Objects of Substance- The Gymnastics Wall Bars

Strength, flexibility, and adaptation: The gymnastics wall bars

How and why did the Girls Grammar 1962 gymnasium acquire what looked like a wood, steel and

rope moveable installation along one wall? What was this object? Why did it have three levers with

wheels that allowed it to move? What on earth was it used for? Perhaps a review of the history of

gymnastic activity at this School might shed light on these intriguing questions.

In 1874, Mr Thomas Harlin, Headmaster and Honorary Secretary to the Board of Trustees of

Brisbane Grammar School wrote to Brisbane’s Colonial Secretary to request approval of fifteen

proposed regulations for the new Girls’ School. The very existence of the Girls’ School in the colony

was ground-breaking – figuratively at first, and then literally when the School settled on its present

site in 1884. However, the regulations were fairly standard for the time, outlining as they do:

proposed dates of the school year, subjects to be studied, and tuition fees (four pound four shillings

per quarter). Nestled amongst these standard regulations (innocuously numbered ‘10’) is a concept

that was radical for the time, t hat: “Gymnastics shall be taught, and no girl shall absent herself from

gymnastics practice without the permission of the Lady Principal.”

Whilst some other independent private girls’ schools at the time offered forms of physical training,

these offerings were non-compulsory and attracted additional fees. It was the Trustees’ insistence

that gymnastics (an all-encompassing term for organised physical instruction) be a mandatory

component of the curriculum that set Girls Grammar apart. With much encouragement from the

early Lady Principals, this initial physical activity consisted of drill work and dumb-bell exercises. Miss

Sophia Beanland, Lady Principal from 1882 to 1888, awarded the first prizes for gymnastics in 1885

and advocated for the construction o f appropriate facilities stating, “The lack of a gymnasium is a

real want, and I cannot feel satisfied until it is supplied.”

Despite there being resistance to her advocacy from some at the boys’ school, the gymnasium was

built in the final year of her tenure. The gymnasium was to remain in active service for many

decades. By modern standards, it was not particularly inviting. In the context of education, what had

been known as Gymnastics was beginning to be known as Physical Education and Meg Rorke,

appointed in 1944, was the School’s first full -time Physical Education specialist. She recalled that the

gymnasium was a rectangular building with an unpainted exterior, and interior walls that were solid

wood to waist height and then lattice work to the ceiling. The inside also featured two rows of

hazardous posts supporting the roof. Equipment was sparse, featuring a balance beam, rings, a

travelling ladder suspended from the ceiling, parallel bars, vaulting horse, and a mat. In earlier

decades, students, using water from a tap, had to wet hessian bags which were then pulled across

the floor before each class to wipe off the soot from passing trains. In a photograph from c1912,

Josephine Bancroft’s face betrays nothing of the chore of wiping soot from the floor, but she does

seem to be enjoying herself as she hangs on the rings in the gymnasium, with the parallel bars,

ladder, and fellow classmates in the background.

1912 A very flexible Josephine Bancroft.

During the first half of the 20 th century, students of Gymnastics and Physical Education enjoyed a

greater range of activities. Several sports, including running, swimming, netball, and tennis appeared

alongside traditional movement and exercises and, even though it retained its place at the centre of

Physical Education, the aging gymnasium was now woefully inadequate.

1962 Opening of the new Gymnasium

A significant upgrade to the School’s facilities occurred with the construction of a pool in 1960 and a

new gymnasium, built on the site of the original, in 1962, no doubt under the watchful eyes of the

Physical Education teachers, Noela Carr (1958) and Ruth Corfield. These facilities were to set the

tone for Physical Education at Girls Grammar for the next thirty years. This new, large open space

allowed the School to expand its offerings and reinvigorated the teaching of creative movement and

educational gymnastics with these Physical Education units built around three large sets of wall bars

[the unusual installation mentioned in the opening paragraph].

1965 Assembly. The wall bars stand on the southern wall of the gymnasium.

1962 The new gymnasium and pool from the “running track”.

The wall bars were fixed to the southern side of the gymnasium and could be moved off the wall to

create defined yet changeable spaces. Many activities and exercises could be done using the wall

bars as a stand-alone object. Other pieces of equipment, such as special benches and ladders, could

be attached and further connected to horizontal bars and balance beams to create an ever-changing

environment for students to practice climbing, balance, flexibility, and strength exercises. It was

essentially a much-upgraded version of the very basic transportable ladder in Miss Beanland’s 1888

gymnasium. The space also had a significant impact on the School’s co -curricular program, and the

internationally developing sport of Women’s Artistic Gymnastics. 1952 marked the first time women

competed on all four apparatus at the Olympic games.

