Events

Melbourne Girls Grammar’s community is unique, and our various events aim to bring all members together. These events can be formal, informal, casual, artistic, or sports-related, but what they all have in common is they allow our community to connect. This year, MGGS is marking its 130th anniversary. To celebrate, we have planned a number of events to bring Old and New Grammarians together. It is a chance to reflect on the past 13 decades, and look ahead to the years ahead.

Below is a summary of some of the key events the School is hosting for the community.

30 Year Reunion, 11 August 6.30pm - 10.00pm

Class of 1993 are celebrating their 10 Year Reunion at the Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club.

40 Year Reunion, 11 August 6.30pm - 10.00pm

Class of 1983 are celebrating their 10 Year Reunion at The Botanical.

50 Year Reunion, 12 August 12.30pm - 3.00pm

Class of 1973 are celebrating their 10 Year Reunion at MGGS.

Navy Blue Gala Ball, 2 September, 6.30pm - 10.30pm

The MGGS Parents Association will be hosting the Navy Blue Gala Ball, a fun, eventful night, celebrating the community. Tickets are on sale now.

130 Year OG Anniversary Celebration, 14 October

Part of our 130th celebrations, to be held in the afternoon/early evening.

MGGS Big Picnic, 18 November 3.00pm - 5.00pm (Merton Hall)

Part of our 130th celebrations, MGGS is throwing a Big Picnic for all families!

Honours

We'd like to acknowledge the below members of the MGGS Community (alumnae, parents and donors) for receiving Australia Day Honours.

Stephen Cornelissen, AM: For significant service to community health, and to basketball.

Elisabetta Giannini, AM: For significant service to architecture, and to the Arts.

Judith Hanlon, OAM: For service to the communities of Euroa and Shepparton.

Helen McCoppin (Chamberlin) OAM: For service to literature as a publisher.

Dr Jane Sullivan, OAM: For service to the community through a range of organisations.

Emeritus Professor Bruce Tonge, AO: For distinguished service to psychiatric medicine and research, to tertiary education, to youth, and to the community.

Marion Webster, AM: For significant service to the community, to the philanthropic sector, and to women.

Celebrations

The feeling of community is one that stays with our Grammarians from the moment they enter the School on their first day, until long after they leave. Sharing news of important professional and personal milestones in the lives of students, past and current, through Information Exchange (IE) helps us stay connected as a community. Here are some celebrations and tributes we would like to share from the past six months.

Congratulations to Stephanie Vizard, who was a student at MGGS from 2001 to 2007, on the upcoming publication of her debut novel, The Love Contract, which won the 2022 HarperCollins Banjo Prize for Fiction.

We would also like to extend our deepest congratulations and well wishes to the below past Grammarians who recently got married and welcomed children.

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‍Vale

Acknowledging, celebrating and paying tribute to the Grammarians who make up our community is important to us. Graduates of Melbourne Girls Grammar and other community members have gone on to do incredible things with their lives, and we are honoured to remember them.

Anne Caldwell (Colebatch, 1964): 7 February 2023

Wendye Camier (Johnston, 1942): 3 February 2023

Lyn Colquhoun (Ramsden, 1955): 22 March 2023

Canny Coventry (Rigg, 1954): 28 March 2023

Hilary Donald-Murrell (Nicholson, 1956): 17 January 2023

Prue Johnson (Holmes, 1953): 1 January 2023

Su-Lin Loh (1978): 13 May 2023

Helen Mackay (Moore): 19 May 2022

Dr Bianca Pompei (Italian and Latin teacher 1968-1988) 10 September 1929 - 12 January 2023‍

Below is a letter written in 1988 by then Deputy Principal, Mimi Lucas, upon Mrs Pompei’s retirement from the School.

Bianca Pompei is a graduate of the University of Rome. She came to Australia when her husband was posted here to the Italian Consulate General and she joined the staff of MGGS in 1968 to teach Italian and Latin. Over the years since then, she has been at various times a Form Teacher, a Coordinator, and a Head of the Modern Languages Department. To countless girls she has given a love of languages. Through her own scholarship, and the high standards she expects in the classroom, they have learned something about academic rigour and the satisfaction that comes from striving for excellence. Years after they left the School, Mrs. Pompei's students still keep in touch with her, reminiscing over an Italian lunch, recalling warmly her encouragement as they once waited nervously their turn in a Dante Alighieri competition or a Year 12 Oral exam, and laughing at the memory of spaghetti cooked 'aI dente' by a gourmet chef in the Gilman Jones kitchen.

