Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 1995

School news

loads of Girls ' Grammar students outside our front gates waiting to be let in. As a young person I grew up in Canada where the climate was far colder than here. I was a pretty good skier as a young girl, and although our competitions in Ottawa were not Ol ympic standard, I won enough com petitions to make a good name for myself on the slopes. Nevertheless, as far as sport was concerned, skipping ropes and hop scotch were generally considered by most authorities to be sophisticated enough for a school girl's physical education. In the 1990s, women can and do play at! types of sport, at at! levels, and at at! ages. Unfortunately though, the statistics tell a different story about women's involvement in sport. For example, the ratio of women to men playing sport in the wider community is one to three. Girls still perceive sport as basi cally being something for boys, and media coverage of women's sport is inadequate - in the na tion's newspapers it's around 4.2 per cent of total sports coverage, and on television it's about 1.2 per cent of the total sport time . 2 Sport must become a greater influence in the lives of young girls and womeO . It provides obvious benefits like physical fitness, health and good feelings of well-be ing, enjoyment, excitement and per sonal challenge. For each one of us though, whether it's me at the gym each morning or whether you ' re a young girl in your first year at Girls' Grammar, sport and exercise provides some really great opportunities to deal with personal success and failure. I know that all the little gains made along the way are a great boost to self-esteem. And apart from anything else, research continues to show that people who are healthy and active are happier, more contented about their lives and their relationships, and more productive. Therefore it's not only important, but it should be expected

by Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland, Mrs Leneen Forde, A.C., Official Visitor to the School. Thank you for your warm wel come to me this afternoon. I'm de lighted to be back here at Brisbane Girls' Grammar School, and I'm very pleased to have been asked to open your new sports and recreation centre. I read that when your school was founded 120 years ago on this date, it started as a branch of Boys' Grammar, and began in an old two storeybrickhousenearlheRomaStreet end ofGeorge Street. When the Boys' School itself had started six years ear lier, theGovernor,SirWilliamsCairns, and many other prominent citizens, attended the celebrations. In contrast, theopeningoftheGirls' School on 15 March 1875 was far from elaborate. On the weekend before school com menced, an advertisement appeared in the Brisbane Courier Newspaper infonning reader~. in a matter-of-fact way, that school would commence on the following Monday at9.00am. The advertisement gave a few otherdetails about fees and so on, but that was about it. The Girls' School proved popular, and soon classroom space began to dwindle so that overcrowd ing was a problem, and an alternative site needed to be located. The Bris bane Courier made an unusual sug gestion thatGovernment House, then situated at the opposite end ofGeorge Street to the School, would have suit able accommodation and probably prove very popular with the girls.l'm sure my predecessor must have fell relieved when the writer went on to say that the Governor could not be expected to give up his comfortable quarters for a school. 1 One hundred and twenty years later, with the wonderful teaching facilities at Girls' Gram mar, and standing here in this tre mendous sports centre, I don't think my husband and I need worry that one morning we' Jl find bus

Her Excellency the Govemor ofQueensland, Mrs Leneen Forde, A. C. opens the Sports Centre. that, 100 per cent and not just 40 per cent of the population, has full access to all the benefits of involvement in sport. I have to admit I was exhausted school are honoured through the nam ing of the sports centre, wilt help to ensure that continues . I commend the architects,

In closing I trust that 1995 will be a tremendous year of achievement and happiness for every student. This will occur through the way you treat and en courage each other, how hard you work, how you share the good times with those less fortunate than your selves, and how much time you give to helping the community.. It is now my great pleasure to be able to declare theMcCrae Grassie Sport and Recreation Centre to be officially open by unveiling the com memorative plaque. I wish it great success for the future . 1 Paraphrase of leading article in The Brisbane Courier, Monday No vember 15, 1875. 2 Survey ofnewspapers and televi

