Time-honoured past

This year, past and current students come together to celebrate sixty years of tradition in education.

Named after Phillip Arundel Wright, a great benefactor of the university and Deputy Chancellor in 1956, Wright College was the oldest and smallest of the residential colleges at UNE.

Mr Wright was one of the lead figures in the establishment of the UNE college in 1938 and donated property, resources, prizes and mace in his time at the university.

The college crest is the coat of arms of the Wright family and the motto is “Let your light shine through”, a translated greek phrase that was selected in 1960 from Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics about how men should best live.

Established as a male-only college it became fully co-residential in 1976 and elected its first female president in 1979.

Each block had developed its own identity and encouraged a strong sense of pastoral care and a spirited inter-block rilvalry.

Students at Wright College were valued for their academic, sporting, organisational, theatrical and sporting talent.

The college was torn down in 1990 and a new building erected on the ground of the old college was named Wright Village.

Alumni had approached council for naming rights to continue years of tradition.

In 2016 Wright College and Village is called home by more than 500 students and alumni have worked with current students to ensure old traditions are never forgotten.

A reading of poetry by Judith Wright, the eldest child of Phillip Arundel Wright, will form part of the reunion celebrations.

Ms Wright grew up in the New England region and has published a collection of short stories and poetry and was the second Australian to receive the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1991.

Alumni from around the globe will visit Wright College to celebrate the 60^th year with seminars, sports matches and reminiscing.

A reading of Judith Wright poems will be open to the public on Saturday October 1 at 5:00pm on the lawns of Booloominbah at UNE.