Jim Mather (SPC 1999-2002)
February 16, 2021
The College received the horrific news that Old Collegian Jim Mather (SPC 1999-2002) and his wife, Sabine, were killed in a car accident on November 1, 2020 on the Bussell Highway near Capel in Western Australia.
They had been in Margaret River to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary. The couple leave behind a family of four children, two older girls and two little boys. Sadly, Jethro, aged 7, and Isaac, aged 5, are now orphaned, and Jim’s older daughters Ella-Jade, 13, and Sofia, 15, have lost their father. Media reports noted that Jethro and Isaac will now be raised by their grandparents, Elke and Steve, and the older girls, Ella-Jade and Sofia, will living with their mother, Alicia. James’ family, who live in Ballarat, were also understandably devastated and trying to process the enormity of the situation. The closure of the WA border to Victorians due to the COVID-19 pandemic further complicated the situation for the family who were forced to apply an exemption to enter WA to attend the funerals of Jim and Sabine.
Jim initially boarded at SPC and then became a day student in 2002 prior to moving back to Western Australia.
A GoFundMe page here was established to assist the family in the days following the tragedy.