Main Building

Main Building

Fine Arts Collection

Main building and its many images

Sir Charles Lilley, Premier and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, fought hard to establish a school to provide education to young women, a vision that was thought so far ahead of its time and deemed a radical “experiment” in 1875. From a peripatetic beginning first at 428 George St, then to the corner of Lilley Street and Wickham Terrace Spring Hill in a house owned by Hon John Douglas, a Trustee of the time, Brisbane Girls Grammar School began as an offshoot of Brisbane Grammar School. The school’s own dedicated building came from the 1882 decision to separate Brisbane Girls Grammar School from Brisbane Grammar and for the girls’ school to become an independent school under the Grammar Schools Act.

The Main Building, designed by prominent architect Richard Gailey and built in the Victorian style of architecture, was opened in 1884 with Sir Charles Lilley laying the foundation stone in February 1883.

It served as a boarding house with administration and classrooms on the ground floor until 2002 when the boarding school closed and the building was given over largely to administration offices.

Since its beginnings, this iconic Gregory Terrace building has been the subject of more than twenty artistic images held in our fine arts collection. The images take their form from various media, from drawings, etchings, photographs, paintings and even screen print.

A number of these images are proudly those in paint and print from former students.

One of the accompanying works is a lovely watercolour of this Main Building done by former student Linden Seale (1971-76) and presented to the School in 1989. Depicting a gentle perspective of the building, settled into its time and place, the painting is a fixture of the main reception. Commissioned for the 140 th anniversary of the School, in 2015, is the large acrylic by former student and renowned artist Jan Jorgensen (Goeldner, 1960). This is a colourful and vibrant contemporary view which immediately catches the eye of visitors as they open the door to main reception. The Main Building remains proudly today the formal entrance and reception area to the School and these paintings form, appropriately, part of a small collection of images related to the School, and a welcome to all who pass through the front door.

Both these paintings show the Main Building through loving eyes as it transforms across time and yet remains true to its origins.

The many images of Main Building held in our school fine arts collection tell some of the story of the structure over a timeline of history from its architectural skeleton designed in 1882 through to the 21 st century. But the bones of this building house a very human history of stories, many of them told, some still to be told, others lost in time.

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Linden Seale (1960 - ) Alumna 1976

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Oil on Canvas Date : 1985 Dimensions: 106 x 790mm Collection category: Images of the School

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Jan Jorgensen (1946 - ) Alumna 1960

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Acrylic on canvas. Date : 2015 Dimensions: 76 x 101cm Collection category: Images of the School

Jan Jorgensen is a well known Brisbane artist. Following her time at Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Jan studied at the Queensland College of Art and later gained her Associate Diploma of Visual Art, studying under the tutorage of William Robinson. She is best known for her depictions of inner city architecture and atmosphere and she herself has said that her paintings are about “the human and architectural faces of inner -city suburbs, the unseen often ignored everyday places”. She uses vibrant colou r and light to give a somewhat surreal quality to her scenes, adding to the charm of her vision.

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Reginald Trebilco (1915 - 2017) UK, Tasmania

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Pen and Watercolour Date : 1975 Dimensions: 40 x 27cm Collection category: Images of the School

Commissioned for the 100 th anniversary of the founding of Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

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Title: Old Dining Room (Annie Mackay Room) 1980 Medium: Pen and Watercolour Date : 1980 Dimensions: 40 x 27cm Collection category: Images of the School

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Title: Entry foyer of Main Building 1980 Medium: Pen and Watercolour Date : 1980 Dimensions: 40 x 27cm Collection category: Images of the School

Reg Trebilco was a respected artist who had spent several years studying art as a young man while still residing in England. He is represented in several galleries and private collections in Australia.

Reg served in the Royal Airforce during World War II and filled many journals with sketches of his memories of Cornwall, his then place of residence.

With his wife Molly, he immigrated to Australia in 1953 and built his home in bushland near Brisbane. He eventually retired to Tasmania.

Reg Trebilco was interested in heritage architecture and much of his work centres on preserving this architecture through his detailed and sensitive pen and watercolour renditions of old buildings.

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Jackie Smith (1978 - )

Alumna 1995

Title: Stage ‘94 Medium: Oil on Canvas Date : 1994 Dimensions: 160 x 120cm Collection category: Images of the School

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Michael McMahon

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Watercolour and ink Date : 1994 Dimensions: 51 x 32 cm Collection category: Images of the School

Michael McMahon is a painter, illustrator and teacher.

