(Pray and Work) , established = 1849 (on present site since 1858 - the celebrated date of foundation) , type =

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

primary, single-sex boys secondary,

day A day is the time period of a full rotation of the Earth with respect to the Sun. On average, this is 24 hours, 1440 minutes, or 86,400 seconds. In everyday life, the word "day" often refers to a solar day, which is the length between two ...

and

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

, denomination =

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

, head_label = Headmaster , head = Philip Grutzner , founder = Charles Perry, 1st Anglican Bishop of Melbourne , chaplain = Rev. Hans Christiansen , years = P–12 , chair_label = Chairman of Governors , chair =

Andrew Michelmore Andrew Gordon Michelmore, AO is an Australian lightweight rower. He won Australia's first rowing World Championship title – a gold medal at the 1974 World Rowing Championships in Lucerne with the lightweight men's four. Club, varsity and st ...

, city =

South Yarra South Yarra is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Melbourne and Stonnington local government areas. South Yarra recorded a popu ...

& Caulfield , state =

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, country = Australia , coordinates = , gender = Co-educational (P–6), Boys (7–12) , enrolment = 1,782 (P–12) , colours = Oxford Blue (Navy) , affiliation =

Associated Public Schools of Victoria The Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) are a group of eleven independent schools in Victoria, Australia, similar to the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools of New South Wales in New South Wales and the Public Schools Asso ...

G20 Schools , alumni = Old Melburnains , homepage = Melbourne Grammar School is an Australian

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

and

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of " room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exte ...

. It comprises a co-educational preparatory school from Prep to Year 6 and a middle school and senior school for boys from Years 7 to 12. The three campuses are Grimwade House (Prep to Year 6) in Caulfield, Wadhurst (Years 7 and 8) and Senior School (Years 9 to 12), both in the suburb of

. Founded on 7 April 1858 as the Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, the school currently caters for approximately 1,900 students from Prep to Year 12, including 120 boarders from Years 7 to 12. Melbourne Grammar is affiliated with the

Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC) is an association of the head teachers of 361 independent schools (both boarding schools and day schools), some traditionally described as public schools. 298 Members are based in the Un ...

, the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the

Independent Primary School Heads of Australia The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA) formerly Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), is an incorporated body representing the heads of independent primary schools in Australia. Officially established in Sept ...

(IPSHA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), and is a founding member of the historic

(APS). The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group, and officially a partner school with

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

and its affiliates in Japan. Three of Australia's former prime ministers were educated at Melbourne Grammar School.

History

The origins of Melbourne Grammar School (colloquially known as ''Grammar'') can be traced back to 1849, with the establishment of an experimental

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

at St Peter's Eastern Hill,

East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government areas of ...

. This school had been established by Melbourne's first

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

, Charles Perry, who founded the Diocese of Melbourne, and had been opened to meet the growing educational needs of the young

colony In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...

. In 1853, Bishop Perry commenced planning for the diocesan experimental school to become permanent, although on a larger site and not under his direct management, and so he set up a committee of eminent men to consider the task. The school however did not thrive and was suspended at the end of 1854. The first board of governors was elected in 1854 to take over from the committee, and it set about drawing up a

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, finding a

headmaster A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...

and a new site. Locations considered included Carlton,

Prahran Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a po ...

and St Kilda. Perry's dream of building a permanent, centrally located grammar school, based on the principles of the great English public schools, was realised in 1855, with a grant from Governor

Charles Hotham Sir Charles Hotham, KCB, RN (14 January 180631 December 1855)B. A. Knox,Hotham, Sir Charles (1806–1855), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 4, MUP, 1972, pp 429-430. was Lieutenant-Governor and, later, Governor of Victoria, A ...

of on

St Kilda Road St Kilda Road is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is part of the locality of Melbourne which has the postcode of 3004, and along with Swanston Street forms a major spine of the city. St Kilda Road begins at Flinders Street, i ...

