Mrs Carol Selva Rajah was a much-loved teacher of English at Mercy College who passed away last July. Her connection to the College continues with her grand-daughter attending Mercy in Year 7 this year.

Mrs Selva Rajah’s students in her early years at Mercy were a mixture of newly arrived Vietnamese “boat people” and other overseas students from Hong Kong. They took her on an excursion one day to Cabramatta, where a large community of Vietnamese people had settled. This excursion started her career in Asian cooking, which saw her writing over 18 cookbooks in her lifetime, appearing on several television cooking shows and leading culinary tours to Cabramatta.

Mercy alumni and staff are proud to recognize Carol as a Mercy teacher and posthumously congratulate her for receiving the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in this year’s Australia Day honours. She was recognized for her “service to the hospitality industry and to culinary tourism”.

To remember her contribution to Mercy College and her receipt of an OAM, a group of past Mercy staff were taken on an excursion by Carol’s daughter to Cabramatta to retrace the steps of Carol’s early expeditions.

Pictured is:

Ms Ann O’Donovan (Geography) – Mr Mark Wong (Music/RE) – Mrs Lesley West (Geography/RE) – Mrs Monica Cookson (College Counsellor) – Ms Suzanne Kavanagh (Principal) – Ms Anushiya Selva Rajah (daughter)