1985 School Magazine

Recently the school received a letter from Mrs Helen Spence (nee Love) who was enro ll ed at B.G.G.S. from 1902-1908 . Mrs Spenc.e, now in her 96th year, recalls many littl e things from the six years she spent in the sc hoo l: " In my day pupils never wore uniforms. Ju st their ordinary frocks, large shady mu sh room hats, with a pretty ru ching around the c rown . Before we left sc hool fo r home we had to put on our gloves - otherwi se we were "kept in" . We all feared and admi red Miss Wilkinson. She always wore a long b lack, or navy, taffeta dress - which ru stled as she came along the co rrid ors to the c lass room and so gave us warning and chaos became ca lm! The maid used to tak~ her lunch t ray ac ross the Assembly Hall- we cou ld see that on the tray eve ry day was a little bottle of champagne and if t here was a winter sa lad on it, in chopped beetroot was a large "M" (Millicent). I remember in Form Ill pup ils used to take it in turn s to put a vase of flowers on the mistresses' tables. O ne day the girl fo rgot- and it was "W il kies" French lesson day. The flowe rs 13

were as dead as doornails - Wilkie put the vase in front of her and sa id "A thing of beauty is a joy to forever". As a puni shment you must find out who wrote that and then write an essay on him . That is how I know Keats! Wilkie made a rule neve r to v isit the parents of the pupil s. She had a soft spot in rep ly to a letter from my mother asking if I could have two days off and go to the Gatton College Ball and stay the night th ere. She sent fo r me to go to the dreaded office and I went in fear and tremb ling, and she sa id " You may go, dear" . I was interested to know that my mother was one of the first girls at the B.G .G .S. -she was Lucy Davidson- one of the ten children of the Surveyor-General of Queensland - William Montgomerie Davenport Davidson. She afterwards married Wilton Love. He was at the Boys' Grammar, won the Gold Lill ey medal of the Upper Schoo l and the Silver Lilley meda l of the lower sc hoo l. He won the Exhibition Sc hol arship which took him to Edinburgh University for three years at which he won the Thompson Bursary and the Murchison Scholarship. I have his medals and many others."