Tony Gauci arrived in Perth as a baby from Alexandria, Egypt, on the SS Tamaroa in August 1947.
His parents, Charlie and Therese, bought a house at 46 Blencowe Street, West Leederville, and young Tony started school in 1953 at (St Joseph’s) Brigidine Convent School on the corner of McCourt Street and Salvado Road, West Leederville/Subiaco*.
He loved school and was very good at reading, writing and arithmetic. On 22 August 1953 Tony received his First Holy Communion at St Joseph’s Church, Wembley/Subiaco, from Father O'Reilly, and at the end of the year he was awarded a prize in Religious Knowledge.
Tony is an extraordinary recordkeeper! Looking closely at this period in his life, not only does he still have all three of his Brigidine Convent School reports from that year (all signed by Mother Lelia Whittaker), he also has his First Holy Communion certificate, the photo of his First Holy Communion class, and the beautiful prize for Religious Knowledge he was awarded all those years ago.
We were privileged to see these things and more, recently, when Tony paid a welcome visit to our Archives and we were able to obtain digital copies of his photos and scan his many reports (after Brigidine, Tony went to St Joseph’s Marist College, over the road).
But we were particularly struck with his Religious Knowledge prize which is so beautiful. We are lucky he is the wonderful recordkeeper he is!
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*Brigidine Convent School/St Joseph’s Brigidine Primary School later moved further west on Salvado Road in Wembley/Subiaco before moving to Floreat in 1962 and becoming Brigidine College. It is one of Newman College’s antecedent schools.
