Tasmania’s Star Students: The Hutchins School
Premiers, neuroscientists, musicians and sports stars, Tasmania has produced some incredible people who have gone on to change the world. SEE THE FULL LIST of star students from Hutchins School.
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FROM premiers to neuroscientists, musicians to sports stars, the state’s school have seen incredible people educated within their walls that have gone on to change Australia — and the world.
The Mercury is shining a light on some of the state’s most prolific alumni as part of its Star Students series.
The Hutchins School is an Anglican day and boarding school for boys, catering from kindergarten to Year 12.
Established in 1846, it boasts a long tradition of developing men of character.
Meet The Hutchins School’s star students:
Nick Ellsmore
Nick Ellsmore is a Sydney-based entrepreneur who has founded and divested multiple cybersecurity businesses.
Stephen Gumley AO
Steve Gumley, a Rhodes scholar, was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from St Catherine’s College, Oxford University in 1982 and an MBA from the University of Tasmania in 1994.
After roles as CEO of Tasmanian Technology and export manufacturer Global Lightning Technologies Group, in 2004 Gumley was appointed the inaugural CEO of the Defence Materiel Organisation in Canberra responsible for acquiring and sustaining
all Australia’s military equipment.
In 2010 he was made an Officer of the order of Australia.
Tim Bowden AM
Tim Bowden AM is a former journalist, broadcaster and author whose work includes working as a foreign correspondent for the ABC in South-East Asia and North America, hosting ABC-TV’s viewer reaction program BackChat in the 1980s and 90s.
He was the first Executive Producer of the radio current affairs program PM which he began in 1969 and presented a six-part TV documentary series on Australians in Antarctica, Breaking the Ice, broadcast in 1994.
Bowden was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1994.
Tom Rimes
After studying in Australia and completing a Graduate Degree in America, Rimes worked as an orchestral conductor, opera composer and pianist for numerous symphony orchestras and opera houses around the world and was involved in projects that have spanned a broad range of music genres – from classical opera to gospel music to Broadway shows and rock music.
Jim Wilkinson
Jim Wilkinson is a former elite sportsman (AFL, cricket and Royal Tennis), lawyer and politician who was an independent member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council rising to the role of President from 2013 until his retirement from the council in May 2019.
He is currently Chair of the Tasmanian Football Board.
Paul Hudson
Paul Hudson is a former champion AFL player having played 245 games and kicking 479 goals.
He was a Hawthorn premiership player (1991) and that same year finished 5th in the Brownlow Medal. Hudson achieved all-Australian selection in 1998 and was a key member of the famous 1990 Tasmanian side that defeated Victoria, kicking 2 vital goals in the last quarter.
Luke Wagner
Luke Wagner is Hobart-based painter who paints Tasmanian landscapes.
He has exhibited in Hobart, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and been a finalist in prestigious prizes such as Hadley’s Art Prize, Tattersall’s Art Prize, Mosman, Lloyd Rees and the Glover Art Prize.
Subsequently his work in held in many well regarded public and private collections.
Ian Salter
Ian Salter qualified as an accountant and became a member of the Hobart Stock Exchange before moving to London in his early 20s.
Salter had a long and distinguished career in investment advice and rose to Managing Director of a financial services firm (SG Investment Management Ltd) which was later acquired by Tilney Investment Management.
He served as Deputy Chairman of the London Stock Exchange from 1990 until his retirement in 2004. Salter was previously a member of the Lloyd’s of London Authorisation Committee, the Financial Reporting Council and the Code Committee for the Takeover Panel.
Peter Dargaville
Professor Peter Dargaville completed his medical studies at UTAS prior to training in Neonatology at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne and later in San Francisco.
He has had a focus on infants with lung disease for which he was awarded an MD from the University of Melbourne in 2000.
He is currently working as a clinical researcher at Menzies Institute, with a focus on neonatal lung disease.
Will Hodgman
Will Hodgman was recently announced as Australia’s high commissioner to Singapore after a brief stint as Chair of the Australian Business Growth Fund.
He was previously Tasmania’s 45th Premier until his retirement from politics in January 2020. Will was a member of the Tasmanian parliament from 2002 to 2020 and prior to that practised law.
John Clark AM
John Clark has had an extraordinary career in theatre becoming a member of the Order of Australia, receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Tasmania and being recognised by independent Film Australia as a Living Legend.
In 1959 John was invited to teach at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney and was appointed Director of NIDA in 1969. In 1979 John was invited by the Premier of New South Wales to become the first Artistic Adviser to the Sydney Theatre Company. Retiring from NIDA after producing over 50 shows, John went on to produce plays in India, Singapore and China with his final production being Hamlet for the Hobart Old Nick in 2009.
Jim Pitman
Jim Pitman, a former Dux at The Hutchins School, is a Professor of Statistics & mathematics at Berkeley, University of California and has made an enormous contribution globally in the field of mathematical probability.
He has lived and worked on the west coast of the United States for over 40 years.
Greg Woolley
Greg Woolley has had an extensive career in global financial and investment markets after graduating from UTAS earning a commerce and law degree.
