History
THE EARLY DAYS OF THE QUEENSLAND BRANCH
Queensland Branch Chairmen
Roy Zimmerman Scots, Warwick - 1965
Bro John Regan Nudgee Junior - 1973 – 1974
Bro Dennis McLaughlin Gregory Terrace - 1974 – 1976
Peter Rogers The Southport School - 1976 – 1988
Leita Boswell Moreton Bay College - 1988 – 1989
Brian Rowe Somerset College - 1989 - 1995
Max Brand Brisbane Boys College - 1995 – 1998
Debi Howarth Coomera Anglican College - 1998 – 2000
Glenda Seawright Ormiston College - 2000 – 2002
Roderick Crouch Anglican Church Grammar - 2002 – 2004
Rod Case All Saints Anglican School - 2002 – 2006
Stuart Marquardt Sunshine Coast Grammar - 2006 – 2007
Steve Warren The Glennie School - 2007 -
Perhaps nothing encapsulates more nicely the formation and development of our Association than the titles it has borne over the years. These ranged from the original “Junior Schools Conference of New South Wales” formed in September 1948 during the course of a gathering of Preparatory School Masters at Tudor House, Moss Vale. Among the forty or so in attendance were two from Queensland, Cyril Connal, Bob Smith and Bill Jordan, all from Toowoomba Church of England Boys’ School (Toowoomba Prep). Even then a National Association seems to have been envisaged. This developed further when in 1952 invitations were sent by the Junior Schools’ Conference of NSW inviting masters from all States and some from New Zealand to join a Refresher School at the Cranbrook Junior School. It was then that the Constitution of the Junior Schools Conference of Australia was drawn up in at least preliminary form with the main guidelines designed to indicate that membership of the Conference “shall consist of Headmasters and/or Housemasters of Junior or Preparatory Schools whose Senior Schools are affiliated to the Headmasters’ Conference of Australia” with the added proviso that “Headmasters of other independent Junior or Preparatory Schools may be associates”. It is interesting that the first Chairman elected at that Refresher School was our very own Mr N.S.C. (“Boss”) Connal who clearly had gained the respect by that time of his southern colleagues. The Association soon after adopted the title of “Junior Schools Association of Australia” at the instigation of the HMCA, which saw problems in the term “Conference” used in this context. Into the 80’s with relaxed rules for membership the title was changed again, this time to “Junior School Heads Association of Australia” - this despite a few ribald jokes about the naval use of the term “heads”.
Queensland interest continued from the start and, for instance, the figure of Roy Hoskins from the then Church of England Grammar School Prep, attending in his then position of Housemaster, is prominent in the photograph of those in attendance at the Wadhurst Conference in 1954. It is likely the influence of “Boss”, and his invitation, that saw F.J. Lendrum (CEGS), join the Conference in that same year to be followed by Roy Hoskins in 1958, Alan Cornes (Brisbane Boys College), Roy Zimmerman (The Scots College, Warwick) and Ron Pearson (The Southport School) in 1956, Edgar “Bluey” White who succeeded Norman Connell in 1959 and Brother Edgar Castle (St Barnabas School, Ravenshoe) in 1960.
Finally in 1964 a meeting was convened to explore the formation of the Queensland Branch. This was held at C.E.G.S. under the watchful eye of Mr H.E. (Harry) Roberts, the then Headmaster. He would have been in attendance as a member of the Headmasters Conference of Australia. It is very likely that in attendance at this meeting would have been Roy Hoskins, Roy Zimmerman (elected to be the first Queensland Chairman), Alan Cornes, Edgar White and Bill Jordan (The Southport School). Membership remained small, as indeed was the number of men in charge of eligible schools at that time. In fact, even by 1980, the year of the first Conference to be hosted in Queensland and held at The Southport School, there were only seven members, these being Bro Robin Warsop (All Souls and St Gabriel’s, Charters Towers), the last of the Bush Brothers, Roy Hoskins, Alan Bradley (BBC), Brother Peter Harney (Nudgee Junior School) Brother John Regan (St Josephs College, Brisbane), Bob Brewster (Toowoomba Prep) and Peter Rogers (TSS). This Conference was long remembered as the first to employ lecturers from tertiary institutions, in this case the then Kelvin Grove and Mt Gravatt Colleges of Advanced Education. Keith Tronc (“Schools & the Law”) filled the role of “agent provocateur” introducing the Conference and summing it up at the end after roaming around throughout, watching and challenging. Also remarkable was the attendance of the State Governor, Sir James Ramsay, who attended the Conference Dinner, the Conference Church Service and delivered the Watts Memorial Address. Queensland does keep very quiet about the quality of the wine obtained from the Stanthorpe area, however – even if the other States have never forgotten it. Another integral feature of that Conference was the separate programme for Deputies Heads, traditionally part of JSAA Conferences but led this time in a very inspirational way by Bruce Howden, now Head of Toowoomba Prep but at that time a Deputy Head at Canberra Grammar School.
