Objects of Substance- Interhouse Athletics Champion Trophy

1949 by J.C. Bain, a professional cobbler in Melbourne for Daphne to run against Fanny Blankers Koen and Shirley Strickland at the Exhibition Grounds on 2 February 1949. They were made of kangaroo hide and cost a staggering (at the time) £120. They were precious to Daphne and the School was honoured to gain her permission to use the spikes as a trophy.

1949 Daphne Welch 1 st , Shirley Strickland 2 nd at the Exhibition Grounds.

Abbott and Sons was the company selected to create this unique trophy for the School and, in 1998, the trophy was first presented by Daphne Pirie herself to the winner, Year 8 student, Frances Bain (2002), a third-generation Grammar girl at the Interhouse Athletics at the Church of England Grammar School on 13 August. Frances (Frankie) had scored the highest number of individual points for her House, England. Frankie maintained her high standard of athletics, winning the trophy every year of her secondary schooling and became Head Girl in 2002. This perpetual trophy captured the imagination of the School’s official photographer in the 1990s, Mr Jack Dale. He wrote in his photographic newsletter, Impact , “I sought permission to take a photo in the trophy tent, and particularly to discover the source of the flashing golden beacon that I had noticed previously. And there it was … a most unusual trophy, but so appropriate to the sporting occasion. It was a pair of glittering golden running spikes, artistically mounted on a polished base. A thing of beauty to be sure … I found that like most items and objects of special interest at Girls Grammar, they were intimately woven into the School’s history.”