B G S 15 0
Celebrating our Community Brisbane Grammar School’s sesquicentenary has provided an opportunity to celebrate our community and its achievements over the last 150 years.
for the contribution they have made to the sciences, business, education, law, military, government, the arts and sport.
Revisiting the lives and times of our high-achieving community members provides a personal link to significant historical events and reflects the influence Brisbane Grammar School has had on a wide variety of professions and fields of endeavour.
Since the School’s foundation in 1868, there have been BGS community members worthy of recognition and each represent hundreds more who personify the School’s motto, nil sine labore – nothing without work. Here follows a sample, by no means a definite list, of BGS community members and their achievements according to each decade from the 1860s.
Among the BGS community are statesmen, scholars and sportsmen; radicals and reformers; academics and artists. Many have a reputation throughout Australia and beyond
1860s
Albert J Hockings MLA – the first subscriber to BGS, contributing £50 in 1864.
> Justice Sir Charles Powers KCMG (1853-1939; Foundation pupil in 1869)
Justice John Woolcock ’78 – barrister and Supreme Court judge. Long-serving Chairman. Alexander H Francis MD ’74 – Thoracic surgeon, pioneer in treatment of asthma and tuberculosis. Richard Powell Francis '70 – graduate of Balliol, chronicler of BGS, victim of the 1893 Brisbane flood.
Thomas Joseph Byrnes (1860-1898; BGS 1874) Premier of Queensland. One of 11 children of poor Irish immigrants, Byrnes won a state scholarship to BGS and won the Lilley Gold Medal three times. He obtained honours in Arts and Law at Melbourne University, taught at Xavier College, practised as a barrister, then succeeded Sir Samuel Griffith as Solicitor-General in 1893. In 1898 he became Premier. The Byrnes Honour Board is the central feature of the Great Hall.
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George Rilatt – Equal longest serving BGS staff member, worked as a janitor for 51 years. A colourful icon of the School.
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> Dr Kevin Izod O’Doherty – former convict, surgeon, founding trustee and parliamentarian.
1870s
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Parliamentarian, cricketer and Justice. A fine cricketer who captained Queensland against a touring English side, Powers had a distinguished career as a legislator and judge. He became Postmaster-General and Education Minister in Queensland and was appointed the first Commonwealth Crown Solicitor in 1903. Powers was appointed a Justice of the High Court in 1913.
Sir Charles Lilley – subscriber, Chairman, founder of the Lilley Medals for academic achievement. _________________________________
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Thomas Blacket Stephens – original subscriber and first Chairman of the Board of Trustees.
Dr James Mayne ’78 – benefactor, funding Herston Medical School and St Lucia campus of UQ. _________________________________
