Category: Alumni

John Goldie (1979) has been a financial planner for over 35 years and is a director of Paramount Financial Solutions in West Leederville. He grew up with his parents Nellie and George, in Bournemouth Crescent, Wembley Downs, where George – who turns 104 in October – still lives!

John came to Marist Junior College, Subiaco, from Year 4 in 1971; and to Marist College, Churchlands, for Years 8-12 from 1975. He excelled at basketball, introduced as a sport in the late 1960s by (former) Br Leo Keegan, and was in Year 10 when Marist College transitioned to Newman College in 1977.

John recalls that when he started at Churchlands, the Deputy Principal was Mr Peter McGowan (Chemistry Teacher 1966-1977), who established the Newman Churchlands Swimming Club and coached there for many years. John is still friends with his son Mark McGowan (1979), but is careful to make the distinction Mark is not our past Premier!

Following in John’s footsteps was his sister Dr Cassandra Goldie AO (1981), who was Head Girl and Dux of her year. Cassandra now lives in Sydney, and is CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and an Adjunct Professor with the University of New South Wales. 

In 1985 while in London, John met his future wife, Jo, a Santa Maria girl from the Class of 1979. On their return to Perth they settled in Churchlands, around 250m from us. Naturally, in time, they sent their three children Benjamin, Elijah,and Madeline Goldie (2013, 2014 and 2016) to Newman, and loved the short walk to school each day.

Today Ben (after three years as a Phys Ed teacher at St Mary’s College, Broome, with some fellow Newmanites) is a Phys Ed Teacher back at Newman; Elijah is a paramedic in London; and Maddy, after a few ski seasons in Canada, is back nursing in post-op care at Perth Children’s Hospital.

When their children were young, John became heavily involved in junior sport at the Marist Football Club, at a time when Bern Willett (1976) was Secretary of the Committee. During his 14 years with the Club, of which he is a Life Member, he served as Auskick Coordinator, Vice President and President, and was involved in the installation of lights on the Br Terrence Gleeson Oval, and the digital scoreboard on the side of the Gymnasium. He was also on the committee for the Newman Churchlands Swimming Club and, for eight years, coached two teams of the Newman Holy Rosary Raiders Basketball Club, and spent five years as Chairman of the Newman Sports’ Association.

During this time John saw so many children of the people he and Cassandra went to school with, he reached the conclusion many Newmanites don’t move very far away!

These days John still loves living close by. As he has for many years now, he still walks his dog, Elsie, around Lavalla Oval most mornings, and sometimes makes use of the tennis courts, too!

Top Left: Sister Declan’s Year 12 Contact Group, 1979
Back, L-R: Phillipa Casey, Anthony Dorosz, Christopher Bell, Christine Fellowes, John Goldie, James Campbell, Suzanne Rowe
Middle: Christine Neylon, Vicki Johnston, Philip O’Connor, Peter McArtney, Peter Worthy, Paul Laidman, Catherine Halligan-Jolly, Vanessa Nathan
Front: Peta Cohen, Jocelyn Craig, Karen Phatouras, Jillian Smithson, Cassandra Brewster, Suzanne Gardiner, Vikki Raynor, Louise MacDonald

Top centre, L-R: John and Jo Goldie with their son Elijah (2014) and his partner Alicia Britton. Elijah and Alicia went to the Newman Year 12 Ball together in 2014 and are both currently working in London.

Jenny Lindsay (Macauley 1972) is the oldest daughter of Tom and Mary nee Zencich, and attended Siena, Dominican Girls’ High School in Doubleview from Years 8-12, 1968-1972. Her sister Robyn Robertson (Macauley 1976) followed her to Siena, and her brother Wayne Macauley (1979), attended Marist College, Churchlands.  

Jenny discovered her call to be a teacher during primary schooling at St Dominic’s; then one of the feeder schools for Siena Girls’ High School. It wasn’t until she came to Siena in 1968 she recognised she wanted to be a high school teacher and, ideally, return to teach at her alma mater. In February 1976, after Teachers’ College, Jenny realised her dream, working alongside many of her former teachers who had inspired those dreams. 

