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Every year since the laying of our Foundation Stone on 29 February 1868, at the first Brisbane Grammar School site in Roma Street, the School has set aside time on the last Friday of February to remember our beginnings. 

The penal colony established at Moreton Bay in 1824 became a State in 1859, and when the first State Parliament met in 1860, one of its early acts was the establishment of Grammar Schools in Queensland. 

One of the very special things about this School is its blend of tradition and innovation in the mission of educating young men.

We hear a great deal about innovation and change in the present age. Under the leadership of the first Headmaster, Mr. Thomas Harlin, our earliest curriculum revealed a fusion of tradition, and what was at that time, innovation. Students were required to study both classical and modern languages and, only a few years after the School opened, Physics and Chemistry were added to the curriculum. If you think that unremarkable, try to imagine the limited state of knowledge in those subjects, particularly chemistry, in the mid-19^th century. 

Under the School’s third Headmaster, Mr Frederick Bousfield—a teacher of Latin and Ancient Greek—BGS opened its first Science laboratories in 1912, in what is now the Senior Administration building. These were modern facilities for the period, and allowed extensive changes to the Science curriculum, providing practical lessons and experiments beyond the textbook. Nearly 50 years later, new science laboratories were opened. Those buildings, now including contemporary Art studios, form part of the STEAM Precinct. 

When the School transitioned from the original Roma Street site to Gregory Terrace in 1881, the new campus gave visual expression to these concepts of leadership, scholarship and service, as observed in the magnificent stained-glass window at the northern end of the Great Hall.
Then, in 1924, each character value was portrayed as a virtue in the stained-glass windows of the War Memorial Library. 

In our Mission Statement today, we reaffirm our commitment to the same objectives: fostering
intellectual and physical development and pledging to nurture a strong sense of service, community,
leadership and loyalty. 

Our primary academic goal is crucial; however, it remains incomplete without a parallel commitment to
the personal and social development of each student. 

Our collective challenge as an educational institution is for our students to uphold and embody these ethical principles in a manner befitting this generation. 

With great honour, we congratulate all students and recent graduates who were award recipients at Friday’s Foundation Day Assembly.