Meetings in the late 60’s and 70’s were almost invariably Dinner Meetings held in the evenings and marked by the cordial relationships. It had been decided by the mid 70’s, because of the scattered locations of the schools and the fact that each had by that time established arrangements in their own areas for the normally accepted sporting and related programmes, with the Junior GPS Swimming and Athletics well to the fore, that programmes would be explored and developed to include activities not catered for in that way. It was thus that a programme of Debating, Public Speaking, Chess, even Table Tennis was organised. The main spirit to be encouraged was to be social and cultural mingling of the students and it is significant that the original Annual Music Concert lasted for only two or three years before being quietly dropped because it was felt that it was starting to be regarded by at least one school in an overly competitive spirit! This did not prevent a very successful and competitive Public Speaking Competition being held annually; the first winner of this was a diminutive Bill O’Chee (later Senator) who was in Year 6 at the time. Another very successful annual initiative of these years was the Ecumenical Church Service, which grew so quickly that it had to become a regional celebration rather than the originally envisioned unified gathering such as that held in Toowoomba and at The Albert Street Methodist (now Uniting)Church in Ann Street, Brisbane.
Coming into the 80’s the number of potentially eligible Heads of schools was growing rapidly and work went ahead to explore the possibilities of an enlarged membership. From the start it was stressed that, following the guidelines of the Association it was the person who was the member not the school. The possibility of membership was discussed with the overall Head and an undertaking sought that the school would encourage and support attendance by his Junior Head at State Branch meetings and at the National Conference. The one thing that was missing was the presence and influence of Heads of Girls Schools. For the first thirty years of its life the Conference, later Association, was definitely a male bastion. The Queensland Branch found a loophole in 1981 in that St Peter’s Lutheran College Junior School had an enrolment of boys which was larger than of girls – Wendy Grubb could be invited to be a member on that basis – and her then Headmaster gave the matter his blessing “providing that it did not serve to bring discredit to the school!”
At the Perth Conference in 1984 moves were taken to enable State Branches to invite heads of all boy’s schools, girls’ schools and coeducational schools to become members. The reaction of the Executive of the time was an interesting one stating in no uncertain terms that the move had their blessing – the JSAA were big boys now and should follow their own judgement in such matters. Equally interesting is the fact that it took the HMC some further years to move in a similar direction. Victorian Girls Junior Schools had formed their own Association and so the terms of their marriage took a while to promulgate. The other States did not have this problem and here in Queensland an invitation sent to selected Junior Heads of Girls Schools to consider joining the by this time JSHAA and to discuss the implications with the Heads of their Senior Schools was quickly and happily accepted. Original members in this move included Leita Boswell (Moreton Bay College), Aileen Godfrey (Somerville House), Margaret Duggan (St Aidan’s AGS), and Meg Sanders (St Hilda’s), Wendy Grubb (Fairholme), Isabelle Lascelles (St Margaret’s AGS, Cheryl Franklin (Clayfield College) who came to join Wendy Roehrs. Others were not far behind. This was a move that revolutionised the Queensland Branch in so many ways, particularly as it was associated with invitations to other schools to join. From the very limited numbers of the 1980 Conference numbers grew in a very pleasing and beneficial way. Branch meeting were never the same again, neither were the Conferences, even down to the fact that the showers offered at the first conference after the juncture at Melbourne Grammar were in one open line drew he comment from one Queensland lady “that that may be all right for footballers, but for middle aged ladies…?
The development of and caring for colleagues both professionally and socially had always been regarded as being of keynote importance by the Branch and this continued to be even more relevant with the greater numbers. The Branch found itself recognised and consulted more widely by the various State educational bodies. It was no coincidence that at about this time the Branch took moves, without immediate success to invite membership from schools in the Northern Territory, and New Guinea. The ‘tyranny of distance” experienced here in Queensland also saw, with the acknowledgement of the Federal body, the creation of a North Queensland Sub-Branch with a convenor being appointed in 1989. Similar motives saw the holding of a joint NSW/Qld Conference at The Armidale School in 1994.
All in all, perhaps the history of the Branch and the Federal body as a whole may be best summed up in the words of various members such as those of Leita Boswell who remembered the first joint meeting “for the sense of camaraderie not previously encountered in professional circles”, or those of Alan Campbell (Trinity Anglican School), who wrote: “My experiences in the JSHAA have been professionally rewarding and have been characterised by a strong sense of fellowship, warmth and collegiality.”
Peter Rogers
Honorary Federal Life Member