Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2008

QGSSSA CENTENARY

In 1908 the first official sports were tennis, rowing and basketball (now called netball). One hundred years later, fourteen sports lie under the QGSSSA banner with approximately 5000 girls competing each year. Such interschool sport has provided Grammar girls with the opportunity to explore their potential, to excel both in the classroom and on the sporting field. The history of Girls Grammar includes many women who epitomised this ideal of a broad, liberal education. Their sporting performances complemented their academic achievements. Dorothy Hill, Professor of Geology, won the Sports Brooch in 1924; Miss Jessie Stephenson, accountant, was the 1921 Sports Brooch recipient; Kirsten Moore became a physiotherapist but also was awarded Sports Brooches in 1987, 1988 and 1989.

The powerful legacy the twenty-first century Grammar girl has inherited is embedded in this landmark association. She is encouraged to compete, to be involved, to excel, to lead, to challenge and be challenged. The baton has been passed from principal to principal, from staff member to staff member and from student to student. The QGSSSA as an association and Girls Grammar as a school, now have the challenge not only to continue the legacy of the headmistress who had the audacity to ask the trustees to provide a cricket pitch for girls who still wore ankle length skirts, but also to enhance it. Mrs Pauline Harvey-Short Assistant Dean

On 13 February this year celebrations for the QGSSSA Centenary were launched at an afternoon tea with Her Excellency, the Governor of Queensland, Ms Quentin Bryce AC , an enthusiastic supporter of women’s sport. One hundred students accompanied by the principals and staff from each of the ten QGSSSA schools were present. In March, past principals, staff and alumni Olympic and Commonwealth Games athletes were invited to a function at St Margaret’s. This event provided a wonderful opportunity for the past and present Grammar staff to meet athletes who reached the pinnacle of their sports, to share an amazing array of QGSSSA memorabilia and for each school to be presented with a memento of the occasion: an elegantly framed display of all the pockets of all QGSSSA Schools. This will be hung in the foyer of the McCrae Grassie Sports Centre.

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