of St Peter’s Lutheran College at Indooroopilly.
BRISBANE SCHOOLS ALUMNI HONOUR ROLLS
* Brisbane Girls Grammar School
* St Rita’s College, Clayfield
SIGRID THORNTON
Actress
After graduating from St Peter’s, Sigrid began an acting career which has made her a household name in Australia.
Known for playing strong women, highlights of her long career include roles in Australian classics such as The Man From Snowy River and All The Rivers Run.
Her television credits have included roles in Homicide, Division 4, Cop Shop, The Sullivans and Prisoner.
More recently, she starred as Laura Joy Gibson in the television series SeaChange, winning the Most Outstanding Actress award in 1999 and 2000, as well as a tough-talking detective in Underbelly: The Golden Mile.
Sigrid has been honoured with three Silver Logies — Best Lead Actress in All the Rivers Run in 1984 and Most Outstanding Actress for SeaChange in 1999 and 2000.
She is also known for her work with World Vision, the Royal Children’s Hospital, Vision Australia, Reach Foundation and other charitable causes and has lobbied successive governments to keep libraries open and to resource the Australian film and television industry.
She has been appointed to several federal and state film bodies, including Film Victoria and is involved in helping to sustain and develop the industry.
LISA GASTEEN
Opera singer
Lisa is an internationally-acclaimed operatic soprano, renowned for her performances of the works of Wagner.
After studying at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music she made her operatic debut in 1985 with the Lyric Opera of Queensland, now Opera Queensland, and has been a regular guest artist with Opera Australia.
After winning the 1991 Cardiff Singer of the World competition, Lisa made her British debut in 1992 and was invited to perform in Europe and the United States with companies including Welsh National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, Scottish Opera and with the opera companies of Strasbourg, Stuttgart, Zurich, Dallas and Washington.
She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 1997.
Lisa was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the 2006 Australia Day Honours.
In 2011, she founded the Lisa Gasteen National Opera School which offers developing Australian and New Zealand singers world class training and career development.
She is currently on the staff of the Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University as a singing teacher and Practice Professor of Opera.
SHANE GOULD
Olympic swimmer
One of the greatest swimmers Australia has ever produced, Shane was born in Sydney in 1956 and moved to Fiji with her family at the age of 18 months.
By the age of six, she was a competent swimmer and when her family moved to Brisbane she attended primary school at St Peters Lutheran College.
By the time Shane reached high school, her family had moved back to Sydney.
At the 1972 Olympics in Munich, she won three gold medals, setting a world record in each race. She also won a bronze and a silver medal.
She is the only person, male or female, to hold every world freestyle record from 100 metres to 1500 metres and the 200 metre individual medley world record simultaneously.
She was the first female swimmer ever to win three Olympic gold medals in world record time, and the first swimmer, male or female, to win Olympic medals in five individual events in a single Olympics.
She is also the only Australian to win three individual gold medals at a single Olympics.
At the age of 17, Shane retired from competitive swimming, citing pressures placed upon her by her success and media profile.
More than two decades later, she returned to competitive swimming at Masters level and set Australian Masters records in the 40-44 years 100m, 200m, and 400m freestyle and 100m butterfly and the 45-49 years 50m butterfly, 100m and 200m freestyle.
In 2003, Shane broke the world record for the 45-49 years 200m individual medley, beating the 1961 world record for all ages.
She was named Best Sportswoman in the World in 1971, the ABC Sportswoman of the Year in 1971 and 1972 and Australian of the Year in 1972.
Shane as inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1977, made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1981 and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.
At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, she was one of the elite runners who carried the Olympic Torch in the stadium before the lighting of the Olympic Flame.
Shane was awarded an AM in the 2019 Australia Day Honours for her services to swimming.
CONRAD LOHE QC
Former Crown Solicitor
Mr Lohe’s career in the Crown Law Office began in June 1969 when he started work as a clerk in the prosecutions branch while completing his legal studies at Queensland University.
He was admitted as a barrister in March 1971 and appointed a Crown Prosecutor in September 1972.
During his time as a prosecutor, Mr Lohe participated in a number of significant cases, including the trial of Alexander Duncan Carstens for murder, and the two trials of Peter Vivian Wardrop, also for murder.
