Old boys of Brisbane Grammar School gathered together in sporting teams long before a formal Old Boys' Association was established. A football match, played in Queen's Park in 1877 between the School team and a team of old boys, used AFL rules. The Past Grammar School Football Club was formed in 1891. It played other Brisbane teams in the Queensland Rugby Union Association, won premierships in 1892 and 1898, and was runner up every year in between.
Informal social gatherings of old boys from the 1880s preceded the official formation of Old Boys' Association on 1 June 1898. Foundation Day celebrations quickly became the best attended and most enjoyed fixture. At first the OBA versus School cricket match was at its core. Between the 1900s and 1940 new events were added to the Foundation Day weekend celebrations: dinner, tennis, rowing, a debate, golf, and a relay swimming race at Spring Hill Baths.
Clubrooms opened in 1900 at the London Chartered Bank Building. They moved in 1901 to the Brisbane Permanent Building in Adelaide Street. Two billiards tables were purchased. A Literary and Debating Society was inaugurated in 1902. As well as debates, tournaments at the clubrooms were held for cards and billiards. The fire that destroyed the clubrooms in 1909 seemed to deal a huge blow to morale. In 1910 the dissolution of the OBA was proposed. Those who kept it alive included Second Master, later Headmaster, Stuart Stephenson and teacher Joseph Nowlan, both new to the School in 1910. Despite the boost to membership their involvement brought, most OBA activities were suspended from 1914 until the end of World War I.
After the war, and prompted by the outpouring of pride in Old Boys' war service, the 1920s became the Association's golden age. Social gatherings focused on the welcoming home of returned servicemen. The School Jubilee, celebrated in 1920, and the War Memorial fundraising effort, proved a winning combination. The ceremony to unveil the gun in 1921 was a highlight. With over 1,000 members in 1922, the annual dinner was revived. In 1923 an OBA badge and a blazer with the badge monogrammed on its pocket were offered for sale. The War Memorial Library opened in 1924.
By the mid-1920s a range of OBA sporting clubs had formed, including tennis, athletics and swimming. The athletics club met every Monday night during the season on the school turf which was lit by 300 candle-powered petrol lanterns. New clubs for other sports were enthusiastically established and patronised: football in 1929 and rowing in 1933. A Dramatic Club was also formed in 1933, and its first performance was of a new play written by George Carson-Cooling, then Second Master, later Headmaster.
Several regional OBA branches were founded during the late 1920s and into the 1930s. Sydney was the first branch to be established outside Brisbane, in 1924. It stopped and started every few years until it ceased during World War II. It was properly revived in 1961 when Headmaster Harry Newell was invited to attend a reunion in Sydney as the guest of honour. The Cairns branch was formed in 1927. The Melbourne branch was re-formed in 1963, after an earlier attempt in 1940. In the 1930s, seven new branches were formed in Townsville, Mareeba, Longreach, Mackay, Rockhampton, Bundaberg and Maryborough.
A three-week tour, organised by the Townsville branch to praise Joseph Nowlan's services as OBA Secretary, saw him as the guest of honour at branch reunion dinners in 1939 at Maryborough, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns. Most branches became dormant from 1941 because of World War II, in which many Old Boys served.
Source: Grammar News Winter 2017.
Source: Grammar News Winter 2017. Read the original edition