Michael draws his inspiration from everyday life, often with focus on the beautiful facades of historic buildings in Brisbane. His preferred medium consists of pen and wash, and his choice of a colour palette of neutrals for the background provides a quiet backdrop. “It is all about the drawing! I view nature as texture and tone, light and shade and of course colour. However, picture making begins with drawing, and after sixty years of practice I am still on the journey of learning to draw.” — Michael McMahon

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Mary Williams (1957 - )

Alumna 1974

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Screenprint Date : c1980 Dimensions: 53cm x 73cm Collection category: Images of the School

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Arturo Xavier

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Pen and Watercolour Date : 1990? Dimensions: 29cm x 21cm Collection category: Images of the School

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David Phillips (1929 – 2015)

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Pencil sketch Date : 1989 Dimensions: 40cm x 25cm Collection category: Images of the School Donated by Margaret Peel (1948), cousin of the artist.

David Phillips was an artist and architect and was involved in many architectural projects in and around the Brisbane area.

His father L.B. Phillips was a member of the Brisbane architectural firm of Hall and Phillips (T. R. Hall and L. B. Phillips). The firm was recognised in a 1936 article of "The Architecture and Building Journal of Queensland" for their industrial, bank and office buildings. David has spoken about his love of sketching “en plein air” where he believed he could capture elements and moments that a camera might miss. In a State Library recorded oral history, he speaks lovingly about the two frangipani trees that still stand on the footpath outside the Main Building, saying that the building was “improved by two lovely frangipanis”. He goes on to say” those two frangipanis outside the Grammar School are to live for really.”

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K. M. Berry (1907 - ?)

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Lithograph Date : 1983 Dimensions: 28cm x 20.5cm Collection category: Images of the School

Kenneth Berry was a Brisbane artist known for his illustrations Brisbane historic buildings in the 1970s. He operated from his own "Studio Gallery" at Morningside and had at least five solo exhibitions.

He was born in London in 1907 and studied at the Slade School of Art, University of London receiving his Diploma in 1949. He later moved to Brisbane where he was a lecturer at the Brisbane College of Art in 1972. His works are represented in Brisbane Civic Collection and in private collections in Australia and overseas.

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Rene Witting

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Drawing Date : 1986 Dimensions: 27cm x 38cm Collection category: Images of the School

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Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Hand coloured print Date : 1986 Dimensions: 38cm x 28cm Collection category: Images of the School

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Edwin Arthur Vincent (Vincent) Sheldon (1895 – 1945)

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School – Main building from the front entrance Medium: Etching Date : 1935 Dimensions: Collection category: Images of the School

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Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Covered Way between buildings Medium: Etching and Drypoint Date : 1935 Dimensions: Collection category: Images of the School

Donated by the Trustees of Brisbane Girls Grammar School

Prize for Art Upper School. Awarded to Helen Driguine Form V 1936

Born in Australia and educated at St James's School, Brisbane, Vincent Sheldon studied commercial art in the USA, 1920 and in England in 1924. Returning to Australia, he worked as a freelance cartoonist in Brisbane and in 1929 he attended the Central School of Arts and Crafts in Holborn, studying dry-point under W.P.Robins. During WWII he worked in a munitions factory but ill health forced his early retirement. After his death in 1945, a memorial exhibition was held in Brisbane in 1948. His work is held by the University of Queensland, the Queensland Art Gallery as well as by the British Museum.

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Barney Smith

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Oil on board Date : c1960s Dimensions: 40cm x 30cm Collection category: Images of the School

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George Stuart Comrie- Smith (1904 – 1986)

Title: Bain Building, Brisbane Girls Grammar School Medium: Pencil drawing Date : 1981 Dimensions: 9cm x 5.5cm Collection category: Images of the School

G.S Comrie Smith was born in Lanarkshire Scotland and died Queensland 1986.

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Unknown Artist

Photograph of a sketch 1880s?

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Photographer Unknown

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Girl Medium: Photograph Date : 1890 Dimensions: Collection category: Images of the School

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Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Girl Medium: Photograph Date : 1926 Dimensions: Collection category: Images of the School

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Photographer Unnamed

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School – Main building from eastern side Medium: Photograph Date : 2006 Dimensions: 30cm x 20cm Collection category: Images of the School

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Sue Bythe (1953 - )

Alumna 1970

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Girl Medium: Oil on canvas Date : 1996 Dimensions: 1.3 x 1.7 m Gift of the artist 1996 – Dr Sue Byth (1970) Collection category: Images of the School

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The Fryberg Family

Erica (1989) and Geraldine (Mother)

Title: Brisbane Girls Grammar School Girls Medium: Screenprint Date :1989 Dimensions: Gift of the Fryberg family. Collection category: Images of the School

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Postcard 1897

Postcard 1910

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Photographer Unknown (1924)

Students crossing Gregory Terrace into the School

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Courier Mail photograph (photographer unknown)

1949

A rainy walk to school

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Manufactured in Germany by A W and Co

Vase with depiction of Brisbane Girls Grammar School

The reason for the manufacture of the vase is unknown.

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