G E N E R AT I O N S
A generational family taking BGS into the future
The Wilson family has an association with Brisbane Grammar School that spans four generations across three centuries and a connection with architecture that continues to shape the School.
said the School meant a great deal to his father. “He, like many students at the time, would go to the beach and parties in their school blazers,” he said. “Clothing seems to have been the social media platform of its time.”
Alexander Brown ‘AB’ Wilson arrived in Brisbane from Glasgow with his family at the age of nine in 1864. He went on to become an architect and set up his own practice in 1884. Wilsons Architects is one of the oldest family architectural firms in the world.
“I remember the pride my father had as he dropped us off at school. My sons were enrolled at BGS at birth by my father. I always valued this generosity as secondary school for my children seemed so far away at the time. I know I will do this for my children’s children as it seems such a good way to pass on the baton to another generation.”
Placing a high value on the importance of education, AB enrolled his sons Ron, Lex and Allen at BGS during the early 1900s. Eleven of his descendants have gone on to attend the School. Architecture flows through the veins of the Wilsons. Following family patriarch AB into architecture have been his son Ron, grandson Blair ’48 and great-grandson Hamilton ’78. Hamilton, whose sons Howard ’14 and Hershel ’17 are also BGS Old Boys,
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With different interests and talents, Hamilton and his brothers Ross ’76 and Andrew ’79, each found a place at BGS. “My elder brother Ross was musical and my younger brother Andrew was excellent at sport. But I was good at art,” he said. “Despite not having an Art Department at the time, my father
