Objects of Substance- The Kirsten Jack Memorial Leukaemia Committee

The Kirsten Jack Memorial Leukaemia Committee A legacy of friendship, love, and appreciation

2019 KJ Mothers’ Day Card Stall

Beautiful hand-crafted Mother’s Day cards have become synonymous with the Kirsten Jack Memorial Leukaemia Committee during recent years. Each year as we approach Mother’s Day, members of the School community begin to ask when they might be available. The cards are consciously left empty so that each student can fill them with their own unique, handwritten sentiments. The messages of love, friendship, and gratitude shared in these cards over many years reflect the values at the core of the Committee that nurture Kirsten Jack’s legacy.

Kirsten Jack

Kirsten Jack —a beloved Girls Grammar student — was diagnosed with leukaemia just before Christmas in 1976 and, on 5 June 1977, she passed away. It was Kirsten’s joy for life and love of friends that ultimately inspired the formation of the Brisbane Girls Grammar School Kirsten Jack Memorial Leukaemia Committee. At that time, her Girls Grammar friends had also rallied together to support and care for each other. Kirsten’s father reflected that: Familial love apart, there is no closer relationship than that of a friend and Kirsten had many. During the course of her education… she came in close contact with three girls of similar age and outlook who became her special friends. These four young ladies lived a happy and healthy existence in each other’s company. They were a sparkling and vivacious quartet, full of promise for the future (Jack, 2001). One member of that quartet, Clare Florence (1978) spoke at a Year 11 Assembly many years later, about the strength of the girls’ friendships, their love for each other, and the feeling that together they had to do something to make sense of what had happened to Kirsten.

Finding a cure for leukaemia was paramount in our minds. We started thinking of fundraising ideas to channel money into much needed research. (Florence, 2009)

2009 Clare Florence, Anna Blocksidge and Jane Carpenter

In 1977, Kirsten’s friends raffled ‘George’, an enormous stuffed dog, and held an ‘Informal Dress Day’ to raise money for research into childhood leukaemia. In 1978, the Committee met for the first time with Clare Florence as the founding president and Mrs Mary Hukins as the first staff co- ordinator. In her 1978 School Magazine report, Clare offered a challenge to future Grammar girls: Kirsten would have been in this year’s sixth form and when we have gone, perhaps another form will carry on ‘Informal Dress Day’ for us, because leukaemia lives on … (Florence, 1978)

c1980 Kay Kimber and Mary Hukins with a Mary Williams painting for raffling.

For forty-three years, the KJ committee has responded to Clare’s challenge, through raising funds for

organisations including the Leukaemia Foundation, the Queensland Cancer Council, Canteen, Childhood Cancer Support, and contributing to the work of various researchers.

2004 KJMLC Committee with Childhood Cancer Support

As staff co-ordinator of the KJ Committee from 2009 to 2020, I see Kirsten’s legacy not only in terms of fundraising but also in relationships built and in opportunities for girls to demonstrate their passion and leadership. At the beginning of each new year, I watched the Kirsten Jack girls designing cards that would one day hold those messages of love, friendship, and appreciation. Some of the girls already knew one another, others made new friends and built bonds that, like those Kirsten and her friends shared, would last throughout their time at school and beyond. I saw the older students welcoming the Year 7 students, creating a valued connection between some of our newest members of the School community. The oldest surviving service club in the School not only preserves Kirsten’s memory and raises valuable funds but also creates valuable opportunities for mentoring and leadership. The committee is now fondly referred to by many as simply ‘KJ’— an indication that the close bonds between Kirsten Jack and her friends are the reason it has endured for so long, an essence that Anna Blocksidge beautifully defined in her Year 11 assembly speech in 2009: It makes me very proud as an Old Girl to know that her journey might lead you to continue to help those who need it. But more importantly, remember to love dearly those friends who are dear — they make your life so full and rich. (Blocksidge, 2009)

Ann Farley, 2021 Past Staff member and Co-ordinator of KJMLC (2008-2020)

Daffodils or roses, KJLMC raises awareness and the gift of giving.

References Anderson, M. Griffiths, C. (2012). Magic moments in memory of Kirsten. Brisbane Girls Grammar School, School Magazine. Blocksidge, A. (2009, August 4). Year 11 Assembly Address. Presented at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Brisbane. Florence, C. (2009, August 4). Year 11 Assembly Address. Presented at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Brisbane Florence, C. (1978). Informal Day 1978. Brisbane Girls Grammar School, School Magazine. Jack, A. (2001). The Travelling Companion. Self-published Memoir Presented to the Beanland Memorial Library.

2004 KJMLC Logo

2017 Helen Crew visit to KJMLC

2018 Annual KJ Year 12 Formal Fashion Parade