In 1977 Siena, Brigidine and Marist Colleges united to form Newman College, and Jenny has since seen Newman transform into the thriving co-educational school we are today. Over the years she has seen and done it all, and taught myriad subjects, from Speech and Drama to Religious Education. Just as she experienced when she was a young teacher starting out at Siena, some of her former students are now her colleagues. Many have also sent their own children to Newman, which has maintained the sense of connection and led to the profound experience of Jenny having taught the children of some of her former Year 9 students from the 1970s and 1980s! 

Jenny’s family have been hugely significant in their support of her during the nearly 30 years she taught Drama at Siena and Newman Siena.  Her father Tom, husband David, and sister Robyn all helped construct and paint backdrops for productions whenever required, while her mother Mary joined the staff, making or serving afternoon tea or supper, during interval.  Later, her daughter Rachel Heilers (Lindsay 1996) and son, Adam Lindsay (2001) helped in all kinds of capacities backstage, including stage management.  

Aside from teaching, Jenny has also been a key driver of social justice initiatives, from organising Christmas hampers for Vinnies, to starting a student-led Social Justice group in 2006. 

In 2019, Jenny retired from full-time teaching and was recognised with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Marist Education Award’, honouring her decades of service.  

Throughout her years here, Jenny has felt tremendously supported by the College community, which has seen her flourish from a student to a wife, mother, grandmother and, sadly, with the loss of her husband David in 2012, widow.  

Unfortunately, COVID ruined Jenny’s 2020 plans to travel. Instead, she had both knees replaced and, since March 2021, has been working back at Newman as a relief teacher, continuing her significant contribution to our School as she has for nearly five decades.   

Eden Rigo (2015) was recently selected, from a field of six worthy candidates, as the 2025 Rhodes Scholar for Western Australia. Eden is our second Rhodes Scholar, the first being Dr Bronte Adams AM (1980), and we could not be more proud of her incredible achievement! 

Eden, the younger sister of Gioia Rigo (2010), came to Newman College in Year 5 and loved her years here, and has many fond memories of teachers and other staff. In Romero Guild, she was in the ACC Athletics and Swimming Teams, and played Basketball, Touch Football and Volleyball. She set a near record for protractor throwing in Maths in Year 10, a new record for Shot Put in Year 11, was the Female Age Swimming Champion in Years 11 and 12, and Year 12 Drama Captain. Eden was also in Remar in Years 10, 11 and 12 (the faith in action group now known as Game Changer) which, she says, kick-started her love for community service. 

Eden chose not go straight into university, instead taking time to travel. In doing so, she built a store of life experiences backpacking around Europe for eight months, living in Broome for six months, travelling through Indonesia and Malaysia for nearly five months, and teaching English online at a summer school. When not travelling she worked in hospitality in Perth, mostly during the summers. 

She began her Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning at Curtin University in 2021, aged 23, and is now completing her Honours. During her studies she has won several awards, including attaining the highest academic standing across her entire degree. She has twice attained Membership to the Vice Chancellor’s list, recognising the top 1% of undergraduates, and received the Don Watts High Achievers’ Scholarship. She has also undertaken three New Colombo Plan Mobility programs, which have taken her to the Maldives and three Micronesian countries. When she graduates, her degree will have taken her to eight different Asia/Pacific countries, and twice to the United Nations – the second in November this year for COP29, the UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan. 

In her spare time Eden coordinates the mentoring of a women’s politics program and, as part of her activities with the Osborne Park Rotary Club (of which she has been a member for three years), arranges social gatherings for Ukrainian refugees. She has also held various leadership roles across political and student planning associations. 

She has worked in the private sector, in the Community and Culture team at Element Advisory and, for the past two years, has been the Executive Officer of the State Parliamentary Labor Party at Parliament House. 

As far as her Rhodes Scholarship, which will take her to Oxford University, Eden hopes to study a Masters in Philosophy in Development Studies, as she’s aiming for a career which is impactful for at-risk and vulnerable communities. She aims to learn as much as she can at Oxford so she can foster sustainable and thriving communities in future. 

We wish Eden the very best with her studies next year, and in bringing her plans to fulfillment!