1967 QGSSSA Artistic Gymnastics Competition held in BGGS Gymnasium with wall bars against the

wall.

Just a few years later, in 1965, QGSSSA created its first Women’s Artistic Gymnastics competition.

Girls Grammar, of course, entered alongside five other schools, and has participated every year

since. The gymnasium’s wall bars were to form the backdrop of thousands of Physical Education and

co-curricular Gymnastics lessons at Girls Grammar, even after the new gymnasium was expanded in

1979 and renamed as the Auditorium.

1976 D Grade WAG pose on the beam in front of the original wall bars. L to R: Kay Bowen, Elizabeth Ham (splits), Elisa Swindon, Katrina Heer.

The transition of the wall bars from the Auditorium to the School’s most significant facility for

Physical Education and Sport, to date, the McCrae Grassie Sports Centre, was made due to the co

ordinator of Artistic Gymnastics, Nicole Robbins nee Ives. For her, the wall bars were one of the first

things she noticed about the School when she arrived in 1989 to commence 28 years of teaching at

BGGS.

Completed in 1994, and opened on 15 March 1995, The McCrae Grassie Sports Centre, represented

a dramatic shift in the School’s approach towards Physical Education and co -curricular sport. In 1995

it was a purpose-built, state-of-the- art school sports facility. A specialised Women’s Artistic

Gymnastics space was a feature of the building and, along with Basketball, Netball, Volleyball,

Badminton, and other open spaces, the Sport Centre presented students with a safe and engaging

environment to learn. Co-curriculum preferences, and the Physical Education curriculum, had

changed dramatically since 1962. The role of creative movement and educational gymnastics had

diminished and much of the equipment, once considered so vital to girls’ physical wellbeing, was

discarded. Fortunately, one section of the wall bars was retained owing to Nicole Robbins suggestion

and transferred to a wall adjacent to the Gymnastics sprung floor, and continued to serve Grammar

girls as they sought to develop flexibility, balance, and strength in co-curricular Gymnastics and in

Physical Education classes for the following twenty years. As Nicole Robbins states “the wall bars

represent one of the few pieces of gym equipment which are almost a replica of the original design.

All other gym apparatus has been influenced by mode rn ergonomics.”

2005 Gymnastic Club training with the wall bars in use.

Needing more, versatile space in preparation for the first intake of Year 7 in 2015, the School

reluctantly retired the Gymnastics-specific space in the Sports Centre. With a new, multi-purpose

wooden floor installed, the remaining section of the wall bars was removed and placed in storage.

Pleasingly and fortunately, the 1962 wall bars are currently undergoing restoration and, this year,

will return to their original position on the northern wall of the Sports Centre. The paint is being

removed and the timber is being refinished to highlight its natural beauty. The bars are being

refurbished. Once returned to its place, the wall bars will present as a tangible yet subtle reminder

to all students of the importance that Brisbane Girls Grammar School has placed on their physical

development, their health, and wellbeing. For sixty years the wall bars have helped thousands of

Grammar girls understand the power and beauty of strength and movement. They link the School’s

1995 Sports Centre to the 1962 Gymnasium and, in form and substance, remind us of the equipment

that Sophia Beanland demanded in 1888, and that Josephine Bancroft so gleefully and adventurously

swung from in 1912.

Stephen Fogarty Director of Health and Physical Education

References Brisbane Girls Grammar School. (2010). Gazette: CXXXV 135 Years. Spring 2010 . Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

Harvey-Short, P. (2011). To become fine sportswomen: the history of health, physical education and sport at Brisbane Girls Grammar 1875-2010 . Brisbane Girls Grammar School

Robbins, N. Text message to Pauline Harvey-Short 9.3.23

Women in the Olympics – a brief history. Retrieved February 27, 2023 from http:www.fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2001/ascpub/women_olym_hist.asp

1967. The wall bars festooned with balloons in preparation for the Year 12 Formal.