Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 20

FEATURES
LEFT TO RIGHT: BILL MORGAN ('34 – SCOTCH’S OLDEST KNOWN LIVING OLD BOY), THE HON DR DAVID KEMP AC ('59 – CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL COUNCIL),
REV DR JOHN WILSON (DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE SCHOOL COUNCIL), WILL DIXON (SCHOOL CAPTAIN), SCOTT MONTGOMERY ('85 – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
OSCA), ROB MCLAREN ('73 – SCHOOL VICE PRINCIPAL), JAMES DOUGLAS ('84 – PRESIDENT, OSCA), TOM BATTY (SCHOOL PRINCIPAL)
REMEMBERING 5 MARCH 1920
Described in First Hundred Years – the Scotch centenary history –
as ‘the outstanding event of the year 1920’, the laying of the Memorial
Hall foundation stone on Friday 5 March of that year, in ‘bright and
warm’ weather drew a large crowd of the Scotch Family members
of the day.
Exactly 100 years later, on Thursday 5 March 2020 – in contrast,
a cool, drizzly day – the School celebrated with a special Assembly,
organised at OSCA’s request and attended by representatives of the
School Council and OSCA Council, together with our oldest known
living Old Boy, Bill Morgan (‘34). Bill was just three on the great day in
1920, so he was a little too young to have attended the stone-laying
ceremony.
Boys from Years 9 to 12 attended the Assembly in Memorial
Hall, while the proceedings were beamed to two big screens in the
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Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020
Quadrangle, where Middle School boys watched, sheltering from
the drizzle in the cloisters.
The foundation stone laying was highly significant for Old Boys
100 years ago, less than two years after the end of the Great War
during which so many Old Scotch Collegians gave their lives. It is
still significant to the Old Boys of today. The Assembly was a most
appropriate commemoration of an important event in the life of the
School at the nascent Hawthorn site, 100 years ago.
During the 5 March 2020 Assembly, School Captain Will Dixon
read a narrative which accompanied a slide show presentation.
Here is the text of the narrative.
By 1914 it was obvious that the one hectare site at East
Melbourne was too cramped, so, in 1915, the School bought
25 hectares at Hawthorn.