From Rugby Fields to School Halls: How Nickie Wickert is Shaping the Future of Oakhill College

Schools might be changing these days. Oakhill College Castle Hill has a department Head who was captain of women’s Australian rugby football.  Nickie Wickert was hired by Br Ambrose Payne, a rugby afficianado and past principal of the College.

Nickie came from a single-parent family and was an only child, but one grandfather was a successful general manager of the Commonwealth Bank, and she travelled extensively overseas when young, gathering a cosmopolitan view of the world. Attending a private girls’ school, Wenona, she became a prefect, and threw herself into many sports. After her teaching degree, Nickie taught in London before returning home to casual work.

In the 1990’s, she met the rugby manager of the Drummoyne rugby team when the women’s competition was being set up. Nickie was playing for the ‘Dirty Reds’ women’s rugby from its start. A fortuitous meeting with Tarsha Gale, the head of PDHPE at Oakhill College, led to her employment there in 1995. In 2015, after coaching the boys’ senior teams, she evened up the game by starting Girls 7’s at Oakhill (Year 7 team).

While teaching, Nickie became captain of the Waratahs women’s side in 1995, and then captain of the Wallaroos in 1997. She was given cap number five of – now- 210 Australian players. In the first IRB endorsed World Cup in Amsterdam the national team attained 5th of 16 teams, winning the the Plate Final against Spain. So, there was plenty of experience in coaching rugby at Oakhill. When training became a bit light-headed, she says the drill changed to tackle practice!

After retiring from international playing in 2003, Nickie started playing Australian Rules football. There was still the involvement in presenting jerseys to new national players, and she became acting Head of the Oakhill PDHPE faculty in 2022, and permanent head in 2023. She sees the faculty members of 14 men as “strong and connected”, as the College promotes being Lasallian and offering a “well-rounded education” with the opportunities for everyone  to try new things and be successful.

A  final accolade in the sporting arena was Nickie’s induction into the NSW Rugby Hall of Fame in 2024.

Source: Br Gary Wilson