OGG President

It has been very welcome that OGG Reunions and Events have returned to pre-COVID levels of activity and engagement. Across the past few months, the OGGs have hosted a combined 40-Year Timbertop Reunion for the 1980, 1981 and 1982 cohorts, a 40-Year Reunion, a 30-Year Reunion, two 20-Year Reunions, for the 2001 and 2002 year groups respectively, and a 10-Year Reunion. We have also welcomed the return of the OGG Motoring Event and OGG Golf Day at the Barwon Heads Golf Club, where OGG Fellow Boz Parsons (M’36) presented the Boz Parsons Cup. Boz, who turned 104 in September, is doing well, undoubtedly due to the wonderful care he receives at home from his family and wife Barbara, who turned 101 in March.

Ogg Business Lunch

More than 120 people joined a virtual OGG Business Lunch with guest speaker Sarah Harden (Vickers-Willis, A’89) on Tuesday 18 October. Sarah, who is CEO of Hollywood production company Hello Sunshine that she started with actor Reese Witherspoon, was in conversation with Nina Thomas (Cl’93), Founder and Director of Harmonic Advisory. Sarah also delivered a keynote address for the Chief Executive Women (CEW) leadership summit in Melbourne in September and used both opportunities to discuss the importance of equality for women – Hello Sunshine tells stories in film, TV, print and podcasts from a female perspective. Sarah had to rush from the OGG Business Lunch to attend the premiere of Hello Sunshine’s new Netflix series, From Scratch, based on the critically acclaimed 2019 memoir of Tembi Locke. An avid reader actively involved in Reese’s Book Club, Sarah did have time to share some of her favourite new reads, including Celeste Ng’s Our Missing Hearts and Eve Rodski’s Unicorn Space

Tower Luncheon

It was wonderful to host the 21st annual Tower Luncheon at Corio on Saturday 5 November. We welcomed our 1972 leavers to the Tower Luncheon for the first time, as well as our 1971 and 1970 leavers, who were unable to attend the event due to its two-year absence during COVID. Our numbers may have been smaller this year as we continue to navigate our way beyond the pandemic, but I am especially grateful for all of those who joined us for a service in the Chapel of All Saints and lunch in the Dining Hall, including OGG Fellow, Jo Breadmore (FB’55). Our guest speaker was past Head of Timbertop, Tom Hall, who was recently appointed Vice Principal–Residential Education Community and Care. Tom gave a brilliant overview of the Timbertop program, which celebrates its 70-year anniversary in 2023.

Branch Gatherings

Tom also spoke at OGG branch gatherings in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok in late October. Tom was joined by the School’s Head of Advancement, Elissa Gale, and Admissions Manager, Chavaune Francis. I would like to thank all OGGs who attended these gatherings, particularly our Branch Presidents in Malaysia, Ben Ibrahim (FB’96), Singapore, Randall Lee (P’93), and Thailand, Dejvit Santikarn (Cu’73).

50 YEARS OF CO-EDUCATION

I would also like to acknowledge the 50-year anniversary of the first girls being enrolled at GGS. The OGG Association promotes the welfare of the School and unites former students of GGS, The Hermitage and Clyde schools. The enrolment of girls at Geelong Grammar in 1972 laid the foundation for the amalgamation between GGS, The Hermitage and Clyde schools and, ultimately, the coeducational school that we know today.

Last but not least, I would like to welcome Whitney McLaren (Hammond, He’04) to the OGG Committee. Whitney was a School Prefect and House Vice-Captain who also rowed in the Girls’ 1st VIII. Her core strength of understanding, relating and connecting people will be a great asset to the Committee and we are looking forward to her participation and contribution in the coming years. I’d also like to thank all the OGG committee for their work, support, and enthusiasm during the year.

Thank you: Susie Donald (The Hermitage’75), Tristan Dwyer (Fr’01), Bill Ferguson (P’72), Margie Gillett (Cordner, Clyde’71), Elly Grace (Siperki, Cl’94), Sandy Mackenzie (FB’59), Sophia Marsden-Smith (Fr’09), Rob Perry (A’83), Will Richardson (M’02) and James Robinson (FB’77).

