CHAIR COUNCIL of

“From little things big things grow”: a saying I well remember from my childhood (like so many others – if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing well, a stitch in time saves nine, and so on) used by my parents as they shaped me to be, hopefully, a better person. Now, it instantly conjures up Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s popular 1991 song of the same name, and the story of Vincent Lingiari, from which big things have grown from the seed planted by one man.

So it was in 1970 when the first, small seed was sown for a few girls from The Hermitage (and clearly some of their school’s brightest) to visit GGS to study Science, Mathematics and Latin. I was at Timbertop in 1970 but, when I commenced fifth form (Year 11) at Corio in 1971, to suggest I was intimidated would be an understatement – not simply because the girls were brighter than me, but because I’d had limited interaction with girls, having attended boys’ only schools. Their visits weren’t the norm. Leaving school part way through 1972 didn’t allow me time to fully enjoy the benefits of sharing the School with people of the opposite gender nor develop respectful relationships that GGS began to, and continues to, foster as a natural element of student life. On reflection, I wish I’d had the opportunity to enjoy my educational years in such a co-ed environment.

That little seed sown in 1970 developed into the first intake of girls to GGS in 1972 – 33 girls who joined in their own right as Geelong Grammarians, about half as boarders and half as day students, half in fifth form and half in sixth form. I can imagine how daunting this must have been and how adventurous and spirited they were – 33 girls amongst almost 300 boys in

Senior School. Although these girls studied at GGS for only one or two years, the move speaks so strongly to the success of the eventual, total move to co-ed enrolments, and of the lasting friendships that it ultimately developed.

When my children joined the School through the 1990s, I marvelled at how the School had changed since my time there. The Timbertop programme had developed into a much broader and balanced curriculum/co-curriculum that ensured students were given every opportunity, encouraged to discover and test themselves, and to enjoy the total environment that comes with its unparalleled campus life. Corio had become a much more tolerant, respectful and inclusive place than in my time, one in which girls and boys mingled naturally and developed lasting friendships. This continues today, as it should.

“HE (TOMMY GARNETT) HAS NEVER SOUGHT TO MAKE POPULAR DECISIONS; BUT HIS UNPOPULAR DECISIONS HAVE A CURIOUS HABIT OF TURNING OUT POPULAR IN THE END.

HE HAS INCURRED CRITICISM FOR MAKING CHANGES WHICH SEEMED TO CALL INTO QUESTION WELL-ESTABLISHED VALUES; YET, WHEN THESE CHANGES HAVE RUN THEIR COURSE, IT IS OFTEN FOUND THAT THOSE VALUES HAVE EMERGED STRONGER THAN EVER.”