May 2011 - Ipswich Grammar School

IPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOL 

OLD BOYS’ ASSOCIATION 

OBA COUNCIL 

President 

Bob Adcock 

Vice President/Treasurer 

Greg Whitehead 

Secretary 

Russell Brockman 

Registrar 

John Edmondson 

Assistant Registrar 

Eric Clarke 

School Liaison Officer 

Oliver Hughes 

CONTACTS 

Phone 

(07) 3813 9600 

Fax 

(07) 3280 1311 

Postal 

Ipswich Grammar School 

Old Boys’ Association 

Locked Bag 6000 

North Ipswich Q 4305 

Email 

oldboys@ipswichgrammar.com 

Online 

www.ipswichgrammar.com 

www.twitter.com/MyIGS 

www.facebook.com/MyIGS 

Daren Parsons will return to 

Ipswich Grammar School as 

guest speaker at the annual Old 

Boys’ Dinner on July 16. 

An Air Crew Officer with 

Emergency Management 

Queensland, Mr Parsons was at 

the centre of rescue efforts when 

the tiny town of Grantham was 

destroyed by floodwater in January. 

He attended Ipswich Grammar 

School from 1976-1980, played 

First XV rugby and was a GPS 

swimming representative. 

His efforts during Grantham’s 

devastating flood were recognised 

with an International Rescue of the 

Year Award in March. 

“There were literally hundreds 

of people in Grantham, we just 

picked one end of town and 

worked our way along,” he said 

after the flood. 

“We could see people getting 

washed away but we couldn’t do 

anything to help them. That was 

pretty hard to take. 

“We were the crew that was 

working that day. We did our job, 

that’s what we get paid to do. 

“I am a proud Old Boy who 

went to a great school and I’m 

also proud of who I work for.” 

MAY 2011 NEWSLETTER 

GRANTHAM RESCUER 

TO SPEAK AT DINNER 

Grammar Old Boy Daren Parsons. 

Tickets to the July 16 Old Boys’ 

Dinner are $55 each or $50 for 

school leavers from 2006 to 2010. 

Prices include dinner, drinks, 

wine tasting and more. 

See page 6 of this month’s 

newsletter for the booking form 

and more information. 

www.ipswichgrammar.com - oldboys@ipswichgrammar.com - www.twitter.com/MyIGS - www.facebook.com/MyIGS

2011 ANZAC DAY MESSAGE 

One hundred years ago a young 

man graduated from Ipswich 

Grammar School. 

He had made a name for 

himself as a champion runner 

and would, like many of 

our modern day graduates, 

go to university and study 

engineering. 

At the University of Queensland 

he would distinguish himself 

once more as an athlete and go 

on to represent his state. 

On Anzac Day the school 

community remembered Old 

Boy Trevor Francis, one of 

202 young men who attended 

Ipswich Grammar and fought in 

the Great War of 1914-1918. 

Mr Francis was born on 8 June 

1890 to John Vigers Francis and 

Isabella Anderson. 

It wasn’t until 1908, when he 

was nearly 18, that he enrolled at 

Ipswich Grammar School. 

As a schoolboy athlete Mr 

Francis was extremely successful. 

Some of his highlights include 

running 100 yards in 10 seconds, 

creating state records for the 

440 yards and 880 yards and 

being the dominant athlete in a 

meet called the Chelmsford Cup 

between Ipswich, Toowoomba 

and Brisbane Grammar schools. 

Mr Francis’ 440 time of 

50.1 seconds was not beaten 

for 50 years. He also ran for 

Queensland against New 

Zealand in the Australasian 

Championships in 1911. 

At university he was the first 

student to win a blue for athletics 

– the highest sporting award for 

The IGS community paused to remember Old Boy Trevor Francis on Anzac Day. 

an athlete and scholar. 

It was an award he won in 

1912, 1913 and 1914. 

War broke out in Europe in 

August 1914 and on 24 August 

1915, close to graduating from 

engineering, Mr Francis enlisted 

in the army. 

He was posted for a short time 

to the Light Horse Mounted 

Police but soon transferred to 

Queensland’s 9th Battalion and 

joined other enlistees in Egypt. 

In late 1915, the Australian 

Army expanded to replace 

the Allied Divisions that was 

decimated in France and Belgium. 

Extra Divisions were created 

and Mr Francis was transferred 

to the 53rd Battalion, which was 

part of the 14th Brigade in the 

5th Division. 

