Objects of Substance- Interhouse Athletics Champion Trophy

The original trophy was a 19.5cm silver, double-handled cup. It would appear that, initially, this was destined to be a prize for the athlete to keep when looking at the position of the engraving of the winner’s name directly beneath the title of the trophy. However, Julie Kemp returned the cup to the School, and it became a perpetual award. As with many trophies of its size, room for engraving was quickly exhausted and a new trophy was required by 1997.

1979-1994 Interhouse Athletics Champion Trophy (detail)

During the 1990s, Girls Grammar was experiencing a “purple patch” of sporting success and the McCrae Grassie Sport Centre foyer always had a relevant display of girls’ athletic prowess. One of these displays celebrated several past Grammar athletes and included Daphne Welch Pirie (1949) who had loaned her running spikes and Daphne Seeney Fancutt (1950) who had loaned her Wimbledon tennis racquet. Having created these displays, their importance to Grammar sporting history and motivational impact were paramount to my thinking when the need for a new athletics champion trophy became imperative. I decided to ask Daphne Pirie if she would be prepared to allow us to dip her spikes in 24 carat gold and mount them to create a stunning interhouse athletics trophy. Daphne, who had been involved in many ACHPER Sportsgirls breakfasts, thus appreciated the significance of role modelling for sportswomen, and was chuffed to be asked. Daphne quipped, “I always liked a bit of gold!” Daphne Welch Pirie was an outstanding athlete with diverse sporting skills, having represented Queensland in athletics, hockey, and golf and Australia in hockey as vice-captain and in Masters Athletics. Daphne’s love was the track and in an era of the “Golden Girls” Olympians, Cuthbert, Strickland, and Jackson, her opposition was fierce. Thus, her spikes carried a rich history. They were handmade in