Major milestone for school of excellence as Brisbane Grammar celebrates 150 years of learning
QUEENSLAND’S illustrious Brisbane Grammar School has a big year ahead as it marks a major milestone and welcomes a royal, a far cry from its rudimentary beginnings, writes Kylie Lang.
QLD News
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THEY were the privileged few, the boys whose academic brilliance secured them a place in Brisbane’s first grammar school.
Ninety-four students, seated at wooden desks in a rudimentary brick building in the paddocks near Roma St, were taught Latin, mathematics and English in the morning, and Greek, French, German and chemistry in the afternoon.
Flashback to almost 150 years ago, when a handful of forward thinkers, including Albert Hockings, mayor of the capital of the newly formed Colony of Queensland, stumped up the money to fund a secondary school for clever young men.
The fledgling government weighed in, offering scholarships to those boys with the potential to drive the colony forward after its secession from NSW.
Since the foundation stone was laid by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, on February 29, 1868, more than 28,000 boys have followed.
Brisbane Grammar School, with 1709 students in Years 5 to 12, is now non-selective, but its aspirations remain largely the same.
Boys are still taught Latin – compulsory in Year 7 – echoing the belief of one of its earliest headmasters that it develops well-rounded thought and is useful in learning mathematics.
The classrooms have changed – the school relocated to Spring Hill in 1881, and technology is now an integral part of learning – but the ethos has not.
“One of the things I love is the consistency of vision, and that is a broad, liberal education,” says headmaster of four years Anthony Micallef.
“There is a very strong emphasis on traditional subjects, so some might say it’s a narrow curriculum, but it is what it is, and we are what we are.”
Every Year 12 student is required to take a humanities subject in addition to English – no straight sciences are allowed – in the interests of turning out “well-rounded thinkers” and remaining true to the school’s founding mission.
Interestingly too, there is continuous assessment for all year levels and, for seniors, a process called Quarantine, where students undertake supervised study and tutorials between exams.
It appears to be a winning formula.
Brisbane Grammar School consistently produces the state’s biggest crop of OP1 students, and last year topped NAPLAN in Years 5 and 9.
Its fees also set a state record at $27,085 per year, plus $25,460 for boarding.
But according to Micallef, the most important result is that all boys achieve their personal best.
“Last year, all 260 seniors pursued an OP score (required for university entrance), and 100 per cent of them received tertiary offers,” he says.
“We achieved a median OP score of 4, and we are the only school to achieve that – twice.”
This is the school of governors, premiers, judges, surgeons, business leaders, world-renowned artists and sport stars.
Queensland’s first Rhodes Scholar was awarded to old boy Arthur Roe in 1904, and 23 others have followed, the most from any school in the state.
Famous alumni include former premier Thomas Byrnes (a senior in 1877), former governor John Lavarack (1899), author David Malouf (1951), former High Court justice Ian Callinan (1954), paediatrician John Pearn (1957); Powderfinger band members John Collins and Ian Haug (1987), former Wallabies captain Stephen Moore (2000), and violinist Ray Chen (2000).
Its second headmaster, Oxford-educated Reginald Roe, was instrumental in founding The University of Queensland and became its first vice-chancellor in 1911.
Brisbane Grammar was also the school of choice for Labor premiers Wayne Goss and Peter Beattie, and former prime minister Kevin Rudd, whose children all attended.
And since that first royal visit in 1868, there have been several more. Prince Albert and Prince George (later King George V) each planted a Moreton Bay fig in the school grounds in 1881 to commemorate their visit to the colony. Some 87 years later, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, added a third tree, a Queensland hoop pine, to the lawn in front of the boarders’ quarters.
Carrying on the tradition, a fourth royal is due to plant a tree in April during the Commonwealth Games.
However, to suggest the school is elitist doesn’t wash with its 12th headmaster, who came on board as an English teacher 25 years ago.
“That’s the outsider’s view,” Micallef says. “I think those who are in the tent understand that there are a lot of people working very hard to send their kids to this school.
“The beauty of this school is there is a nice multicultural mix reflecting modern society, and the families send their kids here because they value education and they see this as a pathway.
“We always make the comment that just because you put on a blue shirt, it is no assurance of success. The school’s motto is ‘Nil Sine Labore’ – nothing without hard work – and the boys actually really believe that.
“They don’t win everything, but in the end, they try very hard, and that’s the whole purpose of it because our vision is we want responsible citizens – intelligent, altruistic and with good moral standing – who can go on to lead their own communities, wherever they might be.”
One such leader is Simon Fenwick, a founding partner of New York fund management company International Value Advisers.
In 2015, Fenwick, a senior in 1987, donated $1.34 million towards a perpetual scholarship for indigenous and regional boys.
In total, the school has 66 bursaries, which are means tested, as well as various scholarships given to outstanding academic students and athletes.
“Our aim is to have an endowment fund that can support 10 per cent of the population – to be ‘needs blind’,” says Micallef.
“Schools like ours that have the means should give boys from all walks of life a chance at a Brisbane Grammar education.”
Boarders Zeke and Micah Leaupepe Perkins, 17 and 12, are among 12 indigenous bursary recipients. Their parents – Samoan dad Ben Leaupepe, a tunneller on the Gold Coast, and Aboriginal mum Lee Perkins, a checkout operator in Murwillumbah – could never have afforded to send their boys to the school.
Zeke, who hopes to study architecture next year, says the BGS experience has given him a strong work ethic, and “the teachers do so much to prepare us for life after school”.
As the 150th anniversary celebrations begin, there is acknowledgment that not all of the school’s history is illustrious.
A large number of students were sexually abused in the 1970s and ’80s by former counsellor Kevin Lynch, who committed suicide in 1997.
Micallef says since 2000, Brisbane Grammar has reached compensation agreements with 100 men, with payments on average in line with recommendations from the 2013-2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
But one of the objectives of the year-long 150th anniversary celebration is to look to the future. The school’s masterplan, to be completed this year, includes building a science, technology and engineering precinct in 2021.
This will complement an outstanding range of facilities, including an integrated learning centre, indoor sports centre, The Great Hall, the War Memorial Library, plus sports fields at Northgate, rowing sheds at West End, and a tennis centre at Kelvin Grove.
Micallef, whose own son graduated from BGS last year, says it is an honour to be part of Queensland’s second-oldest boys’ secondary school (after Ipswich Grammar).
“I have to pinch myself that I’m the headmaster,” he says. “But really, our 150 years is a celebration of community and the fact that this school was built on the shoulders of other people and, for a very long time, it has had a particular vision – to give boys a broad, liberal education.”
QUEENSLAND’S 10 OLDEST HIGH SCHOOLS
All Hallows’ School, Fortitude Valley 1861
Ipswich Grammar School 1863
St Mary’s College, Ipswich 1863
Brisbane Grammar School 1868
St James’ College, Spring Hill 1868
St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace, Spring Hill 1875
Brisbane Girls Grammar, Spring Hill 1875
Toowoomba Grammar School 1875
Rockhampton Grammar School 1881
Townsville Grammar School 1888
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