. This is the inner South Yarra land now occupied by the Senior School and Wadhurst, next to the Royal Botanic Gardens and a short walk from the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

. At the time it was considered relatively isolated and remote. The governors chose

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s Charles Webb and Thomas Taylor, well known Melbourne contractors George Cornwell and Co. undertook the construction, and Bishop Perry laid the school's foundation stone on 30 July 1856. The Melbourne Church of England Grammar School was finally opened on 7 April 1858 with 76 pupils, and with John E. Bromby as the first headmaster. Enrolments grew to 136 during the first year, with four students being the sons of Bromby, and about one quarter of them boarders. The school's first 40 years proved to be a struggle, exacerbated in the 1890s by

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economical downturn that is result of lowered economic activity in one major or more national economies. Economic depression maybe related to one specific country were there is some economic ...

, financial concerns and changes of headmaster. Senior school enrolments fell from 272 in 1889 to 117 in 1894 prompting a group of former students to do something to save the school. They formed The Old Melburnians Society in 1895 "to be the means of bringing together many former schoolmates, reviving pleasant recollections, and at the same time benefiting the life of the School as it is today". Two significant developments of the late 19th century were, firstly, the recognition that with a limited site, one storey buildings were not a wise use of space. A move began, continued now, of adding second stories or replacing buildings with two- or three-level structures. The second was the dedication of the Chapel of St Peter in 1893, the first school chapel in the colony of Victoria. The beginning of the new century saw the school's future assured, with enrolments increasing and the Jubilee celebrated in 1908. Hundreds of former students enlisted in the

Great War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

of 1914–1918, as they had in the

South African War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

, and more than 200 did not return. The 1920s were a relatively stable time for the school, experiencing high academic and sporting results. The 1930s however were an unsettling time. The

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

put pressure on members of the Grammar community, while administrative instability affected the whole school. Between 1935 and 1938 the school had three headmasters and two acting headmasters, and the outbreak of war the following year meant building plans were put on hold. Some 3,500 old boys enlisted in the services, and school buildings were commandeered by Australian and American forces with some students dispatched to the country and others doubled up in crowded quarters. By the 1950s it became clear that the school was seriously lacking adequate space, with expansions, extensions and renovations mostly crammed into Bromby's original . The School subsequently embarked upon a building program which it was thought could take 30 years to complete, with the Senior School, Wadhurst and Grimwade campuses all receiving attention. The Centenary Building Campaign of 1958 began this expansion. Another solution to this problem since this time has been the steady acquisition of neighbouring properties. In 1986 the governors decided on a staged restructure of the school. Until then, Wadhurst, established as a preparatory school in 1886 and Grimwade House, opened in 1918, had operated as two parallel feeder schools taking students through to Year 8. Grimwade's boarding house had closed in the mid-1970s, leading to debate on the best use of the newly available space. It was decided to introduce girls at primary levels at Grimwade House, and today Grimwade House caters for girls and boys up to Year 6 and Wadhurst for boys in Years 7 and 8. The 1980s and 1990s were times of further growth, with the outdoor program expanded with three permanent campsites at Breakfast Creek near Licola, Woodend and Banksia Peninsula on the

Gippsland Lakes The Gippsland Lakes are a network of coastal lakes, marshes and lagoons in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an overall area of about between the rural towns of Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale and Sale. The largest of the lakes are ...

. On 7 April 2008, as part of the celebrations of Melbourne Grammar's

sesquicentenary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...

, the school officially opened the multimillion-dollar Nigel Peck Centre for Learning and Leadership on the Domain Road boundary, an event which was attended by the Premier of Victoria,

John Brumby John Mansfield Brumby (born 21 April 1953) is the current Chancellor of La Trobe University and former Victorian Labor Party politician who was Premier of Victoria from 2007 to 2010. He became leader of the Victorian Labor Party and premier ...

, who is also an Old Melbournian.

Headmasters

Campuses

Melbourne Grammar School features seven

campus A campus is traditionally the land on which a college or university and related institutional buildings are situated. Usually a college campus includes libraries, lecture halls, residence halls, student centers or dining halls, and park-li ...

es, three used for everyday schooling, one for sporting activities, and three for the school's outdoor education program: * Grimwade House – Caulfield (Co-educational; prep to Year 6) * Wadhurst –

(All boys; Years 7 to 8) * Senior School – South Yarra (All boys; Years 9 to 12) * Edwin Flack Park –

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city List of Melbourne suburbs, suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of ...

