December 1957 School Magazine

December , 1957

Brisbane Girls ' Grammar School Maga%ine

Brisbane Girls' Grammar School Maga%ine

December, 1957

There was no Gymnasium in 1888, so girls, after dressing for Gymnastics, walked across to the Boys ' Gym- nasium. Gymnastic suits were of navy serge, one piece, with rows of white braid; high necks; sleeves nearly to the elbow; skirts nearly to the knee , with trousers to knee where they joined the long black stockings . In 1889 a Gymnasium for the girls was built in their own ground , opposite laundry. A Drill Master came once a week, and Drill took place in the Central Hall. Text books were covered as , I expect, at the present day :-English , black ; Latin , grey ; French , blue; and German , green . On being dismissed from class at mid-day, all girls except b03rders, who disappeared behind heavy dark cur - -;- a ins to ) , gathered in the Ia rge assembly room, where lunches were eaten. A good deal of c hatter went on during this twenty minutes ; then silence reigned, except for the voice of a Mistress reading aloud an interesting story. This lasted for another twenty minutes , after which the girls were free to wander where they liked until time for afternoon school. Normally there was an Annual display of work done by the pupils , and a social evening to which parents were invited in June. .About the middle of 1888 the Principal , Miss Sophia Beanland left and returned to England. The position was taken te~porarily by Miss Barrington, a capable Senior Mis - tress who had come from Enqland a few months earlier . The~ . some time in 1889 came·- Miss Pel Is , another English- w oman .

about twelve. Not many more than one hundred girls, who gathered each morning in the Central Hall to listen to the Principal 's greeting before dispersing to their class rooms , but enrolment of pupils was increasing, and in 1889 it became necessary to make an extra class, and a room now used as a box room was the only one available , so the new Form V was housed there Forms I, II and Ill remained as before , except for the admission of new pupils, and promotion of many others . Form Ill was the Form into which Scholarship girls were put to begin their three years' course of study for Junior examination. But in that year Form V automatically became Form V 1. Forms IV and V were where changes really took place. The more advanced pupils in Form IV were promoted into Form V to sit for "Junior" at the end of two years in Form V, making altogether from seventeen to twenty girls in that Form. Form IV was then made up of the greater part of what had been Form Ill, together with those who were not ready for promotion . Entering by front entrance, the whole of the building on one 's right was used for residential purposes-Principal, Mistresses, Housekeeper and Boarders; the rear part of the building being used as domestic staff quarters and kitchen. On left, as one entered by pupils ' entrance, was a narrow corridor on to which the music rooms opened. On the right were the hat room and wash basins , with a block of pigeon holes for footwear , for in those days pupils changed from outdoor footwear into Iighter wear on enter- ing the school, thus minimising noise. Sewing was taught by a part-time visiting Mistress , an elderly widowed lady , Mrs. Ryland, who came in the after- noons and taught us to make the calico underclothing worn at that time; and little aprons with bib worn by elder school- girls to protect their frocks. The younger children wore pinafores. Girls did not wear school uniform in those days; their dresses were those chosen by their mothers. 48

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