Developing Global Citizens

Brisbane Grammar School is a distinctively Queensland institution with a global reach and a growing international reputation.

It is distinctive thanks to its storied history in Brisbane and by virtue of its unique secular tradition, decreed by the state parliament in the Grammar Schools Act of 1860.

It has a global reach due to its alumni, who for decades have achieved success on the world stage in business, academia, medicine, finance, engineering, the arts and sport.

This vast network of Old Boys, along with the School’s outstanding academic outcomes, has helped BGS establish an international reputation for excellence.

BGS has produced no fewer than 17 Rhodes Scholars, from Queensland’s first Rhodes Scholar in 1904, Old Boy Arthur Roe ‘03, to 2020 Rhodes Scholar, Old Boy Nicholas Salmon ’12.

For more than a century, it has been something of a rite of passage for high-achieving Old Boys to study and work in the United Kingdom.

In recent years, though, Old Boys have increasingly looked to continue their education and build their careers in the United States and the rising economies of Asia.

Wherever they have gone, BGS alumni have maintained their connection to the School through family networks, reunions and donations.

According to BGS Historian and Archivist Chris Price, one of the earliest ways in which Old Boys stayed in touch with the School was by writing letters for publication in the BGS Magazine.

“When BGS established the magazine in 1898, the editor invited Old Boys to submit articles about their travels and adventures overseas,” Mr Price said.

“The first published letter, in 1898, was from an Old Boy exploring Central Africa. In later editions, there are despatches from Old Boys who witnessed bull fights in Spain, trekked across the Americas, and from those who saw action in both World Wars.”

The letters often relayed fond memories of teachers and fellow Old Boys and expressed great affection for the School.

In the June 1934 edition, for instance, Old Boy Fitzgerald Vincent ’29 wrote of touring Japan with a rugby side made up of university graduates from around Australia.

He described getting together with several touring BGS Old Boys at a farewell function in Osaka to deliver the School war cry.

“I wonder whether this was the first occasion that the BGS war cry had been heard in Japan?” wrote Vincent.

Nearly 50 years later, in 1983, BGS forged a twin-schools agreement with the Seifu Gakuen School in Osaka, its first formal relationship with a foreign school.

One of the first BGS boys to go on exchange was 1985 School Captain Daniel Botsman. He was already a keen student of the Japanese language, but the trip helped turn the study of Japanese society and culture into his guiding intellectual passion.

After graduating, Botsman completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Asian Studies at the Australian National University and in 1992 was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.

He finished his postgraduate studies in England and the US and, after a stint teaching at Hokkaido University, now teaches subjects on Japan as Professor of History at Yale University.

Botsman recounted this journey from BGS to Headmaster Anthony Micallef as he treated Mr Micallef to a tour of the Yale campus in New Haven.

Botsman’s story is just one example of the way in which BGS has nurtured the passions of generations of boys who wear the light dark blue

It is also illustrative of the School’s desire to develop global citizens who are engaged in the world beyond Brisbane.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed international travel, BGS organised for students to attend various international young leadership summits throughout Asia, and annual service trips to Cambodia for Year 10 boys.

Today, Mr Micallef sits on the Board of Trustees of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition, ensuring staff and students have the opportunity to contribute to the latest educational research and collaborate with overseas partners.

As the world reopens following the worst of the pandemic, BGS will continue to reconnect with its overseas alumni and encourage its students to achieve on the international stage.