(Sporting complex) * Camp Dowd –

(Camp; Year 8) * Robert Knox Camp – Woodend (Camp; Years 5 to 7) * L.G.Robertson Camp – Breakfast Creek, Licola (Camp; Years 9 to 12)

House system

In 1914, headmaster George Earnest Blanch introduced a formal house structure to further encourage interest in sport and promote physical development. Six houses were originally established. In addition to School House (the traditional English name given to the boarding house), names of the others houses commented the first two headmasters of Melbourne Grammar School (Bromby and Morris), two benefactors (Rusden and Witherby), and two brilliant all-rounder Old Melburnians (Jack and Hugh Ross). A room was assigned to each house where they could gather for meetings and socialise. Initially, students were sorted into houses based on geographic distribution. Thus, boys from Toorak were put into Bromby House, while those from South Yarra and west of the Yarra River entered into Rusden House. Students from Malvern and Glen Iris joined Morris House, those from Brighton and other suburbs around Port Phillip Bay become members of Ross House, and Witherby House welcomed boys from Canterbury, Camberwell and other suburbs around the perimeter of Essendon. The houses competed for the house championship and the prestige of being named "

Cock Cock or cocks most commonly refers to: * Cock (bird) or rooster, a male of any bird species * Cock (slang), a slang term for the penis Cock or cocks may also refer to: Names * Cock (surname) * Cocks (surname) Places * Cocks Glacier, Ross ...

House". They competed against each other in cricket, rowing, football, boxing (until 1950), running, shooting (until 1937), tennis and swimming.

Cock House Cup

From the earliest days, competition between the houses was fierce. The prize in question was the

House Cup. A points system was put in place, and houses gathered points in a range of sports in their quest to be recognised as the reigning house. First presented in 1916 by Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, the sixth Governor General of Australia, the Cock House Cup was intended to stimulate interest in house games and to build the sense of the houses as individual entities. School House was the most successful competitor during the competition, securing the title 26 times between 1914 and 1956. Following each victory, the cup was passed around, according to School House tradition, so that each member of the house could drink from it.

Hone reforms

Upon becoming headmaster in 1951, Brian Hone initiated significant change in the purpose of the houses, shifting the focus from sporting prowess to pastoral care, house unity and the growth of the character of the students. The

House Cup was thought to be impeding this vision, so it ceased to be awarded. School House, as the original boarding house, was perceived to be the backbone of life at the school. The 1920s, 1930s and 1940s were the era of the "Long Dorm", which saw justice meted out by the house captain and prefects. The North dormitory "terrorised the school", however, following the disruption to the school during the Second World War a shift in power occurred and the day boys "got out from under". Following the war, it was only the boarders who were still "terrorised", by this time it was by the East dormitory. It was Hone who gave the ''coup de grâce'' to the worst school house rituals that remained by the end of his first year.

Expansion of the house system

The house system continued to evolve over the next six decades, with the establishment of a further six houses. Perry House was founded in 1940 and established as the school's second boarding house in 1952. Bruce House was established in the same year, as a new house for day students. The next two houses were Deakin House and Miller House, both established in 1961, with Hone House following in 1979. The most recent addition was Creese House, established in 2005.

Curriculum

Melbourne Grammar offers its Years 11 and 12 students the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), the main assessment program which ranks the students in the state. In 2004, six Melbourne Grammar students achieved the maximum possible

Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank The Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank (ENTER) was the national Australian tertiary entrance rank, administered by Universities Australia (previously called the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee). It was a percentile ranking, designed ...

