Geelong Grammar School

History

The school was founded in 1855 as a private diocesan school, with the blessing of Bishop Perry, by Theodore Stretch, Archdeacon of Geelong (and the "true founder" of Geelong Grammar), with George Vance as head master and an initial enrolment of fourteen boys. The school grew rapidly and in 1857 it was assigned £5,000 of a government grant for church schools by Perry, the foundation stone was laid for its own buildings and it was transformed into a public school after the British model. The school closed due to financial difficulties in 1860, only to reopen in 1863 with J. Bracebridge Wilson, who had been third master under Vance, as headmaster.

For many years Wilson ran the school at his own expense and through this time boarders came to comprise the greater part of the student body. In 1875 James Lister Cuthbertson joined the staff as Classics master. He had a great influence upon the boys of the school and was much admired and loved by them in spite of his alcoholism. Upon the death of Wilson in 1895, Cuthbertson became acting head master until the appointment of Leonard Harford Lindon early in the next year.

Lindon ran the school for 15 years, but was never fully accepted by the old boys because he lacked the personal warmth with the boys that had been seen with Bracebridge Wilson and Cuthbertson. By the turn of the century the school was outgrowing its buildings in the centre of Geelong, and so it was decided to move. The school council chose to open the head mastership to new applicants. Lindon reapplied but was rejected and Francis Ernest Brown was chosen as the new head master.

In 1909, the school purchased a substantial amount of land in the then rural Geelong suburb of Belmont, bounded by Thomson, Regent and Scott Streets, and Roslyn Road. On 21 October 1910, chairman of the school, W. T. Manifold turned the first sod at the site of what was expected to be a new era for the school. These plans had faded by August 1911, when adjoining rural land was offered for sale as the Belmont Hill Estate. The school council judged that the adjacent suburban subdivision would work against their plans for a boarding school, not one catering for day boys. The decision was rapidly made to buy land on the opposite side of Geelong at Corio, and the land at Belmont was sold for further residential subdivision.

At the end of 1913 the school left its old buildings near the centre of Geelong and opened at its expansive new site at Corio in February 1914. Brown put a greater emphasis on religion than his predecessors, and the new isolated location with its own chapel was ideal for this.

Campuses

Geelong Grammar School has four campuses:

Corio Years 5 to 8 (Middle School) and 10 to 12 (Senior School), boarding and day.

Bostock House Preschool to Year 4, day.

Toorak Campus (formerly known as Glamorgan) Preschool to Year 6, day.

Timbertop Campus (1953-) Year 9, Full-time boarding

The school had planned in the 1990s to open a campus in northern Thailand, but the project was cancelled following the 1997 Asian financial crisis, as the Thai government suspended many major projects.

Buildings at Corio

Some notable buildings at Corio include:

The Handbury Centre for Wellbeing aka. The Wellbeing Centre

The Handbury Centre for Wellbeing is Geelong Grammar's main centre for sport, health and overall wellbeing. It was opened on 20 April 2008. The Centre comprises a multi purpose sports hall, a FINA-accredited 25 metre pool with diving bowl, a fitness centre, a dance studio, the John Court Café, the GGS Shop and the School's Medical Centre, Kennedy, that also has rooms for counselling services and physiotherapy.

Perry Quad

Built in 1913 and extended in the 1930s the Quad is located at the centre of the school between the Dining Hall and the chapel. It houses classrooms, school administration, the Morris Room (staff dining room), three staff residences (The Dovecote, The Eyrie, and the Vicarage), the Hawker Library, and, until 1986, Perry House. The central quadrangle is grassed and there is a fountain in its centre. It is often used for assemblies and plays. The clocktower is on the eastern side of the Perry Quad.

Hawker Library

Originally the school library, its décor dates from the 1940s. From 1979 it housed the History Library, and was in 2005 converted into the Michael Collins Persse Archives Centre. The building now houses the Institute of Positive Education.

