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Geelong Grammar School

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Geelong Church of England Grammar School is a Public School (privately funded and independent), Anglican, co-educational, boarding and day-boarding school. The School's main campus is located at Corio, on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners' Bay.

Established in 1855 under the auspices of the Church of England,[1] Geelong Grammar School has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 1500 students from Pre-school to Year 12, including 800 boarders from Years 5 to 12.[2]

Geelong Grammar School is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA),[3] the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA),[2] the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA),[4] the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV),[5] and is a founding member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APSV).[6] The school has offered the International Baccalaureate (IB) since February 1997.[7]

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked Geelong Grammar School fourth in Australia's top ten boys' schools, based on the number of its male alumni mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia (a listing of notable Australians).[8][a]

History

The school was founded in 1855 as a private diocesan school with the blessing of Bishop Perry by The Ven. Theodore Stretch, Archdeacon of Geelong, with an initial enrolment of fourteen boys. The school grew rapidly and in 1857 it was assigned £5,000 of a government grant for church schools by Bishop Perry, the foundation stone was laid for its own buildings, and it was transformed into a public school. The school closed due to financial difficulties in 1860, only to re-open in 1863 with John Bracebridge Wilson, who had been a master under Rev. George Vance, as Head Master.

For many years Bracebridge Wilson ran the school at his own expense and through this time boarders came to compose the greater part of the student body. In 1875 James Lister Cuthbertson joined the staff as Classics Master. He had a great influence upon the boys of the school and was much admired and loved by them in spite of his alcoholism. Upon the death of Bracebridge Wilson in 1895, Cuthbertson became acting Head Master until the appointment of Leonard Harford Lindon early in the next year.

Lindon ran the school responsibly for 15 years, but was never fully accepted by the old boys and lacked the personal warmth with the boys that had been seen with Bracebridge Wilson and Cuthbertson. By the turn of the century the school was outgrowing its buildings in the centre of Geelong and it was decided to move the school, and with this the school council decided to open the Head Mastership to new applicants - Lindon re-applied, but was rejected. Rev. Francis Ernest Brown was finally chosen as the new Head Master.

In 1909 the school purchased a substantial amount of land in the then rural Geelong suburb of Belmont bounded by Thomson, Regent and Scott Streets, and Roslyn Road. On 21 October 1910, Chairman of the school, W.T. Manifold turned the first sod that was expected to be the new era of the school.[9] These plans had faded by August 1911, when adjoining rural land was offered for sale as the Belmont Hill Estate. The school council indicated that the adjacent suburban subdivision would work against their plans for a boarding school, not one catering for day boys. The school made the decision to buy land on the opposite side of Geelong at Corio, with the land at Belmont, sold for further residential subdivision.[9]

Move to Corio

File:GGSCorio1.jpg
The Geelong Grammar School, as seen from Corio Bay. The You Yangs are visible in the background.
GGS Student Bollard at Melbourne Airport
Geelong Grammar School Hut at Mt Stirling

At the end of 1927 the school left its old buildings near the centre of Geelong for the last time to move to an expansive new site at Corio. Brown put a greater emphasis on religion than his predecessors, and the new isolated location with its own chapel was ideal for this.

Upon Brown's retirement in 1929 the school council set out to find a 40 year old married clergyman as the next Head Master, they ended up choosing James Ralph Darling, a 30 year old layman and bachelor. This proved to be a most successful choice, ushering in an era of creativity, and massive expansion through the school purchasing the Geelong Church of England Grammar Preparatory School in 1927, Glamorgan in 1928, and starting Timbertop in the 1950s. Darling attracted many acclaimed in their fields to work as masters at the school including the historian Manning Clark, musician Sir William McKie, and artist Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack.

Thomas Ronald Garnett succeeded Darling in 1961 taking the school down a liberal path, most notably in early steps towards co-education with girls from Geelong Church of England Girls' Grammar School "The Hermitage" taking certain classes at Corio by the early 1970s and accepting girls into the senior years from 1972, but also through acts such as making chapel non-compulsory (since reversed).

He in turn was succeeded by the Hon. Charles Douglas Fisher, under whom Garnett's co-educational ideas were achieved. In a staff meeting in which the votes for and against co-education were equal he cast the deciding vote that led to G.C.E.G.S. accepting girls through all levels of the school. In 1976, after a year of negotiations, G.C.E.G.S., G.C.E.G.G.F.S. "The Hermitage", and Clyde School amalgamated. Fisher died as the result of a car accident on the way to Timbertop for an end of year service in 1978.