builders and technical consultants for the excellence of their work and for creating a tremendous fa cility for the school. I know that you have already been able to make full use of the centre since the beginning of the school year, and I congratulate the school for its en terprise in leasing the facilities to outside organisations for local, state and national events. It's great that Girls ' Gram mar gives positive encouragement to young women, and I am sure that your school motto- 'Nothing without work' -will give you the lead for all the activities in this new centre. I hope you will also have your fair share of enjoyment and fun here. tion. There were no fanfares or offi cial opening celebrations . Instead, there was a simple advertisement in the Brisbane Courier the previous Saturday which announced that stu dents who wished to attend the school should appear on the following Mon day .Thirty-nine girls appeared on that auspicious day heralding the begin ning of a movement which ensured that, in the future, young women would have access to a secondary education similar to that which had been avail able for boys only at Ipswich Gram mar since 1863 and at Brisbane Gram mar since 1869. The initiative for extending the education of girls into the second ary arena was primarily due to the enonnous energy and enthusiasm of Sir Charles Lilley, an active radical of the time who believed that girls de served exactly the same kind of edu cation as boys. From 1873, he enthu siastically encouraged fellow Trus tees of Brisbane Grammar School to accept the challenge of opening a branch school for girls and when this was realised, worked hard to ensure that the curriculum for the girls would be just as rigorous as it was for the boys. Lilley believed that education should be directed to the intellectual, moral and physical training of stu

when I read about the sports this new centre is equipped to handle -from the climbing wall to gym nastics, basketball, netball, vol leyball, aerobics, and weights. I have no doubt that this wonderful facility will help you to develop individual and team skills during your school years . I hope it will also help to establish a liking for sport and a desire to continue play ing sport for many years past your final days at school. BrisbaneGirls' Grammar has built on its strengths over successive years, and I know that the commit ment ofthe friends ofthe school, and the work of people like Doctor Grassie, whose contributions to the Visitor to the School, has honoured us with her presence here today and, in so doing, has paid tribute to the School and to DrGrassie for his work over the years. I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome Mrs Lennox, who is representingDrLennox, Head master of Brisbane Grammar School, together with a number of my col leagues, including Mrs Hauff from Clayfield College, Mrs James from St Hilda's, MrWaller fromMoreton Bay College, Mr Lapa, the Headmaster of Ipswich Grammar School. and Dr McManus, HeadmasterofStJoseph 's Gregory Terrace who has brought with him his Deputy and some of the boys and presented us with the delightful balloons to celebrate our I 20th birth day. Their gift this ri10ming really added a festive touch to the day. They, like us, are celebrating their l20th birthday this year. I was also thrilled to receive a phone call from our Deputy Chair, Dr Cherrelt Hirst, who is presently in Hong Kong. Her first words were, "'Happy birthday, I am thinking ofyou alt." On the 15 March, 1875, when the girls ' branch of Brisbane Gram mar School opened in George Street, it was nothing like today's celebra

sion stations across Australia as re ported in "Women, Sport and the Me dia: 1992', Dr. Brian Stoddart, Uni versity of Canberra, 1993. Speech by Mrs Judith Hancock, Principal of the Girls' Grammar School Your Excellency, Dr Grassie,

staff and girls. It is a great pleasure to welcome you all here for the offi cialopeningofTbeMcCraeGrassie Sports Centre. We are delighted that Her Excel lency, The Governor of Queensland, Mrs Leneen Forde, who is the Official

dents and that it should be based on the principle that there should be no separation on account of class, rank or religion - a principle which has re mained to the present day. It is therefore not surprising that included in that very first curricu lum was a compulsory requirement for girls to take gymnastics lessons and no girl was allowed to be absent from gymnasium practice without the penn iss ion of the Lady Principal, Mrs O'Connor. These classes were taken by Sergeant Walker from the boys ' school. They were perceived to instil into the girls the Victorian values of discipline, order and self-control. Each Wednesday afternoon between 2.00pm and 3.00pm Sergeant Walker was authorised to take the girls, but some misunderstandings occurred when Mrs O'Connor requested 90 poles for use in the exercises . With only 45 girls in the school at that stage, one of the Trustees commented that he failed to see how many of the girls could hold up. still less work with, a pole 6 feet long and 2 inches in diameter, let alone two of them!. Al though ninety weren't purchased. two poles were made up as a trial and the

members ofhis family, former Min ister for Education Mr Pat Comben, M.L.A., andMrs Comben, our local Member, Mr Peter Beattie,M.L.A., present and past members of the Board of Trustees, invited guests,

Dr. McCrae Grassie, Her Excellency the Governor, Mrs Leneen Forde, and Mrs Judith Hancock during the opening ceremony

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