Brighton Grammar School history

Outgrowing the coach house, in 1883 the school moved to Temperley Lodge, situated in Outer Crescent just north of Allee Street.

In 1886 ‘Pendennis’ was built in New Street and gradually adjacent properties were acquired.

In 1905 ‘Rosstrevor’, a large Victorian house and its five acres largely covered with trees, scrub and swamp, was purchased.

The official opening, a gala day of athletic sports, came in 1907.

John Duigan studied engineering after he left Brighton Grammar and, in 1910, made the first Australian built aircraft to become airborne, flying it for 196 yards (178m.) at a height of 12 feet (3.7m.)

Dr Crowther died in November 1918.

Crowther retired in 1924, when Herbert E. Dixon took over.

In 1926 the School was incorporated and came under the auspices of the Church of England.

Straight from the archives comes this historical footage taken in 1927 at the official opening of the Tower Wing.

Dixon expanded the school until his retirement in 1938.

Rosstrevor (then the Junior School) was vastly overcrowded; Junior boys occupied former dormitories after the Boarding House closed in 1954.

In 1958 BGS joined the Associated Public Schools of Victoria, (APS), the former Brighton Gas Company premises and grounds were bought, and Wilson House was built.

Robert L. Rofe was inducted as Headmaster in May 1967.

In 1996 Michael S. Urwin was appointed as the school’s seventh Headmaster.

The new Junior School was opened in 2002.

In 2004 the School purchased the large Girrawheen site north of Allee Street.

In 2007 the Year 9 Sea Change Program was developed.

The Junior School and Mitchell Ovals received synthetic surfaces in 2009, and large water storage areas were established under the Mitchell and Crowther ovals.

In 2011 the Peter Toms Early Learning Centre was opened and work began on the new Middle School, on the site of the former Girrawheen Chapel.

When Mr Urwin left in December 2013, enrolments were at record levels and there were 1262 boys on the School roll.