Archives

Donations

Peter Freitag

Don Bantock

Don Bantock (OSC 1950) donated a rare photograph of the 1949 Football Team Tour to Adelaide and photographs from OSC 1950 reunions.

Gretchen Bantock

1949 Football Team Tour to Adelaide

Boarders on the Top Oval with teacher Alisdair Courtney, c. 1960s; Campbell House boarders Trevor Mclean, Bruce Campbell, Phil Herbert and Grayden Clack, c. 1960s; Campbell House boarders including L. McCory, J. Parsons, A. Evans, Ross Wright, c. 1960s

Gretchen Bantock, the wife of Don Bantock (OSC 1950), donated photographs taken by her mother, Gwendoline Toop. Gwendoline, the mother of Greg Toop (OSC 1954), was a commercial artist and created costumes for Scotch’s Dramatic Society. The photographs feature David Buckfield (OSC 1954) and Peter Smith (OSC 1953) as male and female characters in Victorian attire from the production You Never Can Tell, which won the Festival of Perth’s drama category for that year.

Bruce Bott

Bruce Bott (OSC 1964) donated several Clans and a book he authored titled Nemes & Coss’ Effective Legal Research, 7th edition, now housed in the Heritage Centre’s Reading Room.

Andrew Devitt

Andrew Devitt (OSC 1991) donated photographs from his final year at Scotch featuring the theatre production, students on the Playing Fields, Year 12 School Ball, and the First VIII rowing the Head of the River at Canning Bridge.

Michael Fairclough

Michael Fairclough (OSC 1981) donated two early postcards belonging to his great-grandfather John Norman Fairclough (OSC 1917). John began at Scotch in 1914, commencing the family tradition. Five generations of Fairclough sons have since been educated at Scotch. John features in the 1914 Football XVIII Team and mid-1910s Athletics Team postcards. Peter Freitag donated a plaque for the 1999 First XI Premier Team he coached featuring an enamel hockey stick symbol embedded in wood. The team members comprised Captain Geoffrey Boyce (OSC 1999) and Vice-Captain Jeremey Robinson (OSC 1999).

Valerie Gmeiner

Valerie Gmeiner donated a maroon felted school cap belonging to her late brother Ned Gmeiner (OSC 1953). Ned’s mother, Jean, held onto it for many years until it came into Valerie’s possession. The cap holds great significance, the family having lost Ned as a young man. Scotch is honoured to receive this meaningful donation from Ned’s sister, who remembers him as a “loving and caring brother”.

Ned is remembered in the 1954 Reporter as “one of the finest examples of young Australian manhood”.

Nick Hargraves

Nick Hargraves discovered fascinating Collegiate memorabilia at a Tasmanian garage sale. He generously posted his findings to the Archive, including bound Reporter editions from 1922 to 1926 and boarder turned day boy Frederick Edwin Birmingham’s (OSC 1926) valete notes.

Grayden Clack

Grayden Clack (OSC 1969) donated photographs of Campbell House boarders in the 1960s and a typed memoir of his Boarding experience. He wrote: “Mr McIntyre was our Housemaster; we called him ‘Old Macky’. He drove over to WA in his 1950s Morris Minor, which he called ‘Miss Geelong’, after a career at Geelong Grammar. He was a great guy, around 70 at the time, who treated us well and spent a lot of his own money on us, taking us on excursions and buying treats for parties. He was a UK squash champion in his day and introduced us to the game. The only squash I knew before then was lemon squash; we had never heard of the sport. He would hire taxis to take us to the squash courts on Stirling Highway. Some were lucky enough to travel in Miss Geelong.” The photographs feature trips to Leighton Beach, Governor Sir Douglas Kendrew, birthday parties, Claremont Showgrounds and Fremantle Harbour.

Frederick penned a reflection: “Retrospect. Take me back, take me back, to the russet brown school, with its bright verdant swards and pine trees so cool, let me wander around in the afternoon shades as the light on the oval suffices and fades, and the flannel-clad figures troop up from the ground, as the tinkling tea bell peals its first warning sound, let me peep, let me peep, through the dim lightened door. At the familiar old walls and the dust laden floor. The swallows are resting undisturbed on the ledge, and the cool of the doves comes across from the hedge, I pause, and I list as the morning bell rings, and the thought of the mem’ries that tocsin sound brings. Take me back, take me back, to the shed on the bay, with its landing awash with the dirty white spray. In winter it’s silent, forsaken, and bare, but now shouts of rowers are echoing there, and the greyish white gulls are swooping around, and the fours make home as the light turns to shade. Many of those who had played the most prominent parts in school and sport, had gone out to play their parts in a more serious game, ‘the game of life’.”

Greg Holmsen

Greg Holmsen (OSC 1980) donated a 1980s Oarsmen Dinner Programme from a Goland Club dinner and a Sunday Times newspaper clipping on the great 1978 Head of the River win by Scotch featuring the Challenge Cup.

Ty Kilburn

Ty Kilburn (OSC 1990) donated Football photographs from his leaving year, featuring Ty and his First Football teammates, including Andrew Donnelly (OSC 1990), Matthew Schmidt (OSC 1990), Drew Banfield (OSC 1991) and Daniel Burman (OSC 1990).