We are looking forward to a busy and engaging 2023.

Andrew Burgess (FB’81)

OGG President

Please visit the Old Geelong Grammarians’ website (ogg.org.au) for the 2023 Calendar of upcoming Reunions & Events

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6 Sue Smith (Cunningham, The Hermitage ‘60) and Mitchell Smith

7 Sue Smith (Cunningham, The Hermitage ‘60), Judy Munro and Robyn Webster (Wilkinson, The Hermitage ‘59)

8 Sandy Mackenzie (FB’59), Wendy Wilson (Edge, Clyde ‘56) and Jennie Angliss

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1947

Mary Clayton Boardman

(Shepherd, The Hermitage

1947), who was born on 3 May 1929 and died on 9 August 2022, lived a full life pursuing her interests and enjoying her large family. Mary loved her years at The Hermitage, where she was a member of Austin House and made significant contributions to the School. She received the Old Girls Association Prize in 1946, and was Head Prefect, House Captain, and Sports Captain for swimming and tennis in 1947.

Mary’s formative years were strongly influenced by her mother and grandmother who raised her after her father died from injuries sustained in World War One when she was just four years old. Being an only child, she had a fairly lonely childhood at home but flourished at school where she received an education that provided intellectual challenges as well as the practical skills necessary to become a homemaker.

Mary loved nature and the beach and was instrumental in fighting developments at her beloved Rosedale on the NSW south coast. Along with two friends she established the Rosedale Association that is still thriving to this day, protecting a beautiful part of the Australian coastline. She spent many weeks here every summer, initially in a house at the end of a long dirt track with no car, no phone and seven children while her husband was working back in Canberra. Mary surfed (on a body board) and played tennis into her eighties, even after a triple bypass at 78. She played regularly in the Diplomatic Australian Tennis Tournament in Canberra, winning several trophies.

Mary was very much loved by her family for her big, unique personality and her strong values. She was honest and always true to herself, and unafraid to air her opinions. She was loving, devoted, warm, caring, intelligent and well-read, athletic and strong, friendly, and sometimes even feisty with a wicked sense of humour. A wonderful matriarch, she was devoted to her large family. At the time of her death, she had 37 direct descendants, including seven children, 21 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

1951Graeme Smalbroke Bennett (M’51) was born in the western Victorian town of Stawell to John and Jessie Bennett on 1 January 1933 and died on 1 July 2022. Graeme followed his brother John Mayhall Bennett (M’40) to Geelong Grammar School, commencing in 1945. Graeme was not a naturally gifted sportsman but his dogged determination saw him gain a place in bow seat of the First VIII crew, in the relay team, and he was appointed captain of the Second XVIII in 1951. He was a Manifold House prefect in 1950 before his appointment as Manifold House Captain and School ViceCaptain in 1951 under Sir James Darling (Headmaster 1930-61).

After matriculation, Graeme attended Leeds University to study textile science before joining the Bennett family business at North Western Woollen Mills in Stawell, which his father John had started in 1926. Graeme rose to managing director and over 44 years guided the business through increasingly tough times for the industry until the business was sold in the late 1990s. He often met with politicians, including Malcolm Fraser and Bob Hawke, and was an advocate for the industry which was characterised by a cycle of reasonable times and employee lay-offs. He had a very strong relationship with John Button, Minister for Industry and Commerce under the Hawke and Keating governments for a long time.

Always community minded, Graeme was on the Stawell town council for 10 years and was mayor of Stawell in 1969 at an important time for the town, hosting dignitaries such as Sir Henry Bolte and Major General Sir Rohan Delacombe, the last British Governor of Victoria. Graeme was on the board of the Wimmera Institute of TAFE in the late 1990s and was part of that institution’s absorption into the University of Ballarat, and was a university board member with Geoffrey Blainey AC. Graeme was also an active board member of textile industry bodies including president of the Australian Wool Processors Council, the Australian Wool Research and Development Corporation with Sir John Landy, and the Cooperative Research Centre for Premium Quality Wool.

