Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 1995
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Past students
Two past students hit the high notes
A visit from the "Old Girls"
Sarah Bltomsky (additional informa tion by Megan O'Connor, Catherine Arscott, Sarah Baker, and Kate Lindwall) It was 1945 . theendofWorldWar Two, when five girls began theirschool ing a t B.G.G.S.: Mrs Daphne Jones (nee Broadbent),Mrs DaphneTownson (nee Pohlman). Mrs Margaret McNamara (nee Hislop), Mrs Anne leays (neeBardsley). aodMrsMargaret Hollingsworth (nee Campbell). Their fifty year reunion has only just been held. On 16 March. 1995, all five school friends kindly gave up their time to share with four of this year's grade eight classes, some experiences of their time at School. Mrs Hollingsworth was an en tertaining speaker; she had obviously been a talented actress and musician. She spoke ofthe effects the war had on the Granunar girls. On assemblies. the girls and many teachers would cry as the war touched lheir hearts and lives. It was in theirfust year atGram marthatthewarended.On9May 1945 Miss Kathleen Lilley, the Principal , called a special assembly for the whole School to listen to the radio and hear the announcement that the war was over. The whole School was over whelmed and much rejoicing took place. However, Miss Lilley sternly instructed the girls to go straight home and not go into the city to join the celebrations. However, everyone ig~ nored this instruction. The 1995 students also learned about coupons. These seemed to be the most important things during the war. They were needed to buy food, clothes, Camps and concerts Kirsty Dodsworth · lnl'ebrua!yofthisyear,twoweekeod music camps involving Girls' Grannnar music students were beld at Margate. on . the Redclilfe peninsula. Members of the Advanced Strings. String Orchestra 2 and · Senior Concert Band all benefited from t.Wo days of intensive rehearsal. . Thecamp;allowedtherespective groups tocoverawide repertoire in prepa iation for ~ ye;,r ahead, and have been described as '"an unqualified success:• by Mr Simon Os\vell, acting Director of Co curricular-Music at B.G.G.S. Thefustweek<:ndcamp,atteoded by members of the two string groups, oousistedofamixtmeoftutorial,sedional aodfullgrouprehe
David MIUer. Site bas r ecenlly s ung in the rrnal "BestofBaroque Series" in StJohn's Cathedral . "I have been offered a position lea ching at the Sydney Conservatorium, but I don't believe teaching and performing reaUy com· bine successfully, so leaching is at the moment, a very long way down Ute track," said Peta. Even as student at Brisbane
Barbara Hebden. In the competitive world of op et·a, two rormer Brisbane Girls' Grammar students aremaking their presence felt. Peta lllylh (B.G.G.S. 1967-71) has enjoyed a successful career in opera and recital work for some years. Tarlta Botsman (B.G.G.S. 1983·87), a graduate of the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, bas been awarded the pres tigious Australian Foundation for Studies in Italy Scholarship. This $12,500 award will en lble her to continue her studies with he inlemationaUy acclaimed Bris lane-bomsoprano,Margaret Baker :;enovesi. After leaving Girls' Grammar,
Left to Right: Daphne Jones, Daphne Townson, Margaret McNamara, Anne Jeays and Margaret Hollingswon!t and other necessities . Mrs Townson was quite a
withnotelevision,excursionsorcamps. At the school dance, long, formal dresses had to be worn. Everyone was encouraged to be the same, not differ ent. Grades were called fonns, grade twelve being sixth form. Miss Lilley told the girls they had to wear their hats parallel to the ground, so they would be distracted..(from what?) Mrs Jones re ceived a Mackinlay Scholarship. Mrs McNamara was a pre fect and won the Esther Beanland Medal for needlework, for which she hand sewed a baby's outfit. She went on to be a reacher, and later her own baby wore that outfit, her daughter, Social Studies teacher. Mrs Moore . lo those days, girts• talents were uoderestimated and most did not !ini5h, let alone attend, high schooL These five women considered themselves very lucky.Theywereproudoftheirunifonn. and especially proud of their School.
