Grammar Gazette_Issue1_2025

She said her experiences as day girl and a boarder gave her a life-long love of education and languages, and she remains a key member of the OAG committee. Former Supreme Court judge Roslyn Atkinson wryly remembered being somewhat of a troublemaker: ‘I think the teachers were not ready for the girls of the 60s, who had ideas and wanted to express opinions. So, I was always in trouble for doing that.’ A keen debater, she pleaded to be allowed to join interschool debating contests but was told it would be ‘unseemly’ for young ladies to be seen arguing in public. When she later stood in court to do exactly this, Atkinson said: ‘I thought: This is so much fun! Fighting for my rights at School taught me that you could fight for your rights, and you could have opinions.’ Things had changed by the following decade, when Dorothy Hawkins remembers blossoming under the ethos of female empowerment for which Girls Grammar is now known. Ms Hawkins blazed a trail for female physiotherapists in elite sport through the 80s and 90s, but not without steely determination. She was told ‘only males can apply’, before becoming the first female appointed to an Olympic medical squad in Seoul in 1988. And as the NRL’s first female physio—with the barnstorming Broncos—she was initially barred from entering the field before a livid Wayne Bennett tore strips off officials. ‘From that day forward women were allowed.’

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to deliver international aid and development programs.

Graduate of the 80s Sal Powell , who earned the prestigious Sports Brooch in her final year, shared her current sporting challenge: becoming the first Australian to complete Racing the Planet’s series of five desert ultra marathons. Sal joined us weeks before leaving to complete the final 250km race in Chile in April which secured her this remarkable record. A new addition to the School’s curriculum in the 1990s, Space Camp, proved life changing for Saori Peguicha , who was on the inaugural trip in 1992 (see page 31). ‘I was always going to be a doctor. After that it was: No, I’m going to be an engineer.’ Although originally daunted by walking into an engineering lecture ‘with about 400 boys’, Saori said: ‘I think the discipline that you get at Girls Grammar—just really sticking to those core values of nothing without hard work—it’s always paid off for me.’ Saori has worked on major infrastructure projects around the world, spending the past seven years as CEO of the Pulse consortium delivering Brisbane's Cross River Rail Project, more recently moving to Board Chair. Girls Grammar also set former Service Captain Stephanie Carter on a career path. Stephanie now works with Palladium Group, an organisation that partners with governments

‘It all started here at Grammar, and particularly with the Grade 10 service program,’’ she told the panel, revealing she and some fellow Grammar Girls travelled to Moorooka State School to help students who had recently arrived from war-torn Liberia with English literacy and numeracy. ‘It changed my life. I felt like I had been living under a rock for a long time and that was the start for me of learning about quite complex international issues and how cross-cultural relationships can play a role in solving some of them.’ Former Head Girl Sarv Singh reflected on how participating in a mock trial of King Louis XVI in senior history confirmed a passion for law and justice. After studying law and international relations at university, she found an impactful way to combine both through migration law, helping marginalised people, including women dealing with domestic violence. In 2021 she received a Queensland Day award recognising her work in this field, and in 2022 was involved in helping many Afghan government officials and UN personnel secure emergency migration visas allowing them to flee the country when the Taliban took control. Read more tales of incredible Grammar Women on the School’s 150 Years Alumnae Stories webpage.

Captions 1 Kristin Alford (Stewart, 1989) 2 Roslyn Atkinson (1965) 3 From left Sarv Singh (Head Girl, 2014), Stephanie Carter (2007), Saori Peguicha (Uyeda, 1992), Sal Powell (Johnson, 1986), Dorothy Hawkins (Khafagi, 1975), Roslyn Atkinson (1965), Ann Caston (Pressland, 1958)

27 GAZETTE • ISSUE 1, 2025 |

Brisbane Girls Grammar School