Graeme was scientifically minded, egalitarian, focussed on duty before all else and totally without prejudice. His humour was a strength, and he was able to communicate with everyone at all levels. He genuinely saw people for what they could achieve if given an opportunity and provided many opportunities for employees.

Graeme is survived by his wife Barbara, daughters Elizabeth and Anne, and son Duncan (M’82).

With David retired from the RAF in 1968, the family moved to Western Australia where they found their place in the creative community of Darlington in the Perth Hills. Number 17 Dairy Road was to be their home for the next 50 years. Jenny immersed herself in community activities, helping with the annual arts festival, and establishing with others the Mundaring Arts Centre in 1979. Jenny twice served as its chairman, and later as a trustee, remaining a patron for her lifetime. In 1969, she became co-director of the Cremorne Art Gallery, which had been established by her mother and was an important outlet for emerging West Australian artists. She exhibited regularly herself, presenting six solo exhibitions at Gomboc Gallery, with her work acquired by both private collectors and the Shire of Mundaring.

1951

Jenny Meryn Mills (Bunning, Clyde 1951), who was born on 6 June 1934 and died on 21 April 2022, was an artist, historian, writer and community figure. She was born in Peppermint Grove, WA, to farmer Charlie Bunning and his wife Elisabeth ‘Betty’ Blair Barber, an artist who had trained at the National Gallery and the George Bell School of Art in Melbourne. Jenny had a happy childhood on the family property, Mundaring Farm, situated in the picturesque Perth Hills region, where she was given the freedom to explore nature and develop a capacity for creative expression. The household hummed with art and artists.

Jenny attended PLC in Perth and then came to Clyde School for her final two years of schooling, passing her Leaving in 1950 and Matriculation in 1951. She returned to Perth to study arts at the University of Western Australia, graduating Bachelor of Arts in 1955 with a double major in history and literature. Keen to develop her own artistic capabilities, inherited from her mother, she spent the next 18 months in the UK studying at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London, and with the painter Patrick Heron in Cornwall. While there, she met her future husband, the dashing RAF navigator David Mills. Romance blossomed on a shared return voyage to Australia in 1957 and, notwithstanding a series of marriage proposals from other suitors, Jenny and David were married in 1958. They returned to the UK shortly afterwards where they lived for the next decade in Yorkshire and Norfolk, where Jenny taught in secondary schools and raised their three children, Jane, Sarah and Julian.

Jenny’s talents as a writer, which were first developed during a brief period as a cadet journalist with The West Australian newspaper in 1957, emerged again in her role as social writer for the Sunday Independent newspaper, where she enjoyed regaling her readers with stories of significant social events. If news ran short, she was not opposed to reporting parties hosted by an imaginary ‘Major Smith’ to fill her quota! In the late 1970s, when she was commissioned to write a history of Bunnings, which was established in 1886 by her grandfather Robert Bunning and his brother Arthur as a sawmill, becoming incorporated as Bunnings Bros in 1907. Based on extensive research, and countless oral history interviews, Jenny’s book The Timber People: A history of Bunnings Ltd was published in 1986 to considerable acclaim. Jenny subsequently wrote numerous papers on the timber industry, and became vice president of the Australian Forest History Society. Other publications included an illustrated biography of her mother, I buried my dolls in the garden: the life and works of Elizabeth Blair Barber (2000), a biography of her army medic grandfather George Barber, co-authored with her cousin Simon Doyle, and several children’s books. She was also a member of the WA committee of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, and wrote several biographical entries for publication.