In December 1985 he was appointed Assistant Crown Solicitor in charge of the then Appeals and Advocacy Branch and in 1991 was appointed to head Crown Law’s Civil and Commercial Branch.
Mr Lohe was appointed Acting Crown Solicitor in May 1999 and formally appointed to the position in May 2000.
During his career, he was involved in several significant whole-of-government projects, most notably his long membership of the Co-ordinating Committee on Child Abuse which oversaw the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect teams.
He also contributed to several committees reviewing the Criminal Code and, as Crown Solicitor, advised the Attorney-General in relation to petitions for pardon.
Mr Lohe advised the State on many significant legal matters, including a claim made on behalf of former Premier, Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen, for compensation and legal costs arising out of the 1987 Fitzgerald Inquiry.
He also advised the government on constitutional reforms in the State, in particular on the bills for The Constitution of Queensland 2001 and The Parliament of Queensland Act 2001.
Mr Lohe was presented with an Australia Day Achievement Medallion in 2006 and was a founding member of The Crown Law Choir in 2002.
He was also a contributing author of the book Sir Samuel Griffith: The Law and the Constitution, published in 2002.
ARIARNE TITMUS
Olympic swimmer
Originally from Tasmania, Ariarne and her family moved to Brisbane to develop her swimming career.
The move paid dividends as at the 2018 Commonwealth Games she won gold in the 4 x 200 metre freestyle event and in December that year set a new world record in the women’s short course 400m freestyle competition of the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships.
Ariarne was one of 27 swimmers chosen to represent Australia at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
After finishing second in her heat of the women’s 400 metre freestyle, she won the gold medal and broke the Oceania record in the final with a time of 3:58.76, making her the first Australian woman to claim the world 400 metre title since Tracey Wickham in 1978.
MADDIE WILSON
Olympic swimmer
Maddie won two medals as a member of Australian relay teams at the 2014 FINA World Swimming Championships in Doha — a silver in the women’s 4×100-metre medley relay and a bronze in the women’s 4×200-metre freestyle relay.
At the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Russia she won three medals — gold as a member of the winning Australian team in the women’s 4×100-metre freestyle relay, silver in the women’s 100-metre backstroke and bronze in the women’s 4×100-metre medley relay.
At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Maddie represented Australia in the 100m backstroke, finishing eighth in the final.
DANE BIRD SMITH
Athlete
Dane is a racewalking athlete who competes in the 20km event at international level.
He took the bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has represented Australia at the World Championships in Athletics three times (2013, 2015 and 2017) as well as appearing four times at the IAAF World Race Walking Team Championships/Cup.
Dane won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, the 2015 Summer Universiade and the 2014 and 2018 Oceania Race Walking Championships.
He holds the Oceanian continental records for the 3000 metres walk and 5000 metres walk.
REBECCA SPARROW
Author
Over the past 25 years Rebecca Sparrow has earned a living as a travel writer, a television publicist, a marketing executive, a magazine editor, a TV scriptwriter, a radio producer, a newspaper columnist and an author.
She is the author of three best-selling novels The Girl Most Likely, The Year Nick McGowan Came to Stay and Joel and Cat Set The Story Straight (co-authored with Nick Earls).
Since 2009 Rebecca has focused on writing nonfiction books for teenage girls to help them navigate those tricky high school years — the path from childhood to adulthood.
Those books include Find Your Tribe (and 9 other things I wish I’d known in high school); Find Your Feet (The 8 things I Wish I’d Known Before I Left High School) and the best-selling Ask Me Anything (heartfelt answers to 65 anonymous questions from teenage girls).
Her great passion is helping teen girls and their parents navigate high school friendships, have a more positive experience online and understand that despite what society tells them they are enough just as they are.
Aside from writing books, Rebecca writes for Mamamia, co-hosted two seasons of the award-winning health and happiness podcast The Well with good friend Robin Bailey and plays Agony Aunt to teenagers across the country on the Ask Me Anything podcast.
Rebecca is an ambassador for The Pyjama Foundation and Suncorp’s #TeamGirls initiative.
In 2018 she was invited to sit on the Queensland Government’s Anti-Bullying Taskforce.
