Welcome
Message from the Club President
Greetings to all members and visitors of SPC OBSC Melbourne!
As the President of SPC OBSC Melbourne, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our website. Our club is a community of old boys who share a special bond forged by our shared experiences at St. Peter’s College. We come together to reminisce, catch up with old friends, and create new memories.
Our club organizes a range of events throughout the year, including sporting events, social gatherings, and our annual Gala Dinner Dance. These events provide an excellent opportunity to reconnect with fellow old boys, make new friends, and support our alma mater.
In addition to our social events, we also organize fundraisers to support St. Peter’s College. We believe in giving back to our school and helping to create opportunities for the next generation of Peterites.
Whether you are a current member, a past member, or simply interested in joining our community, we welcome you to explore our website and learn more about SPC OBSC Melbourne. Thank you for your interest, and we hope to see you at our next event.
Sincerely,
President OBSC Melbourne
Club History
The Beginning
The binding camaraderie of cricket, a game dear to Sri Lankan hearts, was the start of something that is thriving and flourishing today. The formation of the club mirrored the formation of St Peters College, in that we started off together with St Joseph’s College and then went our own ways.
Late in 1973 Radcliffe Nelson (St Josephs) contactedRon Forbes (St Peters) with the suggestion that a cricket match between Old Josephians and Old Peterites living in Melbourne would be a good way to foster and renew old friendships. Ron contacted Peter de Niese who with his
brother Stephen contacted numerous old Peterites to form a team with the first Old Josephian – Old Peterite cricket encounter taking place in February 1974. The match was played at Tooronga Oval in Malvern. Needless to say, the Old Peterites won the first encounter and continued to do so for many years. The first team to represent the old Peterites was: Richard Heyn (Captain), Tyrone Le Mercier, Mitchell Rabot, Peter de Niese, Desmond Le Mercier, Everard Hoffman, Stephen de Niese, Tyrell Vandergert, Hamish Paternott, W. Thambimuttu, Nihal Gunewardene and Aubrey Hesse.
This cricket match became an annual event, which continued for some years, being played at various venues. A ‘Pre-Match’ Dance was held each year to raise funds for the hire of the ground, lunches etc
Old Josephian-Peterite Social Club
In 1979, with the growing popularity of this event, it was suggested that a Club should be formed to organise the annual Dance and Cricket match. Consequently, the Old Josephian-Peterite Social Club was formed, with Brindley Jansz (old Josephian) being elected President.
The Carnegie Cricket Club was selected as the on-going venue for the ‘Big Match’ which by this stage was attracting hundreds of supporters and became a major event amongst the Sri Lankan community in Melbourne. Soon the Old Josephians and Old Peterites were being challenged by old boys from other Sri Lankan Colleges which led to ‘combined college’ matches with Old Royalists-Old Thomians, Old Trinitians-Old Anthonians etc
Old Josephian-Peterite Social ClubThe St. Peter’s College Old Boys Social Club
By 1982, it was time for the Old Josephians and Old Peterites to go their separate ways and the St Peters College Old Boys Social Club Australia was incorporated in this year. With the separation of the two clubs, Stephen De Niese developed a very robust constitution which was in force (with minor changes) until 2016. Under this constitution, Nihal Gunawardena was elected as the First President with Stephen De Niese as Secretary. Initially, meetings were held in various committee members’ homes and the Heatherton Social Club Rooms.
One of the key objectives of the club was to raise funds to assist our Alma Mater from Dances and other social functions.
The First Decade – 1983 to 1992
In the first decade the club continued to grow with a big membership drive in the early 1990’s which identified over 1,000 Peterites in Australia. Of these, over 500 became members. The club also published a list of Peterites in Australia which comprised of over 800 names.