To her teaching colleagues Mrs Pompei has given generously of her time and expertise, sharing the perception gained from her work with committees and professional bodies outside the School. Quick to analyse a situation, ready to test a new idea, always prepared to work in a team, she has contributed much to the quality of language teaching at MGGS. Those working in other departments, who know her primarily in the Common Room, have valued her understanding and practical good sense. We wish Mrs. Pompei well in the future and we thank her sincerely for many years of loyal service to the school.

Anne Caldwell (Colebatch, 1964) 8 February 2023

Below is written by Meredith Windust (Carison 1964).

Anne started at the School in Grade 4 at Morris Hall. She was an intelligent student, completing a very good Matriculation, over two years 1964-5, and winning a Commonwealth University Scholarship to study Arts. Anne had a great interest in music at school and was a member of the Orchestra and Madrigal Groups. She carried this interest into later life, teaching keyboard at local schools. She took up the cornet as an adult and joined the Warragul Municipal Band.

Anne was a gentle and kind person who loved reading, and she was a member of the Inaugural Drouin Book Club. Always happiest working as part of a team and often behind the scenes, Anne gave momentum to so many projects and community organisations. However, seeing a need in her local town, she took on a leadership role in the beautification of the Drouin Railway Station, bringing on board some of the local schools and service clubs in pursuit of her vision. Anne was married to Lea Caldwell and family was a strong focus for her.  She will be very much missed by Lea and their three children, Chris, Kim and Erica, and her eight grandchildren.

Wendye Camier (Johnston, 1942)

Below is written by her daughter, Annabelle.

In 1938, Wendye commenced at MGGS in Year 8 with her lifelong friend, Desma McDonald (Stephenson). She found the first year challenging, but eventually she settled in and enjoyed studies in Science, English and Debating. In 1942, her final year, the Senior School was relocated to Doncaster because of the war. Classes were held in the Club House, cottages and outbuildings of the Eastern Golf Club. Wendye became a weekly boarder at the Grange, riding her bicycle to school, often with ice on the handlebars in winter. Science and Chemistry practical work took place in the kitchen with very inadequate equipment, but despite this they all did well academically.

Due to WW2, Wendye was only offered a part time place at the University of Melbourne where she studied Science, with a major in Microbiology. She worked as a tutor and researcher in this area and finally completed her degree in 1974 after having a family. She continued to work part time as a microbiology tutor at several universities until she retired. She was proud of her education and was a lifelong learner, researching and publishing her family history. She spent the last few years of her life as a resident at Hawthorn Grange where she reconnected with five other ‘Grammar Girls’ from her year.

Wendye’s granddaughter, Susannah Ahearn, graduated in 2009.

Helen McKay (Moore, 1940)

Below is written by her daughter, Wendy.

Helen came as a boarder from a tiny school at Elmhurst in 1937. She had a sense of adventure which set her up well for boarding and for life.

She laughed recollecting climbing a tree to photograph her much-loved Headmistress, Miss Gilman Jones, who called out to her, “Oh, do be careful, dear!” She recalled with pride her role as goalkeeper, and the result of a draw in the hockey match against the visiting English team. Her eyes would twinkle remembering they were kept in isolation during a measles epidemic, but were all encouraged to take communion. She loved the many trips in the charabanc to the theatres, the beach, or the Dandenongs.

Helen was an exceptional drawer of animals and faces, hoping to become a commercial artist, but war intervened, and she studied nursing. After the war, she married her returned soldier, Murray McKay. The young couple set out in pioneering spirit to the windy wastes of the Western District at Lake Bolac. This was a considerable shock to her, the flat countryside, no trees and living in a shed at the start.

Helen took on leadership roles as the tiny community grew.  Her nursing skills were often called on as the farmers worked together building fencing and sheds and even phone and power lines. For years, she led the Brownies and Guides, officiated at Pony Club and Agricultural Shows and was president of the Mothers’ Club and Red Cross, where she set up a recovery centre after the 1977 fires. Her typical response to any challenge was always, "One just gets on with it!"

Helen was followed to MCEGGS by her two younger sisters, her nieces, two daughters (Suzanne, 1968 and Wendy, 1973) and a granddaughter (Phoebe Taylor, 2005).

She always wanted to reach 100 and receive a letter from Queen Elizabeth. She smiled for days after making the 'Ton’ and seeing the letter.  She died quietly at home two months later.

If you'd like to pass on an obituary for an Old Grammarian or past staff member for IE, please email community@mggs.vic.edu.au.

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