They arrived in France less 

than four days before the Allies 

launched their attack on the 

Somme on 1 July 1916. 

After nearly five months of the 

Somme campaign there were 

more than one million Allied and 

German casualties, 300,000 of 

whom were killed in action. 

The 53rd Battalion was a body 

of about 800 men, and at the end 

of the battle they had suffered 

625 casualties. 

- To page 3 


TREVOR FRANCIS TRIBUTE 

- From page 2 

The 53rd lined up against 

the German lines with other 

members of the 14th Brigade, 

side by side with Pompey 

Elliot’s 15th Brigade. 

A member of that brigade was 

another IGS Old Boy, Captain 

Norman Gibbins, who died in 

the last moments of the fight. 

Gibbins was one of 1,917 

Australians killed that day 

with a total of 5,533 Australian 

soldiers killed, wounded or 

taken prisoner. 

It was an ill-conceived attack 

across open ground into the 

waiting guns of a heavily 

entrenched enemy. 

For his action during 

this battle Mr Francis was 

recommended for the Military 

Cross, which is proudly 

displayed in the Ipswich 

Grammar School Museum. 

Following the Battle of 

Fromelles, Mr Francis spent 

months convalescing in a 

military hospital in London. 

In February and March 1917 

the Germans would surprise 

the Allies with a strategic 

withdrawal from the front line. 

Over the winter, several miles 

behind their lines, they had been 

preparing what they hoped 

would be an impenetrable wall 

of concrete and barbed wire that 

would later be known as the 

Hindenburg Line. 

Mr Francis re-joined the 53rd 

Battalion for the Allied advance 

that followed the German retreat. 

South of the French town of 

Trevor Francis’ Military Cross. 

Bapaume, near a little village 

called Le Transloy, the 53rd 

were entrenched during a break 

in the pursuit of the Germans. 

He was now Captain Trevor 

Francis, but not even decorated 

soldiers are impervious to 

bullets and shrapnel. 

As the Germans pulled back 

to the Hindenburg Line they 

fought a series of skirmishes to 

delay the Allied troops. 

On 14 March 1917, Capt 

Francis was immerging from 

his dugout with Sergeant Major 

Munro to observe the enemy 

artillery fire. 

At that moment an enemy 

shell exploded in their trench 

and they were killed instantly. 

Capt Francis’ body was laid 

to rest in a temporary grave 

nearby and was eventually 

buried in the Guards Cemetery 

near Lesboeufs. 

The school leaders of the time 

searched for meaning in his death. 

They reflected, “One cannot 

help allowing pride to overcome 

sorrow. Surely his 26 years were 

worth living, and he did not die 

in vain.” 

So how did Trevor Francis 

view himself on the grand stage 

of war? Three months before he 

died, other people and places 

were on his mind. 

From “Somewhere in France” 

he wrote to Richard Kerr, 

the Headmaster of Ipswich 


Mr Francis asked about the 

school and was disappointed 

he hadn’t received a magazine 

in the post – he was looking 

forward to catching up on news 

about his old school. 

He wrote of the weather, 

friendships and the kindness 

of those who had helped him 

recover from his injuries. 

Mr Francis looked forward 

to renewing friendships and 

visiting Scotland, although he 

admitted, “In the meantime 

anything can happen.” 

So far away from Australia, 

from Ipswich and his home, he 

was also thinking of IGS. 

“Please remember me to Mrs 

Kerr,” he wrote, “I am, an old 

student.” 

By John Acutt, with Sophie 

Church, John Edmondson, Eric 

Clarke and Edwin Habben. 


CALENDAR 

• May 7: New Old Boys’ 

Day at the home round of 

rugby and football versus 

Gregory Terrace. 

• July 16: Old Boys’ 

Association annual dinner 

after the home round of 

rugby and football versus 

Churchie. 

• September 23: Old Boys’ 

Association golf day at 

Ipswich Golf Club. Entry 

is $60 each including 

lunch, golf and cart hire. 

8.30am registration for 

a 9am shotgun start. 

Teams of four, with ladies 

more than welcome. 

A limited number of 

sponsorship opportunities 

are available for $250 

each. Your investment 

includes on-course signage, 

acknowledgement in 

the monthly Old Boys’ 

Newsletter and weekly 

Grammar Word and your 

business logo on score 

cards and signage. You can 

also sponsor a hole and 

enter a team of four golfers 

for $400. Invitations will be 

emailed this month. 

