From the Headmaster

The School’s new Aviation space is a visible reminder of our ongoing evolution and commitment to excellent education

Honour Celebrate Imagine

Welcome to our 175th anniversary edition of News from Launceston Grammar. As the oldest continually running independent school in Australia, this is a significant milestone and opportunity for the School community to honour our past, celebrate who we are today and imagine together who we will become.

I encourage you to participate in a range of activities which will be held over the weekend of 16 and 17 October. For more information, please explore www.lcgs. tas.edu.au/175th-anniversary/, which is dedicated to the 175th anniversary celebrations.

There are several threads which run through the School’s history, one of which is the courage our community has demonstrated right from our earliest days. Starting a new venture in the 1840s was not easy as economic depression had struck the colony. Over that decade, there were schools in Tasmania which started and then closed.

Nonetheless, in April 1845, Bishop Nixon visited Launceston and spurred into action a committee for a Grammar School in Launceston. The following May, the 23-year-old Henry Kane was appointed the School’s first Headmaster and on 15 June 1846, the School opened in temporary premises with 24 students enrolled. When the foundation stone was laid for the School’s first permanent building in 1847, the Reverend John Gell gave an address where he spoke of how the School would focus on not just teaching facts but instilling the moral discipline in the younger generation, on which the future character of the colony depended.

Gell went on to explain that the sons of the colony are to be educated so that they can compete equally in the higher walks of mental exertion with anyone from abroad. While so much has changed in Launceston and in the world since the laying of the foundation stone, the School’s commitment to nurturing the hearts of our students and challenging their minds so they are ready and inspired to serve and shape our world continues to this day. 

The School’s new Aviation space is a visible reminder of our ongoing evolution and commitment to excellent education.

 During 2021 we will be sharing with the community our next Strategic Plan which has been developed during one of the most rapidly changing and challenging periods in recent world history. This next plan builds on the achievements which have brought us to where we are today, while also calling us to set our sights on how we can further enhance, evolve, and embed the excellent education and opportunities provided.

The School’s new Aviation space is a visible reminder of our ongoing evolution and commitment to excellent education. Opened during Term 1, the Aviation space, which is unique in Tasmania, saw one of the School’s oldest buildings, an original woodwork classroom, renewed to provide our community with a dedicated workshop and flight simulator room for our Aviation classes. The space will help to support the growing demand for students to see how their Science and Mathematics comes together in a real-world context. In quite a spectacular way, the contribution of School alumni to Australia’s aviation history is also spotlighted to inspire our students as they look to the future and consider how they will serve and shape our world.

I am very much looking forward to seeing the Launceston Grammar community as we come together to celebrate the School’s 175th anniversary. I also hope you enjoy reading in this publication about the many ways in which the School continues to contribute to society and the world.

Richard Ford

Headmaster