Great Scot April 2019 Great Scot_156_April_2019_Online | Page 93

THE REV. JAMES
FORBES’ MEMORIAL
IS COMPLETED –
AGAIN!
At the instigation of the Chairman of the
School Council, Dr David Kemp, the crumbling
monument in the Melbourne General Cemetery
of Scotch’s founder, the Rev. James Forbes,
was skilfully replaced with a copy made
from similar sandstone. The monument
was rededicated at a ceremony held on 12
August 2016, the 155th anniversary of Forbes’
premature death.
It was subsequently realised, however, that a
1928 photograph of the monument shows it had
an urn on top of it. A photograph in a publication
produced in 1940 did not show it — the urn had
apparently weathered and had toppled from
the monument. The stonemason had dutifully
copied what survived of the monument. With
the 1928 photograph (above right) the only
source of information for arguably the most
ornate part of the monument, a lengthy process
of reinventing the urn commenced.
The Chairman, the Archivist, and
stonemasons James McAuley and Oli Clack
met several times to settle on what the urn
once looked like. The more we zoomed in on
the sole image of it to see its details, the blurrier
it became. Eventually, however, a magnificent
recreation of the urn was crafted, and, on
Monday 4 March 2019, it was placed on top
of the Rev. James Forbes’ monument (left) to
complete this project honouring his memory.
The 25 oldest known living Old Boys (as at 5 April 2019)
1. Rev. William Morgan, b. 23 October 1915. Captain 1935. Aged 103 15. Gordon Chapman, b. 24 February 1921
2. Harold Knights (Hal) Oxley OBE, b. 22 November 1916. Aged 102 16. Graham James Carrick, b. 5 March 1921
3. Sir Cyrus Lenox Simson Hewitt OBE, b. 7 May 1917. Aged 101 17. Peter Richard Thodey, b. 17 June 1921
4. Arthur Henry Chesterman Atkins DFC, b. 5 August 1917. Aged 101 18. Edward McLaren Holmes, b. 9 November 1921
5. Dr Herbert Culvenor Purton, b. 21 November 1917. Aged 101 19. Donald Graham McDonald, b. 23 November 1921
6. John Morton Parker, b. 24 July 1918. Aged 100 20. Robert Dennis Greenslade, b. 5 December 1921
7. Daniel (Neil) Glasser MVO, b. 28 September 1918. Aged 100 21. Geoffrey Martin Dalton, b. 18 December 1921
8. Joshua John Pitt, b. 31 May 1919 22. Alan Peter Flockart, b. 22 February 1922
9. Allen Cansdell Cover, b. 13 July 1919 23. John Henning Paterson, b. 24 July 1922
10. Alexander Marshall, b. 18 September 1919 24. John Barry Allen, b. 3 August 1922
11. Malcolm Robertson Riddle, b. 18 December 1919 25. Barry Eastwood Christophers, b. 6 September 1922
12. Ronald Taft, b. 3 June 1920 Russell Norman McNaughton, b. 6 September 1922
13. Randal James Watt, b. 1 November 1920
14. Kenneth George Dumbrell, b. 17 January 1921
The youngest boy is Ronak Shaw, b. 21 March 2014
www.scotch.vic.edu.au Great Scot
93