By 1991 the club had established its own club rooms. A huge hunt for the best possible venue was launched with Peter De Niese (assisted by Russell Mortimer) leading the charge. The end result was the establishment of our own Cricket Grounds & Clubhouse at Packer Park in Carnegie. This enabled the club The History of the Peterite Club in Melbourne By Tino De La Motte Ron Forbes – Founder Tyrone Le Mercier 1987/88 – 90/91 Nihal Gunawardena 1982/83 Bede De Zilwa 1983/84 – 86/87 Peter De Niese 1991/92 Club Presidents Page | 24 Club Committee 1984 L-R: Deane Jansz, Tyrone Le Mercier, Russell Weerappah, Nihal Gunawardena, Ricardo Solomonsz, Hamish Paternott, Lohan Rajendran, Bede de Zilwa (President), Mario Misso, Ron Forbes & Stanmore Caspersz to enter two Cricket teams to represent the Peterites in the YCW Sunday Cricket competition, reaching the finals in two seasons. It also enabled the club to extend its social activities into a number of different areas beyond the annual dinner dance and big match.
The clubhouse was open to the membership every Friday evening and Sunday all day during the 6 months of the Cricket season from October to March. The club was able to provide food and beverage to the Peterites and their families who attended.
The club flourished at this venue. Big crowds attended the matches and social functions held at the Club Rooms, with many attending to extend cricket practice evenings to socialise with their friends. The club extended its social and sporting functions to include Tennis, Snooker, Pool, Table Tennis and Carom Tournaments. Curry, Hopper, Presentation ‘Nites’, Barbecues and Christmas Parties were also part of the social calendar.
The annual dinner dance used to be held at the Moorabbin town hall. One of the highlights that come to mind was a band comprising musicians from Sydney and Melbourne attending. It was not unusual to have in excess of 700 guests.
Special attention was given to raise awareness of Peterite senior citizens through organising special functions for them. As many guests as possible were invited to partake in the proceedings.
The Second Decade – 1993 to 2002
During this period the club had to leave Packer Park. Unfortunately, the lease arrangements precluded us continuing there. However, due to the stalwart efforts of Len De Silva (Who was playing for them) the Harlequins rugby club became the new club rooms which then continued to host the numerous social functions the club was involved in. The club was based here until 2016.
It was felt by the members that some streamlining of the club constitution was needed and some amendments were made (Including limiting the term of the president to 2 years)
By this time the club magazine “PETERITES UNFURLED “had developed into a very mature Publication. Besides providing much information about College (In a pre-Social media era) there were many great articles contributed profiling prominent Peterites and a very comprehensive “sports round” up of club activities, which also included Peterite news from NSW.
Club activities in the 1990’s included a 3 day Peterite Holiday camp at Jumbuk Park just outside of Melbourne and the reserved train from Melbourne to Ballarat for the 1992 Cricket World cup match Between Sri Lanka and England.
This was a fun event with a “Big Match” atmosphere. The cheering and singing train load of Sri Lankans marched to the Ballarat Cricket Grounds in procession, much to the bemusement of the locals. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka did not win the match.
1998 saw the start of the lunch for our Senior Peterites. One of the highlights of these functions was our very own tenors, the late Bede De Zilva and Ronnie Forbes performing at their best.
The tradition of holding a memorial mass for departed Peterites was started by Rienzie
Machado and Dalston De Rosayro. This event is held on the first Sunday of July to coincide with St
Peters feast on June 29th . The mass is held at the Church of the Resurrection in Keysborough. The names of former Peterites (students and teachers) are placed on the altar together with a memorial tribute being read out. After Mass there is the fostering of fellowship via the sharing of a plate and a cuppa.
The Third Decade – 2003 to 2012
The club continued to grow in stature during this period with a focussed campaign to widen the membership to attract the younger generation of old Peterites to join the committee. This effort materialised in 2015, with the election of the youngest President, Chanaka Perera at the age of 30.
A major project to support college in this decade was the donation of a state of the art Rugby scrum machine of the same type used by the Wallabies to the College Rugby Foundation (a first among Sri Lanka schools). This project was supported by Old Peterites in Both Victoria and NSW. We understand that after being blessed by Father Rector the machine was immediately “pressed” into action.
