Real stories from the record, told with the original images.
Some Old Boys earn a line in the record books. Otto Nothling earned one nobody else in cricket history can claim: he is the only man ever to replace Don Bradman in a Test side.
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In 2021, Old Boys **Alastair Blenkin '08** and **Tim Rogers '08** founded **ProcurePro**, a construction procurement platform that centralises and streamlines the management of sub…
Two Old Boys were appointed Members of the Order of Australia in the 2026 Australia Day Honours.
Accomplished Old Boys **Stephen Bizzell '84** and **Stephen Moore '00** have stepped into the roles of Chairman and Deputy Chair of the Brisbane Grammar School Board of Trustees, a…
From schoolboy cross country champion to competing in one of the world's most prestigious races, Old Boy **Charlie Sprott '21** is a reminder of what hard work and a love of sport …
For more than a century it has been something of a rite of passage for Old Boys to study and work abroad. In recent years, Old Boys have increasingly looked to continue their educa…
In his senior year as Vice Captain, **Lieutenant Philip Groves '17** became a familiar presence on the Centenary Hall stage. Nearly a decade later, in April, Lt Groves returned to …
The School acquired a significant collection of nine academic medals belonging to **Russell Walker Grant (BGS 1890–1894)**, revealing a scholar of exceptional ability and the pathw…
Old Boy **Tom Cornish '05** never imagined a failed bicycle trip through India would be the catalyst for a global business changing hundreds of lives across Asia.
BGS Ventures is a dynamic program introduced in 2024, that has been designed to empower students to explore entrepreneurship, innovation, and design thinking. Led by Old Boys Julia…
As a student, Old Boy and Valedictorian Nicholas Godfrey '14 relished in arts and humanities, so a career in physics came as a complete shock to his family. "When I told [them] I w…
Old Boys Patrick Holt '16 and Logan Ullrich '17 made waves rowing at the 2024 Paris Olympics, for Australia and New Zealand respectively. Their achievements are a testament to a ba…
International concert violinist and Old Boy, Ray Chen '06 was born for the stage. His illustrious career to date is comprised of countless international tours and lauded collaborat…
These are the impassioned words of BGS mother and volunteer, Doctor Margaret 'Margie' Bale: "You get way more life experience—and life is so much richer—being of service. The only …
On 11 November 1924, the **War Memorial Library** was opened in tribute to the 1,022 Grammar Old Boys who fought in the Great War, 176 of whom gave their lives.
At just 21 years old, Old Boy Aly Sultan '21 is the definition of a global citizen.
Three second-hand bikes, a sense of adventure, and a database of GPS maps covering northern Australia, Asia, Europe, and the United Kingdom: this was the foundation of a sprawling …
As Jim Truesdale approaches his 100th birthday, we reflect on his extraordinary life journey. From his early days as a student at Brisbane Grammar School to his remarkable contribu…
Growing up, brothers Jon '83 and Ben '90 Hodges were surrounded by Queensland's wilderness, with an abundance of time for exploration and play.
For Old Boys Tim and Miles '97 Cederman-Haysom, success hasn't come from simply following a plan. It has come from asking the right questions, staying curious, and seizing the righ…
After beginning his professional career in the RAAF as a dental officer, BGS Old Boy Daryl Holmes OBE '81 went on to change the face of dentistry in Australia through his willingne…
From space engineer to entrepreneur, every stage of Old Boy James Chin Moody's '93 career has been about identifying problems and finding innovative solutions.
BGS Old Boy Peter Huxley '69 and wife Lesley have a connection with Brisbane Grammar School that will soon enter a fifth generation, encompassing both sides of their family.
In 1939, the editorial in the BGS School Magazine said: "November 11th will be a sad, ironic day this year. Once more the names of Old Boys who fell in the last war will be remembe…
Almost six years ago, BGS Old Boy Simon Fenwick '87 donated $1.34 million to Brisbane Grammar School. He felt strongly that the benefits he had received at the School should be ext…
On 7 June 1971, Old Boy **Ian Mathers '65** was one of three Australians killed in action in Long Khanh, Vietnam. Ian was a Flight Sergeant in the Air Training Corps at school. He …
When BGS Old Boy Charles Vincent McMahon '08 tragically died in a vehicle accident in 2011, his fellow Old Boys vowed to keep his memory alive. Each year the group of former boardi…
For 29 years, Howard Stack has led the Brisbane Grammar School Board of Trustees with distinction. His legacy as Chairman is defined by his desire for constant advancement and his …
Professor John Humphrey was appointed to the Board of Trustees in May 2018 and elected as Chairman in October 2019. He has over 30 years' experience as a corporate lawyer and is Ch…
10km ocean swim. 420km bike ride. 84km double marathon. Three days. This is what it takes to complete an ultra triathlon, the hardest triathlon in the world. To finish seems imposs…
In an extraordinary act of generosity, BGS Old Boy Rod Thorburn '54 has bequeathed $500,000 to Brisbane Grammar School to establish the Rodney Thorburn Perpetual Bursary. The bursa…
Soldier, pharmacist, poet, author and university English lecturer, BGS Old Boy Stan Mellick '34 has had several careers over his 99 years.
