Ballarat Grammar School

Ballarat and Queen's Anglican Grammar School is an independent, Anglican Church school located at Wendouree (Ballarat), Victoria, 123 km west of Melbourne.

History

Ballarat Church of England Grammar School for Boys was opened by Bishop Browne and on the current Forest Street site in 1911.^[1] The Church of England Girls’ Grammar School was acquired by the Anglican Diocese in 1918^[1] having formerly been Queen’s College which was established 1877,^[1] and later having “Queen’s” once again included in the name.

The two schools amalgamated in 1973^[1] and became Ballarat and Queen’s Anglican Grammar School on the Forest Street site.

For the 2011 Century Year Celebrations a book 'Met by Wendouree' captures much of the history of the schools. Although both were originally small schools, many alumni have made significant contributions to the Nation, in politics, in academia, education and health services, in business and as musicians and artists. Many are mentioned in the book.

There is also Mainly About Girls, A History of Queen’s, Ballarat 1876 – 1972 written by Susanne White and Winds of Influence, A History of Ballarat Grammar 1911 – 1971 by Michael Boyle.

Headmaster

Stephen Higgs had been the Headmaster of Ballarat Grammar for 21 years,^[2] and at the end of 2015 retired. The new Headmaster is Adam Heath.

Adam Heath has been the Middle School Principal at Kristin School in Auckland, New Zealand,^[3] since 2009. Mr Heath originally studied Outdoor Education at La Trobe University, more recently he has completed a master's degree in School Leadership with First Class Honours at Melbourne University. After his early teaching in Mallacoot and the UK, Mr Heath moved to join Caulfield Grammar as Head of their Yarra Junction Campus. In 2005, he was appointed as the founding Head of Middle School at Scotch Oakburn College in Launceston.

Campus

Ballarat and Queens Anglican Grammar School's main campus is located in Ballarat, on the corner of Howitt and Forest streets, Wendouree. The expansive campus stretches as far north as Norman St, and west towards Dare St. Both the Senior School and Junior School are situated on the same campus, sharing many facilities and resources. The Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts is accessed by students via the southern part of the campus, and by the general public via Howitt St.

The Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts (WCPA) was opened in 2006 through a partnership between the School and the wider Ballarat Community. The main auditorium seats 857 and the expansive stage area has the capacity to handle a range of performances. It is used by the School and also hosts community events and performances. Ballarat Grammar's Music School is located within the WCPA, featuring tutorial and rehearsal rooms, and a professional recording suite. The WCPA also features natural cooling utilizing underground catacombs and natural air-flow.

The Heinz Centre is an award-winning (2002 BEN Environment Award ^[4] ) Year 9 Environmental Centre, opened in 2001. The centre was the venue for the Sustainable Building Expo held in 2002 as part of World Environment Week.

The school also has a farming campus at Mount Rowan.^[5] This campus is used by the grade 4 students, and the VCE Agriculture-Horticulture students.

The schools City Cite is their campus in the Melbourne CBD^[6] students in year 9 will go here for three week in term 4. This gives students a hands on experience and is a powerful way to challenge the year 9s.

Ballarat and Queens Anglican Grammar School is a sister school to St Augustine's High School, an Anglican Mission boarding school in Punjabi, Zimbabwe.'

Academic standing

Grammar has been a ranked school in Victoria for several years. It competes strongly with Ballarat Clarendon College, and together they are the only schools from Ballarat to feature in the rankings of the best Victorian schools.^[7]

Sport

Rowing is considered by many to be the school's most celebrated sport. The Ballarat Associated Schools (BAS) crews compete in the annual "Head of the Lake", which is held at Lake Wendouree.

House system

The house system is very important to the structure of the school, and there is substantial rivalry between houses in swimming, athletics, choral competitions, and more. The house system also provides pastoral care and a degree of mentoring to students. The rivalry is particularly seen between the two boys' boarding houses, Dart and Wigan, which often used to engage in pranks against each other. This practice was abandoned in 2007 after new administration deemed the activities of the boarding houses to be inappropriate. Dart and Wigan still compete against each other in soccer and Australian rules football matches. These houses used to be one, and their subsequent division may be the cause of the competition. The Dart-Wigan rivalry is often overlooked when competing against the "day" (non-boarding) houses.