(ENTER) of 99.95; only 32 students in Victoria achieved this ENTER. In 2005, five Melbourne Grammar students achieved this same ENTER of 99.95. In 2006, two Melbourne Grammar students achieved the maximum ENTER of 99.95, and three Melbourne Grammar students achieved an ENTER of 99.90. In 2007, three Melbourne Grammar students achieved the maximum ENTER of 99.95; again, only 32 students in Victoria achieved this ENTER. In 2008, five Melbourne Grammar students achieved the maximum ENTER of 99.95. This tradition was continued in 2009, when a record seven students achieved the maximum ENTER of 99.95. The school also recorded its best average score on record in 2009, with the median ENTER being 93.95. In 2010, three students achieved the highest possible ATAR score of 99.95 with median 91.5. In 2011, Melbourne Grammar School's VCE students have achieved a commendable 89.8 median ATAR score, and another seven students achieved the maximum possible ATAR of 99.95. In 2016, one student was awarded the maximum ATAR of 99.95, with five in 2018.

Co-curriculum

Debating

Melbourne Grammar has held inter-grammar school British Parliamentary Debating competitions with Scotch College and Sydney Grammar. Additionally, Melbourne Grammar enters students into the Debaters Association of Victoria's (DAV) Debating Competition in the Caufield region. In 2016, Melbourne Grammar won both the B Grade and D Grade competitions, and in 2017, won the D Grade competition for the second year in a row. In 2018, MGS won the A Grade championship.

Music

Melbourne Grammar's orchestra, the Melbourne Grammar School Symphony Orchestra (MGSSO), tours internationally in December every year. In 2005 the orchestra toured

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

and

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

and in 2006 travelled to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, performing in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

. In 2007 the orchestra toured

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, wikt:دبي, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates#Major cities, most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, while in December 2008 the orchestra once again returned to

for Martin Rutherford's final orchestra tour. In 2009, Mark Drummond took over the orchestra and in 2010 it toured

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

, performing in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

(at the

Okuma Auditorium The , officially the , is a Tudor Gothic auditorium of Waseda University in Totsuka, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Designed primarily by Kōichi Satō, construction of the auditorium was planned to begin in 1923 following the death of Waseda founder Ōkuma Sh ...

) and Gamagori. The MGSSO toured

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

in 2012, then the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 2014, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

in 2016. In 2018, visited the UK, playing in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. Pat Miller has been the conductor of the orchestra since October 2019. The orchestra is usually made up of around 100 students, the vast majority of whom attend the school. The MGSSO has accompanied international soloists such as Ronald Farren-Price,

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''Vanity Fair'' and was one o ...

and

Neville Taweel Neville may refer to: Places *Neville, New South Wales, Australia *Neville, Saskatchewan, Canada * Néville, in the Seine-Maritime department, France * Néville-sur-Mer, in the Manche department, France *Neville, Ohio, USA *Neville Township, Pen ...

, and has premiered works by Australian and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

composers. All of Melbourne Grammar's campuses have their own choirs, concert bands and string orchestras. The chapel choir is the oldest of any Victorian private school and consists of about 40 select members. It sings at the weekly Eucharists along with occasional concerts with the like of the

Australian Brandenburg Orchestra The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra (ABO) is an Australian period instrument orchestra specialising in the performance of baroque and classical music. Founders The orchestra's founder and artistic director is Paul Dyer. In 2013 Dyer was a ...

Sport

Cordner-Eggleston Cup

The Cordner-Eggleston Cup is competed for each year by the 1st XVIII football teams of Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College and has been run since 1858, making it the longest running school football fixture in the world. It commemorates the first recorded game of

Australian Rules Football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

, which was played between the two schools on 7 August 1858, which ended in a 1–1 draw and is today commemorated by a statue depicting the game outside the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadium in the Southern ...

Rose and Thistle Cup

The Rose and Thistle Cup traditionally is the match of the Melbourne Grammar Soccer 1st XI and the Scotch College 1st XI. Inaugurated in 2008, it represents the Rose of England (symbolising Melbourne Grammar School's origins) and the Thistle of Scotland (symboling the roots of Scotch College). The Cup has an annual theme of 'Two Traditions, One Spirit.'

