Board of Advisors – College of Celebrancy
Professor Michael Parer
Our Board Chairman, Professor Michael Parer (left), is an acknowledged world authority in Distance Education. He has written many books on this subject and others. Longtime Professor of Curriculum Development at Monash University, Melbourne Australia. He also masterminded online courses in Nursing at Melbourne University, and Indigenous Studies. He is currently advisor to the University of Cambodia.
Dr Chris Watson (ex officio)
The Dean of Studies, Dr Chris Watson, (right) has studied and lectured in Universities in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Dr Watson was for many years a Lecturer in English at La Trobe University, with a special interest in poetry. He has taught in other Universities in Australia and abroad.
His Ph.D studied the poems of John Donne and Andrew Marvell. His particular concern is to encourage students/celebrants to include literary works in ceremonies. A member of a community choir, he also appreciates the central place of song and music.
Dr Val Noone
Our Board Vice Chairman, historian Dr Valentine Noone, is acclaimed as the foremost scholar of “Irish emigration to Australia” studies in the Western world. He gained his doctorate at La Trobe University in Melbourne and lectures extensively in his field of expertise. His work is recognised worldwide. He was recenlty awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dublin in Ireland (December 2013).
Ms Terese Archibald
Our consultant,Terese Archibald, is skilled and experienced in competency based training from the time it was introduced. It was Terese who first introduced Leaning Journals into the course Modules, which students have found to be an excellent learning tool. Apart form many other educational accomplishments Terese was an evaluator of training at the Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern (ADTR) : sponsored by the Assessment Centre for Vocational Education.
Mr Dally Messenger (ex officio)
The Principal of the College, Dally Messenger III, has a track record of being involved with Civil Celebrancy from the beginning. He was asked by the founder, Attorney- General Lionel Murphy, to become the first secretary of the Association of Civil Marriage Celebrants of Australia, founded in 1974. With Murphyís encouragement, he has taken a leadership role in all the years since. He has taught and mentored Celebrants since 1974.
Mr John Hill
John is a distinguished and successful celebrant and academic.
John Hill is someone with a vast and broad experience of human life. He is a civil celebrant with over 40 years experience. He is based in Sydney, Australia.
John was born and bred on the lower north shore of Sydney where he spent the first 20 years of his life . He entered a Catholic religious order. He was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1967 and worked in a Sydney parish and then as a chaplain at the university of NSW. He spent 6 years in the southern Philippines. John worked for nearly 10 years as a probation and parole officer with the NSW Department of Corrective Services. Much of that time was working in the maximum security prisons and in Community Service Order programs.
John has a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Counselling degrees from the University of New England.He is a Justice of the Peace and has a Graduate Diploma in Celebrancy from the International College of Celebrancy.
Ms Mary Hancock
Mary enjoys the distinction of being the founder of the first celebrancy course in the world (in New Zealand).
Ms Yvonne Werner
Yvonne concentrates on the College Course in Ongoing Professional Development and the Certificate IV in Celebrancy
Dr Wendy Attwater
Wendy set up our original Registered Training Organisation and over many years has continued to give the college invaluable advice and assistance.
International College of Celebrancy (Est.1995) 