Archives

Archives

Ms Yasmin McDonald

Archivist

Clive Addison

Clive Addison (OSC 1960) gifted memorabilia belonging to his grandfather Cecil Valentine Addison (OSC 1932) and items from his time at school. Cecil attended the College from 1929 to 1932 and the donation includes 1931 newspaper clippings listing Junior Examination results, 1930–31 Speech Night programmes, 1930s textbooks, a 1930s stitched Scotch crest belonging to a Cadet pith helmet and a remarkably preserved 1920s striped woollen blazer with gold buttons with the crest featuring tape name “C.V.A.”. Clive also donated 1953 book editions awarded for merit prizes, gifted by Headmaster Maxwell Keys for the youngest exhibition in the Nature Studies competition and the 1956 Addison Kilpatrick Prize for Nature Study for Form 3M, as well as 1970s photographs of a younger Bill Dickinson, prior to becoming Headmaster, with Headmaster Keys.

Simon Devitt

Simon Devitt (OSC 1959) donated memorabilia from his time at the College including textbooks published in 1954 and 1960 by the University of Western Australia, titled Manual of Public Examinations, 1988–97 Clan editions, 1997–2005 PSA Head of the River programmes, a 1988 mass booklet celebrating beloved music teacher Marjorie Wyndham (1948–72) and The West Australian newspaper clipping celebrating her commitment to students titled, ‘Teacher devoted her life to music’.

Alexander Robert Eadie

Alexander Robert Eadie (OSC 1957) donated a 1951 Scotch College school prospectus, containing the booklet This Year at Scotch, a 1949 52nd Speech Night programme. Additional memorabilia included the Dramatic Society programmes for the 1951 school productions You Never Can Tell and Let’s Make an Opera, a 1950–51 council of governors and teaching staff pamphlet and 1952 PSA Sport fixtures booklet.

Mike Fairclough

Mike Fairclough (OSC 1981) donated two postcards belonging to his great-grandfather John Fairclough (OSC 1917). The sepia photographs capture sporting teams from the 1910s, including the Athletics and Football teams alongside Headmaster P C Anderson. The Fairclough family are a fifth-generation Scotch family.

Jeffrey Hopkins

Author Jeffrey Hopkins donated his book, The Headmaster Frederick Charles Faulkner’s Story, based on the Hale School Headmaster. The book includes research drawn from the Scotch Archive on page 520. He also donated his work, Alaric Pinder Boor – A Life Reimagined, which references Charles Craig (OSC 1912), Headmaster P C Anderson and Master Lieutenant William J H Emmott.

Fiona Lang

Fiona Lang donated her son James Lang’s (OSC 2011) Cadet uniform.

Michael Lance

Michael Lance (OSC 1972) donated a Scotch banner, featuring College crests, created for the 1970 PSA Athletics Carnival. The banner was resourcefully constructed by stripping apart the mattress protectors from dormitory two to reveal a cotton canvas that Michael painted.

Michael donated an accompanying 1970 photograph taken on the evening of Scotch College’s Athletics win. He remembers: “We had a great day and celebrated with the caped crusaders banner taken from some boys at Christ Church [Grammar School]. A few Guildford [Grammar School] boys had their boaters unceremoniously destroyed in the grandstand with the Headmaster Mr David Prest dressing down students at Assembly in Memorial Hall the next day.”

Brian Latham

Past teacher and Head of Art Brian Latham (1977–84) donated thirty slides. The images were taken during the 1977 pioneers school camp at Boddington and the 1980 Year 9 camp at Peel Inlet. Slides feature students and staff participating in ropes course exercises, first aid, fire building, billy tea making, canoeing on the Hotham River, the old railway bridge, raft making and campsites. Teachers Bob Andrew, Brian Waterer, John Brooksbank, Gary Jacobs, Greg Williams, Greg Bunney, Greg Wain, Simon Murray, Fred Roberts, Angus Greenhalgh and Brian are featured.

Ian Lindsay

Ian Lindsay donated his eulogy (see page 50) commemorating the life of Alasdair Courtney (OSC 1953) that he delivered at Alasdair’s funeral service held at Brown Chapel on 10 February 2022.

