Grammar Gazette_Issue1_2025

MRS PAULINE HARVEY-SHORT (HARVEY, 1971) MANAGER, SCHOOL HISTORY AND CULTURE

Objects of Substance The 2002 Boarders’ Plaque

The 21 March 1876 Trustees’ Minutes allude to approving a range of individuals who Girls Grammer were to 'receive as Boarders, pupils of the School'. Though these girls cannot be officially classified as boarders, the need to accommodate students from regional Queensland and northern New South Wales was apparent, and steps taken to cater for them. With the construction of Main Building on Gregory Terrace in 1884, a purpose built structure for both teaching and boarding was established. Boarders from a wide variety of destinations attended the School in the 1880s, thus, with dormitories, domestic offices, staff residences, and a kitchen, the Boarding House had arrived. Once the School was established on Gregory Terrace, boarders became a significant addition to the School’s population. The numbers of boarders varied according to the times and financial vicissitudes of the state of Queensland. In the early 20th century, boarding numbers were in the low twenties, but demand grew to the ‘full house’ of 98 in 1995. Head Boarder and Prefect in 1960, wrote: ‘Who is the most loquacious person in your Form? Does she know the results of every school match, the number of days till the end of the term? Does she lose her books, water courts, carry furniture, and hose lawns? If so, then you have amidst you—a boarder’ (BGGS 1960 December Magazine p15). They brought a different perspective to the classroom, and an eclectic range of experiences and skills totally unknown to the city slicker or ‘day bug’, as non boarding students were known. Boarders added a certain quality to the Grammar landscape. Ms Ann Fielding,

This boarding experience was important for so many girls. Beth Hatty (Fitzgerald, 1985) wrote: ‘Boarding opened a whole new world for a young girl from a property 45 km from their closest town in southwest Queensland. Suddenly I had every sport I could imagine available at my doorstep to access both before and after school, as well as weekends. In addition, boarding with girls from a wide range of backgrounds exposed me to places, ideas, and ways of looking at the world and changed what I believed could be my place in it’.

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In preparation for the closure of the House, Head of Boarding, Mrs Elvie Parsons, had the responsibility of ensuring a fitting finale of 126 years of boarding and the celebration for the remaining six boarders. A six-point star was designed carrying the names and homes of the six remaining boarders: Hope Adams (from Mundubbera, QLD); Holly Clarke (from Chinchilla, QLD); Victoria Fleming (from Paddington, NSW); Breanna Ryan (from Beaudesert, QLD); Annabelle Vaughan (from Warra, QLD); and Rosie Walden (from Woombye, QLD). Vicki Kennedy (Fleming, 2002) reflected: ‘I know we all felt very privileged to have our names immortalised on school grounds. I am so looking forward to showing my daughter when she starts at BGGS in 2029.’ But the end of an era, is more than the closing of a door. The memories and the friendships, will stay forever sure.

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In 1997, Dr Cherrell Hirst, Chair of the Board of Trustees, announced at Speech Day: ‘Among the celebrations of the year, however, were times of difficult decision making by the Board, and the hardest of these was the decision with regard to the Boarding House. The decision of the Board to phase out boarding at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, after 122 years, was not made easily or hastily and only after months of deliberation. The decision was made … because the Board believes that no longer can this School pretend that we can go on providing an optimal residential experience for 12 to 17-year old girls in this setting of a primarily academic campus in the centre of a busy and noisy city’ (Dr Cherrell Hirst Speech Day Address, 1997).

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32 | GAZETTE • ISSUE 1, 2025

Brisbane Girls Grammar School