Jenny was a member of the inaugural Murdoch University Art Collection Board, a member of the university’s Banksia Association, and a generous financial supporter of the university. Her final years were spent with a paintbrush in hand, painting large canvases and enjoying the company of her children and grandchildren. She and David left their art-filled home of 50 years in 2015, and after David died in 2019 Jenny moved into an aged care facility in Mt Claremont, where she enjoyed the company of several old PLC friends until her death shortly after a cancer diagnosis. She is survived by her three children and eight grandchildren. A tribute published after her death recorded “Jenny Mills was one of the most generous, talented and delightful people. Her interest in and support for the arts, her immense encouragement of others, her integrity and care for doing the right thing was combined with a spirit of whimsy and humour. Many lives are the richer for knowing this marvellous woman”.

James Dowling ‘Jim’ Wilson (Cu’56), who was born on 20 April 1938 and died on 7 June 2022, was regarded by those who knew him as a living treasure. His passions were history, farming, travel and family, and his life has been described as one well lived. Over his 84 years, he formed many strong friendships with people young and old and from all walks of life. Testament to this was the turnout for his memorial service which saw the Geelong Grammar Chapel filled to overflowing.

Jim grew up at Puunyart Homestead near Camperdown with his parents Joan and Jack and his brothers, Douglas (Cu’63) and Gerald (Cu’57). As a child, Jim would ride his pony to the local primary school of some 20 students and this is when, inspired by his grandmother, he began collecting. His collection of historical Australian artefacts grew over time to be described in 1989 by the then director of Museum Victoria, Robert Edwards, as “quite extraordinary, and one of the most comprehensive and important of its kind in Australia, an invaluable contribution to knowledge of past life in country Victoria”.

His secondary schooling was completed at Geelong Grammar and he relished this experience. Jim started in Barrabool House and was in the first intake of students at Timbertop. In Senior School, Jim was in Cuthbertson House and enjoyed participating in all that GGS had to offer including rowing in the First VIII crew. Jim made many enduring friendships at Geelong Grammar and was proud that his four children and seven of his grandchildren followed in his footsteps.

After school, Jim continued his studies at Lincoln Agricultural College in New Zealand. He always looked back on his time in New Zealand with fondness and enjoyed serving on the Student Council and refining his agricultural knowledge. After Lincoln, Jim embarked on his first overseas travels and he often recounted his adventures in South America, the USA and India.

When his father died prematurely aged 56, Jim took over the running of Puunyart despite the encumbrance of crippling death duties. His good management culminated in a successful cropping, beef and sheep operation. Jim married Diana Martin in 1956 and together, they raised their four children in an environment of mutual love and respect. Jim and Diana both had a passion for travel and spent time travelling around Australia and visiting other countries including Africa, Alaska, New Guinea, UK, Japan and Europe.

They were both “people focussed’ and ran a bespoke farm-stay experience for international visitors.

Jim led a remarkable life of dedication, achievement, and service to the community. He volunteered his time and energy for many different organisations. Jim was president of the Angus Beef Society and judged cattle at agricultural shows locally and further afield. He was president of the Bookar Fire Brigade for many years and involved in local environmental issues including the quashing of two quarries which were having a destructive impact on the land. Jim generously lent items from his collection to exhibitions and created exhibitions to raise money at charity events. For the National Trust, he managed the farming operations of Mooramong Estate near Skipton and through his contribution to the Camperdown & District Historical Society as a foundation and ongoing member he is recognised as having made an outstanding contribution to the recording, preservation and understanding of local history. He is fondly remembered for the MC role he played for many years at the Peterborough Sandcastle Competition.

Jim was an interesting, popular and humble man – a mischievous prankster with an infectious laugh and a warm, engaging personality. He was admired for his values and achievements, which was evident in the great respect with which he was universally held.

Jim is survived by his wife Diana, their four children, Lisa Kebbell (Cl’83), Andrew Wilson (Cu’85), Skye Wilson (Cl’91), Tim Wilson (Cu’93) and 11 grandchildren, Sophie Kebbell (Cl’13), Rupert Kebbell (Cu’15), Jack Wilson (Cu’16), Oliver Wilson (Cu’17), Tom Kebbell (Cu’17), Indi Kebbell (Cl’17), Ruby Wilson (Cl’20), Reise and Chloe Wilson, and Finn and Isla Wilson.

