MARGARET SHANNON MEMORIAL CUP
Margaret Shannon Memorial Cup
The Margaret Shannon Memorial Cup is a current Geelong College award and is held in perpetuity by the College. It is awarded annually to a female student in Year 12 in recognition of outstanding overall service to the College community.
This prize was first awarded by The Geelong College in 2015 and was funded by the Morongo Old Collegians' Association (MOCA).
Before its re-introduction as a student award at Geelong College, the Margaret Shannon Cup was originally used as a House Athletics Award at the Presbyterian Girls College Geelong (Morongo). In December 1928 the
Australasian newspaper reported:
'In memory of their daughter Margaret, Mr and Mrs Herbert Shannon, Upper Murray, have presented a massive gold cup for perpetual competition in interhouse sports at the Presbyterian Girls' College, Geelong. The first competition for the cup took place this year, and at the annual speech day the cup was presented to the captain of Lawson House, at which the late Margaret Shannon was a student.' Margaret Alma Strachan Shannon (c1913-1928), was enrolled at the Presbyterian Girls College, Geelong (Morongo) on 13 February 1924 but after leaving Morongo on 14 December 1927 did not return. She died the following year on 5 February 1928 and was interred at the Albury Pioneer Cemetery the next day. In her memory, her parents, Herbert Strachan Shannon (1880-1955) and Alma Blanche Mary nee Chenery (1888-1974), presented a gold award trophy then valued at 200 pounds to Morongo College to be known as the
'Margaret Shannon Memorial Cup for Inter House Competition at the Annual Sports' . The award was in use at Morongo from the annual sports day in December 1928.
The book,
Morongo: The First Fifty Years described the award as follows:
It's correct name is 'The Margaret Shannon Memorial Cup for Athletics'. Margaret Shannon was a pupil at Morongo. She had some £200-300 in her bank account and after her tragically early death while still at school, her parents bought the cup with her own money and presented it to the school in her memory. All Morongo girls know the gold cup, and it is hoped that this brief account of it will serve to remind them that it is a memorial cup to a past student who was fond of sport.Margaret's father ,
Herbert Strachan Shannon (1880-1955) was a educated at Geelong College. Her grandfather,
Charles Shannon (c1841-1922) was, after re-purchase of the School by the Presbyterian Church, the foundation chairman of Geelong College from 1908 to 1921.
After the winding up of the Morongo Old Collegians Association (MOCA) in 2015 the cup was donated to Geelong College for use as an annual award.
Margaret Shannon Cup Awardees (Geelong College):2015
2016 Cheatley, C.
2017 Harris, M. R.
2018 Falkiner, L.
2019 Loftus, J. N.
2020 Cullen, G. M.
2021 Solly, S. K.
2022 McLaughlin, A. L.
2023 Phung, H.
Margaret Shannon Memorial Cup House Awardees (Morongo):1928 Lawson
1929 Harris
1930 Lawson
1931 Lawson
1932 Ardens
1933 Ardens
1934 Ardens
1935 Harris
1936 Ardens
1937 Lawson
1938 Lawson
1939 Lawson
1940 Lawson
1941 Ardens
1942 Harris
1943 Roslyn
1944 Roslyn
1945 Ardens
1946 Ardens
1947 Ardens
1948 Ardens
1949 Not Awarded
1950 Harris
1951 Ardens
1952 Lawson
1953 Lawson
1954 Ardens
1955 Lawson
1956 Ardens
1957 Ardens
1958 Roslyn
1959 Ardens
1960 Ardens
1961 Roslyn
1962 Roslyn
1963 Lawson
1964 Lawson
1965 Roslyn
1966 Harris
1967 Harris
1968 Harris
1969 Harris
1970 Roslyn
1971 Roslyn
1972 Roslyn
1973 Roslyn
1974 Roslyn
1975
1976
1977 Lawson
1978 Lawson
1979 Lawson
1980 Lawson
1981 Roslyn
1982 Roslyn
1983 Venters
1984 Roslyn
1985 Lawson
1986 Roslyn
1987
Sources: Australasian December 1928; Morongo: The First Fifty Years.