Objects of Substance- The first Science laboratories

Originally, the understory of the building was open and must have provided social gathering space for the students. However, as the school grew it was not long before such areas were enclosed as this 1939 [below, left] photograph reveals.

Left: 1939: Betty Datson [1940] centre: walking down what was to become Gehrmann Lane with two school friends. T he door to “the dungeon” is clearly visible. Right: 2023 Same place, how different!

In the 1939 shot, three Grammar girls walk down a rather rough track. It is interesting for several reasons: it provides a view back towards the 1933 science building with its open verandah, part of which was enclosed in 1954 to provide another science classroom; it shows the skyline and trees that would later disappear with the construction of the 1964 Eastern Wing for science, later extended in 1969; it was the precursor to the modern and significant Gehrmann Lane [right]; and it also reveals the enclosed space underneath which, in my days at school, was called “the dungeon”. I do not know what that quirky dungeon space was originally intended to accommodate, but my sister had Year 11 English within its confines, and I taught there after my return as a staff member in 1972. It was gloomy with brick columns intruding into the space. There were two levels, with half the class in the “dress circle’ at the back. There was something slightly creepy and medieval about it. This was only one in a series of changes to the science building. From the 1918 vision of one classroom to the 1933 building until the multi-storey 2020 facility, there has been a litany of refurbishments, modernizations, and extensions to the Science facilities at the School. While the newest Science building is such a stunning addition to the Gregory Terrace campus, it is wonderful that this charming cottage-like structure survives and still pleases the eye. I am sure that the mathematics teachers and classes who have moved into what were the science laboratories enjoy the spaces but probably have never seen those charming 1918 plans that were the advent of a building still in use after ninety years.