John Goldie (1979) has been a financial planner for over 35 years and is a director of Paramount Financial Solutions in West Leederville. He grewup with his parents Nellie and George, inBournemouth 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!
Sister Declan’s Year 12 Contact Group, 1979
Dr Cassandra Goldie AO (1981), George Goldie (103 years old), and John Goldie (1979) with George’s 1943 Willys Jeep, which John drove in the 2025 Anzac Day Parade
May 2025, at home in Churchlands L-R: Jo, Maddy (2016), John (1979), and Ben Goldie (2013)
Elsie Goldie, walking with John at sunrise on Newman’s ovals
The Goldies on the beach in Broome when Ben was teaching there L-R: Maddy, Elijah, Jo, Ben, John
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.