Rowing

Melbourne Grammar has a proud rowing record, having claimed the Head of the River 28 times, the most recent occasion being in 2016. In 2009 the school had an exceptional 1st VIII who broke the Head of the River record. They also won the National Schoolboy 8+ over the

Shore School , motto_translation = , established = , type = Independent single-sex and co-educational early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , grades = Early learning; ...

in a record time of 5:49. The 2016 MGS 1st VIII, having won the Head of the River title, went on to compete at the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thr ...

in the UK, in the

Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup is a rowing event at Henley Royal Regatta open to school 1st VIIIs. History The event was instituted in 1946 for public schools in the United Kingdom. It was opened to entries from overseas in 1964, and th ...

. The crew were inaugural winners of the

Leander Club Challenge Cup Leander is one of the protagonists in the story of Hero and Leander in Greek mythology. Leander may also refer to: People * Leander (given name) * Leander (surname) Places * Leander, Kentucky, United States, an unincorporated community * Le ...

Athletics

In recent years, Melbourne Grammar School has become a force in athletics, winning the APS premiership for the first time in 48 years in 2010. Over the past seven years, the school has won the Victorian track relay titles.

Soccer

Soccer is currently one of the most played sports at the school, with 12 teams being fielded in the APS Soccer Competition. The Melbourne Grammar 1st XI Soccer team is yet to win an APS premiership. Following the hiring of VIS youth coach Ernie Merrick in 2000, the 1st XI began a steady improvement in subsequent years, leading to a third-placed finish in a tightly contested 2014 season and subsequently missed out on winning the premiership cup following a draw against the reigning premiers, Brighton Grammar. The strong performances of the 1st XI, as seen in 2014 and 2015, have partly been due to the guidance of Jesper Olsen, former Manchester United and Danish International winger. Salvatore Sitch won the "

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

" award for the 1st XI in 2015. Lloyd Skinner won the same award in 2018, followed by Rowan Marshall in 2019. In recent years, Melbourne Grammar School has produced

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

footballers including

Stefan Nigro Stefan Nigro (born 10 August 1996) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a full back for Melbourne Victory in the A-League. Club career Stefan joined the youth squad at Melbourne Victory - the club he was a longtime supporter ...

(

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory ...

), who received Man of The Match on debut against

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

, and Yaren Sözer (Melbourne City FC) who played against EPL giants

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Furthermore, Old Melburnians have signed for overseas clubs in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. 20 goals is the most goals anyone has scored in a soccer APS match.

Basketball

Melbourne Grammar is an emerging force in the Victorian APS Basketball Competition, finishing 3rd in 2012 and 2014. Recent noteworthy players include Dane Pineau (recruited by St Marys College US), 2012 Captain and also Captain of the Australian under-19s national team, Daniel Fisher, who went on to attend American University on a scholarship and Victorian State and BigV men's players Jakob Cornelissen (recruited by University of Hawaii US) and Andrew Panyiotou.

Volleyball

Melbourne Grammar School's highest placing in the APS Volleyball Competition is 1st in 2016 and has forged a rich heritage of boys going on to play at State levels. Most recently led by 6'2 Utility Hitter/Setter Sebastian Herbst who currently plays collegiate volleyball at Cumberland University. He is the first Melbourne Grammar Student to attend university in the United States of America on a volleyball scholarship.

Snowsports

Melbourne Grammar School has won 18 out of the last 19 Victorian APS Snowsports Cups.

Hockey

The varyingly successful MGS Hockey team has seen APS Hockey Competition victory over multiple years, most recently in 2022. Boys who play in a Premiership-winning team are awarded with a ceremonial wooden hockey stick to commemorate their efforts.

Cricket

Melbourne Grammar School competed in an annual cricket competition with Sydney Grammar from 1876 to 1998, which was dubbed "The Bat". The competition is the oldest interstate rivalry in Australia, predating even

the Ashes The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, '' The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first ...

. Melbourne Grammar has won the competition 61 times, and Sydney Grammar has won it 57 times, with 4 draws and 1 tie. In 1998 the competition was changed to include

Brisbane Grammar , motto_translation = Nothing Without Labour , established = 1868 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Non-denominational , slogan = , key_people = , ...

and named the Tri-Grammar Shield. Since the inception of the Shield, Melbourne Grammar has won 10 times, Brisbane Grammar 6 times, and Sydney Grammar 5 times. The 1st XI Cricket team tours the UK bi-annually.

