4 minute read
At Home in the BGS Archives
Chris Price works out of a large office in the basement of The Lilley Centre, surrounded by books, photos and other paraphernalia relating to the history of Brisbane Grammar School.
The veteran teacher, who recently took up a new role as School Historian and Archivist, has long been ‘Mr History’ at BGS thanks to his unwavering passion and encyclopaedic knowledge of the School’s heritage.
“I’m very grateful that the School is committed to preserving its past,” Mr Price said. “To have a job like this is fantastic.”
Price began teaching at BGS in 1988, during a time of great change for both the School and the state.
The big event that year was Expo 88, which is now widely regarded as a major turning point for Queensland. At BGS, too, there was an atmosphere of “renewal and change”, Mr Price said.
From the very beginning, Mr Price was in awe of the history and traditions of the School.
“The title of the first chapter of the sesquicentenary book, Light Dark Blue, is ‘Brisbane’s Grammar School’,” he said. “It really was Brisbane’s school – everybody bought into it.
“The Grammar Schools Act of 1860 didn’t say you must have a Grammar School; it said if you want a Grammar School, we’ll support you.
“The founders were intelligent people who had left the old country, or Sydney, and carved out a new school against the odds.”
That spirit, he said, has been faithfully maintained by successive generations of students and teachers and is captured by the School’s motto nil sine labore – nothing without work.
“This place is all about people with aspirations taking opportunities,” said Mr Price, who has held various positions at BGS and coached students in rugby, cricket and debating.
Mr Price believes his new role – which, in essence, is about giving new life to old stories and material – is a natural progression.
“When I started teaching here, I asked former Headmaster and then Head of History, Brian Short, if we could introduce a unit on the history of the School,” he recalled.
“I gathered together many articles and bits and pieces around the place and started working with the newly appointed Archivist in 1989, Pam Barnett.
“We have done a great job over the past 30 years in preserving our artefacts and our records and communicating our stories.”
During that time, Mr Price also worked closely with Barnett’s successor, Vivien Harris, and served on the BGS Sesquicentenary History Committee in the lead up to the School’s 150-year anniversary in 2018.
“It was a five-year project for the author, Helen Penrose, to write the sesquicentenary book. I contributed to the research project, including interviewing more than 50 Old Boys,” he said.
To that end, Mr Price is determined to find new ways to connect current students to the stories and traditions of BGS Old Boys.
Helen and Steven Sherington in the War Memorial Library, looking up their family history in the School Register
“People make a significant commitment when they come to this school: it’s an emotional commitment, a financial commitment and they become part of a community,” he said. “We have a lot of second and third generation students here, so being able to connect our current community to our achievements and our values is really important.”
The preservation of history is “about establishing identity and character,” he said, adding that, “if you know who you are, you know where you’re going.”
While Mr Price’s job as a historian is to make sense of the past, he is also well-placed to comment on the present and the future.
“I think we’re embracing innovation and we’re looking to stay ahead of the game with initiatives like STEAM,” he said, referring to the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics Precinct taking shape not far from his office.
“Both BGS leadership and the Board of Trustees have been willing to push the boundaries and search for better frameworks and ways of doing things. To me, it’s like that foundation period: we are setting the School and our students up for a very, very different world.”
