1980 School Magazine

was awarded Blues in Athletics, Tennis and Basketball. Her fine qualities made her an outstanding and natural leader in Athletics, and her record there throughout her five years at B.G.G.S. made her a power to be ieckoned with by competitors from all other schools. Mollie has left us with something that continues to give pleasure and to arouse our pride: our War Cry, for she was largely responsible for its composition. MRS. MARGERY PHILLIPS (MARGERY PARK) Very many Old Girls will learn with regret of the death of one of their Mistresses - Miss Margery park - which occurred on 27Ih August this year. Margery Park entered the School as a pupil in j917 and left in 1922. She was an excellent swimmer and represented the School in the lnterschool Swimming Carnivals. After gaining her Bachelor of Arts degree she taught for a short time in the Education Department, and in lg2g was appornted to the staff of B.G.G.S. where she taught Psysiology and Maths (chiefly Arithmetic) in the Lower and Middle Schools. She identified herself with the School's swimming and for some years trained the Basketball teams soundly and with great success. Whether in the Staff Room, the Classroom or in areas of sport, Margery Park's work was marked by steadiness, reliability and a high sense of duty. She left at the end of 1938 to be married to Mr. Sydney Phillips. Since her marriage she had lived in Sydn-ey. ELIZABETH GERTRUDE STAFF, or as she was known at School, Gertrude Hart, passed away also in May this year, two weeks before Mollie Carmody's death. Elizabeth entered and left the School at the same time as Mollie; they were in the same Vth and Vlth Forms. She laught in the Education Department until her marriage to Mr. Stanley Staff . Coming from Dayboro, Elizabeth was for a time a boarder - a stranger from a small country school set down in the midst of strangers. Though shy and retiring in disposition, she was possessed of tremendoui reserves of quiet strength and courage, qualities which distinguished her during her long years of illness and suf- fering. To visit Elizabeth during those years was to be humbled and inspired by her fortitude and infectious cheerf u lness. MRS. EVELYN MABEL BACKHOUSE died on September 22nd, aged 95 years. She was born in Toowoomba in 1885, the daughter of Jettie and Joseph Wedd. Joseph Wedd was one of the first two pupils to win an open. scholarship to the B.G.S. He was for many years Headmaster of Newmarket School. Mabel Wedd gained a scholarship to B.G.G.S. where she won the Lilley Medat, the Exhibition Schotarship, the Fairfax Prize and the Annie Grice Medal. She was Dux of the School in 1903. The scholarships took her to Trinity College, Melbourne University as there was no University in Brisbane. She obtained an M.A. with Honours in Classics. She joined the teaching staff of lpswich Grammar School and taught there for many yeais. She was admit_ 10

ted to the Queensland University when it opened as Ad Eundum. ln 1910 she married William John Boyd Backhouse a member of a well known grazing familyand went to live in Killarney. ln 1963 she was invited to attend the University of Queensland's Jubilee Celebrations and was fronoure'O Oy the then Governor of eueensland, Sir Henry Abel Smith. She is survived by 5 children and many grandchrldren . . . SIXTH FORM OF 1930 On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of our leaving school, a re-union of members of this form was held ai the School on 24Ih September, 1980. We were met by the Assistant to the principal, Mr. Chris Madden who conducted us to Mrs. Hancock's study and introduced us to her. Mrs. Hancock kindly entertained us to afternoon tea, assisted by severat of tne boarders from the School, and gave us a short talk on the present_ day school and its future. lnteresting comparisons were made with today's school and that of Miss Lilley,s day. Mrs. Hancock, again capably assisted by- a few boarders, conducted us ovei the school and its playgrounds, and this was much appreciated by us. Out of a possible 23 members, (four have died) there were 15 present, Joan Allsop having flown from Sydney for the day and Edith Murray (ne-e Wagner) wfro in'_ stigated the proceedings for this re-unioin as well as those held in 1920 and i 975, came f rom Tannum Sands, near Gladstone. We were all pleasantly surprised at the way the School had grown and developed and the high standard of behaviour witnessed and expected. At the suggestion of Dr. Elsie Harwood, our members agreed to present an oil painting to be hung in the School in honour of this visit.

Palethorpe (nee