Remembering our serving Old Boys

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 War Memorial Library.

A field of 172 handmade poppies representing the Old Boys and Masters who were killed during The Great War were planted in the War Memorial Garden.

Along with this year marking the centenary of the end of entrenched warfare on the Western Front, the Remembrance Day ceremony also recognised the many Old Boys who have served Australia in various military campaigns. An army catafalque party stood to attention in tribute to the BGS Old Boys who were killed in conflicts throughout the 20th century.

In his address, Headmaster Anthony Micallef said the opening of the War Memorial Library in 1924 was one of the most heartfelt moments in the School’s 150-year history.

“For the staff and boys at Brisbane Grammar School who lived through it, The Great War, as it was known, was a visceral, heart-rending experience, in which brothers, fathers, uncles, teachers and sons were lost,” he said.

“Headmaster Mr Frederick Bousfield had the agonising task of announcing the names of the fallen at school assembly. Each new despatch would have weighed heavily on him, and imparting it to the students and masters would have been a very sad responsibility.”

Mr Micallef offered his thanks to BGS Old Boy Association President and Deputy Adjutant General – Army, Chris Austin, for initiating fundraising for the improvements to the War Memorial Library in 2018.

The P&F Auxiliary contributed $250,000 to enhance the Memorial Garden, improve access to the Tuckshop and create new social spaces for students. The OBA Committee raised $110,000 for the War Memorial Library restoration, through Old Boy donations and a grant spearheaded by OBA President Chris Austin. The grant resulted in the addition of state-of-the-art exhibits in the Library interior, including an electronic honour board and climate-sensitive display cabinets to house precious memorabilia.

To conclude his address, Mr Micallef shared the memory of Old Boy Dr Ross Thomas, who wrote as School Captain in 1954: “In twos and threes we slip quietly into the War Memorial Library to view the multitude of artefacts commemorating the 1023 Old Boys who enlisted in the military during the First World War, and especially those who did not return.”

“In ways even more poignant than the honour boards in the Great Hall, the building houses photographs, paintings and war-time memorabilia reflective of a conglomerate of emotions – grief, gratitude, pride, relief – that overwhelmed Australians some 30 or more years ago.”

“The War Memorial Library assumes an almost ecclesiastical aura. Housed within an altar-like glass case are four leather-bound volumes – the Golden Books. In each, recorded in beautiful script, is a biography of each boy who served. Throughout my four years at Grammar, but especially in my final year, I regularly call by to read a new page in the Golden Book. The experience always provides me with a profound sense of gratitude and awe.”