Latest news with #BrightonGrammar
The Age
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
‘The epitome of suave, and achieved so much'
Returning to Melbourne aged 15, he completed his schooling back at Brighton Grammar, where his father had been appointed deputy headmaster. After matriculating, Richard secured a much sought after cadetship at The Age newspaper in 1964 under the editorship of Keith Sinclair. Coincidentally, it was pretty much the start of Australia's great 30-year newspaper boom. Curiosity, winning ways, reporting skills, and a shrewd grasp of the paper's power centres, stood Zachariah in good stead, and he was transferred to work at The Age bureau in Canberra's Parliament House. He was also blessed with being at The Age during the early years of its great renaissance under the editorship of Graeme Perkin, who led the paper until his untimely death in 1975. But for Richard Zachariah, the call of a bigger world was overwhelming. In 1969, he joined Donald Hewett, also a former reporter on The Age, and travelled to England and the 'swinging London' scene of the late 1960s. While living in London, Richard worked in BBC current affairs and spent many nights socialising with figures like Barry Humphries and British movie heart-throb David (Blow Up) Hemmings. There were also raucous parties at a Holland Park Mews house he shared with, among others, distinguished former Age and Guardian journalist Jackie Leishman, and Perth architect Zdenka Underwood. One of Zachariah's less remarked upon European exploits was just about single-handedly torpedoing a high-budget British made-for-TV cigarette advertisement set on the Italian island of Capri. As the ad's putative 'talent', he became over-excited at a crucial stage of filming on a Capri nightclub dance floor. Returning to Australia, he married Diane Webster, who hailed from a beef and dairy farming family near Maffra in Victoria's Gippsland, and was appointed Melbourne correspondent for Rupert Murdoch's short-lived Sunday Australian newspaper. After The Sunday Australian folded in 1972, the couple moved to the Webster family property, where he worked for a time as a farm hand, enjoying regular horse rides into the magnificent Gippsland hinterland. By the mid-1970s Zachariah, Don Hewett, Di Webster and former model Helen Homewood opened the Sale Country Kitchen, a high-end restaurant in what Zachariah called 'the gourmet end of Sale'. His local interests expanded to calling local Australian football games for Victorian country radio stations and reading the news for TV station GLV8, based in Traralgon. As the 1970s merged into the 1980s, Richard spent more time in Sydney and became inseparable from fashion icon and broadcaster Maggie Tabberer. He moved to Sydney in 1985 and the two lived in a roomy, stylish, two-storey home in Hamden Avenue, Darling Point, with its regular background clink of cocktail glasses. As legendary Sydney eastern suburbs real estate agent Billy Bridges, with a penchant for the argot, remarked: 'You're farting through silk here.' By early 1986, Zachariah was hosting the Seven Network's national morning news program Eleven AM. Two years later, he was promoted by former school colleague and then Seven owner Christopoher Skase to read the revamped Seven Nightly News in Sydney with Ann Sanders. In 1988, he and Maggie Tabberer embarked on a joint venture to host a highly successful lifestyle program The Home Show on the ABC, which ran for three years. At the height of his fame, it seemed that everyone – from governors-general to racecourse touts – wanted to meet Richard Zachariah. He enjoyed notoriety but was never seduced by it. A journalist above all else, Richard had a remarkable capacity to relive various encounters with figures like Gough Whitlam, John Howard, Barry Humphries, Graham Kennedy and Donna Koran, and laugh uproariously – and equally – at the awkward moments and social triumphs. After separating from Tabberer, he employed his passion, remarkable breeding knowledge and contacts in racing to write a regular column for The Sun-Herald and later The Sunday Telegraph. The latter splashed with a 'Zac's Racy New Lady' headline, a reference to Zachariah squiring UK former model and author, Tessa Dahl, daughter of renowned British children's author, Roald Dahl, around Royal Randwick racecourse. Soon after, Richard briefly married Gold Coast publicist Louise Carroll, and the two lived in a spacious Point Piper apartment with its panoramic harbour views. After the break-up of his second marriage, Zachariah continued his racing columns, and became close to Sarah Hyde, a pharmaceutical company marketing executive, and the two lived in a spacious terrace house in Annandale, an inner-Sydney suburb.
