Clyde School was founded as a private girls' school in 1910 in Alma Road,
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner seaside suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Port Phillip Local government areas of Victoria, local government area. St Kilda recorded a ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
by Isabel Henderson, a leading educationist of her day. It quickly gained a reputation for excellent academic results. The school was relocated to
Macedon
Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...
, near
Hanging Rock in 1919.
Clyde School in Woodend
Owing to its founders, the school was aligned with both the
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
and
Anglican
Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
denominations at this time and it expanded rapidly. By 1917 it had an enrolment of nearly 200 girls spread over five buildings. Partly to relieve overcrowding but mainly to create an educational environment free of the distractions of post-war Melbourne, Isabel Henderson decided to relocate the school. In September 1918 she purchased the former mountain golf resort, Braemar House, near Woodend, and moved her school there in 1919. In 1921 Clyde Woodend became a public school after a vigorous fund-raising campaign by a number of well-connected Old Girls. The following year, Isabel Henderson retired to England and Dorothy Tucker, a domestic science teacher from New Zealand, took over as principal.
Less charismatic than her predecessor, Tucker nevertheless maintained a well-disciplined, conservative boarding school. Enrolments expanded rapidly during the 1920s but the Great Depression saw numbers plummet. Rigorous cost-saving and an austere regime ensured the school’s survival when many other schools closed. The struggles took their toll on Dorothy Tucker who suffered a nervous collapse in 1935. After a short interregnum under Helen Mathieson, the school appointed Olga Hay, a protégé and old family friend of Isabel Henderson, as headmistress in 1937.
Strongly influenced by her forward-thinking mentor Isabel Henderson, Olga Hay began her tenure with a raft of innovations. However, after Henderson’s death in 1940, Olga Hay’s regime became more conservative. During the 1940s and '50s, Clyde School gained a reputation as one of Australia’s most prestigious (and expensive) schools, though not known for high academic achievement. By the time she retired in 1959, Olga Hay had brought great economic success and stability to the school.
Joan Montgomery became principal of Clyde School in 1960 and immediately set about raising academic standards. A highly respected educationist, Montgomery embarked on a modernisation program that included a purpose-built library and science laboratories. Before she left Clyde in 1968, Montgomery recommended that the school open its doors to ‘day girls’ to increase its catchment.
Closure and amalgamation
Alice Pringle took over as principal in 1969. Times were changing, and the school faced financial difficulties. The landed gentry from whom the school sourced its pupils were disappearing. Wool prices were down. Enrolments were static and costs were soaring. Many attempts were made to attract new boarders, but the school was failing financially. In 1975 Clyde School at Woodend closed. The following year,
Braemar College, a midrange-fee co-educational day school, opened on the site. It still operates there today.
In 1976 Clyde School,
Geelong Church of England Grammar School and
Geelong Church of England Girls' Grammar School ("the Hermitage") amalgamated, and today the combined school continues as
Geelong Grammar School
Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay.
Establ ...
. Clyde House at Geelong Grammar perpetuates the school’s name.
School history
The Clyde Old Girls’ Association (COGA) continued to operate after the amalgamation and gathered together an impressive set of archives on Clyde School. In 2004 COGA commissioned a history of the school, which was researched and written by Melbourne writer
Melanie Guile. ''Clyde School: An Uncommon History'' was published by COGA in 2006.
Headmistresses
* Isabel Henderson (1910–23)
* Dorothea Tucker (1923–36)
* Olga Hay (1937–59)
* Joan Montgomery (1960–68)
* G. Pringle (1969–75)
Houses
* Braemar
* Clutha
* Faireleight
* Ingleton
School journal
''The Cluthan'' was the journal of Clyde School and Clyde Old Girls' Association until the school's amalgamation with
Geelong Grammar School
Geelong Grammar School is a private Anglican co-educational boarding and day school. The school's main campus is located in Corio on the northern outskirts of Geelong, Victoria, Australia, overlooking Corio Bay and Limeburners Bay.
Establ ...
and the Hermitage in 1976. Since that time it has been the journal of the Old Girls' Association. Its name is derived from the Latin for Clyde, Clutha.
Notable alumnae
*
Elisabeth Murdoch, philanthropist
*
Peggy Glanville-Hicks
Peggy Winsome Glanville-Hicks (29 December 191225 June 1990) was an Australian composer and music critic.
Biography
Peggy Glanville Hicks, born in Melbourne, first studied composition with Fritz Hart at the Albert Street Conservatorium in M ...
, composer
*
Joan Lindsay
Joan à Beckett Weigall, Lady Lindsay (16 November 189623 December 1984) was an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and visual artist. Trained in her youth as a painter, she published her first literary work in 1936 at age forty under a ...
, author
* Ileen Macpherson, pioneer biodynamic and organic farmer
*
Mary Turner Shaw, architect
*
Veronica Seton-Williams
Veronica Seton-Williams (20 April 1910 – 29 May 1992) FSA, was a British-Australian archaeologist who excavated in Egypt and the Near East, as well as in Britain. She studied history and political science at the University of Melbourne and t ...
, archaeologist
* Nell Vere Montagu (née Stead), Duchess of Manchester
*
Jean Beatson, motorist
*
Kathleen Gardiner, motorist
References
Melanie Guile: Clyde School 1910-1975: An Uncommon History, Clyde Old Girls’ Association, Melbourne, 2006br />
Olga J. Hay: ''The Chronicles of Clyde'', Brown Prior Anderson, Melbourne, 1966.
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Schools in Geelong
Private schools in Victoria (state)
Defunct girls' schools in Australia
Educational institutions established in 1910
1910 establishments in Australia
Educational institutions disestablished in 1975
1975 disestablishments in Australia