Deo, ecclesiae, patriae : fifty year of Canberra Grammar School

Abstract

The Canberra Grammar School celebrates its Golden Jubilee in 1979. It was decided, as part of the School's Jubilee celebrations, to produce this book of memoirs covering the period from 1929 to 1959 and including the recollections of Old Boys and people specially connected with the School. Mrs Jill Pulford, daughter of the late Dr W.J. Edwards, the first Headmaster, tells of the early days and the difficulties encountered in establishing the School. Others such as the Honourable Wal Fife and the Reverend T.H. Timpson, who was Senior Master at the time, throw further light on the first Headmaster's period in office. Bishop Clements, whose contact with Canberra Grammar School began when he was appointed to the staff and ended when he retired as Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn and Chairman of the School's Board of Management, writes of the School's growth from several points of view. Bishop Garnsey, the second Headmaster from 1948 to 1958, carried on the development of the School after the war through a time of great difficulty; he writes of that decade with insight. He handed on to an Old Boy of the School, P.J. McKeown, who had been teaching at Timbertop in the early days of that experiment. Several Old Boys, Nicolas Hasluck, writer and former Deputy Chairman of the Australia Council, and Paul Murphy of the ABC, describe this time of transition. Professor J.D.B. Miller, who has been a member of the School{u2019}s governing body, writes of his contact with the School as parent and Governor and sketches his hopes for the future of the School. An historical outline lists the main events and achievements during the first fifty years of the School, and appendixes set out the growth of the School in financial terms as well as in numbers of students and staff. The present Headmaster, Mr P.J. McKeown, has edited the volume and written the Preface. It will be of interest to all students, parents and teachers connected with the School over the years, as well as those who are interested in the development of independent schools in Australia.