John Lindquist

John Lindquist (OSC 1961) donated a 1946 signed dinner programme belonging to his father Harold Geoffrey Lindquist (OSC 1931). The Old Scotch Collegians hosted a dinner at the Perth Town Hall on 8 February 1946 to farewell and celebrate Headmaster P C Anderson and W A Gardner’s contribution to the College. The face of the programme features an intimate 1940s portrait of Headmaster Anderson.

Allan Murray

Alan Murray (OSC 1981) donated a letter written on 18 December 1919 by Headmaster P C Anderson addressed to his grandfather Alan Murray (OSC 1919). The handwritten character reference commends Alan’s achievements and was presented in the final months at school.

Bob (Robert) Pidgeon

Robert Pidgeon (OSC 1955) donated 1952–60 Reporter editions from his time at the College and two copies of the 1964 PSA Head of the River programme. The publications accompany his former archival donation.

Robert Quinn

Robert Quinn (OSC 2010) donated a 1960s Cadet training rifle originally used at the College. The generous donation was made after a long loan to the Scotch College Heritage Centre. The rifle features in the Cadet display in the Malcolm Cotterell (OSC 1976) room in Memorial Hall and was acquired at auction when the school decommissioned firearms on campus. The carved wooden rifle with the maker’s stamp completes the exservicemen and Cadet display.

Tony Robinson

Tony Robinson (OSC 1956), who boarded from 1950 to 1955, kindly donated photographs taken with a Box Brownie camera. Images feature students near the top oval steps, aspects of Collegians House, the Gooch Pavilion and students playing handball in the quadrangle. “Beady Eyes” Master Don Thomas’ Austin7 “batmobile”, affectionately called “Aggie”, is also pictured, decorated in streamers outside the main classroom block following their 1954 PSA Athletics win. Tony’s grandmother Daisie Robinson ran the Mothers’ Auxiliary in the mid-1920s. Daisy was the mother of Thomas (OSC 1932), Angus (OSC 1924) and Charles Robinson (OSC 1925). Charles was tragically Western Australia’s first shark attack victim, taken at Freshwater Bay near the Scotch Boat Shed.

Richard Schonell

Richard ‘Dick’ Schonell (OSC 1952) donated a brilliant photograph of his father Carl ‘Henry’ Schonell (OSC 1920) who participated in the 1933 OSC Hockey Club A2 Grade Runners-up Challenge Cup. The image was likely taken at the Claremont Showgrounds field and features Lynden Dunstan (OSC 1929), Eric McLean (OSC 1922), Earnest Alnutt (OSC 1931), Carl Robertson (OSC 1924), Captain Jack Wade (OSC 1917), John Sands (OSC 1926), William Cullen (OSC 1926). In the front row are Henry Schonell (OSC 1920), Harold Carson (OSC 1920), Donald McLennan (OSC 1929) and Norman Fraser (OSC 1929).

Dick’s father Henry played in the 1920 First XVIII Football Team and joined the Old Boys Hockey Club after returning to Perth from Beverley, where he completed his article training, to commence work with the law firm Dwyer and Thomas.

Hayden Shenton

Hayden Shenton (OSC 1981) donated coloured slides of the 1978 Highland Games. The images, featuring students and spectators, are taken from the Gooch Pavilion looking outward to Memorial Grounds and feature tossing the caber, the jumping sack race, tug of war and traditional Scottish dancing.

John and Mary Silcock

John (OSC 1964) and Mary Silcock donated images that celebrate their son Jeremy’s (OSC 1987) graduating year, taken on the evening of his 1987 Valedictory Dinner. The images feature Jeremy and include a Year 12 portrait and family snapshot of John, Mary and Jeremy and his good friend, Jeremy Graeme (OSC 1987), who hailed from Yearling.

John Silcock (OSC 1964) with his grandson Tom Anderson (OSC 2021) holding his famous running shoes on the Playing Fields outside Gooch Pavilion at March Out 2021

John Silcock

John Silcock (OSC 1964) donated a custom pair of Athletics sprinting shoes discovered when packing up the family farm, Kennondale Farms, near Donnybrook. John is “very pleased the school can use this little piece of history which, on reflection, was a milestone in my life”.

