Great Scot May 2020 Great Scot 159_MAY 2020_ONLINE_V3 | Page 88

ARCHIVES
INTER-ARCHIVE DONATIONS
FILL CRUCIAL SCOTCH
HISTORY GAPS
Donations from other archives
add valuable information to
Scotch’s collection
On 16 December 2019 I visited the Presbyterian
Church of Victoria’s Archives in South Yarra and met its
archivist, Chris Palmer. She had produced three boxes
of Scotch College material held by her archive for my
inspection.
Expecting to read through it and perhaps arrange to
copy much of it, I was astounded and very pleasantly
surprised to be told that all of it was being donated to
Scotch, and that I could take it with me.
From Scotch’s foundation in 1851 until its incorporation
in 1980, Scotch was run by the Presbyterian Church.
1.
Although Scotch remains a Presbyterian school, and
Presbyterian Church members sit on the Scotch Council, the
Church no longer creates and maintains Scotch’s records.
The single greatest part of the generous donation to Scotch were
the minute books of what was effectively Scotch’s original Council,
dating from 15 Jun 1857 to 10 March 1950. Although they have
been consulted by previous Scotch historians, there is no substitute
for having the original records at Scotch, which pre-date the arrival
of Principal Alexander Morrison (1857-1903) and cover such key
periods in Scotch history as the move from East Melbourne to
Hawthorn, and the decisions made in laying out the new school.
A fascinating early book is the 1858 Scotch cashbook which
– with a page per boy – documents the boys’ activities at Scotch
through the charges they incurred that year. Original wills show
how benefactors set up scholarships and other gifts for Scotch
boys. A bundle of papers contains applications in 1952 for the
Headmastership of Scotch: some of the unsuccessful applicants are
quite well known. Title information dates back to Scotch’s property
at East Melbourne.
Scotch is grateful for the direction by Rev. Dr John Wilson, the
Clerk of Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria and Deputy
Chairman of the Scotch Council, that these precious records be
donated to Scotch.
On 6 February 2020 the Archives received another welcome
donation, this time from the Uniting Church Archives. During a
telephone call with the Uniting Church a search of its records was
done, revealing that it held Scotch College marriage registers.
This came as a very pleasant surprise, as Scotch has no Littlejohn
88
1. COUNCIL MINUTES,
7 OCTOBER 1878
2. COUNCIL MINUTE BOOK,
15 JUNE 1857 TO 6
NOVEMBER 1882
2.
Memorial Chapel registers before 1944, and these registers dated
from 1928: eight years before the Chapel opened!
Memorial Hall was used as Scotch’s chapel from its completion
in 1922 until the Chapel was opened on 18 October 1936. Of the
weddings in the Chapel from 1944 until part-way through 1963,
Scotch only had the marriage registers of the Rev. William Alec
Fraser (born 20 May 1902, staff 1945-67, died 18 October 1990).
Weddings conducted by any other minister were only partially
reported in The Scotch Collegian, leaving a significant gap in the
record of weddings held at Scotch.
The registers donated by the Uniting Church span from 6
October 1928 to 9 September 1950. Although they fill an enormous
gap, they do not quite cover all known Scotch marriages. The
registers are primarily for weddings by the Rev. Alexander Rowan
Macneil (born 27 February 1894, SC 1907-11, staff 1925-34, died 14
October 1953) and the Rev. Stephen Edwin Yarnold (born 9 August
1903, staff 1935-44, died 25 September 1978). In time they will be
digitised, as have those of Fraser.
Scotch is grateful to the Uniting Church for its donation to Scotch
of such key records in the life of the Scotch Family.
Great Scot Issue 159 – May 2020