APS Premierships

Melbourne Grammar has won the following APS Premierships: * Athletics (30) - 1905, 1908, 1909, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1943, 1948, 1950, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1962, 2010, 2016 * Cricket (37) - 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1937, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1948, 1957, 1959, 1965, 1976, 2008, 2016, 2022 * Football (35) - 1893, 1901, 1905, 1906, 1911, 1912, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1957, 1964, 1970, 1976, 1982, 1995, 2008, 2013 * Hockey (6) - 1991, 1995, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2021 * Rowing (28) - 1870, 1871, 1877, 1883, 1897, 1916, 1918, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1949, 1958, 1964, 1968, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1997, 2002, 2009, 2016 * Volleyball (3) - 2006, 2008, 2016 * Water Polo (5) - 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Theatre

Melbourne Grammar has a strong theatre department, especially within the Senior Campus, which produces four plays each school year. In Term One, the Quad Play, most commonly a Shakespeare play, but on occasion from other notable playwrights, is performed within the school's Quadrangle, and is open to students in Years 10 to 12. In 2014, the Quad Play celebrated its 40th anniversary with ''

Antony and Cleopatra ''Antony and Cleopatra'' ( First Folio title: ''The Tragedie of Anthonie, and Cleopatra'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed, by the King's Men, at either the Blackfriars Theatre or the Globe Theatre in aroun ...

'', celebrating a notable history of productions including ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...

'', ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night'', or ''What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Vi ...

'' and ''

Much Ado About Nothing ''Much Ado About Nothing'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare thought to have been written in 1598 and 1599.See textual notes to ''Much Ado About Nothing'' in ''The Norton Shakespeare'' ( W. W. Norton & Company, 1997 ) p. 1387 The play ...

.'' The school play, performed in August, is often the centrepiece of the year's theatrical calendar. These take place in the Memorial Hall, which was refurbished in the early 2000s. Staging and sets are constructed jointly by staff and students, often both current and former. These productions alternate between musicals and plays. Notable productions in recent history have included

Tim Winton Timothy John Winton (born 4 August 1960) is an Australian writer. He has written novels, children's books, non-fiction books, and short stories. In 1997, he was named a Living Treasure by the National Trust of Australia, and has won the Miles Fr ...

's '' Cloudstreet'',

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

's ''

The Pirates of Penzance ''The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. Its official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 187 ...

'', Lerner and Loewe's "

My Fair Lady ''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

's ''

An Ideal Husband ''An Ideal Husband'' is a four-act play by Oscar Wilde that revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. It was first produced at the Haymarket Theatre, London in 1895 and ran for ...

'', and

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

. In 2014, Melbourne Grammar School performed

Peter Shaffer Sir Peter Levin Shaffer (; 15 May 1926 – 6 June 2016) was an English playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. He wrote numerous award-winning plays, of which several were adapted into films. Early life Shaffer was born to a Jewish family in L ...

's Amadeus and '' One Man, Two Guvnors'' was presented in 2019. The final performance for the year is the Spring Production, which is open to students in Years 9 and 10. These plays take place in late Term Four, off-campus to leave the Memorial Hall free for VCE exams. These productions in recent years have provided modern updates to classic stories, including ''

Lord of the Flies ''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author William Golding. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes ...

'', ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to c ...

'' and '' Sweeney Todd'', as well as performing modern plays such as Nick Enright's ''Spurboard''. In 2013

Eugène Ionesco Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco inst ...

's ''

Rhinoceros A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct specie ...

'' was performed. All of these plays are performed by the students of Melbourne Grammar in conjunction with students from the sister school, Melbourne Girls Grammar School, whose campus is located nearby. Wadhurst, Melbourne Grammar's middle school, also partakes in an annual production. This is performed either on the Wadhurst Deck or in the Wadhurst Hall. These productions usually take the form of a classic children's tale such as ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel '' The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan ...

'' or ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. ''A Christmas ...

''. In 2008, to celebrate the school's sesquicentenary, the play ''Glimpses of the Generations'' was performed featuring 150 years of the school's history. In 2013, the Wadhurst Production took the form of a film, featuring a Melbourne Grammar twist on ''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'', produced by students. Year 8 students also have the opportunity to take part in the Year 8 Project, established in 2012 with a reimagining of

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...