An interregnum of a couple of years followed until the appointment of John Elliot Lewis in 1980. Under the leadership of Lewis the school set about renovating the boarding and day houses to try and bring them up to somewhere near acceptable modern standards (which was successful), and a focus on improving academic results for while the school had offered a generally rounded education its poor academic performance had earned it the tag of a "finishing school for idiots." In part, this was achieved through introducing timetable flexibility to allow able later-year high-school students to undertake Victorian Certificate of Education studies ahead of their cohort. The school is now one of 43 high schools in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme as an alternative to the VCE. The later years of Lewis' Head Mastership saw an effort (which has been largely successful) to make the school less hierarchical.

The period since Lewis has seen two brief Head Masterships by Lister Hannah and Nicholas Sampson, and in 2004 the appointment of the current Head Master, Stephen Meek.

Head Masters

Period Details
1855 – 1862 Rev. Dr. George Oakley Vance
1863 – 1895 John Bracebridge Wilson
1896 – 1911 Leonard Harford Lindon
1912 – 1929 Rev. Dr. Francis Ernest Brown
1930 – 1961 Sir James Ralph Darling
1961 – 1973 Thomas Ronald Garnett
1974 – 1978 Hon. Charles Douglas Fisher
1980 – 1994 John Elliot Lewis
1995 – Lister Hannah
2000 – 2004 Nicholas Sampson
2004 – Present Stephen Meek

Campuses

Geelong Grammar School Clock Tower

Geelong Grammar School has four campuses:

  • Corio Years 5 to 8 and 10 to 12, boarding and day.
  • Bostock House Pre-school to Year 4, day.
  • Toorak Campus (formerly known as Glamorgan) Pre-school to Year 6, day.
  • Timbertop Year 9, Fulltime boarding

Buildings at Corio

Perry Quad

Built in 1913 and extended in the 1930s the Quad is located at the centre of the school between the Dining Hall and the Chapel. It houses classrooms, school administration, the Morris Room (staff dining room), three staff residences (The Dovecote, The Eyrie, and the Vicarage), the Hawker Library, and until 1986 Perry House. The central quadrangle is grassed and there is a fountain in its centre. It is often used for assemblies and plays. The clocktower is on the eastern side of the Perry Quad.

Hawker Library

Originally the school library, its decor dates from the 1940s. From 1979 it housed the History Library, and was in 2005 converted into the Michael Collins Persse Archives Centre and School Museum.

The Cloisters

Linking the Quad and Chapel the Cloisters are the school's main war memorial. There are plaques commemorating OGGs who died in the First and Second World Wars at either end. The ANZAC Day service is held around the Cloisters every year. Silence is to be maintained at all times in the Cloisters.

File:Ggschapel.jpg
The Chapel of All Saints
Chapel of All Saints

Built in stages between 1914 and 1929 the Chapel is at the spiritual centre of the school. All students must attend a weekday service and boarders must also attend on Sundays. The 3 manual organ was originally built by Hill in 1909 and was expanded in 1958 by J. W. Walker.

Morres Hall aka. The Dining Hall

Built in 1913 and extended in 1933 the Dining Hall is where all Senior School students take meals. There are paintings of all former Head Masters of GGS, as well of some of the school founders, and some the Headmistresses of The Hermitage and Clyde.

Darling Hall

Built in the 1960s the Darling Hall serves as the Middle School Dining Hall and Examinations Hall. [Image:Ggsmusic.jpg|thumb|200px|The Music School]]

Music School

Built in 1938 and standing out as one of the few buildings at Corio not constructed with red bricks, the Music School contains many small practice rooms, a band room, a strings room and the Music Hall, which is used for many concerts by students, staff, and visiting musicians.

Art School

Built in 1937 the Art School served as the only centre for art in the school until the construction of the Sinclaire and Hirschfeld Mack Centres in the last 5 years. It remains at the centre of art in the school, being used mostly for painting and drawing.

Hirschfeld Mack Centre

Erected in 2003 in a mock-Bauhaus style and named after the former art master and influential artist and designer, Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack, the centre houses the school's photography department and a recording studio.

