Objects of Substance – OGA Honour Board

Service and sacrifice: the Old Girls Association Honour Board

The Annie Mackay Room has a special role in the life and history of Girls Grammar; it is a place of history, celebration and commemoration. While its walls are adorned with a series of boards that include lists of student names, there is one board, often overlooked, that identifies those Grammar girls whose dedication to service led them to war. How did this board come about? A surge of interest in memorials and honour boards had arisen as World War II was ending and there was a desire among many communities to commemorate and remember the commitment of the men and women who had served, not only the World War, not yet concluded, but also the First World War. So it was that, at an Old Girls Association (OGA) meeting, the concept of a permanent memorial to include the names of past students who had served in the forces was proposed.

1949 Old Girls Association Honour Board

The Association had not clarified what the criteria might be for inclusion on the honour board and this aspect has always been somewhat vague. Deciding who should be included was problematic because there were two World Wars, communication with the wider community, and the possibility of women changing their names once they married. In addition, there were numerous services in whi ch they could have been involved: the Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD); Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF); Australian Army Nursing Services (AANS); Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC); and Women’s Royal Australian Navy (WRANS).