The PFA has elected a new committee, Mother's Day festivities were a great success, and alum sharing their creative pursuits.
Dear Parents and Guardians,
There is considerable excitement in the air surrounding some major initiatives this term. The next stage of our Barbara Sutton Hall project is imminent, and we continue our 105 year celebrations with our Gala Ball later this term. In addition, this year we also recognise the merging of two great schools 60 years ago – Camberwell Girls Grammar School and Ormiston Girls School. Let me share with you some details of each.
We are pleased to share that 2Construct Pty Ltd has been appointed as Head Contractor for the redevelopment of Barbara Sutton Hall.
Selected through a closed tender process earlier this year, 2Construct brings extensive experience delivering performing arts facilities in the independent education sector. They will oversee all aspects of construction, including site management, coordination of trades, and the implementation of safety measures throughout the build.
Representatives from 2Construct will join us at the Groundbreaking Ceremony on 15 May, marking the next significant milestone in the transformation of Barbara Sutton Hall. Their presence on-site will steadily increase over the coming weeks, with construction formally set to begin in late May. The project is expected to take 12 months to complete.
We encourage you to visit the BSH Reimagined hub https://cggs.vic.edu.au/bshreimagined as regular updates will be shared throughout the project. We will be periodically posting updates on the hub, and you will also be able to opt in to SMS Alerts to keep you up to date with key information.
Next week the Groundbreaking Ceremony for Barbara Sutton Hall will take place on Thursday 15 May and for those not directly involved in the ceremony, there will be the opportunity to view this via livestream. More details about the livestream have been shared in the Weekly Newsletters. A reminder email will be sent directly to your inbox on the morning of the ceremony with a link to tune in for its commencement at 11.30am.
It is very exciting that we are entering the next phase of this major project for our school and I look forward to keeping you updated.
In case you missed it, tickets are now on sale for our Gala Ball. This special evening promises to be a highlight of our year-long anniversary celebrations and a chance for our community to come together and honour 105 years of shared history and future growth. Held at Leonda by the Yarra, the event will feature canapes, a three-course dinner, live entertainment and will be hosted by current parent, CGGS Inspiring Woman and broadcaster, Emma Race. With early bird pricing available for a limited time, I warmly encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity – whether you are joining us as a guest or gathering a table of friends. I look forward to sharing this memorable evening with you.
Please find the link below to purchase tickets:
In 2025 we celebrate 60 years since Ormiston Girls School, the oldest surviving independent Girls School in Australia and Camberwell Girls Grammar School joined together as one school. Today our Junior School site is called Ormiston to ensure that we honour the legacy of Ormiston Girls School as such a significant school of its time.
Recently I shared a brief history of Ormiston at a Junior School Assembly, and I am sharing some of these details with you here for your interest sourced from our archives.
Ormiston Girl’s School commenced in the city in Lonsdale Street in 1849, only 14 years after Melbourne itself was founded and even before Victoria was officially a state.
In 1949 there were less than 23,000 (est 5.2m today) people living in Melbourne. Melbourne was a country town, with rapidly expanding pastoral land and livestock were brought from Tasmania and New South Wales.
Buildings were often hasty, temporarily run up affairs, usually made from bricks not well fired. Suburban development had already begun. The first sale of Crown lands in St Kilda took place on 7 December 1842, there was a port developing at Williamstown. In 1844, a wooden trestle toll bridge was built to span the Yarra River at Swanston Street. The bridge replaced the privately operated punts (boats) that had been used to cross the river previously.
By 1849, most of the main streets were paved and the footpaths gravelled. Even a few oil lamps placed on wooden posts. You would have seen horse drawn buggies and carts. There were no cars or trams yet.
That was life in Melbourne around the time Ormiston opened its doors but the story of this pioneering school had already begun earlier than that when the Henderson family from Scotland met the Reverend James Clow, a Presbyterian minister in Melbourne.
About 1847, a Mrs Henderson travelled from Scotland to Sydney with her family, however after six months they decided to move to cooler Melbourne. She carried a letter of introduction from the minister at Scots Church in Sydney to Reverend James Clow, who went on to found Scotch College in 1851.
Originally from Scotland, Reverend Clow was a keen educationalist. He had realised the need to provide educational facilities for the families. Reverend Clow and Mrs Henderson established a facility in Lonsdale Street and they started the first Ladies’ Boarding School there, educating girls from rural families.
Ormiston moved 6 times in 50 years finally arriving in Mont Albert in 1901, where there were two more moves before arriving at St John’s Avenue where it flourished for 70 years under the leadership of progressive women.
In 1964, Ormiston accepted the offer of a merger with Camberwell Church of England Girls’ Grammar School (now known as Camberwell Girls Grammar School) as it only had 129 students and was facing closure.
Editor of the 1964 Marcian, Elizabeth Holt, wrote “All this is rather exciting and it is impossible to believe that we can do anything but gain from this move. In a more subtle way there will be great gain that comes with the blending of those rather intangible things we call traditions […] Our two schools have much in common and much to share and we look forward to making new friends in 1965.”
More recently a new site adjacent to the Camberwell Girls Grammar School Senior School was acquired and a new Junior School campus was built. In 2007 this campus received international recognition when it was awarded the Best Designed Primary School in the World after its construction.
The history of Ormiston is an inspiring story of private enterprise by pioneer women, mostly young women, who spent years of their lives in service, educating the girls of their time. They didn’t have any financial assistance from the Church or public funds.
In 2025, 60 years on, Ormiston still thrives. Those traditions and core values remain today.
We are proud of our rich and vibrant history and continue to look to the future with excitement as we now educate our students for their future and celebrate our connected and inclusive community.
With best wishes,
Debbie Dunwoody
Principal
The PFA has elected a new committee, Mother's Day festivities were a great success, and alum sharing their creative pursuits.
Grandparents, special friends, an author, and Murrundindi all visited the Junior School to kick off Term 2.
Momentum is building for the refurbishment of Barbara Sutton Hall, with the head contractor now appointed.
