This magazine exists as an account of what has happened to the Brisbane Grammar School in the past year.
Traditionally, the editor and authors have deliberately restrained themselves from exceeding the self-imposed limitation of compiling the magazine as an objective record, an unbiased chronicle of what has taken place, rather than as a commentary on what could have taken place or how things could have been done better. It is, of course, an impossible constraint to observe: for the very selection of what is worth including involves value judgements — about what has been successful, and therefore merits inclusion, and what has not, and, consequently, does not; indeed, about what "success" itself is.
As a relatively objective account of this year's happenings at Brisbane Grammar School, the magazine stands, in some ways, as a tribute to those who have excelled and those who have achieved. But a true assessment of the success — or failure — of the school this year must wait until those of us who passed through here have undergone the "test of time". How we respond to the rigorous demands of the future, how we cope with our rights and responsibilities, will be the only true measure of the worth of this school. And our true worth will lie in the purposeful and effective contributions we make to our society.
For over a century, men have passed through this institution, and have established a school that is "bright with names that men remember, loud with names that men forget". But it is not the number of leaders in all walks of life whom this school has produced that has made Grammar a respected school. It is not the public display of success: not the cups in the Great Hall, not the numerous awards won by boys from Grammar, not even the number of sporting premierships our teams annually secure. What has made this school a respected school — and what is the true measure of its success — is the quality of the individual who leaves the school. It is this which establishes the worth of Brisbane Grammar School.
The motto of the school is "Nil Sine Labore", and, as Dr W. H. Fitchett wrote in the School Magazine in July 1900: "I know of only one 'secret of success' … in any … vocation; and that is hard, tireless, methodical work. To create a resolute habit of application is a tonic to the intellect as well as to the moral character."
It is because that philosophy — however denigrated and maligned it may be — is applied in practice, that this school stands as a "Great Public School", and that this magazine, as an objective record of its history, stands as a tribute to excellence and achievement.
Don Markwell
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(The 1976 issue carries no separate written President's Message; instead it profiles the incoming President, John Campbell Walker.)
John Campbell Walker, a solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland, was at the School from 1952 to 1955; his father, John Leonard, now living in retirement on the Gold Coast, entered B.G.S. in 1925; a son, of the third generation, is a pupil at the School at present. It was in a period of revival and great activity that our President was at B.G.S.: the period of the "Grammar Fairs", in which the Girls' School was also involved.
In its 108th year, the school's Foundation Day Assembly was held in the Centenary Hall in February. Mr. Howell opened the assembly with comments on what was happening in the world at the time the school was founded 108 years ago. Two students of the 1975 Sixth Form then received the major scholarships, followed by the second-form bursary, the Legacy Bursary, and the Trustees' Scholarships for 1976. The Minister for Education, the Hon. V. J. Bird, addressed the assembly and granted the students a day's holiday.
The 1976 Old Boys' Section carries the usual Births, Marriages and Deaths registers (compiled by K. A. Lemon). These registers are not reproduced in this transcript.
They are not reproduced in this transcript.
In this era, an Old Boy's year designation was the year he entered Grammar; the convention today is the year he finished. A boy who started in 1993 and finished in 1997 was (93) but is now '97.
Brisbane Grammar School Old Boys' Association · Old Boys History. Part of the OBA Knowledge Project.
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