The Cloisters

Linking the Quad and Chapel, the Cloisters are the school's main war memorial. There are plaques commemorating OGGs who died in the First and Second World Wars at either end. The ANZAC Day service is held around the Cloisters every year. Silence is to be maintained at all times in the Cloisters.

Chapel of All Saints

Built in stages between 1914 and 1929 the chapel is at the spiritual centre of the school. All students must attend a weekday service and boarders must also attend on Sundays. The 3 manual organ was originally built by Hill in 1909 and was expanded in 1958 by J. W. Walker.

School Song

The school song, "Carmen Coriense", is named after Eton College's school song, "Carmen Etonense", and is sung in Latin. The song is typically sung on Founders' Day, which is celebrated on or close to 24 June, marking the date when the foundation stone for the old school in central Geelong was laid. The school choir leads the whole school in singing the song, followed by three cheers for the school's founders.

An official English translation was provided in 2014 by the late Michael Dudley de Burgh Collins Persse () and J. L. Alsop.

Curriculum

Geelong Grammar offers its senior students a choice of the International Baccalaureate (IB) or the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).

Extracurricular activities

Sport

Geelong Grammar is a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS).

Geelong Grammar has won the following APS and AGSV/APS* premierships.

Boys:

Athletics (6) – 1926, 1928, 1936, 1946, 1951, 1954

Badminton (4) – 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004

Cricket (8) – 1903, 1906, 1915, 1916, 1961, 1962, 1990, 2014

Cross Country (1) - 1986

Football – 1902

Rowing (30) – 1885, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1898, 1914, 1917, 1920, 1922, 1924, 1934, 1935, 1943, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1994

Girls:

Athletics (8) – 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993

Badminton (3) – 2002, 2003, 2005

Cross Country (4) – 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996

Hockey (2) – 1993, 1994

Netball (2) – 2012, 2018

Rowing (23) – 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Swimming (3) – 1986, 1987, 1988

School journal

The Corian is the journal of the Geelong Grammar School. Published as The Geelong Grammar School Annual (1875–76), The Geelong Grammar School Quarterly (1877–1913) and The Corian (1914–present). Published quarterly from 1877, it reverted to an annual in 1992.

In popular culture

In 2020–2021 filmmakers John Harvey and Rhian Skirving directed the docu-series Off Country for NITV, which screened in 2022 as part of NAIDOC Week. Originally conceived as a feature documentary, the four-part series follows seven Indigenous high school students from around Australia who have left their families to study at Geelong Grammar, over the course of a year in 2020. The series was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant that the school year was not a typical school year. The series received good reviews, and Skirving and Harvey received a 2022 ADG Award from the Australian Directors' Guild for the series.

Notable alumni

Former students of Geelong Grammar and old girls of The Hermitage and Clyde School are known as Old Geelong Grammarians (OGGs), and may elect to join the school's alumni association, the Old Geelong Grammarians Association. Former teachers include the German/Australian artist Ludwig Hirschfeld Mack.

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked Geelong Grammar School fourth in Australia's top ten boys' schools, based on the number of its male alumni mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia (a listing of notable Australians). Among the school's notable alumni are Charles III, King of Australia; media mogul Rupert Murdoch; actress Portia de Rossi; John Gorton, Prime Minister of Australia 1968–1971; Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu, King of Malaysia 2006–2011; Tim Macartney-Snape, mountaineer and author; billionaire businessman Kerry Packer; singer-songwriter Missy Higgins; Entrepreneur and Climate 200 Founder Simon Holmes à Court. Jock Landale; NBA Center for the Houston Rockets; Barkly Regional Council Mayor Elected November 2024 Sid Vashist

Sexual abuse

In 2016 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse examined Geelong Grammar School’s handling of allegations of sexual abuse between the 1950s and early 2000s. Thirteen former students and several parents gave evidence describing abuse across the Corio, Highton, Timbertop and Glamorgan (Toorak) campuses between 1956 and 1989. The Commission described the school’s culture during this period as “authoritarian” and “devoid of pastoral care,” which discouraged reporting.