The shoes were handmade by Mr Dreske of Dreske Store Fremantle, a German specialist shoemaker “who made Herb Elliot’s running shoes”.

They were worn in the 1964 PSA Athletics Carnival, where John won the B division open 100 yards with a time of 9.9 seconds. This was the first time the 10 second barrier was broken by a schoolboy in Western Australia.

After the astonishing win, Headmaster Keys had to counter the other PSA headmasters who questioned why Scotch had placed their best runner in B division.

John recollects: “Unfortunately for me but fortunately for the Headmaster this record only lasted a few minutes. Division A runner John Foster (OSC 1962–64) won easily and recorded a slick time of 9.8 seconds, gaining maximum points and vindicating Dr Keys’ position.”

Ian Duckham (OSC 1958) ‘going in’ after the 1957 PSA Head of the River.

David Thom

David Thom (OSC 1957) donated an album containing memories of growing up on the land and boarding in 1950 at the age of 10 through to his leaving year. Hailing from the Murchison region, he grew up on Wydgee Station, 90km from Mount Magnet. Wydgee raised 16,000 to 20,000 sheep and David recalls how the drive home during the Christmas holiday took a full day.

David recalls: “The Boarding House was diagonally opposite the main entrance called Drummond House. The housemaster was Mr Houston. His nickname was ‘Chisel Guts’. In 1951 we moved from the main school to a dormitory that was quite near the school kitchen.

The dining room was up near the front of the school and sat about 150 boarders and several masters. The food could be described as terrible. You ate everything on your plate and were always hungry. When the meal finished, you often waited till most of the others had gone and you would hunt around to see if any bread and jam had been left.”

Photographs of particular interest include the 1950 prep school, Collegians House, 1951 Junior School wing, Campbell House garden, basketball ring, Cadet Parade on Memorial Oval, 1957 First XVIII Football Team, 1957 Prefects’ Dance at Memorial Hall, the 1957 Football Team’s Adelaide Tour, the 1957 Head of the River Rowing crew passing the Swan River Brewery taken from Kings Park and the winning crew, the 1957 presentation of the George Campbell Shield and the 1957 prefects with Headmaster Maxwell Keys.

David also donated his work, Kimberley – The End of an Era. Published in 2021, the book is his personal account of the Kimberley cattle industry, narrating changes that took place for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of Western Australia.

Eulogy

Alasdair Courtney (OSC 1953)

The abridged eulogy was given by friend and former colleague Ian Lindsay at the funeral of Alasdair Courtney.

Alasdair was born in 1936, in Perth, the first child of Dr Charles and Margaret Courtney. His early education was at Nedlands State School then at Scotch College Perth (1949–50) and Scotch College Melbourne (1951–53). His family has a powerful military tradition, with 15 ancestors having distinguished service in the Army, Navy and Air Force over four generations.

He played as a piper in the Scotch College Pipe Band and his father had been a great help in establishing the band in 1947. On the family’s relocation to Melbourne, he joined the school cadet unit. This association with the army was to last for many years. On matriculating in 1954, he joined the CMF and was posted to the Victorian Scottish Regiment, his father’s old unit. This service lasted until 1957.

In January 1958, he joined the staff of Scotch College Perth, where he was to spend the rest of his professional life spanning an incredible 50 years. His qualities as a teacher soon became apparent, and by the end of the year, Headmaster Dr Keys appointed him Resident House Master, responsible for 150 boarders.

His wide knowledge of Scottish customs led him to organise classes of Scottish Country Dancing, and in 1976 he organised with his usual efficiency the first Highland Games, held at Loch Claremont. It subsequently became a biennial and much enjoyed feature of the school community until 2001. The Centenary Highland Games in 1997 was a splendid occasion, with a huge crowd and the massed pipe bands of Scotch, PLC and Trinity College.

In 1980 Alasdair was appointed College Archivist, a position he held until his retirement in 2007. No one could have been a better-informed or more helpful source of information on the College’s history. He was an indispensable assistant to Dr Jenny Gregory in writing the College’s history, Building a Tradition, published as part of the centenary celebrations.

We honour Alasdair for his contribution to the development of thousands of young men. His sense of vocation, his wide range of gifts, his friendship as a colleague to many, and his untiring commitment to excellence have marked a selfless and fruitful career.