After nearly a decade of dedicated service to the Cathedral, our former Cathedral Administrator Trevor Whittaker retired at the beginning of 2024. Appointed in 2015 as the second Cathedral Administrator, during his tenure Trevor played an important role in maintaining and enhancing our iconic heritage building, and in facilitating the Cathedral’s outreach to visitors and tourists.
Stepping into the footsteps of the inaugural Cathedral Administrator George Yacoub in August 2015, Trevor oversaw the completion of the renovation of the historic Cathedral Buildings and Chapter House. He ensured a smooth return to our new office and ministry facilities which, since 2015, have served the Cathedral’s administrative functions, our music ministry and community engagement, as well as the work of the wider Diocese of Melbourne.
During the planning for the creation of a new Metro station adjacent to St Paul’s Cathedral, Trevor played a crucial role in ensuring St Paul’s was safe from potential damage. He assisted the Dean and Chapter in negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with Rail Projects Victoria to provide continuous geophysical, sound and movement monitoring of St Paul’s. Thanks to these safety measure the Cathedral—one of the most important city landmarks along the new Metro line—has not suffered any damage to its fabric as the station underneath Swanston Street comes to completion.
Within the walls of St Paul’s Trevor’s abiding legacy certainly will be the creation of the Visitor Centre, which opened in 2022. A brainchild of our outgoing Administrator, this beautiful redevelopment has opened up a welcoming space for visitors wishing to explore the history and significance of St Paul’s Cathedral, or seeking to commemorate their visit by purchasing a postcard, guidebook, gift or devotional item.
Soon after the opening of the new Visitor Centre, Trevor transitioned to a newly-created fixed-time role as the Cathedral Business Manager. In the face of challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, with multiple lockdowns and low visitation, Chapter saw the need to re-energise the Cathedral’s business ventures, in order to meet the needs of our visitors and our own financial needs. Trevor’s energy and vision enabled the Cathedral’s business operations not only to recover but to flourish. By the end of 2023 our significantly expanded the Cathedral retail staff welcomed and served more than 525,000 visitors to St Paul’s.
As he farewelled Trevor at a staff morning tea in late January, the Dean of Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, expressed his profound thanks for Trevor’s contribution to the Cathedral’s life and ministry. Dean Andreas said: ‘Trevor’s leadership has been invaluable to St Paul’s. His dedication and commitment have left a lasting impact on our beautiful building—much of it, like our Visitor Centre, tangible. I thank Trevor for his friendship and his long service. On behalf of all of us at St Paul’s I wish him every blessing in his well-deserved retirement’.