Convicted staff

Five staff members were convicted of child-sexual offences against Geelong Grammar students:

Graham Leslie Dennis – teacher and resident master at Bostock House in the 1950s; convicted in 2008 of gross indecency and indecent assault involving two boys.

John Hamilton Buckley – housemaster at Glamorgan during the 1980s; pleaded guilty in 2015 to indecent assault, gross indecency, sexual penetration of a child aged 10–16, including the production and possession of child pornography; sentenced to seven years and six months’ imprisonment.

John Fitzroy Clive ("Jonathan") Harvey – mathematics teacher and Allen House housemaster (1969–2004); pleaded guilty in 2007 to ten counts of gross indecency against a student between 1976 and 1978.

Philippe Trutmann – boarding-house assistant at Highton (1985–1996); pleaded guilty in 2005 to 41 child-sex offences against 40 boys and possession of hundreds of pornographic images and videos of children; sentenced to six and a half years’ imprisonment and again convicted in 2011 of indecent assault.

Stefan van Vuuren – teacher in 2007; convicted in 2008 after secretly photographing female students during a field trip; received a nine-month community-based order.

Other alleged perpetrators and failures of oversight

Roger Digges (identified by pseudonym in Commission materials) was accused by multiple former students of sexual abuse between 1968 and 1980. After a classroom incident in which he exposed himself, Digges was dismissed around 1974 but later allowed renewed access to students at Glamorgan in 1980. Ivan Sutherland, then Head of Glamorgan, told the Royal Commission that he knew Digges had previously been dismissed for misconduct “probably sexual in nature,” yet he allowed him to work with pupils and to take boys off-campus for unsupervised activities during which further abuse occurred. The Commission found this constituted a grave failure of judgment and duty of care.

Sutherland acknowledged in his own submission that he had a personal relationship with Digges, including that Digges was godfather to one of Sutherland’s children. This relationship is also recorded in the survivor BIR submission. These details are documented in the submissions, not in the Commission’s formal findings.

In 1997 a former student (BIR) reported abuse by Digges from 1980. The school’s records confirmed that Digges had been allowed access to pupils and might later have been imprisoned for paedophilia. The school withheld this information and instead settled his claim for A$32,000 without disclosure—conduct the Commission said showed that the school “preferred its financial interests to the interests of the victim.”

Other staff named in evidence included Rev John Davison, Max Guzelian, Rev Norman Smith, Andrew MacCulloch, David Brian Mackey and “BIJ”. Some had died before investigation concluded; none were convicted in relation to these allegations.

Institutional response

The Royal Commission found that Geelong Grammar’s leadership—particularly principal John Lewis (1980–94)—repeatedly failed to investigate or report credible allegations to police or the school council. Accused teachers were often retained, transferred or financially compensated rather than reported to authorities. Before 1994 the school had no formal child-protection policy; its first mandatory-reporting framework was introduced only after Victorian legislative change that year. The Commission concluded that the school “placed its own interests ahead of those of victims,” prioritising reputation and liability protection over student safety.

Later principals introduced pastoral-care and reporting procedures, Working with Children Checks and mandatory Victorian Institute of Teaching registration, but the Commission noted there was still no system for monitoring compliance or evaluating effectiveness.

In August 2015 headmaster Stephen Meek stated that the school “absolutely condemns any form of abuse that has occurred at the school in the past” and regretted that “not all students received the care and support to which they were entitled.” However, minutes from a 2007 school-council meeting recorded him reporting that litigation by some of Trutmann’s 41 victims had been settled for about A$350,000 and that “overall this has been a very satisfactory financial outcome for the school.”

Associations

Geelong Grammar School is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), and is a founding member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APSV). The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group. The school has offered the International Baccalaureate (IB) since February 1997.