Sydney Morning Herald
27-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The epitome of suave, and achieved so much'
Returning to Melbourne aged 15, he completed his schooling back at Brighton Grammar, where his father had been appointed deputy headmaster. After matriculating, Richard secured a much sought after cadetship at The Age newspaper in 1964 under the editorship of Keith Sinclair. Coincidentally, it was pretty much the start of Australia's great 30-year newspaper boom. Curiosity, winning ways, reporting skills, and a shrewd grasp of the paper's power centres, stood Zachariah in good stead, and he was transferred to work at The Age bureau in Canberra's Parliament House. He was also blessed with being at The Age during the early years of its great renaissance under the editorship of Graeme Perkin, who led the paper until his untimely death in 1975. But for Richard Zachariah, the call of a bigger world was overwhelming. In 1969, he joined Donald Hewett, also a former reporter on The Age, and travelled to England and the 'swinging London' scene of the late 1960s. While living in London, Richard worked in BBC current affairs and spent many nights socialising with figures like Barry Humphries and British movie heart-throb David (Blow Up) Hemmings. There were also raucous parties at a Holland Park Mews house he shared with, among others, distinguished former Age and Guardian journalist Jackie Leishman, and Perth architect Zdenka Underwood. One of Zachariah's less remarked upon European exploits was just about single-handedly torpedoing a high-budget British made-for-TV cigarette advertisement set on the Italian island of Capri. As the ad's putative 'talent', he became over-excited at a crucial stage of filming on a Capri nightclub dance floor. Returning to Australia, he married Diane Webster, who hailed from a beef and dairy farming family near Maffra in Victoria's Gippsland, and was appointed Melbourne correspondent for Rupert Murdoch's short-lived Sunday Australian newspaper. After The Sunday Australian folded in 1972, the couple moved to the Webster family property, where he worked for a time as a farm hand, enjoying regular horse rides into the magnificent Gippsland hinterland. By the mid-1970s Zachariah, Don Hewett, Di Webster and former model Helen Homewood opened the Sale Country Kitchen, a high-end restaurant in what Zachariah called 'the gourmet end of Sale'. His local interests expanded to calling local Australian football games for Victorian country radio stations and reading the news for TV station GLV8, based in Traralgon. As the 1970s merged into the 1980s, Richard spent more time in Sydney and became inseparable from fashion icon and broadcaster Maggie Tabberer. He moved to Sydney in 1985 and the two lived in a roomy, stylish, two-storey home in Hamden Avenue, Darling Point, with its regular background clink of cocktail glasses. As legendary Sydney eastern suburbs real estate agent Billy Bridges, with a penchant for the argot, remarked: 'You're farting through silk here.' By early 1986, Zachariah was hosting the Seven Network's national morning news program Eleven AM. Two years later, he was promoted by former school colleague and then Seven owner Christopoher Skase to read the revamped Seven Nightly News in Sydney with Ann Sanders. In 1988, he and Maggie Tabberer embarked on a joint venture to host a highly successful lifestyle program The Home Show on the ABC, which ran for three years. At the height of his fame, it seemed that everyone – from governors-general to racecourse touts – wanted to meet Richard Zachariah. He enjoyed notoriety but was never seduced by it. A journalist above all else, Richard had a remarkable capacity to relive various encounters with figures like Gough Whitlam, John Howard, Barry Humphries, Graham Kennedy and Donna Koran, and laugh uproariously – and equally – at the awkward moments and social triumphs. After separating from Tabberer, he employed his passion, remarkable breeding knowledge and contacts in racing to write a regular column for The Sun-Herald and later The Sunday Telegraph. The latter splashed with a 'Zac's Racy New Lady' headline, a reference to Zachariah squiring UK former model and author, Tessa Dahl, daughter of renowned British children's author, Roald Dahl, around Royal Randwick racecourse. Soon after, Richard briefly married Gold Coast publicist Louise Carroll, and the two lived in a spacious Point Piper apartment with its panoramic harbour views. After the break-up of his second marriage, Zachariah continued his racing columns, and became close to Sarah Hyde, a pharmaceutical company marketing executive, and the two lived in a spacious terrace house in Annandale, an inner-Sydney suburb.
