Presented to the 87th Annual General Meeting (held at the School on Monday 2 September 1985) by R. A. (Ross) Duus (58), retiring President.
The financial year ending 30 June 1985 was highlighted by substantially increased life and yearly membership subscriptions, renewed interest in individual year reunions, considerable profits from sales of the new Old Boys' Association ties, the successful annual reunion dinner, the introduction of the Graham Hebden Flint Memorial Prize, forward planning of the Association's finances and legal status, and the finalisation and presentation to the Board of Trustees of the Future Financial Development Plan of the School and the Old Boys' Association.
In my 1984 Report, I mentioned that the 1983 and 1984 financial years could be described as an investment in the future of the Association. In 1985 the Association disclosed one of its highest increases in total members' funds and net income since the Association was formed. Increasing interest has been shown by Old Boys in paying yearly or life membership subscriptions or purchasing the new tie — both major contributions to the finances of the Association.
The Future Financial Development Plan of the School and the Old Boys' Association, prepared by your Council, is currently receiving consideration from the Board of Trustees. It is envisaged that if the principle is accepted, all Old Boys of the school will automatically be financial members of the Old Boys' Association when they leave the school.
It is a recommendation of your Council that the Brisbane Grammar School Old Boys' Association apply for incorporation under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981; the shortened title may therefore be "B.G.S.O.B.A. Inc." in the future if incorporation is granted.
Mr. Dick Marks (1957) proved a very humorous and eloquent guest speaker at the Annual Reunion Dinner held at Ballymore in August 1984 (about 100 Old Boys and guests attended); the 1959 twenty-fifth reunion was also held in August 1984 with over a hundred former students and Masters attending.
As your President, I was asked to present the Old Boys' Bursary and Scholarship at the Foundation Day Assembly in the Great Hall. The J. G. Nowlan Bursary, awarded to a first-year entrant, was presented to Peter May. The R. H. Roe Scholarship, presented to a boy leaving the school with achievements in both the academic and extra-curricular areas, was awarded to Marko Misko.
Your Council during the year initiated a joint cocktail party with the members of the B.G.G.S.O.G.A. (the Girls' Grammar Old Girls). My sincere thanks to all members of Council, particularly Mr. Greg Beeston, our Association's Secretary, who through work commitments was forced to resign in early 1985. As retiring President I wish the incoming President and his Council every success in the forthcoming year.
Ross Duus, President
The Trustees announced the 1985 Entrance Scholarships (S. A. Elwell-Sutton, A. B. Cranley, C. A. Eckett, C. T. Fenwick, D. F. Hughes, J. D. Middleton, R. A. Muller, A. K. Boreham, L. Davidson, A. P. Allen, A. A. Graham, B. G. Kerr, S. J. Morgan, J. D. Myers, M. C. Richards, S. M. Toombes, C. N. Swain, S. C. Wales). The other awards:
(Roe and Nowlan recipients confirmed both here and in the President's 87th Annual Report below.)
The 1985 Old Boys' Section carries the usual Births, Marriages and Deaths registers;
They are not reproduced in this transcript.
The 1985 issue records the death, on Wednesday 6 March 1985 after a long illness, of R. A. Henderson, C.B.E. — for almost twenty years a member (and Chairman) of the Board of Trustees, and Chairman of the Centenary Building Fund Appeal; a long-serving figure across the School and the Old Boys' Association.
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.
Draft site for committee review. Spot an error or hold a missing piece? Tell the OBA