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A generational family taking BGS into the future

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.

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.

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, 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.”

“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.”

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 through a collaboration between BGS Headmaster Max Howell and Brisbane Girls Grammar School Principal Judith Hancock, organised for me to undertake art studies at BGGS. I eventually won the senior Art Prize. I can happily say that the BGS Art Department is now one of the stronger disciplines at the School and both my boys thrived in this subject.”

Hamilton said the buildings at BGS had a seminal impact on him. “The Great Hall is one of the grandest secular spaces in Brisbane, and sitting in that vast room lets the mind wander to greater things,” he said.

“I loved the sense of compression walking through the arched corridor near Administration to then be released into the Newell Quad. Walking across the bridge to N Block through to the northern veranda with a view that exploded out onto the main oval and beyond was another particular memory.”

Almost 20 years after graduating, Hamilton’s connection with BGS extended into his professional life. Headmaster Brian Short was interested in some of the leading educational architecture Wilson Architects had completed at The University of Queensland. This soon led to them being appointed to design what would become The Lilley Centre, completed in 2011.

“This project went on to win many architectural awards,” Hamilton said. “But one of the best compliments was the number of BGS students who wished to study architecture as a career after experiencing the new building. Use of libraries increased by 800%.”

After a design competition, Wilson Architects have now been appointed to design the STEAM – Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics – building at BGS. The ambitious project will transform the rear of the campus into a dynamic new learning place connected to the main upper platform of the School.

Hamilton said he was excited to continue his association with BGS. “An advantage of having worked so closely with the School over the years is to observe the quality of education that is deeply ingrained at all levels of staff,” he said. “They give boys such an extraordinary opportunity in education. It is no wonder that BGS is one of the best schools in Australia.”

“It was with a sense of joy that, for the new STEAM building, we could create a facility that imagined a more interconnected school,” Hamilton said. “A place where the students could be inspired to do great things both in and outside the classrooms in a memorable space that looks out to the main oval and the landscape beyond.”

The STEAM building is projected to be completed in 2022. To find out more visit giving.brisbanegrammar.com/event/steam.

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