Scotch College

Back to school assembly

On a warm February morning, Scotch re-enacted an outdoor Assembly. Everything was in place, the boys, the staff, Old Boys and guests. At 10:25 the pipes and drums commenced and the official party moved into position.

Byron Saunders, whose birth date coincided with the day Scotch first opened its doors, 6 October, re-lit the cauldron on behalf of the present students. With the guidance of the official party, we re-lived our history.

At East Melbourne

At East Melbourne, in room number 1, the pupils faced each other. It was noisy and stuffy, but when Dr Morrison's hand went up, silence fell.

Sixty years on and many Old Boys arrived early for the Diamond Jubilee assembly. They quietly ambled through their school, 'And their pleasure as they recognized some familiar corner, or disappointment as they found it replaced by some up-to-date improvement, was a source of great interest to the younger boys'.

Outside assemblies were common after WWI and, at the beginning of the week, sports results were relayed to the whole school. One boy wrote, 'I distinctly remember the Monday morning after the great success in the Boat Race of 1921. Everyone was chock full of pride and cheer after cheer echoed and re-echoed in the nooks and corners of the old buildings'.

Another young student recalled the race from the Treasury Gardens up the gravel path to the Assembly. It started at the first clang of the old bell and a prefect would wait at the gate to 'nail' the stragglers - Yes we could do it! Through the gate, just as the bell stopped, and safe for another day!

The School moved to Hawthorn

In 1923 the school was moved to Hawthorn and Graham McInnes recalled his experiences in the Memorial Hall. 'Five days a week, forty weeks a year 'The Boss' stood in the pulpit wringing his hands, shouting to God (and at us), and calling on Him to help us all be better school boys, to study harder for exams, and play harder to beat Grammar in the football.'

The 1951 Centenary Assembly was also held in the school quadrangle. It too was a bright sunny day and the quad was packed with boys, staff and Old Boys, who all participated in what Principal Gilray called an 'ordinary morning assembly'.

Sixty, one hundred, one hundred and fifty years on - the suburb has changed, buildings have been renovated, we are all a little older, yet our Assemblies go on. Hymns, addresses, prayers, results, announcements - they are our clarion call, uniting us, binding us as Collegians, as one school under one God with the hope of a greater future to come.

Rev. John Buchanan, Chaplain