Scotch College

The Lawsons - 113 years of Scotch lineage

Former Victorian Premier Sir Harry Lawson (1891)

As you wander around Old Scotch Square, many pavers may catch your attention, inscribed with names you may or may not know. All have a tale to tell of Scotch history or tradition. Here’s the story behind just one paver in the square, which is inscribed ‘H.S.W. Lawson & Family 1891’.

Harry Sutherland Wightman Lawson was at Scotch during only part of that year of 1891. But many of his descendants followed him to Scotch, and are still doing so. The most recent are his youngest great-grandson Nicholas James Watson, and his first and so far only great-great-grandson Cameron Russell John Maine, born in 1997 (pictured).

The 113 years since 1891 have seen 35 descendants at the school – some named Lawson, but others disguised by surnames such as D’Albora, Johnson, Maine, Murdoch or Watson. But when Harry came to the East Melbourne site as a 16-year-old boarder, there was no high school in his home town of Castlemaine. He was on reduced fees at Scotch, because his father had been the Presbyterian minister at Dunolly where the Welcome Stranger gold nugget was found.

Unexpectedly, Harry’s father died that same year, 1891. So Harry was required to leave Scotch and return to Castlemaine as the only ‘man’ of the family. He found work as a clerk in a local solicitor’s office. In those times, leaving school to take a job in these circumstances was unremarkable if one had three younger sisters as well as a widowed mother to help support. Harry qualified as a solicitor, and the firm he joined ultimately became H.S.W. Lawson & Co, which still exists today.

In 1899, when only 24, he stood for the Colonial Parliament as a candidate for Castlemaine and won, unseating the incumbent who had been one of his early teachers.

Cameron Maine (Yr1) and Nicholas Watson (Yr7)

Harry went on to hold several portfolios, including Minister for Education, and was finally Premier from 1918 to 1924. (In all, five Old Boys have been Victorian Premier, most recently Jeff Kennett, 1992–99.) During Lawson’s time as Victorian Premier there was worldwide interest in social equality, while closer to home in Victoria the issues included soldier settlement, the standardisation of Melbourne’s tramways (changing from small private networks) and the founding of the State Electricity Commission, with Sir John Monash as its inaugural chairman.

On leaving state politics in 1928, Harry was elected to the Commonwealth Senate, and was a Senator for six years. In those days there were of course no flights to Canberra. Getting there involved catching a train to Melbourne from Castlemaine, then staying overnight in Melbourne before catching the Sydney train, changing gauge at Albury, then changing at Yass for the branch line to Canberra.

If Harry were in politics today he would probably be described as a small ‘l’ liberal. As a young parliamentarian, he advocated votes for women, and opposed religious education in government schools. During World War I he defended the right of some Lutheran schools in country Victoria that wished to continue to teach in the German language.

The shift in Victoria’s population is reflected in the number of Lawson family members who have been boarders at Scotch. Of 17 sons and grandsons, 10 have been on ‘the Hill’. But of the 18 great-grandsons there have only been two boarders. The other change has been in the lives of women. In the 1890s it was unsurprising that none of Harry’s three sisters attended high school. But his four daughters all boarded for two years at PLC and obtained tertiary qualifications. All four sons were university educated. This was a matter of note then, although commonplace today.

Although there have been six lawyers, six doctors and four engineers among Lawson’s Scotch descendants, those in business have been the most generous supporters of the School.

The most recent family trend is for all schooling to be at Scotch. Harry’s sons had two years at a ‘finishing school’. His grandsons typically spent all their secondary years there, but his youngest great-grandsons and his great-great-grandson have begun early in the Junior School. What changes will the next 113 years bring? Co- education perhaps?

Peter Lawson