Pittwater House’s most outstanding former students, top alumni list includes Ocean Alley
They’re some of the best and brightest in their field, from a military chief, to rock stars and a top scientist. Read our definitive list of the most outstanding students to come out of Pittwater House.
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From a military hero to a process chemist and a rock star, Pittwater House has some impressive former students to call their own.
The Manly Daily, with the help of school, has put together a list of the most successful students. Their stories are inspirational.
Major General Roger Noble, Head of Military Strategic Commitment
He’s one of the most senior officers in the Australian Army and has faced ISIS in Iraq, where he served three times, been sent to Afghanistan twice and helped East Timor transition into independence.
Major General Roger Noble’s latest role is Head of Military Strategic Commitments based in Canberra.
Before that his last posting was a two-year stint in Hawaii, which he admits was a little more pleasant than other spots he has been in his 35 years of service, and a good place to surf, a pastime he has continued since his northern beaches school days.
He said going to Iraq three times, the first in 1992 when Saddam Hussein was still in charge, the second in 2005, during the rise of the insurgency and the third when allies helped the locals to win back the city of Mosul, are some of the most significant moments of his career.
He said when Australia went back into Iraq in 2005 he commanded the first Al Muthanna Task Group cavalry battlegroup.
It was a turbulent time in the country’s history and there was some grim times, according to Maj Gen Noble.
In 2016 he was deployed with the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division, as Deputy Coalition Land Force Commander.
The aim was to help the Iraqis regain their country and one of the big coups was winning back Mosul from ISIS within a year.
He said during his career he has spent a lot of time travelling around Iraq talking to the people, likening them to the “Australians of the Middle East”, pragmatic with a good sense of humour.
He looks forward to the day when Iraq is a holiday destination and his dream is to go back as a tourist, “not turn up with guns”.
Going into Afghanistan, following the World Trade Centre attacks, was another challenging moment.
He said it felt like the “world came together” to find those who did it and hold them to account.
He said it was a momentous undertaking to achieve their goals.
Maj Gen Noble was also sent into East Timor in 2001 to 2002, to assist East Timor’s transition to independence from Indonesia.
He said he was reminded of his time there this week, which marks the 20th anniversary of the Sydney Olympic Games.
He said the Australians put up a huge screen in the village of Suia and invited the locals to watch the opening ceremony.
He said they arrived in all their finery and watched in silence until they saw the dance incorporating the corrugated iron, a material widely used in the building of their homes.
Maj Gen Noble said they all went crazy and kept saying, “Thank you, Australia”.
Going back to his childhood, he moved to the northern beaches as a young boy, after the sugar company his father worked for moved to Sydney.
He went to Manly West Public, before going to Pittwater House.
He was an all rounder, played rugby and cricket and surfed before and after school and all day at the weekend.
He was in the cadets at school and applied for a scholarship in the army aged 16. He joined aged 17 after his HSC exams. He had the option of going to university to study law, but chose the army.
He has since gained a multitude of academic qualifications.
He holds a first class honours degree in history, a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters of Defence Studies.
In 2008 he won a General Sir John Monash Award and the DFAT Fulbright Scholarship.
He accepted the Monash Award and completed a Masters of International Public Policy (with honours) at the John Hopkins University, in Washington.
He commenced a PhD at ADFA in 2010 on Australian Military Strategy from 1901-2006.
While he would love to live on the northern beaches, his job has taken him elsewhere, including the US where he met his wife, a journalist and author called Daniella Brodsky, with whom he has two daughters.
Despite living in a multitude of different places, he is still a diehard Manly Sea Eagles fan and only has positive memories of the peninsula and his school years.
He visits Manly whenever he is Sydney and is still in touch with many of his school friends.
Mitch Galbraith, 28, rock star
It took Mitch Galbraith a little while to work out what he was going to do in life.
It was a leap of faith deciding to become a full-time member of the rock band Ocean Alley.
While, he took a few different career paths before he decided on a life of music, he’s a firm believer in doing what makes you happy, and that you can’t make a mistake, you just learn from them.
He left Pittwater House – where he was educated from kindy all the way through to HSC – with good enough grades to study engineering at university, a career he thought he wanted to do.
After two and a half years he quit the degree, despite being worried he was letting his parents down, although they were supportive, and did some work on a building site.
A year and a half later, he decided to go back to uni and do a fine arts degree.
He was there a year when he quit to concentrate on the band after it was confirmed they had an international tour if they wanted it.
He said it “was a bit weird to say to people, ‘I’m quitting to be in a rock band’”.