Bill Knox

Geoff Trenorden (1966) delivered his Sydneybased teammate Bill Knox’s (OSC 1967) donation of his1967 First XVIII Captain’s Trophy, featuring the engraved names of all team members.

Accompanying the trophy was a handwritten note from Coach Austin Robertson (Senior) outlining the team selection, couriered to the school by taxi each Friday morning from his Perth office as Sports Journalist for The Daily Telegraph.

Bill remembers: “My role was to reformat the note as team placings and pin it up to the quadrangle noticeboard before lunchtime. I assumed this was a ritual that had been performed by successive captains over the Austin Robertson era. The significance of this trophy is unique as it was Austin’s final tenure as coach of the First XVIII. This was the end of a 12-year era that included multiple Alcock Cup successes.

Ironically, at the 1967 Speech Night, I again met Austin in a personal encounter at the back of the Memorial Hall after I had received the First XVIII Captain’s Trophy. Austin had come down from the upper wings, expecting to be called forward to honour his many years of service to Football and Athletics. This was to be his last hurrah!

Unfortunately, there was an oversight (surely it was on the order of ceremony), and somehow, he wasn’t called up to the stage to receive his honours! I stayed with him for this awkward moment and still remember it half a century later! He was honoured later, but that precious moment was lost! Therefore, that last Captain’s Trophy of the Austin Robertson era means more to honour the memory of a great coach on behalf of all his teams that had an exceptional record over 12 years.”

Austin Robertson (Junior)

Austin Robertson (Junior) (OSC 1960) presented a handmade leather football at the Celebration of Scotch Football Dinner on 18 June 2021. The evening was a great success, with many Collegiate players joining together to celebrate and support one another.

On the night, Austin spoke to the players about learning to play the game at school in 1952, alongside his wondrous coach, sportsman and father Austin Robertson (Senior), and what he took from his time perfecting it.

Peter Rothery

Peter Rothery (OSC 1964) donated a silver medal belonging to foundation student Percy Herbert Bailey (OSC 1899). Percy commenced schooling at

The Alexander Scotch College at Shearer Memorial Hall, Beaufort Street in February 1897.

Peter recalls how the Bailey’s Victorian House stretched from Hay Street to Adelaide Terrace Perth, saying, “what impressed me was they had a cow to provide milk. Percy was a great friend of my grandfather, William Crookston Hobson (OSC 1907). He and his wife only had one child, a daughter, Fay who was born within a week or two of my mother, Valerie, and they became lifelong friends. When my mother and I were visiting the Bailey family in 1959, Percy found I was going to commence my secondary education at Scotch and presented me with a medal he had won in an old boys’ race in 1901. It has been in my possession ever since.” The silver medal was possibly designed to hang on a fob watch engraved ‘Scotch College 1901 1st Old Boys Race P. H. Bailey 440 Yards’ with the initials P. B. on the front panel. Percy served in the First World War in the 51st Battalion.

Hayden Shenton

Hayden Shenton (OSC 1981) donated memorabilia belonging to his grandfather Egbert George Shenton (OSC 1911) handed down the paternal line through his father Ernest Waddington Shenton, Egbert’s eldest son. Three generations of Shentons, including Egbert’s brothers Leslie (OSC 1899), Eric (OSC 1901), Clive (OSC 1908) and Gordon (OSC 1923), son George (OSC 1942) and grandson Hayden, were schooled at the College.

The donation comprised a 1932 letter addressed to Egbert from Headmaster P. C. Anderson dated 30 July 1918, a 1930 prospectus and 1949 PSA official programme for the 45th annual Athletics meeting.

The fourth item was a rare 1950s Public War Memorial booklet that aimed to raise funds and take “the first steps to commemorate the supreme sacrifice made by Masters and Old Boys of the School in two world wars”. It included excerpts written by Headmaster P. C. Anderson, Reverend T. Gibson, school architect Athol Hobbs, OSC President Gordon Gooch and Headmaster Maxwell Keys.

E. G. Shenton letter from Headmaster Peter Corsar Anderson, c. 1932 Stephen Stock running the 100m final at Guildford Grammar School in a PSA Athletics Carnival; 1965 Junior School Prefects; 1970 Scotch Football Team being presented with Alcock Cup by Brother Redman from Aquinas College; 1970 PSA Athletics Carnival parade in Perth city

Stephen Stock

Stephen Stock (OSC 1970) donated a Dramatic Society programme from the 1967 production of The Crucible by Arthur Miller and an extensive photographic album. The images include prefects, Athletics teams, Football teams, Hockey teams, InterHouse carnivals, the Pipe Band, the Cadet Officer Ball, senior boarders and a marvellously documented 1970 Public Schools Association Athletics Carnival at Perry Lakes, including a pre-game procession of the Pipe Band performing in a parade through the city.

Chris Thyne

Chris Thyne (OSC 1974) donated his hand-knitted woollen Football jersey, which he played in from 1970 to 1974 in the Second XVIII and a book titled The Australians by Robert Goodman, presented to Chris for service at the College by Headmaster W. R. Dickinson.