Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2010

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At a farewell concert held in her honour, Mr J L Woolcock Chair of the Board of Trustees stated that: he could speak personally as to the sterling character of Miss Mackay’s work, and the unswerving loyalty and self-sacrificing way in which she had conducted the affairs of the school. He felt sure that the memory of Miss Mackay would be a perpetual benediction for those who had been honoured by her precept and example. The School has, indeed, remembered Miss Mackay but in more tangible terms. Our Honour Boards are housed in the spiritual heart of the School, namely the Annie Mackay Room and the Annie Mackay Bursary is given today to First in Year 11 at Speech Day. Mackay House, introduced in 1998, was named in her honour. After Miss Mackay’s death in 1932, the following tribute was paid by the president of the Old Girls Association: Loving the quietness of direct truth as she did, she was naturally impatient of all shallowness and vagueness and behind that insistence or directness, lay the force of great courage. In memoriam, the Form VI students of 1924 donated a brass plaque which simply sums up Miss Mackay’s character: courage, truth and the beauty of simplicity. Miss Mackay was indeed an outstanding leader, presiding over many innovations, unafraid to speak her mind, encouraging students to always achieve their personal best while simultaneously cultivating the ethos and culture established by her predecessors and which future generations recognise and understand as the Grammar spirit.

Elizabeth Hatton HERITAGE PROJECTS

1878 – 1881 MARY MACKINLAY

PRINCIPALS BRISBANE GIRLS OF

GRAMMAR SCHOOL

1875 – 1876 JANET O’CONNOR

1877 – 1878 SARAH CARGILL

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