Cricket (among the many sports sponsored by the club) has always been a
binding force in the club going back to the inception. The Key Cricket tournament played by the club (and which continues today) is The Joe-Pete. The format is two matches (Open age and over 40’s) played for the Fr. Nicolas Perera and Fr. Peter Pillai trophies. The Saints Quadrangular Cricket
Tournament comprising the Old Bens, Petes, Joes and Antonians was not played for many years and only revived in the 4th decade.
In 2003 the club sponsored a young Peterite, 15 Year old, Lahiru Peries who won a scholarship with Carey Baptist Grammar School in Melbourne. Lahiru completed his stint with Carey topping the batting with an average of 76.25 runs for the season, and a top score of 92 runs. He also played a few games for the club, helping us win the six-a-side cricket tournament.
We were also privileged to have a visiting Cricket Team from the Netherlands, “The Flying Dutch Cricket Tour” visit us in late 2003, Coached by our famous Peterite Cricketer Tony Opatha. They played one game against the club at the Harlequins Cricket Ground followed by a Social Function after the game.
In 2010 the Victorious College cricket team visited Melbourne supported by the club. The cricket team visited the MCG of course. They also played a 30 over match against the Southern District team of cricket Victoria (which they won). During this decade interest in golf greatly increased in the club due to the efforts of Michael Van Langenberg and Phillip Maurice with the annual golf tournament becoming a well-supported event.
The Fourth Decade – 2013 to 2022
In 2016, the Harlequins rugby club house was unfortunately lost as the management wanted the club exclusively for themselves, ending something that the club had since 1991.
Recognising that the demography had changed markedly from when the Club was first established, a critical review of the Constitution was undertaken in 2016 which was spearheaded by Johann Gunasekara. As a result, it was identified that; in order to ensure the longevity of the Club, it was critical that the Club remain the primary organisation of Peterites in Melbourne, whilst also recognising that members with common interests (e.g. Cricket, Rugby, Seniors etc.) were keen on organising their own events. The name of the Club was also changed to St. Peter’s College Old Boys Social Club Melbourne Inc., as there were peer clubs in Sydney and Brisbane. Other changes included the approval of Donations, Subscriptions and Committee expenses at the AGM, for implementation by the committee.
The Peterite 70’s group (seniors) spearheaded by Tyrone Le Mercier organised the annual seniors lunch with a participation in excess of 150. The Rugby group
spearheaded by Dilan Abeygoonawardena fielded a Ruby 7’s team in the annual Kingswood 7’s tournament followed by a dinner. They also ran a very successful fundraiser to help College Junior Rugby.
Over the years, the annual Dinner dance has become a spectacular affair, attracting over 500 patrons with classic themes like “White Night”, “Casino Royale” and “Night in Paris”. The AGM was shifted to Friday evenings with dinner which has tripled the attendance. In recent times the Joe-Pete has been reinvigorated into a family event with activities for kids, DJ in attendance, pre-match stag-night and a Vehicle parade. Throughout the decades, the club has been proudly associated with many a school project, notably; the swimming pool $2,000, new toilets $5,000, 4×4
academic fund $4,000, re-laying the cricket pitch $1,000, the new medical centre $500, the teacher incentive program $9,000, the scrum machine (featured above) and cricket equipment). All assistance is provided through the main College OBU.
In 2015, the club was honoured to host the College Rector, Fr. Trevor Martin in Melbourne. Fr. Rector was able to attend the annual dinner dance and visit Brisbane and Sydney OBU’s.
The club is a unifying force for Melbourne Peterites and we look forward to many more years of Camaraderie and Goodwill. We thank all the members over the years for their contribution to the club especially the life members.
This narrative has been prepared based on submissions by past presidents, members, supporters and publications. A big thank you to all who contributed.
Specially to our editor Tino De La Motte.
Current Committee
