Moogerah was one of my favourite things about BGS. I looked forward to it keenly every year, not just because it meant a week off classes, but because it was wall to wall fun and adventure with your school friends. You got to know each other so much better bunking in the dorm, eating meals, canoeing, climbing mountains, orienteering, doing the ropes course, camping, jumping into the gorge, mopping the floors together. True bonding time. You not only learned about your mates and how to get along, but you learnt about yourself. Can I run to the cattlegrid and back in one go? Will breakfast really “taste twice as good” as Jimmy Johnson claimed? Have I got the guts to jump off a 7-metre cliff into the dam? Can I make dinner over a campfire out of pasta, soup, tuna and a block of processed cheese? Can I exist and have fun on my own outside of the family home? Can I get wet, cold and hungry and still be perfectly fine at the end of the day?
Moogerah has given me a lifelong love of nature, bushwalking and adventure holidays that I passed on to my boys. They loved Moogerah just as much, but it got way better. Jon Hodges continued the tradition as a Jimmy Johnson disciple. He was ably assisted by Mr Trehearn and Mr and Mrs Bonk (priceless!). Mr Trehearn had strict rules about ‘in’ and ‘out’ doors of the dining hall. Meanwhile the supervisors could barely contain their glee at any mischief successfully gotten up to. Some of my best memories involved a huge Milo tin, raucous games of “sting-pong,” and climbing the ‘big tree’ while tethered to other boys. There was always one kid who got the heebie jeebies and froze up, but he’d get through. And just general amazement that we managed to orienteer over kilometres of scrub and bush with no problems.
An invaluable lesson in self-discovery and independence. That’s what BGS is all about really, isn’t it? Happy 50th Moogerah, you’re still looking good.
- Paul Baxter, Old Boy '83