A fine day at the Fest

It’s been 175 years since Fort Street School was founded at Observatory Hill, and the Fort Fest celebration on September 20 marked the occasion—our Dodransbicentennial. It was colorful, musical, and tasty!

A great turnout of former and current students, staff, and community members enjoyed tours of the school, which were fully booked before the day. Visitors strolled through the grounds, experiencing this wonderful site of public education.

At the Ron Horan Room museum, members of the Union shared information, chatted with Fortians from across the years, and welcomed new graduates to join us.

School ensembles performed musical pieces, and the food provided was exceptional and well enjoyed. A powerful smoking ceremony by local Indigenous members culminated in dance, with onlookers joining in.

Pictured: Ian McLaughlin, Rod Broune, and Pat Arthur with a 175-years T-shirt.

Margaret made a difference

Margaret Lawson (’52), former Captain of Fort Street Girls’ High School, passed away on 18 July 2024 at the age of 88.

The Sydney Morning Herald notice included the tribute:

“Margaret was a Deputy Registrar of the Family Court of Australia and a former child psychologist at the Children’s Hospital (when it was at Camperdown). She was always concerned with the welfare of children and made a great difference to the lives of many children and adults in both her professional and personal life.”

Margaret served on the Fortians Union Management Committee from 1993 to 2002, including as President in 1999, 2000, and 2001. In that role, she played a key part in resolving issues that arose during the school’s Sesquicentenary celebrations.

The One to Beat

Among the Fortians who recently joined the Union is Jon Henricks (’53), Olympic gold medallist and one of Australia’s greatest swimmers. At school, Jon was the one to beat, winning numerous pennants and claiming victory in the 440-yard event at the Australian nationals at just 16 years old. He was the fastest swimmer of his time when he won the 100m freestyle at the 1956 Olympics.

Jon later moved to the US to continue his swimming career. A few years ago, the Fortians Union acquired several of his swimming pennants at an auction and presented them to the Ron Horan Room museum at the school.

John Asked for More…

John Chappell (’55) writes: “In 1951, I was enrolled at an ‘inner city’ school where, among other subjects, I mystifyingly studied Technical Drawing and Woodwork for two or three years. My studies ended with the Intermediate Certificate, but like Oliver Twist, I asked for more and sought admission to Fort Street Boys’ High for Years 4 and 5. This was not automatic, but I was admitted, and I am forever thankful for the teaching I received at ‘The Fort.’

For my sins, I went to Teachers’ College and was sent to a one-teacher school. However, having matriculated, I attended UNSW as an evening student and later pursued postgraduate studies at the Ku-ring-gai College of Advanced Education. I want to acknowledge the irreplaceable opportunity my high school education at Taverners Hill afforded me.”

Jan’s Nightmarish Sojourn

Nine years after leaving Fort Street, schoolteacher Jan Wilson (’55) found herself in jail at the center of an international political scandal behind the Iron Curtain.

Jan has now written a book, Deported: Passport Not Valid for CSSR, in which she recounts her unexpected adventures in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

In 1964, while teaching in Vienna, Jan became involved in an attempt with three other young activists to rescue Hungarian sculptor Tibor Karman from Communist-ruled Czechoslovakia (then known as the CSSR). The mission was doomed to failure, landing them in the Bratislava justice system and drawing the attention of international news agencies and ASIO.

Jan’s book is available at Gleebooks, Abbey’s, and other bookstores.

Firebrand Merle’s day at the bar

Merle Thornton, née Wilson (’48), who died in August aged 93, was made a member of the Order of Australia for service as an advocate for women and Indigenous rights, and to the arts as a writer and director.

She established the Equal Opportunities Association for Women, which helped to deliver paid maternity leave, better childcare options, and reform for women’s rights in the public service.

Here is an abridged obituary from the Sydney Morning Herald by author Peter Craven.

When Merle Thornton and Ro Bognor chained themselves to the rail of the public bar in Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel in 1965 and demanded they be served beers there like the blokes, it made global news. Merle was a feminist and a firebrand stirrer of such note that historian Marilyn Lake has said the famed bar protest “presaged a new phase in the history of feminism.”

The press were there to record the show: they’d cottoned on to the fact that the law did not prevent the consumption of the beer but just the service.

A week later, a second protest was staged, with reinforcements. The ABC sent a Four Corners team. Needless to say, Merle was banned from the Regatta. But this time, the suffragettes brought their own bottles of beer to expose the fact that an anachronistic law was deliberately being broken.

But with the passage of years, the hotel now graciously acknowledges the woman who gave the place its niche in national mythology.

Merle was born in Melbourne during the Depression, but the family soon moved to Sydney, where she had no trouble getting into that exclusive, selectively streamed government college, Fort Street Girls’ High School. At 18, Merle enrolled to study English literature at Sydney University.

In 1951, Merle met Neil Thornton, who shared her convictions and social engagement. They married in 1953.

Soon, Merle also saw herself with piercing clarity as the victim of a barbarous anti-women law. Working as a graduate in the office of the ABC general manager, she was compelled to conceal her marriage well into her pregnancy. In 1956, a woman’s right to work was terminated on her marriage.

A postgraduate research posting from the ANU triggered a move to Canberra, where daughter Sigrid (yes, the famous actor) was born. The family moved back to Brisbane when Neil took up a university lectureship, and Merle undertook postgrad research in philosophy.

One of Neil’s students was future Labor leader and Governor-General Bill Hayden, whom Merle convinced to introduce a bill that repealed the marriage bar provisions, which she considered such an iniquity.

Heading for London, she decided in 1966 to study the philosophy of language at University College London.

She campaigned for proper sex education for girls, fought for access to abortions, and advocated for the necessity of seeing women’s studies as integral to the life of the mind and the idea of the university. She also fought like a lioness against the Vietnam War and was arrested a number of times. Merle was a born troublemaker; she would not pipe down for anyone.

Merle was a talented writer of fiction; her play, Playing Mothers and Fathers, was staged in 1990, and she wrote a number of episodes of the famed TV show Prisoner.

The Queensland Government has pledged to erect a statue in honour of Merle, as “a symbol of strength and determination and an inspiration to those who see it.”