Grammar Gazette- Issue 2, 2010

B R I S B A N E G I R L S G R A M M A R S C H O O L

...Mrs O’Connor was an outstanding personality, of medium height, clear skin and complexion. Her hair was grey and she always wore a little lace cap. She had blue eyes and a very direct expression and she certainly knew how to keep order without ever raising her voice. She could look grave and stern but never cross. Mrs O’Connor had a husband, Daniel O’Connor and five children – Daniel, Thomas, Alice, Kate and Janet...

Mrs Janet O’Connor, the first Lady Principal of Brisbane Grammar School

all candidates from New South Wales, B Burdorff winning the Fairfax Prize, A Haggard proxime accessit.

Miss Cargill as Headmistress, and at the end of that year the Sydney Senior and Junior examinations were taken for the first time. Miss Franz was the first to pass the Senior, and all but one of the Juniors were successful. The standard set from the first was high, and the pupils of 1876 and the succeeding years had the great advantage of visiting masters from the Boys’ School. Mr Roe had become Headmaster in 1876, and fresh from Oxford, his high ideals and enthusiasm were an inspiration to all who came under his influence. His pupils owe him a debt which can never be repaid. The secondMaster, Mr WCrompton, of Winchester and Pembroke, a brilliant lecturer, was our Master for history, and we were indebted to him for a course on constitutional history, in addition to our set books for the senior. He had a remarkable memory, and his lessons derived additional interest from the quotations from Shakespeare and Macaulay’s “Lays of Ancient Rome” with which he embellished his discourses. Other Masters to whom a tribute is due were Mr. O’Brien for mathematics, Mr Hermann Schmidt for German, and Mr T McLeod for drawing. In June, 1878 Miss Cargill resigned, and until Miss Mackinlay, her successor, arrived from England, our senior class of five attended at the Boys’ School in Roma Street for various subjects. In 1878 two pupils sat for the Sydney Senior Examination, and, to the credit of the young School, they headed the list against

In 1879 all four Fairfax prizes were won by the Brisbane Grammar Schools, D Love and H Carson winning the Senior and Junior respectively for the Girls’ School, and Wilton Love, and GW Power for the Boys, M Burdorff winning the medal for German. Thus began the long list of successes recorded on the School Honour Board won from Sydney University, until our own university was established in 1909. In those days sports for girls were not even thought of; and gymnastics, swimming, organised games and interschool competitions belong to a later period. In this respect the modern pupils have a distinct advantage, as all educational authorities are agreed on the wisdom of combining physical and mental training. In looking backward feelings of regret for those teachers and pupils who are no more, are mingled with joy and pride in the achievements of the School. It is for the pupils of today, many of whom will no doubt live to celebrate the centenary of the School, to maintain its honour and worthy traditions. They have freedom to choose any calling they are fitted for, such freedom as was unknown fifty years ago, when the professions, except teaching, were still closed to women. If they use their freedom wisely by unselfish devotion to duty as daughters, wives, and mothers, there will be no need to fear for the future of the race.

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