Five generations at BGS BGS Old Boy John Siemon ‘63 always knew his family had a five-generation long connection with BGS. But after delving into Brisbane Grammar School’s archives, he discovered that two great uncles, John and Edward Crosser, also attended BGS – a family connection John was previously unaware of. “I didn’t know that my father’s mother’s brothers had also attended the School,” John said. The Innes family, on John’s mother’s side, set a possible record for the most boys to attend BGS. John’s grandfather, Reverend Professor Henry Innes (1910), was the eldest of seven brothers, followed by Robert (1909), Wallace (1913), Alexander (1916), James (1917), Murray (1924),
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BRISBANE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
and Kenneth (1926). This accomplished family produced three ministers of religion, two teachers, two doctors and a social worker who all made their mark. Dr James Innes became a world-renowned expert in the treatment of leprosy, and his eldest sister also became a doctor, which at the time was an unusual occupation for a woman. After school, Henry went to Sydney University and graduated with honours in Philosophy and Greek. He became a Presbyterian minister and was the Dean of the Theological Hall at Emmanuel College at The University of Queensland (it was originally located in the heritage building which fronts St Andrews Hospital on Wickham Terrace).
But the story starts in the previous century. In 1881, the year BGS moved from its original Roma Street site to Spring Hill, John Crosser was enrolled at BGS. His much younger brother Edward would also attend the School in the new century, finishing in 1904. Edward worked in the Public Service, later becoming Under Secretary for the Treasury and Auditor General. Up the railway line from Brisbane, Wilhelm Siemon, his wife Christina and their 12 children lived in a house backing onto the Ipswich railway station, from where they freighted fresh, locallygrown produce to the Roma Street Markets. By WWI, the Siemons family were prominent in the Milton