SCHOOL COMMUNITY 

REMEMBERS OLD BOYS 

Ipswich Grammar has been advised 

of the passing of the following Old 

Boys in recent months. 

• Frank Kenneth White: (1936- 

1940) of Elanora died on October 

7, 2010. Frank served with the 

Bomber Command in Europe 

during World War II. He began 

a banking career after being 

discharged from the Air Force. 

• Leonard Varley: (1950-1953) 

of Raceview died on December 

11, 2010. Beloved husband of 

Janice and much-loved father of 

Heather and Paul. 

• David Ian Roach: (1974-1978) 

of Kenmore Hills died in January 

2011 after a prolonged battle 

with cancer. David was IGS Vice 

Captain in 1978. 

• Keith Alexander Esdale OBE: 

(1935-1938) of Burwood, Victoria 

died on February 16, 2011. He 

retired from a banking career as 

ANZ Queensland manager. His 

daughter, Caroline Anderson, is 

a past principal of Ipswich Girls’ 


• Maurice ‘Earle’ Williams: 

(1937-1941) died at Brassall 

Village on March 30, 2011. Earle 

remains the only IGS cricketer 

to score a double century in 

GPS competition with 217 

not out against TSS in 1941. 

He enlisted in the RAAF in 

1941 and spent three years in 

Maurice ‘Earle’ Williams. 

England flying in Wellington 

and Lancaster bombers. After 

the war he continued his studies 

and became a teacher with 

the Queensland Education 

Department until 1957, when 

he returned to IGS as a teacher 

and sports master. Earle passed 

on his flight experience as Flight 

Commander of the school’s Air 

Training Corps and coached 

a number of GPS First XI 

premiership teams. He retired 

from full time teaching in 1988, 

but maintained an interest 

in the school and Old Boys’ 

Association. The GPS cricket 

trophy is named in his honour. 


REUNIONS 

• 1961 50-year reunion: 

Hedley Watson is proposing 

a 50-year reunion in 

conjunction with the annual 

dinner at the school on July 

16. Hedley can be contacted 

at hswatson@iprimus.com.au 

or on (07) 3351 1265. 


Warwick Marler and Alex 

Smyth are organising a 

40-year reunion with an 

evening function at the 

Victoria Barracks Brisbane 

Club on October 8. Old 

Boys should email Warwick 

at warwick@darvall.com or 

Alex at alexander.smyth1@ 

defence.gov.au. 

• 1981 30-year reunions: 

Mal Varitimos is 

encouraging 1981 seniors 

to attend the annual 

dinner on July 16. For 

more information, email 

malvaritimos@qldbar.asn 

or phone 0419 685 155. 

Former seniors can contact 

Richard McTaggart on 4942 

7570 or richard@dcs.net.au 

or Tim Mckee on 0416 039 

381 or magoos@optusnet. 

com.au about a proposed 

reunion on May 14. 


Old Boys Michael 

Fanshawe and Jeff Hardie 

have expressed interest 

in organising a reunion. 

The event will be held in 

Ipswich and Brisbane on 

the weekend of October 

21, with the main focus 

being a cocktail party at 

the Story Bridge Hotel. 

For more, email Michael at 

mfanshawe@mac.com or 

Jeff at tolcin02@bigpond.net.au. 

Ipswich Grammar Old Boy Shane Watson made history with an unbeaten 185 

runs off 96 balls including 15 sixes in a one day game against Bangladesh. 

IPSWICH GRAMMAR 

MAKING HEADLINES 

Click on the links or copy and 

paste them into your internet 

browser to see who has been 

making headlines. 

