The Melbourne Grammar School is an Australian private Anglican day and boarding school. 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 South Yarra.
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 a founding member of the historic Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) and is affiliated with the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA), the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV); and is a member of the G30 Schools Group, and a partner school with Waseda University and its affiliates in Japan.
Grammar has educated three Australian prime ministersAlfred Deakin, Stanley Melbourne Bruce, and Malcolm Fraser.
History The origins of Melbourne Grammar School can be traced back to 1849, with the establishment of an experimental grammar school at St Peter's Eastern Hill, East Melbourne. This school had been established by Melbourne's first Church of England bishop, Charles Perry, who founded the Diocese of Melbourne, and had been opened to meet the growing educational needs of the young colony. 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 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, finding a headmaster and a new site. Locations considered included Carlton, Prahran and St Kilda.
Perry's goal 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 of on St Kilda Road. 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. At the time it was considered relatively isolated and remote. The governors chose Charles Webb and Thomas Taylor as architects, well-known Melbourne contractors George Cornwell and Co., and Bishop Perry laid the school's foundation stone on 30 July 1856.
The Melbourne Church of England Grammar School was 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, including four of Bromby's sons, and about one quarter comprising boarding students.
The school's first forty years proved to be a struggle, exacerbated in the 1890s by economic depression, financial concerns and changes of headmaster. Enrolments in the senior school 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, and subsequently continued, 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 colonial Victoria.
The beginning of the twentieth 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 of 1914–1918, as they had in the South African War, and more than 200 alumni did not return.
The Great Depression 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. Approximately 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 lacking adequate space, with expansions, extensions and renovations mostly restricted to Bromby's original . The school subsequently embarked upon a building program which it was thought could take thirty 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 allows enrollment 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. On 7 April 2008, as part of the celebrations of Melbourne Grammar's sesquicentenary, 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 then Premier of Victoria, John Brumby, who had been a student of the school.
Headmasters
The following individuals have served as Headmaster of Melbourne Grammar School: OrdinalNameTerm started Term endedPeriod served Notes John Edward Bromby 1858 1875 years Edward Ellis Morris 1875 1883 years Alexander Pyne 1883 1885 years Ambrose John Wilson 1885 1893 years Frederic Sergeant 1894 1898 years George Ernest Blanch 1899 1914 years Richard Penrose Franklin 1915 1936 years Henry Girdlestone,acting 1917–1919 David Stacey Colman 1937 1938 years Joseph Richard Sutcliffe 1938 1949 years Sir Brian William Hone 1950 1970 years 1970 1987 years Antony James de Villiers Hill 1988 1994 years Andrew Paul Sheahan 1995 2009 years Roy Kelley 2009 2019 years Philip Grutzner 2020 incumbent years
Campuses
Melbourne Grammar School features seven campuses, 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) Built as Harleston in 1875 in a Victorian Filigree style by the Hon. Frederick Sheppard Grimwade , acquired by the school in . Wadhurst – South Yarra (All boys; Years 7 to 8) Senior School – South Yarra (All boys; Years 9 to 12) Edwin Flack Park – Port Melbourne (Sporting complex) Camp Dowd – Gippsland Lakes (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 house structure to further encourage interest in sport and promote physical development; and six houses were 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 previous students (Jack and Hugh Ross). Some allumni that have come through the system include: Felix Turnbill, Sebastian Crelley, Duck Marshall-Orr, Mak Lansell, Chris Lee, and Leo Stephenson.
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 included 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 House". They competed against each other in cricket, rowing, football, boxing (until 1950), running, shooting (until 1937), tennis, swimming, and now, Mario Kart, chess, painting, handball, drama, Futsal, debating, and table tennis.
In Wadhurst, there are only five houses: Caffin, Cain, Cuming, Wilhelm and Brookes. The first three were named after prominent alumni. Wilhelm was named after Paul Wilhelm, a notable head of Wadhurst. Brookes house was named after the Brookes family, a significant Grammar family. Prior to this, there were only three houses, before the addition of Wilhelm (originally called Deakin) in 2017, and Brookes in 2024.
Cock House Cup
Competition between houses was encouraged through the Cock House Cup. A points system was put in place, and houses competed for points in a range of sports.
The first Cock House Cup was presented in 1916 by Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, the sixth Governor General of Australia.
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 William 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. As a result, the Cock House Cup was no longer 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". 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 WWII, it was only the boarders who were still "terrorised", by this time it was by the East dormitory. Headmaster Hone 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 in Victoria.