sports star, specialising in netball (or basketball. as she called it). She ex plained that swimming pools had green. unfiltered water then, so aJI swimmers had green hair. Granunar was very enthusiastic about sport and won many competitions. Mrs Jeays shared with us a rather amusing memory. There were extremely strict rules. One day two girls were caught in amilk bar in town after school. TALKING TO BOYS! This was strictly forbidden .At Assem bly, they were told to stand up and tum their backs on everyone, because they were too "bad" to look at the rest of the schooL Mrs Jeays was also the Lady LiileyGoidMedallistin 1948.anaward that both her daughters won , Janet in 1978 and Katharine in 1982. ' Mrs Jones talked about days
Girls' Grammar School, Tarita Botsmanbadhersightsfirmlyseton an operatic career. In fact, home work completed, she was out doing professional work with !be Queens land Youth Choir and commerciai television. Arter leaving school, Tarita was accepted into the Bachelor of Music, vocal performance course at QueenslandConservatoriwnofMu- I In her second weekattheCon., · she won the $4000 Elizabeth Mnir Scholarship, and has continued to take top honours in majorcompeli· Tarita so impressed Brisbane· born soprano Margaret Baker Genovesi that the renowned teacher invited the young soprano to under lake a year's study with her at her Rome in 1992. "It was a wonderful learning experience,"saidTarita, "butldida variety of things to survive, like · leaching English and working in a restaurant and a boutique." Winning a Dante Alighieri StudyScholarshipsoon after return· ing to Brisbane and the "Con" ena· bled Tarita to return lo Rome for further studies in late 1993, early 1994. "It's really worth it. Those three months were again invalu able,'' said Tarita, who had man· aged to coUect the Linda Edith AU en Scholarship for thebest female voice at the Con. in third and fourth years, and be selected a finalist in the ABC Young Performers' Competition 1992and 1993 and be judged a semi fmalist in the 1993 Austr alian Sing ing Competition. "I'll just keep trying tiU I capture those two big awards,'' said a philosophical Batsman, who bas just woo the highest praise for her principal role of Adina in the Donizetti's L' Elisira' Amore. At 23, Tarita Batsman is well on the way to achieving her goal, an international career in opera. While in Italy, Tarita wiU give several recitals. On her return to Australia, Tarita wiU bemake her Australian Principal Artist Debut with the Lyric Opera of Queens land, as well as giving pedormances atinstitutions associated with ASFI. sic as a student of JaD.et DepratL lions for the last four years.
PetaBlyth PetaBiytbcompletedaB.Mus.,B.A. course at the University of Queens land,obtaioingFirstClassHooours. Shewas awarded theSirHenryAbel Smith Scholarship based on the ex ceUenceofacademicFirstClassHon ours results. "I was basically an academic, but I always wanted to dosomething with music," said Peta. "I majored in piano at the University but at Grammar a wonderful woman, the late Miss BeU Fredrick, bad taught me the joy of singing operetta." ' 'The sensible thing was to be an academic, and I probably tried to avoid contemplatinga career inmu sic, but music won and in October 1977, my husband, (we were mar ried about a week before) and I left for Londonwhere I undertookpost graduate studies at the Royal Col lege ofMusic." Returning to Sydney in 1981, Peta auditioned for The Australian Opera, and apart from short periods off, whenher two childrenwere hom, Simon in 1982, and Sophie in 1987, she sang a number of principal roles with the company untill992. "It wasn't easy juggling my Ufe betweenopera performances and "home" on a property outside InvereU, but my husband, a farmer, is very supportive and tolerant." In 1992, Peta, who bad onder studied Dame Joan Sutherland in Donizelti's Daughter of the Regi ment, felt it was time to reassess her voice, which was maturing, so she returned to London for consulta tion lessons with Australian-born voice specialist Janice Chapman. An experienced recitalist who has given many concerts both in the UK andAustralia, Peta is now based in Brisbane and the commuting be tween Brisbane and InvereU bas be come a fact of life. Having completed a season singing Barbarino onMozart's The Marriace ofFicaro for Lyric Opera of Queensland, Peta is involved in a series of recordings in Sydney for the ABC, with weU known pianist
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Simon Oswell conducting the Senior Strings at Margate yearly basis. although at this stage there are
ingly high standard of music wiihin
noplanstoexpandtheschemetoencompass
the SchooL
other groups within the Scbool.
The Stage Baod concert ended
The benefits of the camps were
on adramatic note with the SeniorCon cert Band giving lively renditions of Flas/ulance and numbers by EltonJoho aod Billy Joel. The stage band perform aoces were enlivened with exciting im- provisations by Nina Stephenson on drums. Melissa Hickey on trumpet and ofthedynamicperfonnanceofBach's Brandenburg Conceno No.4 by the Advanced String Orchestra, energeti cally conducted by Simon Oswell and superbly led by PhilippaWest(Vioiino Fiona Daon on saxophone. Special mentionmustbe made
enjoyedbyallthoseinattendanceatthefust major B.G.G.S. oonce!1 for 1995, Bach to the Future. Held in the Gehrmann Theatre on 31 Man:h, the concert featured a selec- ·tion of the premier ensembles within the School, including the Camerata Singers. the Advanced Strings. Senior On:hestm. byScbooimusicgroups,inciudingQuartet Animato, Cameo Clarinet Trio, and Reedsound, who played on the upstails verandah of the boarding house ovedook- ing the guests enjoying champagne and and theSeniorConcertBand. Pre-concert music was supplied
Principale).
savoriesontheStagelawn.
The year 11 elective music stu
Bach to the Future was well at-
dents, Fiona Ooley, Lara Tab art. Natalie MacCormick and Madeline Cocolas, performed a very impressive suite of original compositions.
tended by students, parents, and mem- bers of the academic and managerial staff, who commented on the increas-
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