Trustee and BGS Old Boy Stephen Lonie '68 passed away in November, following a short illness. A Chartered Accountant and company director, Mr Lonie served on many boards during a d…
The Wilson family has an association with Brisbane Grammar School that spans four generations across three centuries and a connection with family architecture that continues to sha…
BGS Old Boy Andrew Small '01 has worked with everyone from Marvel superheroes to NBA players.
Remembrance Day 2018 was a solemn occasion at Brisbane Grammar School, as the community marked 100 years after the Armistice of 11 November 1918 with a moving ceremony outside the …
A love of music fostered at Brisbane Grammar School has taken BGS Old Boy Ben Tolliday '96 around the world as a sound engineer for artists as diverse as Alanis Morissette and the …
A new art gallery named in honour of BGS Old Boy David Malouf AO '50 was officially opened with a VIP cocktail function attended by the famous writer in August.
Two prized objects in Brisbane Grammar School's collection, the copper bugle and Hopkins Challenge Cup, have recently been given a new lease of life.
For Moranbah parents Jenny and Doug MacGibbon, sending their sons to board at Brisbane Grammar School continues a tradition spanning four generations.
Old Boy **David Little '60**, a former School Captain, has a family connection to BGS spanning four generations back to the early 1900s: his father **William Arthur Little (1914)**…
A boarder from Moranbah, Dean Parkin '98 was Vice Captain of Harlin House and a member of the First XV. As a Year 12 student he addressed the School Assembly on 'Racism and Prejudi…
Dr Charles Roe AM, born in Brisbane on 14 February 1919, was the eldest child of **Arthur Stanley Roe** (Queensland's first Rhodes Scholar) and the eldest grandchild of **Reginald …
Old Boy and past parent **Geoff Clarke '64** and his wife Shirley have volunteered hundreds of hours to School and OBA activities over 25 years. Their son Scott graduated in 1999, …
What do internationally renowned musicians as diverse as a composer of operas and Hollywood film scores; a classical violinist; two rock bands; a sound engineer; broadcaster; an or…
For more than 70 years after first walking through the Brisbane Grammar School gates, Old Boy **Dr Bruce Roberts '45** maintained his affinity with the School. Dr Roberts, who pass…
The School's 50th anniversary, its jubilee, "was entirely organised by the Old Boys' Association."
Inspirational is the first word that comes to mind when referring to Speech Day 2017 guest speaker, BGS Old Boy **Major General Professor John Pearn AM '57**. Underneath an unassum…
Stephen Moore started at BGS in 1996 in Year 9, coming down from Rockhampton Grammar School and into Harlin House. Con 'CJ' Primmer, a 1951 BGS Old Boy and former Wallaby, was a fr…
The Dignan family has an incredible connection to Brisbane Grammar School that dates back six generations to its foundation 150 years ago. The most recent Dignan BGS Old Boy, **Joe…
Former war correspondent and BGS Old Boy **Michael Ware '86** became the voice of the Iraq war for Americans, as he made the world's deadliest war zones his home through the 2000s.…
BGS Old Boy **Professor Michael Milford '98** is at the forefront of developments in artificial intelligence, conducting interdisciplinary research at the boundary between robotics…
Tennis great and BGS Old Boy **Roy Emerson** visited Brisbane Grammar School's new tennis centre in January to offer some words of wisdom to the School's next tennis generation. Em…
Bursary student and BGS Old Boy **Toby Buckley '17** took a unique path to Brisbane Grammar School. It started with a letter to Headmaster Anthony Micallef in 2015, penned himself,…
On Friday 24 February Brisbane Grammar School celebrated Foundation Day, marking the 149th anniversary of the foundation of the School on 29 February 1868. In examining BGS' histor…
The folded handwritten note attached to the back page of a Catholic liturgical book held in the School Archives was penned by Old Boy **Lieutenant Colin Hope Butler**, 41st Battali…
Tennis has an incredible history at BGS, with the annual school championship played every year since 1885 and Old Boys greats of the game including **Roy Emerson**. In May this yea…
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…
BGS Old Boy **Scott Breton '99**, the 2017 BGS Art Show feature artist, is in a continuous flow of learning, observing, synthesising, experimenting and expressing. Having studied s…