. Students from Melbourne Grammar and Melbourne Girls Grammar have the opportunity not only to act in a play but to take part in its development and production. The 2013 production was a surrealist modern update of

Alan Ayckbourn Sir Alan Ayckbourn (born 12 April 1939) is a prolific British playwright and director. He has written and produced as of 2021, more than eighty full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director o ...

's ''Ernie's Incredible Illucinations''.

Crest and motto

The school

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. M ...

, ''Ora et Labora'', which may be

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

to "Pray and Work", was chosen by the second headmaster, Edward Morris, in 1875. An old boy of England's

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...

, Morris exemplified the way the principles of the English Public School system were adopted in Australia, including that education and religion should go hand in hand, as envisaged by Bishop Perry. The motto clearly reflects this. The school crest is composed of a number of elements. The Archbishop's

mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...

placed on top of the crest indicates the school's connection with the Church of England; the mitre in the shield is in memory of Charles Perry, the school's founder; the open book represents either the

bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

or 'Knowledge like an Open Book', while its large clasps show that the book is not to be opened with ease; the Fleur de Lys (lily) is a symbol of purity; and the

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

is the emblem of Australia, and is also on the Victorian and Australian flags.

Fight song

Melbourne Grammar's fight song is "Play Together, Dark Blue Twenty", sung to the tune of "

Men of Harlech "Men of Harlech" or "The March of the Men of Harlech" ( Welsh: ) is a song and military march which is traditionally saidFuld, James J., ''The Book of World-famous Music: Classical, Popular, and Folk'', Dover, 5th ed. 2000, p. 394 to describe eve ...

". It is one of the oldest fight songs in Australia. Ambrose John Wilson, principal of the school from 1885 to 1893, wrote lyrics. The lyrics cover the school's three main sports in the late-19th century: Australian rules football, cricket and rowing. The Australian rules verse is: The chorus between each verse is: The cricket verse: The rowing verse: A fourth verse with its own chorus was added in the early 20th century with imperial connotations. While it is not officially discontinued, this addition is no longer sung:

Alumni

Notes

* Who's Who of boys' school rankings: 1.

Scotch College, Melbourne (For God, for Country, and for Learning) , established = , type = Independent, day and boarding , gender = Boys , denomination = Presbyterian , slogan = , ...

, 2. Melbourne Grammar School, 3.

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb of South Yarra, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1905, the school caters for boys from Year 9 ...

, 4.

Geelong Grammar School , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"( 1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ...

, 5.

Sydney Boys High School , motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pu ...

, 6. Wesley College, 7.

Shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

, 8. Fort Street Boys' High, 9.

North Sydney Boys High School North Sydney Boys High School (abbreviated as NSBHS) is a government-funded, single-sex, academically selective secondary day school for boys, located at Crows Nest, on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. In 2022, Nor ...

, 10.

Sydney Grammar School (Praise be to God) , established = , type = Independent, day school , gender = Boys , religious_affiliation = None , slogan = , headmaster = R. B. Malpass , founder = Laurence Hynes Halloran , chairman ...

References

External links

*
Encyclopedia of Melbourne article
{{authority control Heritage-listed buildings in Melbourne Associated Public Schools of Victoria Boarding schools in Victoria (Australia) Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference Boys' schools in Victoria (Australia) Educational institutions established in 1858 Anglican schools in Melbourne Junior School Heads Association of Australia Member Schools 1858 establishments in Australia Buildings and structures in the City of Melbourne (LGA) Buildings and structures in the City of Glen Eira

History

Headmasters

Campuses

House system

Cock House Cup

Hone reforms

Expansion of the house system

Curriculum

Co-curriculum

Debating

Music

Sport

Cordner-Eggleston Cup

Rose and Thistle Cup

Rowing

Athletics

Soccer

Basketball

Volleyball

Snowsports

Hockey

Cricket

APS Premierships

Theatre

Crest and motto

Fight song

Alumni

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links