In St Hilda's College Chronicle 2020, Principal Jackie Barron ponders on how St Hilda's began "in the arena" with the determination of two Anglican religious sisters. We have some edited highlights on Jackie's reflections...

On the 2 February, 1896, Sisters Geraldine and Etheleen, started a new school in Dunedin. They had courage and vision, and were determined to give opportunity and assistance to the young women of Otago.

At that time many parents considered secondary education completely unnecessary for their girls. After all, their main role in life was to get married and become good wives and mothers. Other parents objected to schooling for girls, saying that it was a waste of money because girls were not physically or mentally strong enough for academic study.

The sisters, while facing criticism and judgment, and having to battle comments based on gossip and bias, stood their ground. As Theodore Roosevelt would so famously comment in 1910, some years after the sisters had started their school,

"It is not the critic that counts, not the person who points out how the strong person stumbles or where the doer of the deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the person who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood: who strives valiantly, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst, if they fail, at least fails with great daring".

The sisters were in the arena, they forged ahead and the school grew and in 1910 St Hilda's moved to a beautiful old home - called 'Mahinga', on our current site.

I often stand at the corner of Cobden Street and Heriot Row - looking out over our beautiful harbour - a view that in 1900 the sisters described as 'exquisite', and I wonder what leading the school was like for these women who went before me. Did they have any doubts about their enterprise, fear they would 'fail with great daring'? Did they face reproach for their beliefs and work? What would they think of us now? Would they be pleased or horrified by how young women are educated today? What would they think of our curriculum? I suspect that whatever they thought, they would be gracious, kind and curious. After all, they would know how it feels to be thought-leaders, to be courageous in your principles and to step into the arena. 

Those women inspire me with their audacity, conviction, compassion and tolerance. It is my privilege to be the 15th Principal of this fabulous school, and when I look back on the school's history, I cannot help but think of the women  who have led it, the woman who have been educated here and the families who have contributed to its growth. 

2 February, 2021, will mark 125 years of St Hilda's Collegiate School in Dunedin, 120 years on its current site. It has been a part of this city for a very long time, has endued difficult times and successfully ridden the waves of social change...

... Georgie O'Keefe, an American Artist, said that before she exhibits her work, she holds an exhibition just for herself.

"I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it - how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that, the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free."

Sisters Geraldine and Etheleen did not bow under the burden of conformity: they did not buy into the pressures and prejudices of their time. They ignored the rumours and speculation that undermined the rights of young women to an education. They championed opportunity, inclusiveness and compassion, and outlasted those who sat back and hoped for failure, who judged and criticized from the cheap seats of the arena, and it is indeed fortunate for all of us that they did. They confidently took up the challenge, made up their own minds, ignored the criticism and the flattery, and were free. And that s all that I can hope for all of you.