Galbraith, who basically taught himself the guitar, said all the members had to make similar decisions, but after four years of playing in his parents’ garage, at house parties and at small pubs, they knew they had something good and the opportunity was too good to turn down.
He said having his brother Lachlan, 27, and his best mate at school Baden Donegal, 28, as well as three other good friends, also meant it was great fun, despite the odd fist fight.
Both his brother – who Galbraith describes as his best mate as well as his brother – and Donegal went to Pittwater House too.
Galbraith said he has great memories of the school and in particular loved science and sport; playing water polo, cricket and rugby.
In Year 6 he was made house captain.
His first experience of putting on a live show was behind the scenes doing the lighting for a school theatre production.
The idea of being in a band came a little later when he was in Year 11. His brother had always played piano and had formal lessons, while he dabbled with the guitar. They started rehearsing in a shed, then a garage and progressed from there.
The band would offer to play at house parties as a way of getting an invite and would set up in people’s “muddy backyards” just happy to be there.
He said when they got $200 for their first gig at the Mona Vale Hotel, as it was known then, they thought they were “the coolest dudes out there”.
Their first recording was Yellow Mellow in 2013, and highlights since have been winning the Hottest 100 two years ago, which is voted by the public.
He said playing at Splendour in the Grass to 25,000 people was also an incredible moment.
COVID-19 has put a stop to live gigs for the time being, but the band met at Coffs Harbour last week. Half the band members live in Byron Bay, the other half in Newport, on the northern beaches.
They reconnected, “demoed some cool music” and had a good time.
The plan is to record and make the best record ever.
While, he said it’s never guaranteed it’s best not to look too far down the tunnel and live in the present.
Belinda Tumbers, nee Barlow, 46, Managing Director Asia, Middle East and Africa for Kellogg’s
A former house captain at Pittwater House Belinda Tumbers wanted to be a lawyer.
The Bilgola Plateau girl was a disciplined, academically-minded student, who was fully immersed in school life and sports including water polo, netball and basketball.
But despite working hard, she didn’t quite get the marks to study law.
After a gap year in the UK, she studied hospitality and got a job in a five-star hotel.
It didn’t suit her and she changed career course again, finding herself a job as a receptionist at an advertising company.
She worked her way up to account executive for Kellogg’s, before being headhunted by the company.
She’s now worked for Kellogg’s for 23 years and the job has taken her all over the world.
She’s lived in Arkansas and Michigan in the US, Auckland in New Zealand and now Singapore.
Currently Ms Tumbers heads up a division that takes in SE Asia, Africa, Middle East, Japan and Korean and Australia and New Zealand.
She is responsible for salty snacks such as Pringles.
She lives with her husband Brad Tumbers, who is also a former Pittwater House student in her brother’s year, and their two daughters.
Ms Tumbers said she is proud to have made it to the position she is in and she spends time mentoring other women and encouraging them to pursue big corporate roles.
Her advice to current students is not to be too rigid in your career path, to go into the workforce with an open mind, work hard and see where it takes you.
Dr Robert Dancer, principal scientist in Denmark
A self-confessed nerd Robert Dancer always knew he wanted to be a scientist.
He was always curious and his favourite question was, ‘Why?’.
In primary school he loved maths, and wanted to become a physicist.
However, at secondary school the world of organic chemistry (i.e. the chemistry of carbon-containing compounds; essentially all drugs, plastics, proteins, DNA, you name it) was opened up to him, and he realised he wanted to be a research chemist.
Mathematics was also a fascination for him and so two of his favourite teachers at Pittwater House were Mr Larkin and Mr Farr. He remembers Mr Lloyd as having a fabulous command of the English language.
Dr Dancer graduated from Pittwater House in 1980 before moving on to the University of Sydney where he eventually completed his PhD in organic chemistry.
Dr Dancer was then awarded a postdoctoral research associateship at the University of Queensland, working on trying to find molecules that would block a key enzyme in HIV, potentially leading to improved treatments for AIDS.
During that time he received improved asthma medications for his own health condition which had plagued him since the age of there.
The improved drugs changed his life.
Previously he had not been able to run more than 100m or so before suffering a huge asthma attack.
It became clear to him that he wanted to be a part of helping others in a similar manner to that which he had been helped.
From Queensland he moved to Cambridge looking at understanding how certain bacteria become resistant to certain antibiotics, and what to do about it.
On a trip to Denmark he met his wife and eventually he was offered a position with one of Denmark’s big three pharmaceutical companies and he is now based in Copenhagen.
