The 1935 School Magazine

Without doubt the fare offered us by the post-war world is rich in flavour, varied, and overwhelming to a degree. Boom, depression, revolution, dictatorship, social experiment, economic experiment, the growth of nationalism alongside the breaking-down of international barriers, congregations of war-lords at peace conferences, restriction of output in the presence of want — confusion and chaos have succeeded the conventional world of our Victorian forefathers.

Amidst the welter of world affairs, Britain has retained the ability to keep her head — still is she regarded as a world court to which come strong and weak alike for justice.

From foreign social experiment one thing stands out conspicuously — an intense nationalism, which demands that every individual interest be submerged in the cause of national welfare. This is, after all, an advanced application of the spirit of our schools — the common weal rather than the individual interest. Any form of thought or aspiration or activity which is of use to the country demands every possible support from the State and the Nation itself.

Those of us who realise that we ourselves must shortly take up the burdens of our fathers — assuredly as taxpayers, perhaps as tax gatherers, perhaps as law-makers, we hope not as law-breakers — cannot but ask ourselves "Are we prepared?"

School life sends us out with some spiritual preparation for the task of upholding our national traditions, yet the intensity of the modern struggle for supremacy, economic and political, demands more than that we merely uphold the traditions of our fathers — the world has changed, and we must adapt ourselves to new conditions. Scientific, economic and physical training have become paramount necessities. Physical training, particularly in a cadet corps, gives that sense of discipline which is essential for a nation's stability. Scientific and economic training bear fruit in exact thought instead of wasteful experiment.

We all realise that in this era the ocean is no longer adequate protection. Mr. Baldwin declares that Britain's frontier is now the Rhine. Where is ours? The Australia that has received recognition of her nationhood has also received a great responsibility. National menaces, at which once we gazed with equanimity over the waters of the Pacific, must now be regarded as close at hand and imminent — and to us will surely fall the task of meeting them. "The whole nation must be permeated with the idea of national defence if it is to preserve its national and political identity."

The 37th Annual General Meeting (1935) opened with an informal dinner, at which the retiring President, Mr. R. C. Hancock, presided. The meeting elected Mr. J. E. England as President for 1935–36.