The Age
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
It may not be trendy, but I'd still send my kids to single-sex schools
Look, I fancy myself as being as modern as anyone who remembers chanting 'Peace, Charger, Fosters Lager' in the 1970s or drinking Tang while watching Lost in Space can be. If you ignore all the mid-century furniture, contemporary is my vibe. I know burrata is over, that statement belts and solo travel to secondary cities are hot. I've seen Amyl and the Sniffers live and am into hyperrealistic drama series. And yet, I can't drag myself into the current day and admit single-sex schools should not still be a thing. The subject came up for me and my husband this week on a dog walk, sparked by news that enrolments at Melbourne's all-boys Xavier College have dropped 19.5 per cent in the past five years. That doesn't mean single-sex schools are out of favour – Brighton Grammar's numbers jumped 12.3 per cent in the same period – but maybe parents who once went for Xavier's old-school tie are apparently looking elsewhere. Loading Like, to co-ed classrooms. Funny that education is still something Chris and I discuss, given we've got no more school decisions to make ever. But single-sex vs co-ed? It's an evergreen debate. Literally everyone has a take, often impassioned. Mine? That single-sex schools are weird. A relic. A social experiment that makes no sense in a world where boys and girls are supposed to work side by side on equal footing.
Sydney Morning Herald
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
It may not be trendy, but I'd still send my kids to single-sex schools
Look, I fancy myself as being as modern as anyone who remembers chanting 'Peace, Charger, Fosters Lager' in the 1970s or drinking Tang while watching Lost in Space can be. If you ignore all the mid-century furniture, contemporary is my vibe. I know burrata is over, that statement belts and solo travel to secondary cities are hot. I've seen Amyl and the Sniffers live and am into hyperrealistic drama series. And yet, I can't drag myself into the current day and admit single-sex schools should not still be a thing. The subject came up for me and my husband this week on a dog walk, sparked by news that enrolments at Melbourne's all-boys Xavier College have dropped 19.5 per cent in the past five years. That doesn't mean single-sex schools are out of favour – Brighton Grammar's numbers jumped 12.3 per cent in the same period – but maybe parents who once went for Xavier's old-school tie are apparently looking elsewhere. Loading Like, to co-ed classrooms. Funny that education is still something Chris and I discuss, given we've got no more school decisions to make ever. But single-sex vs co-ed? It's an evergreen debate. Literally everyone has a take, often impassioned. Mine? That single-sex schools are weird. A relic. A social experiment that makes no sense in a world where boys and girls are supposed to work side by side on equal footing.
The Age
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Age
A 20 per cent enrolment fall at private boys' school is all part of its plan
With their gorgeous grounds and enviable waiting lists, Melbourne's most expensive boys' schools are mostly doing very nicely, thank you very much. Still, of the seven boys' schools charging more than $30,000 a year – Brighton Grammar, Melbourne Grammar, Scotch College, St Kevin's, Camberwell Grammar, Trinity Grammar and Xavier College – one stands out. Xavier is the only pricey boys' school to have lost enrolments. Its student numbers have dropped 19.5 per cent over the past five years, according to MySchool data. At the other end of the spectrum, Brighton Grammar has increased enrolments by 12.3 per cent over the same period. Now, not every school wants or needs to increase student numbers. But a 20 per cent fall – to 1558 students last year – is sizeable and comes after some big years for the Catholic school. In 2020, Xavier announced it would shut its Brighton campus, home to about 220 students from early years to year 8, because of insufficient enrolments. It later sold the bayside land for $100 million and poured big money into its Kew campuses. There have also been negative headlines regarding historic sexual abuse cases and a cyberattack that led to the theft of personal information relating to students or their families. A well-connected education source, not keen to be identified talking about the sector, suggested some parents were rattled by the school's new model of putting year 7 and 8 students with secondary students rather than with primary students nearby.