At one of these companies he is the principal scientist in process development.
It is his responsibility that the chemical processes for the new drugs they develop are suitable for use on a larger scale.
Dr Dancer doesn’t own a car in Copenhagen, and cycles everywhere, even during winter when for three months of the year the temperature does not rise above three degrees centigrade.
He also sings in a choir, is an amateur landscape photographer and looks forward to getting back to the bush whenever he’s back in Australia.
Gianni Stensness, professional football for Central Coast Mariners
It’s every schoolboy’s dream to be a professional sports player.
And, for 21-year-old Gianni Stensness, a former Manly United player, it’s come true.
With his father being New Zealand-born, he can play for both Australia and New Zealand.
The Aussies considered him for their U19s squad, but passed.
The following year Australia’s U20s did not qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, leaving Stensness available for the New Zealand side.
It was an amazing opportunity that took the midfielder to Poland where the team had a successful campaign and where people are still talking about his wonder goal against Norway.
He’s also previously played for the New Zealand side, Wellington Phoenix.
Currently, he is closer to home after signing with the Central Coast Mariners, while also juggling a four year Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of science course, majoring in financial economics and psychology.
Now living in Terrigal, he was travelling back to Sydney for lectures at the University of NSW, although since COVID a lot of his study has been online.
Stensness, whose family home is in Narrabeen, said his mantra is, “Don’t waste time”.
He believes squeezing in his studies in between his football commitments is good for his future.
He was the DUX his year in 2017, so he certainly has the brains as well as brawn and while he doesn’t know what he wants to pursue after his football career he wants to have a good back up plan for when it ends.
That, hopefully, could be 15 years off.
In the meantime, Stensness uses the words “passionate” and “excel” when describing himself and his attitude.
He said he is willing to give everything to supporting the club he plays for and helping the team be the best it can be.
Cameron Peupion, 17, playing for English Premier League club Brighton and Hove Albion
Another brilliant footballer, another brilliant midfielder.
Peupion is a Sydney FC Academy graduate and former Manly United player who has now made his home on the south coast of England after signing with EPL team Brighton and Hove Albion this year.
He’s part of their U8s program.
He trialled with the team in January and there was some uncertainty following the COVID pandemic about what would happen, but he signed last month.
Peupion said the signing is a dream come true and it’s what he’s always wanted since he was a little kid.
Last year he played in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil, making four appearances for the Australia squad. His performance turned heads.
The Curl Curl teen at least has some Aussie back up in the UK, with Socceroo stars Mat Ryan and Aaron Mooy also in the squad.
He said he had too many favourite teachers at Pittwater House to name, and that they were “all legends”. He added that he was continuing his studies in the UK while playing soccer.
Watch this space.
Tracey Holmes, sports broadcaster and news journalist
Veteran journalist and TV anchor Tracey Holmes was born at Manly Hospital into a local surfing family.
Her dad was a board shaper and her mum competed and organised surf competitions in South Africa.
Not surprisingly, much of her early life revolved around the ocean and she travelled the world with her parents seeking the best waves.
While her sister Jodi went onto become a professional surfer, Holmes said she was always more into the social side. She liked to paddle out the back for a chat.
The family lived in South Africa and then Hawaii, before returning to the northern beaches, where Holmes went to Narrabeen Public and then Pittwater House, where she became school captain.
She said she was academic at school, though she was known as a “bit of a talker”, and loved all the extra curricular activities including cadets, drama and sport.
While she worked hard, she had no idea what she wanted to do.
In the end she decided to pursue public relations at TAFE, and her first job was representing the world surfing circuit.
It was a great fit, as she knew everyone in that world.
She then became the publicist for the Australian Bicentennial Authority’s Sport 88 Program, occasionally filing stories for AAP if they couldn’t send a journalist.
When a traineeship became available at the national broadcaster in 1989, Holmes applied and got it.
She quickly progressed and was the first female host to present Grandstand.
She has also covered 12 Olympic Games, summer and winter.
Among the companies she has worked for are the ABC, SBS and Channel 7, as well as stations overseas including CNN, and ones in Hong Kong, China and Dubai where she interviewed Sheik Mohammed, a great get as he was not one who made himself readily available for journalists.
She has hosted her own radio and TV shows.
Currently, she hosts two shows on ABC New Radio, the Drive, covering rolling news and world issues, and T he Ticket, which centres around politics and sport, every Sunday.
The Ticket is set to become a multi-platform show.
Holmes lives with husband and fellow journalist Stan Grant, a keen supporter of indigenous rights. They have three boys, two from his previous marriage.