Ruth Langley Luncheon
St Catherine's Ruth Langley Series
The Parents' & Friends' Association organises the annual Ruth Langley Luncheon, an event which features various female speakers who have achieved excellence in their chosen profession and a balance in their life pursuits. Introduced in 1999, the Luncheon is now well and truly established as a major event for women in the School's calendar. At last year's Luncheon, held at ZINC at Federation Square, more than 400 women attended.
The Ruth Langley Series is named in celebration of the leading role played by Ruth Langley, both in the history of St Catherine's School and in women's education in Victoria. Click here for information on the speakers who have entertained and informed our Luncheon events over the years.
About Ruth Langley
In 1903, aged 25, Ruth Langley purchased Castlemaine Ladies' College from its founder, Jeanie Hood. Together with her sister Nona, Ruth built up the small school, renaming it St Catherine's after the school she had attended in Sydney before moving to Tintern Ladies College in Melbourne, from which she matriculated.
In 1919 she relocated the School to Melbourne, forming a partnership with Flora Templeton, and in 1922 established St Catherine's on its present site in Heyington Place, Toorak.
As Principal of the School from 1903 until just prior to her death in 1933, Ruth Langley established at St Catherine's an enduring philosophy of ‘education for life'. She believed passionately in the importance of an education which embraces the whole individual and which extends every student intellectually, culturally, socially and physically.
Her example of leadership and achievement has been an inspiration to generations of St Catherine's girls, and a reminder that with determination and self-belief, we each have the power to succeed.
The Luncheon Series seeks to focus on and reinforce Ruth Langley's belief in the philosophy of ‘education for life' and that with determination and hard work, individuals have an ability to achieve extraordinary success in their lives.