• Grammar students pitch in, 

The Queensland Times, April 20 

http://tinyurl.com/4yus6fu 

• Kennedy in contention for 

Origin selection, The Daily 

Telegraph, April 15 

http://tinyurl.com/6xwkkx4 

• Versatile Reds on target for 

Crown, The Queensland Times, 

April 13 

http://tinyurl.com/3jnumtk 

• Shane Watson in recordbreaking 

innings against 

Bangladesh, The Daily 

Telegraph, April 12 

http://tinyurl.com/3ql8w5j 

• School aces dig for Bendigo 

Gold, The Queensland Times, 

April 9 

http://tinyurl.com/67amv33 

• Kennedy has every right to 

choose, The Daily Telegraph, 

April 7 

http://tinyurl.com/3lf96yb 

• Ipswich remembers IGS 

stalwart, The Queensland 

Times, April 6 

http://tinyurl.com/3qmlxj7 

• Kennedy locked in for 

Maroons, The Queensland 

Times, April 6 

http://tinyurl.com/4xqxyt6 

• Shane Watson shows 

leadership qualities, Ipswich 

News, March 31 

http://tinyurl.com/6zrz5jl 


OLD BOYS’ DINNER, JULY 16 

NIGHT INCLUDES DRINKS AND GUEST SPEAKER AT THE SCHOOL 

Full name_______________________________________________________________ 

Partner’s name (if attending )______________________________________________ 

Postal address___________________________________________________________ 

________________________________________________________________________ 

Phone_______________ Mobile_______________ Email________________________ 

The Ipswich Grammar School Building Fund is an approved fund for income tax 

deductions. Donations of $50 or more entitle you to be registered as a subscriber 

to the school and give you a vote in future elections for the Board of Trustees. 

Dinner $55 each, $50 for partners and school leavers from 2006. 

Donation to IGS Building Fund 

Donation to IGS Old Boys’ Association 

Old Boys’ tie $30 

Firsts representative tie $30. Please advise qualifications. 

Old Boys’ shirt $30 Size: M L XL XXL XXXL 

Old Boys’ cap $15 

DONATIONS 

PAYMENT AND OLD BOYS’ MERCHANDISE 

TOTAL $ 

Please find enclosed my cheque, or charge my: Mastercard Visa American Express 

Name_________________________ Signature_________________________ Expiry______ / ______ 

If paying by credit card, you can fax your form to the school on 3280 1311. 

RSVP BY JULY 6 TO IGSOBA, C/- LOCKED BAG 6000, NORTH IPSWICH Q 4305 


OLD BOYS’ ASSOCIATION 

Dear IGS Old Boy, 

The Ipswich Grammar School Old Boys’ Association newsletter has entered the 

digital age. 

Going digital is a fast and environmentally-friendly way of engaging the IGS 

community. 

The monthly Old Boys’ newsletter joined The Grammar Word and Junior School 

Bulletin in an online format early this year. 

A more traditional OBA newsletter has been included with this form. 

Future newsletters will be emailed and will also be available online at 

www.ipswichgrammar.com/news/ 

To receive the monthly newsletter via email, please complete the information below 

and return it to IGSOBA, C/- Locked Bag 6000, North Ipswich Q 4305. 

Alternatively, you can email your updated details to oldboys@ipswichgrammar.com 

Please let us know if you do not have email access and have family or friends who 

would like to receive the newsletter on your behalf. 

Thanks for your support, 

Bob Adcock 

Old Boys’ Association President 

OLD BOYS’ INFORMATION UPDATE 

Name___________________________________ 

Email___________________________________ 

Years at IGS_____ - _____ 


IPSWICH GRAMMAR SCHOOL SESQUICENTENARY PROJECT QUESTIONNAIRE 

Name:_____________________________________________________________ 

Address:_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Phone number :___________________________________ 

Email address: ___________________________________ 

Attended IGS from _______ to ________ as a boarder/day boy (delete as applicable). 

What is your earliest memory of IGS? 

Please describe any significant/interesting memories of being in the classroom (eg topics you studied, books you 

used, classroom equipment, humorous incidents etc): 

Please describe any memories relating to particular teachers: 


Please describe any memories relating to your classmates/peers: 

Please describe any memories relating to sports or extra-curricula activities: 

If you were a boarder, what was boarding life like? Were you homesick? What was the food like? What were the 

facilities/accommodation like? 

Finally, what does being an IGS Old Boy mean to you? 

Thank you very much for completing this questionnaire; your time is greatly appreciated. Please sign the consent note 

below and return the form to Sophie Church at Ipswich Grammar School, Locked Mailbag 6000, North Ipswich 4305. 

I, _____________________________________ understand that the information I have provided on this questionnaire 

will be held by Ipswich Grammar School. It will not be passed on to third parties but may be used for publication 

purposes by Ipswich Grammar School. I assign all rights in the material provided on this questionnaire to Ipswich 


Signed: _____________________________________ 

Date:____________________________

May 2011 - Ipswich Grammar School

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