1959 Angus MacNeil OAM (M’59), who was born in Corowa on 23 April 1942 and died on 25 September 2022, was a farmer and eminent figure in Australia’s pastoral industry.

Angus entered Bostock House in 1951, moving to Corio and Barwon House in 1953, and Manifold in 1956. He was a keen sportsman, winning school half colours for cross country, and house colours for athletics, cross country, football and tennis. He was cross country champion in 1959. After school, he returned to the family property Green Park at Rand in the Riverina of New South Wales, which his father had bought in 1931 after moving from Melbourne to avoid a tuberculosis epidemic.

He joined the NSW Farmers Association (NSWFA) in 1962, commencing what was to be a lifelong service to primary industry and the community. Angus served on the Corowa District Council of the NSWFA from 1989–2004, as a board member from 2000–05, and was regional chairman in 1984 and 1990. From 2001, he was also a member of Grain Producers Australia, and served on various committees and boards, including as a member of the Grain Council of Australia from 2000–04. He also lent his support and expertise to Landcare New South Wales, of which he was a member and active contributor from 1998, including establishing and leading the Rand Walbundrie Billabong Creek Landcare Group. He joined the Murray Catchment Management Authority in 2006, and served as a board member.

Angus’s community service extended to his local area. In 1964, aged just 23, he became the youngest Urana Shire (now Federation) councillor in its history, later serving as deputy president for a decade and devoting a total of 25 years to the Shire. He gave generously of his time to community projects and groups, including the Rural Fire Service, the local Football Club, the Rand School Council, and numerous local committees, in all of which he was an active and valued participant. He volunteered at both the Sydney Olympic Games and the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, and chaired a group that raised $40,000 for Alzheimer’s Australia. His motivation was the desire to give back to society, and the satisfaction of making a difference to others. His efforts were recognised in 2019 when he was made a Member of the Order of Australia. A staunch Liberal Party supporter, Angus helped guide Sussan Ley, MP for Farrer, to victory over her National Party rival in 2001, and undertook the role of campaign manager in subsequent elections.

Angus married his wife, Gail, in Horsham in 1977. She survives him along with their two daughters, Georgina (Cl’98) and Kate (Cl’01), and four grandchildren.

StaffRobin ‘Robby’ Bedggood (née Lesh) (Staff 1968-96), who was born on 22 August 1939 and died on 5 September 2022, was an enthusiastic and committed member of the Corio community. Robby first came to GGS in 1968 when she took up a job as Matron in Barwon House. It was here that she met John Bedggood (Cu’52, Staff 1960–96), who was then Housemaster of Otway House, and they were married in 1969. Robby thoroughly enjoyed her role of Housemaster’s wife and became friend and confidante to many a boy in Otway House, and later, to both girls and boys in Connewarre and Otway Houses. In the early 70s she helped run the second-hand uniform exchange and then took it over until it moved to a bigger premises.

Robby’s joie de vivre and friendly, warm personality led to her forming many lifelong friendships at GGS. The Corio staff and their spouses were known to perform light hearted dramatic productions in the 70s and Robby was often seen up on stage in amongst the fun. She was heavily involved in the tennis programme at the School for many years, having played at Wimbledon and many other tournaments in Australia and overseas prior to moving to Corio, and was a talented coach. Her knowledge of the School and GGS families made her an invaluable OGG secretarial assistant from 1988–96. Robby was part of the Chapel kneeler tapestry project and she also produced a banner embroidered with the School crest which hangs at the front of the Chapel near the altar. She helped proofread The Corian and Light Blue for many years, when John was editor of these publications. In retirement, Robby and John moved to Point Lonsdale. John died in March 2020, and Robby is survived by her daughter, Caroline Morpeth (Bedggood, Ga’87) and son, John (Cu’92), and four grandchildren.