Look at these gorgeous girls in all that glorious silk taffeta, and these dapper lads, resplendent in their dinner suits and colourful skinny bow ties!
This is ‘A Classical Night of Romance’ at the Newman College Ball on 24 July 1989!
That year the venue changed to the New Embassy Ballroom in Carlisle. An old roller skating rink, it had reopened in 1983 as the New Embassy Ballroom.
It was the perfect venue! Marite Norris (1989) wrote for the 1989 yearbook’s report that the ballroom glowed with decorations and there was a notable air of excitement as crowds began to arrive.
The band, Planet E, “kept everyone grooving the night away” and, thanks to the efforts of PE staff who spent the previous months teaching these students how to dance properly, "some able Year 12s performed dances of slow fox trot, modern waltz, quickstep, tango and, of course, the jive ... adding to the spendour of the night."
Tania Carlisle and Gerard Field received the "much coveted and deserved title" of 'Belle and Beau of the Ball’, and Sharon Wisniewski and Peter Arkell were deemed the 'Couple of the Ball'.
It was, by all accounts, a gala evening and "one that will remain in the hearts of all who attended."
Were you there? Who are these gorgeous young ladies and gentlemen?
If you can identify them, please tag or comment below, or email archives@newman.wa.edu.au.
And if you have photos from this - or any other year’s ball - we’d love to see them!
