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History of the Melbourne OBA

In 1904 old Patricians of that time came together and institutionalized the community of old Patricians under the name and style of “Old Boys Association of St.Patrick’s College Jaffna”, in order to foster the unique relationship among them. Thus St Patrick’s College OBA was formed on the 29th of April 1904. OBA Melbourne is proud to be a part of this long tradition.

from small beginnings ....

extracted from an article written by Basil Patrick, a founding member of the Association, in the Association's September 2008 newsletter

In 1983, a few Sri Lankan Tamils gathered at a meeting in the Melbourne City Town Hall. Everyone was very concerned about the plight of our fellow brethren back home. Not long after, one of my former teachers Mr.Satchithanandan arrived in Sydney. He was instrumental in getting me to organise a St Pat’s OBA in Melbourne having himself founded the OBA in Sydney.

The St Patrick’s OBA Melbourne was formed exclusively as a friendship association. The primary function was to enable old Patricians to meet on St Patrick’s Day and to enjoy each others company and reminisce about old times. It was meant to be a social group to the enjoyment of the old boys and their families.

The Inaugural St Patrick’s OBA meeting was held on the 9th of February 1992 at St Joseph’s Parish hall in Northcote. We were fortunate to have our former Rector Rev. Fr. Mathuranayagam to say Mass and give his blessings to the association. Dr. A. Mariampillai of Ballarat was our very first president and Dr. E. Patrick of Carnegie, who was a long established Melbourne resident and well known physician was our very first patron.

Dr. E. Patrick was a pillar of strength to our association and took a very keen interest in the welfare of the OBA in Melbourne. Whenever we approached him for anything to do with St Patrick’s, he was always very generous with his time and his financial contributions.

The very first St Patrick’s day celebration by the Melbourne OBA was held at the Hemmingway Park in Dandenong on the 29th of March 1992. We played a social cricket match with Jaffna College and a free barbeque lunch was provided and a good time was had by all. Every subsequent year, we added different things, such as games for the ladies and for the children. We also decided to help our Alma Mater in some small way. We offered a scholarship to the best performing student in the G.C.E. (O.L.). This was presented at the Annual prize giving.

Later on we came up with the idea to have a dinner dance. This was meant to be our primary fund raising event. The objective of the dinner dance was to generate funds so that we could afford to have a free BBQ lunch or dinner on St Patrick’s Day and to have enough funds to send to the college for the student scholarship. The dinner dance was a major success as we pulled in crowds of 300 or more. Office bearers worked tirelessly with help from fellow members. The Patron donated additional funds and former presidents of the association also donated funds for door prizes on a regular basis. The St Patrick’s dinner dance truly became a very popular event in the social calendar of the Melbournians, especially because of the excellent presentation, the standard of the bands and the quality of the food. This was evident when people asked us to inform them early when we propose to have the dinner dance, so that they could mark it down in their calendars.

RECENT HISTORY written by Antony Gratian

Since March 2007, the OBA has become vibrant and active under the leadership of Jeevaranjan Fernando. The membership numbers have increased and communication between the members, OBA and the Rector improved. Annual events such as Australia Day Cricket Match and BBQ were introduced. With the establishment of the Cricket Sponsorship Fund, former Rector Fr. Justin Gnanapragasam's long held desire became a reality. Annually a sum of $1500 is being remitted to support the college's cricket needs, thanks to the generous contributions of the member sponsors.

During the year 2008/09 we had 48 paid members out of 110 known Patricians in Melbourne. A significant achievement of the year was the formation of the musical group 'SHAMROCKERS', whose artistes are none other than the young family members of the OBA. Their brilliant performance under the able direction of Jerad Jogaratnam was a major highlight of a successful 'Patrician Nite' held in September 2008.

The year also saw a 20-20 cricket match, ladies' tug-of-war and other outdoor activities on Australia Day 2009, fund raising for the College Reconstruction Fund in the aftermath of Cyclone Nisha, and the celebration of St Patrick's Day 2009 on 21 March with Holy Mass said by a Patrician Rev. Fr. Florentine Rajaratnam, who was on a visit from Toronto, Canada.

Updates

In 2009/10, a very successful Patrician Nite was held - the highlight was a "Koothu" choreograpphed by a Patrician, Pillai Mariasegaram. The surplus was sent to the College to assist with the education of students from Vanni who had been affected by the war. The popular rivalry with the Jaffna College Old Boys' Cricket team was revived with a "Battle of the Old Golds!" on Australia Day 2010. The annual mass to celebrate St Patrick's day and AGM was well attended.

In 2010/11, A memorial mass was celebrated by the Tamil Chaplain, Rev. Fr. Antony Gnanapragasam for the repose of the soul of Rev. Fr. T.A J. Mathuranayagam, Rector of SPC from 1966 to 1976. The Patrician Nite 2010 was a great success with the Bollywood theme and dance music kept members, families and friends entertained all night. 2010 is the 18th year of the Association and it is hoped that a tradition has commenced with about 50 members assembling on the stage to sing the "Alma Mater". On Australia day 2011, members played a 20-20 match and St Patrick's day celebrations were held on 19 March 2011, with the annual mass, AGM and the traditional "stringhopper" dinner.

In 2011/12, another very successful Patrician Nite was held with entertainment provided by the famous Ravi Muthu. 47 members took to the stage to sing the College Anthem. Australia Day cricket match & bar-be-que was attended by 36 members and families. Together, we hope to continue the long held traditions of St Patrick's Jaffna Old Boys' Associations around the world and contribute in a small way to the continued success of our dear Alma Mater.