He practised Mergers and Acquisitions with Macquarie Bank and was subsequently the CEO of one of Australia’s most significant international, private investment houses for over a
decade.
He is currently the Chairman of Woolley Holdings, a private finance and investment company. He has served on many public, private, government and not for profit organisations throughout his career and his passions include the arts and philanthropy.
Andrew Kemp AM
Andrew Kemp was appointed Managing Director of Kemp & Denning Limited in 1963 and was Chairman of Directors from 1968 to 2011.
Andrew retired as a Director in 2014 and was responsible for introducing the ‘big
box’ warehouse retail model to the hardware sector in Australia in 1986, which Mitre10 and later Bunnings have emulated.
He was Tasmania’s first honorary Consul for Finland and has made a huge contribution to Tasmanian business and the broader community over many decades, reflected in being made a Member of the Order of Australia.
Brodie Neill
Brodie Neill completed a Masters in Furniture Design at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States and following a successful stint working for top brands in New York, Brodie established a studio in London’s East End in 2006, applying his progressive sculptural design aesthetic to a range of objects and quickly establishing himself within the international design industry.
He appears in Time Magazine’s annual Design 100 featuring the most influential designs of today and has collaborated with international brands including Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz and Alexander McQueen, and his limited edition works are included in museums, galleries and private collections around the globe.
David Hales
David Hales is an established hospitality entrepreneur and property investor.
His career began when he bought a fish punt in Hobart, prior to branching out into a gourmet supermarket and various hospitality venues, including pizza restaurants, bars and nightclubs. He later established boutique burger chain, Betty’s Burgers which he named after his late grandmother.
Adam Wertheimer
Adam Wertheimer is a former Junior World Rowing champion (2006).
Having graduated in medicine at UTAS in 2013, he is now completing his surgical training in orthopaedics.
Dale Fisher
Dale Fisher graduated in medicine and completed his intern year in Darwin before completing specialist training at the Royal Prince Albert Hospital in Sydney.
He is now one of the world’s leading experts on COVID-19, advising the World Health Organisation’s Director General as a Professor and senior consultant in infectious diseases at Singapore’s National University Hospital.
Dale was instrumental in the successful Singaporean approach to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter Heyward
Peter Heyward, a former Dux, was the ambassador to Timor Leste from January 2008 to February 2011.
He was also formerly Australia’s Ambassador to Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela and High Commissioner to Pakistan in a diplomatic career spanning 25 years.
Robert O’Connor
Robert O’Connor is the 2019 Glover Prize recipient, Tasmania’s most prestigious award for landscape painting.
Having been selected as a finalist four times since the award’s establishment in 2004, O’Connor’s winning painting is not only creatively ambitious, but speaks to cultural and ecological concerns.
In particular the Hobart-based artist was interested in the links between European colonisation and farming, and the effects of these on Tasmania.
Keith Meure
Keith Meure is a leading film industry visual effects artist. He has received 2 Oscar nominations (Visual effects) for Mad Max Fury Road and Christopher Robins and has won an Emmy for Game of Thrones.
Other film credits include Lion, Terminator: Dark Fate, Aquaman and Ghostbusters.
Tom Holloway
Tom Holloway is an Australian playwright, based in Melbourne as of May 2015.
Holloway’s plays have been performed across Australia and internationally, including Beyond the Neck at Belvoir St Theatre, Red Sky Morning at Red Stitch Actors Theatre and regional tour, and Don’t Say the Words
Hamish Peacock
Hamish Peacock is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin.
He has competed at the Commonwealth Games and the Olympics and has won gold at the Australian Championships.
Bob Clifford AO
Bob Clifford is an Australian shipbuilder, entrepreneur, and businessman, best known for his success in building his Incat catamaran building company into an international brand that sells wave piercing catamaran ferries all over the world including to the US military and many European ferry operators.
Peter Newman AO
Peter Newman is the Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. Peter is an academic who has written 20 books and over 350 papers on sustainable cities with a global reputation and has worked to deliver his ideas in all levels of government.
Peter has been an elected councillor in Fremantle, an Adviser to three Premiers in Western Australia and has been a member of the Board of Infrastructure Australia and the Prime
Minister’s Cities Reference Group.
Craig Webb
Craig Webb has worked tirelessly to build what is now the only dedicated facility in Tasmania for the rehabilitation of raptors.
His single-minded determination and commitment to Tasmania’s birds of prey has seen him construct the largest flight aviaries in Australia.
He is committed to educating children and adults alike about the threats to Tasmania’s raptors and what we can do to help them.
Saul Eslake
Saul Eslake has had a distinguished career in economics, holding positions at NAB, ANZ and several international banks.
He has also held positions at Grattan Institute, is a regular media contributor and consults in thought leadership, strategy and analysis.
Cameron Wurf
Cameron Wurf is an Australian professional triathlete and road cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Ineos Grenadiers.
He was a national champion and Australian representative rower – a 2004 Olympian who won a World Rowing U23 Championships title in 2003.
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