Fisher Library

Built in 1979 and renovated and extended in 2005 the Fisher is now Senior School's sole lending library, now incorporating the collections of the former History Library, most of which is maintained in a large staff-accessible vault.

Bracebridge Wilson Theatre

Opening in 1978 (replacing the 1890s Bracebridge Wilson Hall, which burnt in 1976), the "BW" is where most school plays and school assemblies are held. It seats approximately 300 people in fixed seating.

Cook Quad

Built in stages until the 1930s the Cook Quad houses most of the school's Science Department.

The Handbury Centre for Wellbeing aka. The Wellbeing Centre (Opening Term 2, 2008)

The Handbury Centre for Wellbeing will become Geelong Grammar's main centre for sport, health and overall wellbeing. The Centre will comprise of 2 basketball courts, a FINA Accredited 25 Meter Pool, a diving pool, a weights centre, a fitness centre, a rowing centre, a cafe, the GGS Shop, counselling services, physiotherapy and the School's Medical Centre, Kennedy. The Handbury Centre for Wellbeing is set to open in Term 2, 2008.

Please note that the above buildings are only a selection of the building currently at Geelong Grammar School, Corio Campus.

Houses

As with most Australian schools, Geelong Grammar School utilises a house system.

Senior School
  • Allen (Day, Co-ed)
  • Clyde (Boarding, Girls, 1976, nominal successor to Clyde School)
  • Cuthbertson (Boarding, Boys, 1914)
  • Francis Brown (Boarding, Boys, 1937)
  • Fraser (Day, Co-ed., 1976)
  • Garnett (Boarding, Girls, 1982)
  • The Hermitage (Boarding, Girls, 1976, originally Jennings, nominal successor to G.C.E.G.G.S. "The Hermitage")
  • Manifold (Boarding, Boys, 1914)
  • Perry (Boarding, Boys, 1914)
Middle School
  • Barrabool (Boarding) Boys Year 7 and 8
  • Barwon (Boarding) Boys Year 5 to 8
  • Connewarre (Boarding) Girls Year 5 to 8
  • Highton (Day) Co-ed Year 5 to 8.
  • Otway (Day) Co-ed Year 5 to 8
Bostock House

Originally the houses of G.C.E.G.G.S. "The Hermitage"

  • Austin (Honour above honours)
  • Morres (The chain is as strong as its weakest link)
  • School (Play up, play up, and play the game)
  • Volum (Non sibi, sed toti)

Notable Alumni

File:[email protected]
Prince Charles' return visit to Geelong Grammar

Former students of Geelong Grammar and old girls of The Hermitage and Clyde School are known as Old Geelong Grammarians (OGGs), and may elect to join the schools alumni association, the Old Geelong Grammarians Association. For a list of notable Old Geelong Grammarians, see List of Old Geelong Grammarians.

School Journal

The Corian is the journal of the Geelong Grammar School. Published as The Geelong Grammar School Annual (1875-76), The Geelong Grammar School Quarterly (1877-1913), and The Corian (1914-). Published quarterly since 1877 it reverted to an annual in 1992. There are two editions of The Corian, a Senior School and Middle School edition.

Notes

References

  1. ^ "History". About GGS. Geelong Grammar School. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ABSA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "JSHAA Victorian Directory of Members". Victoria Branch. Junior School Heads' Association of Australia. 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  4. ^ "Victoria". Schools. Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia. 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference AISV was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Leung, Chee Chee (2005-03-29). "Top schools pledge to play fair". National. Melbourne: The Age. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  7. ^ "Geelong Grammar School". IB World Schools. International Baccalaureate Organization. Retrieved 2007-12-28.
  8. ^ Walker, Frank (2001-07-22). "The ties that bind". Sunday Life. The Sun-Herald. p. 16. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  9. ^ a b Belmont Heritage Areas Report - Volume 1 August 2007 (PDF-3133KB)

Further reading

  • Bate, Weston (1990). Light blue down under: The history of Geelong Grammar School. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-553106-X.
  • Collins Persse, Well-Ordered Liberty, Cliffe, Melbourne, 1995
  • Corfield, Geelong Grammarians: A biographical register, G.G.S., 1996
  • Geelong Grammar School Quarterly 1877-1913
  • The Corian 1914-2005
  • Light Blue (School Newsletter)
  • The Window (Senior School Newsletter)
  • In Loco Parentis (Headmaster's Newsletter)

See also

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