Fleur de Lys flashback
Trinity Ball

To celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Trinity College, each month this year we are going to dive into the time machine and share stories and deliberations of our past students, as recorded in our annual student publication, the Fleur de Lys.

This month we're looking at an annual fixture on the Trinity social calendar: the Trinity College Ball.

2022 marks the exciting occasion of the Trinity College Ball’s return for the first time since 2019. Ever since its inception in the 1970s, the ball has been a preeminent date on Trinity’s social calendar.

This year’s TCAC (the student committee) has embraced the ball’s glitzy traditions with the selection of the theme: ‘Garden of the Surreal’. After two years without a ball – they wanted the current Trinity cohort's first ball to be a lavish affair.

If the comments of Trinitarians of years past are anything to go by, they have a lot to look forward to...

For a tradition dating back almost half a century, comments about the jovial nature of the event have remained remarkably similar.

An author of the 1919 social club report, referencing the ball, or dance in this instance, described it as:

Third term, usually a sombre one at this University, was heralded by the College Dance, which was held in the St Kilda Town Hall on 5th September. During the years of war, this function – the most prized of all our social activities – had naturally lapsed, but its revival this year was welcomed by all past and present members of the college.

A partygoer from the 1983 college ball reflected on the event’s ‘stylish, imaginative and ambitious’ characteristics.

Whilst some past collegians have shared observations about the glamour and high standards on display, crediting their peers for a job well done, others have chosen to focus on some of the ball’s...other offerings.

In keeping with tradition, there is no doubt that this year's ‘Garden of the Surreal’ event will incorporate all these elements and much more to create a special first ball for this year’s Trinitarians.

As stated by a student in 1983, Trinity Ball always proves to be a fantastic reflection of ‘what can be done with the resources of the College, given the enthusiasm and the support of its members’.