MOSES SOROVI
Rugby union player
Hailing from Yam Island in the Torres Strait, Moses Sorovi moved to Brisbane to further his education at St. Peters Lutheran College, but stayed to pursue opportunities in rugby.
Known for his speed of service and knack for challenging the defensive line, Sorovi was named in the 2013 All Australian Schoolboya team before progressing through the ranks of Queensland Rugby, excelling with the Queensland Under-20s and Brisbane City in the National Rugby Championship.
The talented scrum half made his Super Rugby debut in 2017 and further established himself last year, signing a new contract with the Queensland Reds to continue being part of the squad for at least another two seasons.
STEVEN CIOBO
Politician
After leaving St Peters, Steven graduated in law and commerce from Bond University and earned a master’s degree in law from the Queensland University of Technology.
He then worked as a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand, as a senior consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, and as an adviser to Senator Brett Mason before winning the federal seat of Moncrieff for the LNP in 2001.
During his political career, Steven served as the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment in the Turnbull Government until his resignation in August 2018 in the wake of the Liberal Party leadership spill.
He previously served as Minister for International Development and the Pacific and earlier as a parliamentary secretary in the Abbott Government, initially to the Treasurer and later to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Trade and Investment.
Peter retired from politics at the 2019 federal election.
ROD HAUSER
Rugby union player
Rod Hauser was an outstanding rugby union scrum half who played with the Wallabies 15 times from 1973 to 1979.
During his international rugby career he played in New Zealand, Tonga, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, including the first match between America and Australia in 1976.
After his playing career ended Rod, a devoted Christian, joined the staff at St Peter’s Lutheran College, where he stayed for four years.
PETER ROENNFELDT
Music professor
After graduating from St Peter’s, Peter Roennfeldt completed degrees at the University of Queensland and University of Adelaide, graduating with a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Cincinnati USA, majoring in piano performance.
Throughout his sterling career, he has performed as a pianist, harpisochordist and choral conductor and is a former president of the National Council of Tertiary Music Schools and the Australian National Choral Association.
He went on to spend 30 years on the staff of Griffith University’s Queensland Conservatorium of Music, retiring in 2017.
He served in executive roles for much of his tenure, including seven years as director.
An avid local history buff, he wrote the history of the conservatorium, covering the first 50 years from 1957 to 2007.
NOEL PEARSON
Aboriginal activist and lawyer
Noel grew up at Hopevale, a Lutheran Mission on Cape York Peninsula, where he attended primary school before becoming a boarder at St Peters Lutheran College.
After school, he studied at the University of Sydney, graduating with degrees in history and law.
In 1990 Noel co-founded the Cape York Land Council, where he was executive director until 1996.
His first official appointment was to a Queensland government taskforce which was formed to develop land rights legislation. He was also a legal advisor for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission.
In 1993 Noel acted as representative of the traditional owners in the first successful land claim to the Flinders Island and Cape Melville national parks.
Following the Mabo decision of the High Court of Australia, he played a key part in negotiations over the Native Title Act 1993 as a member of the Indigenous negotiating team.
In 2004, he became the director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership.
BART PHILEMON
Politician
A boarder from the Lae area of Papua New Guinea, Bart attended St Peter’s in the early 1960s and went on to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree before working in the aviation industry, holding the position of assistant general manager of Air Niugini (PNG’s national airline) from 1973 to 1980.
From 1982 to 1986, he served as chairman of the National Airlines Commission and was also prominent in the poultry and fruit industries.
Bart chaired the South Pacific Festival of Arts in 1980, and the South Pacific Games Foundation for the 1991 South Pacific Games, held in Port Moresby.
He first entered politics in his native Morobe Province, being elected to the Morobe Provincial Assembly from 1984-1988.
In the 1992 general election, he was elected as MP for Lae to the National Parliament, a seat he was to hold for 20 years.
During his political career, Bart served as PNG’s Minister for Public Service, Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Finance and Minister for Bougainville Affairs, in charge of relations with the Autonomous Bougainville Government following the civil war on Bougainville Island.
During his term as Minister for Finance, PNG’s economic growth was restored, earning him wide respect for his economic reforms.
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