The Nothling family name is synonymous with Brisbane Grammar School, stretching back three generations to **Otto**, remembered by many as the School's greatest sportsman. To this d…
Tim and Miles Cederman-Haysom, 1997 Old Boys and identical twins, are building formidable careers in the tech world. Until recently, the pair worked together at the world's leading…
Old Boy **Jules Hoffman**, who attended BGS from 1944 to 1946, made a special trip back to the School from Sydney with his wife on 28 July 2016, to donate three sporting trophies w…
The Annual Reunion Dinner was held on 26 August at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre with 320 Old Boys in attendance. Throughout the night Old Boy **Alec Evans '57** wa…
Working for Saffron Coffee, BGS Old Boy **Derek Smith '95** calls Luang Prabang in Laos home. The company was introduced in 2006 to help hill tribe farmers replace their illegal tr…
Speech Day 2016 guest speaker, BGS Old Boy **Matt McLennan '86**, is truly an inspiring success story. From a childhood home with no electricity, to boarding at Brisbane Grammar Sc…
For **Raziq Qasimi**, an Afghan refugee who graduated from BGS in 2014, Australia was a name whispered as being a heaven on earth. As an orphan, Qasimi's journey to Australia start…
Helicopter pilot **Captain David Burke** (at BGS for the last two years of his schooling, 1977–1978) was hailed as a hero of the **Black Hawk Tragedy near Townsville on the night o…
At the Valedictory Dinner, Alan Bromiley (Master-in-Charge of Rowing) was asked who the best oarsman he had coached at Grammar was. "Brow responded without hesitating: 'David Weigh…
On 16 August 1996, Brisbane Grammar marked the **centenary of the death of Sir Charles Lilley**, "this great Queenslander who had an abiding interest in the school as Trustee and b…
In legal circles he is referred to — in extremely respectful terms — as "The Undertaker". In the art world he is known as an astute and passionate lover of Australian paintings. Ia…
Professor of Paediatrics in the Department of Child Health at the University of Queensland, known variously as Colonel Pearn, Professor, Doctor, John, JP, and to three as Dad. The …
Ask Grammar Old Boys from the era 1935 to 1975 about a Master named Ollie Bell and their face goes to a broad grin. Over forty years Ollie taught countless boys; before that he was…
No GPS rugby school has produced more Wallaby captains than Brisbane Grammar School. Seven sit on the honour board, and an eighth Old Boy, L. G. Brown, captained England in three T…
Every organisation that lasts a century has one person the record keeps circling back to. For the Old Boys' Association, that person is J. G. Nowlan.
Some Old Boys earn a line in the record books. Otto Nothling earned one nobody else in cricket history can claim: he is the only man ever to replace Don Bradman in a Test side.
Look again at the 1917 First Eleven photograph — the one where Otto Nothling sits at the far right of the front row. The boy seated in the centre, holding the captaincy, is T. "Tom…
Two Old Boys were among four voices the School asked about what the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games will mean.
Once an Olympian, always an Olympian. The School's own timeline of Old Boys who have competed at an Olympic Games runs from Saint Louis in 1904 to Paris in 2024.
Lachlan aspires to be a professional basketballer but is also studying psychology, hoping to become a sports psychologist, and eventually returning to coaching. "I want to see how …
Vale Dr Brian Hirschfeld, Old Boy '43, who embodied the values of compassion, service, and a dedication to improving healthcare in Australia throughout his life.
It's a far cry to go from earning three shillings as a school sweeper to living in a stately home many years later. This was the journey of Old Boy Frank Walker (1897), the most si…
Three BGS Old Boys were finalists:
Brisbane Grammar School's sesquicentenary has provided an opportunity to celebrate our community and its achievements over the last 150 years.
For the second successive year a graduating BGS student has been accepted to Oxford University. **Xavier Redmond** received an offer to study law, after 2015 graduate **Andy Wang '…
BGS Old Boy **Lou Hailey**, who left BGS in 1942 after completing Year 10, was a dual Olympian who should have been included in the BGS Olympic History story in the Winter 2016 edi…
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