Federation

'Federation' is the coming together of the staff, past-students, family, and friends of Loreto schools from around Australia. It has been held every 2 years since its inception in 1955 when the first one was held at Loreto Mandeville Hall.

The Loreto Family gathers to fulfil the vision of Mother Gonzaga Barry who wrote in 1897 of her desire for all Loreto girls to . Federate in a great league for a noble end..........to lend a helping hand to whatever is good and beautiful, noble and useful in the world around. To engender... enthusiasm for your cause..be earnest, be persevering, be humble and then with God's will you will succeed.

The Loreto family has more than a million past students around the world. The IBVM has representation at the United Nations (NGO) and now, through these contacts and 'Mary Ward International', we hope opportunities will grow for increasing contact across geographical, social and cultural boundaries that might just help to make a difference.

Federation Brisbane 21- 23 August 2009

Above: Loreto teachers, past and present, at Federation 2009

As part of the Mary Ward 400 celebrations, Federation 2009 was held at Loreto Coorparoo in Brisbane. 'Federation' is the coming together of the staff, past-students, family, and friends of Loreto schools from around Australia. It is held every two years.

Our theme this year was "Creating Pathways".

Above: Choir at Federation 2009

Around 200 people attended the engaging, inspiring and entertaining conference. Some highlights included:

• Claire Martin (ex student and ex Chief Minister NT) speaking about importance of empowering community to make decisions together.
• The Mary Ward Panel (ex students now in science/medical careers) who spoke about creativity and inspiration, making a change in someone’s life and seeing the beauty in people and their inspiration to learn.
• The Mary Ward Symposium highlighting boldness and creativity prevailing. Pat Murray speaking about social change starting from just one person and that one person can do something small to help others, and the response by Jospehine O’Reilly.
• Ex-student, Aline Matta, working as a government legal advisor in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel talking about the challenges facing women and the research and policy work she has done to assist.
• Coorparoo RE students and choir who performed the Mary Ward tableaux.

Read an overview of the weekend by Federation President, Martine Whitton.

For further information please contact Martine (Parer) whittonm@bigpond.net.au

Federation 2007 was held at Loreto Kirribilli and was co-hosted by Loreto Kirribilli and Loreto Normanhurst Ex- Students Associations. The theme for the 2007 Federation was "Building Bridges", covering tolerance, respect, justice and morality. It was a truly inspirational weekend. Read more about the 2007 event.