Objects of Substance- The E.W. Colley Memorial Prize

1998 Anna Palmer with Claire Wharton (left) and Karlie Burgoyne (right) in the Club Hockey photograph.

The inaugural recipient of this prize was Anna Palmer (1998). Anna played club hockey, received a High Distinction in the national Chemistry Quiz and was presented with a prize for Academic Merit on Speech Day. In Anna’s words: “I was greatly touched to receive this particular prize as my time at Grammar had been the happiest of my life and it had a lot to do with the breadth of wonderful things, we were able to be involved in. The prize for me, acknowledging academic, sport, teamwork, and school spirit, embodied much of what I absolutely loved about BGGS!” (Anna Palmer 2023.) Ed Colley, as did his wife, Susan, would have approved. Across its twenty-five years of presentation, there have been only two girls to receive the award in both Years 11 and 12. These students were Phoebe O’Hare in 2003 and 2004 and Jessica Morton in 2008 and 2009. Jessica recalls, “I do remember this prize and the context that came with it. The prize money went to a couple places - most of it went to my family as a contribution to my first car, but I also bought a couple of books… I was an avid reader (still am) – [the books were] most likely business, philosophy, or psychology.” (Jessica Morton 2023)