There are also tree girls' boarding houses, Hayhoe, Woodbridge and Larritt. Larritt was created to accommodate the ever-increasing number of boarders, housing exclusively female boarders in years 7, 8 and 9. Larritt girls 'graduate' to Hayhoe and Woodbridge when they reach year 10.

There are also eight day houses, four for girls and four for boys. The girls' day houses are Manifold, Krome, Cuthbert and Macpherson. The boys' houses are Smith, Butler, Robin and Nevett.

All houses are named after people who were important to the school such as former Headmasters/Headmistresses or substantial donors, and are paired in brother-sister groups. While the houses are generally independent, they compete together in a number of competitions.

The pairs are:

• Macpherson          - Nevett             
• Manifold          - Smith         
• Woodbridge              - Dart         
• Hayhoe          - Wigan         
• Cuthbert          - Robin         
• Krome          - Butler         
• Larritt         

Chapel of St Mark

Located within the School grounds is the Chapel of St Mark. Originally built as the School assembly hall (Manifold Hall), the building was transformed into a chapel when student numbers demanded a larger space. Overseen by Chaplain Fr Peter Treloar and Assistant Chaplain Mrs Fiona Whitehouse, the Chapel holds several school services each week. The services are open to students of all faiths and acknowledges the liturgical traditions of the Anglican/Anglo-Catholic Church of Australia.^[8] Baptisms, weddings and funerals for school families and the wider community are also regularly held in the Chapel of St Mark

Notably, each winter the Chapel plays host to the charitable drive Can the Chapel. School houses compete to donate non-perishable items, lining the walls (and aisles) of the Chapel. All proceeds are donated to Anglicare Ballarat, and distributed to the needy within the Ballarat community.

Alumni

Academia

• G. F. J. Dart, Ballarat Grammar headmaster 1942-1970
• David Fleay MBE, AM, naturalist
• Dr Alan Kenneth Head PhD (Bristol),^[9] Mathematical Physicist at Brown University and University of Oxford
• Prof. Ronald Charles Lucas,^[10] Professor of Medicine, Monash University
• Prof. Barry Mataz, Professor of Science, Monash University
• Prof. Alfred James Pittard, PhD (Yale),^[11] Professor of Microbiology, University of Melbourne
• Prof. George Seddon AM - Professor of Environmental Science, University of Melbourne

Arts and Media

• Roy Dalgarno - Artist
• Brian James - actor
• John Jones - curator, National Gallery of Australia, author of A Story of Australian Art

Music

• Dr. Calvin Bowman (1989) - musician and composer
• David Hirschfelder - musician and composer
• David Hobson - musician, composer and opera singer
• James Valentine - musician, writer, radio and television presenter
• Warren Ellis - violinist, composer

National Security

• John Ross-Perrier - Deputy Director ASIO ^[12]

Politics

• Henry Bolte - Premier of Victoria 1955-1972
• Thomas Hollway - Premier of Victoria 1947-50, 1952
• John Pasquarelli - Member of Parliament (Papua New Guinea) and aide to Pauline Hanson

Scholarship winners

• Nathan Grills,^[13] Rhodes Scholar
• Aimee Heuzenroeder,^[14] General Sir John Monash Scholar
• Bridgit Vincent,^[15] General Sir John Monash Scholar

Sport

• Tamsin Barnett - Indoor and beach volleyball (2000 Sydney Olympics; 2008 Beijing Olympics; 2012 London Olympics)
• Stewart Crameri - Australian rules footballer
• Robert Eddy - Australian rules footballer
• Tony Lockett - Australian rules footballer, member of Australian Football Hall of Fame with Legend status
• Tom Swann - Rowing Men's Eight (2012 London Olympics)
• Bronwyn Thompson - Rowing Women's Eight (1996 Atlanta and 2000 Sydney Olympics)^[16]
• Geoff Tunbridge - Australian rules footballer for the Melbourne Football Club
• John Vernon - Highjumper (Australian Champion, Empire Games 1954)

See also

• List of schools in Ballarat

References

Further reading

• M.J.W. Boyle, Winds of Influence: A Short History of Ballarat Grammar 1911-1971 (n.d.)
• Susanne L. White, Mainly About Girls: A History of Queen's, Ballarat 1876-1972 (1990)

External links

• Ballarat Grammar website
• Ballarat Grammar Internal website (Portal)