BACK    Brian Devitt   Daniel Hollamby  Phil Cash   Bill Kelly   John O’Brien

FRONT    Owen Wilde   Anne Cougle   Bernadette Ahearn   Frank Hennessy  Kay Lane

When reflecting back on Principalship in the 80’s and 90’s, one of the most endearing memories is of the annual ACPPA Conferences. A number of Catholic principals had attended the APPA annual conference, which provided great professional development, led by some of the best educational thinkers in the world. However the focus was on general primary education issues.

Those pioneer principals began a conversation as to whether there was a place for a similar national conference where the focus would be on the very special and unique mission of a primary school principal in a Catholic school. A group of Queensland primary principals (pictured) were given the responsibility to plan and organise such a conference.

And so ACPPA came into being. 109 principals from every state in Australia assembled at Marist Brothers College, Ashgrove in Brisbane for the inaugural conference. The theme was A New Time: A New Vision and was led by Kevin Treston. At this conference a formal motion was carried to form the Australian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association, a constitution adopted and the first National Executive elected. The President was Frank Hennessy, Secretary Bernadette Ahearn and Treasurer Phil Cash, all Brisbane principals.

The conference using the boarding school facilities at Ashgrove was a resounding success. Not even the fact that the hot water system in some of the bathrooms malfunctioned, meaning the male principals from NSW, NT, VIC and SA had only cold showers, detracted from this event.

What this conference did most emphatically establish was the importance and value of the collegiality practiced with great enthusiasm in the hospitality room in the boarding house. It is significant that 33 years later, some 100-plus principals once again enjoyed this feature in a beautiful setting overlooking the Brisbane River, with the brilliantly lit Story Bridge in the background, during last year’s annual ACPPA/APPA conference.