Founders’ Day

CELEBRATING THOSE WHO FORGED THE WAY

In 1884, qualified teacher Miss Margaret Brown began a governess class in her family home on Mann Terrace, North Adelaide teaching four pupils – one boy and three girls – including her five-yearold sister Mamie.

It wasn’t long before Miss Margaret’s reputation grew and her class could no longer fit around the dining table. An understanding landlord built a classroom in the back garden of a new family home on Northcote Terrace and Miss Margaret’s sister, Kate, also a teacher, began working alongside her. Miss Margaret’s progressive ideas were attractive to local parents and accounted for increasing numbers of enrolments. In 1885, she invested in kindergarten equipment imported from Germany by an Adelaide stationer and developed what is thought to be the first kindergarten in South Australia. Her school became known as The Medindie School and Kindergarten. Within a few years, the School had outgrown its backyard classroom. In late 1892, Miss Margaret arranged to lease a large house set in spacious grounds one block south, later taking out a long-term mortgage and buying the house, stables and land at a cost of £2,500. The house had been built during the 1850s but by 1892, the delightfully spacious grounds had been neglected and when a friend of the Browns visited for the first time she disparagingly remarked of the garden “heavens, what a wilderness!”. This, along with other properties bought over the School’s lifetime, further expanded its footprint and is the site of the current school.

Although known as Medindie School and Kindergarten, the Brown family used to say they lived at The Wilderness, Northcote Terrace. By 1918 it officially became ‘The Wilderness School’. The rest, as they say, is history. On Thursday 20 May this year – Miss Margaret’s birthday – we celebrated Founders’ Day, which is a special and significant day in our school calendar. Founders’ Day gives us an opportunity each year to pause and reflect upon the Browns’ legacy. These founding women believed in the education of students, inspiring them to be the best they could be, and this is the mission our school continues to uphold today. Our Year 12 Student Representative Council (SRC) were very keen to compare a current student’s school experience with that of an older old scholar from the Misses Brown years and to share it with our girls. This idea developed into the production of a short film produced by Year 12 students Chelsea Kennedy and Emily Porter that examined the contrast between the two respective eras. SRC Executive Ella Beinssen, Trinity Hong, and Ishani Sood interviewed old scholar, Mary McLeod (Mellish) who attended Wilderness when she was four years old from 1938 until 1950. She was a Prefect of Amaryllis House and was an accomplished sportswoman. In fact, after leaving school, Mary became the Wilderness School Sports Mistress from 1954 to 1956.

Mary’s recollections of her school days were juxtaposed throughout the film with those of current Year 12 student, Sabrina Petrucco. Although more than 70 years separates their experiences, both Mary and Sabrina hold many of the same values and memories dear; the tuckshop, sport, and above all, friendship. It was an honour to host around 20 of our older old scholars at the Founders’ Day Assembly, including one Wilderness gentleman. These special guests participated in our time-honoured Roll Call in which their name and year group is read out and joined us in singing the School song. We were also treated to a stunning performance of ‘Here’s Where I