Objects of Substance- Mothers’ Group Stained Glass Window

Some images speak to the past and the long history of the School as an academic institution. Students at their desks is an image drawn from an archival photograph. The Beanland Memorial Library bookplate reminds viewers that a library was and is central to student learning. The Lady Lilley Medal image, a medal first struck in 1883 and awarded today to the Dux of the school, pays tribute to the enormous contribution of Sir Charles and Lady Lilley in establishing and promoting a school to cater for the education of young women beyond the social niceties of sewing and serving in a domestic domain.

The Lady Lilley Gold Medal glass medallion.

Other images represent the innovative approach Girls Grammar has had to curricula and approaches to learning. Science and technology were incorporated early into the curriculum. Laboratory facilities for Science, hitherto unheard of in a girls’ school, extended and enriched the possibilities for girls and their futures. Hence, the inclusion of the motifs that represent scientific studies: globe, pen, test tube, and textbooks. Balancing the image of the students of the past sitting quietly at their desks, is the image of computer technology in the 1991 classroom. This image was speaking to a future. While the image of the rather bulky computer 20 th century computer may seem outdated and quaint to our 21 st century eyes, the introduction of this technology in the 1980s, showed the courage of the Principal, the Board, and the school community in committing to innovative approaches to an education that was deep, rich, and forever forward looking.