Hockey at Mount in the 60’s - Ananda Amaranath
Extract 2002 Dance Souvenir/reflections by our Patron
Ananda Amaranath comes from Beliatte in the deep south of Sri Lanka. A staunch Thomian, 13 years in the boarding he also represented College in tennis and badminton (captain). He read Law at the University of Colombo. He is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka and was also admitted as a Solicitor of England and Wales. Subsequently, he was admitted as a Barrister of the Supreme Court of Seychelles and in Australia as a Barrister and Solicitor of New South Wales.
He had a short period in private practice in Colombo following graduation, after which he joined the Attorney General’s Department as a State Counsel. He prosecuted in various provincial High Courts in Sri Lanka and was involved in several murder cases. Noteworthy in his experience were the trials arising out of the 1971 JVP insurrection and the Galenbindunuwewa murder case, which is regarded as one of the famous criminal cases of Sri Lanka. In 1983, as a Senior State Counsel, he was a member of a team of Prosecutors who prosecuted Rev Mathew Peiris and Dalrene Ingram in the High Court of Colombo.
At the end of 1983, he was seconded to the Attorney General’s Chambers of the Republic of Seychelles and was appointed Principal State Counsel, responsible for the management of the civil and criminal divisions of the Chambers and appearing as a Barrister in the more complex cases that came up in the Courts.
On his arrival in Australia in 1989, he joined the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in NSW and practised as a Senior Prosecutor for 27 years. For the past 2 years he has been in private practice. We are very proud to have him as the current Patron of our Sydney/ACT OBA.
“You would note there are four Thomian cricket captains depicted in the Hockey team. Another significant factor is that all the players in the team were either boarders or ex- boarders. There is reason for this. Mastering hockey ( controlling a ball with a narrow stick) requires constant practice and years to master. We had plenty of time for that in the boarding. No television or radio”!
