Skip to content
The Catholic Leader
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe
No Result
View All Result
The Catholic Leader
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Olympic champ Ken Wallace recalls ‘ratbag’ days at Marymount College

bySophia Asnicar
19 March 2018 - Updated on 1 April 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
AA
Ken Wallace

Student success: Former Marymount College, Burleigh, student Ken Wallace, with students, relives his teenage days for the Catholic school’s 50th anniversary. Photo: Marymount College.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Ken Wallace
Student success: Former Marymount College, Burleigh, student Ken Wallace, with students, relives his teenage days for the Catholic school’s 50th anniversary. Photo: Marymount College.

OLYMPIC kayaker Ken Wallace might have three medals under his belt, but his past teachers will remember a different kind of boy from his “mischievous” days at Marymount College, Burleigh.

Mr Wallace, who has won gold and bronze medals for Australia, said his earliest memory of the college was transitioning from “a big fish in a small pond, to a small fish in a big pond”.

“I had a lot of fun here when I was younger,” he said.

“Some people may say I was a little bit of a ratbag.”

Mr Wallace remembers pushing his peers into the school pond and walking around the campus with his socks down, which he would be chastised for.

“The ladies in (the administration office) would give me five late passes on a Monday, because they knew I would be late every day,” he said.

However, he eventually realised he could channel his mischievous energy into Marymount’s sports program.

He devoted himself to swimming and surf lifesaving with a dream of entering the Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Iron Man, which he later did three times.

“I was very sport-orientated at school, and the opportunities here for me were great,” Mr Wallace said

“I couldn’t believe that a school had surfing as a sport.”

Related Stories

More than $3.6 million from interest on stolen wages reparations now educating 2,030 students

Distressed kayaker saved by Paulists on Lake George

Paul Lucas’ life is about giving thanks to the God of all creation

The then-future Olympian and his close friend Troy Hipwood also initiated the kayak program and represented Marymount in kayaking competitions.

In 2005, Mr Wallace started kayaking full-time and focused heavily on training.

Only three years later, he competed in the Beijing Olympics and came home with gold and bronze medals.

“It’s not until you come home after the Olympics that you stick your head up to breathe and you realise how many people it has affected,” he said.

Ken Wallace
Olympic success: Three-time medal winner Ken Wallace. Photo: Marymount College.

After his sporting efforts received a positive response from parents, Mr Wallace realised his ability “to inspire young kids to get into sport and be fit, active and healthy”.

The kayaking champion is now making waves in the wider community and has motivated many students at his alma mater, where he visited last year to help prepare for the school’s 50th anniversary celebrations.

Marymount College was founded by the Missionary Franciscan Sisters in 1968, with two staff members and 16 students.

In 1972, Marymount College was the first Catholic school in Queensland to become co-educational.

Nineteen of the current staff members at the school are also former students, proving that Marymount waters run deep.

Mr Wallace will be among the 50 faces of former students included in Marymount College’s book, titled My God & My All: A History of Marymount College.

To commemorate the college’s 50th jubilee, this collation of alumni stories will be released at a book launch on March 23.

Brisbane Catholic Education executive director Pam Betts will direct the event, which many past students are expected to attend.

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Emergency room trip in Philippines prompts family’s Lenten fundraiser

Next Post

Sr Ursula O’Rourke on preparing future priests for their primary ministry – celebrating the Mass

Sophia Asnicar

Related Posts

Education

More than $3.6 million from interest on stolen wages reparations now educating 2,030 students

10 March 2021 - Updated on 6 April 2021
News

Distressed kayaker saved by Paulists on Lake George

12 September 2020
People

Paul Lucas’ life is about giving thanks to the God of all creation

8 September 2020 - Updated on 16 March 2021
Next Post
Sr Ursula O'Rourke

Sr Ursula O'Rourke on preparing future priests for their primary ministry - celebrating the Mass

Pope Francis authorises Australia's Plenary Council in 2020

Large crowd at the March for Life

Federal and state parliamentarians encourage pro-life Queenslanders at March for Life rally

Popular News

  • March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    March for Life set to attract big crowd opposed to abortion, euthanasia

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • We head for Poland as pilgrims, not tourists

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Catholic laypeople in Cologne Archdiocese demand local synod

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Was the Sudarium of Oviedo really wrapped around Jesus’ head after his death?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Search our job finder
No Result
View All Result

Latest News

Death penalty: Demonstrators are seen near the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind., showing their opposition to the death penalty July 13, 2020. Photos: CNS
World

Global executions dropped in 2020 but fears China’s secret figures remain in the thousands

by Joe Higgins
21 April 2021
0

AMNESTY International recorded 483 executions in 18 countries during 2020, which was a decrease of 26 per...

Opportunity to help: “As a society we can’t leave them without a place to call home – not when there are urgent and economically sound solutions.”

‘They deserve our help’ – Brisbane youth homelessness on the rise with 42 per cent of homeless under 25 years old

21 April 2021

St Mark’s shows its ‘unity in diversity’ at 65th anniversary Mass

21 April 2021
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is seen near a picture of George Floyd in this courtroom sketch.

Bishops urge racial healing after former US police officer found guilty of killing George Floyd

21 April 2021
Health crisis: Referencing the Vatican document, the bishops said “it is morally acceptable to receive COVID-19 vaccines that have used cell lines from aborted fetuses in their research and production process”.

Australian Bishops urge Catholics to get vaccinated amid push for more vaccine options

20 April 2021
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Jobs
  • Subscribe

The Catholic Leader is an Australian award-winning Catholic newspaper that has been published by the Archdiocese of Brisbane since 1929. Our journalism seeks to provide a full, accurate and balanced Catholic perspective of local, national and international news while upholding the dignity of the human person.

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader
Accessibility Information | Privacy Policy | Archdiocese of Brisbane

The Catholic Leader acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples of this country and especially acknowledge the traditional owners on whose lands we live and work throughout the Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • QLD
    • Australia
    • Regional
    • Education
    • World
    • Vatican
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Life
    • Family
    • Relationships
    • Faith
  • Culture
  • People
  • Subscribe

Copyright © All Rights Reserved The Catholic Leader

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop
    Continue Shopping