Page 36 - 2020 Altiora Vol 72

ALUMNI NEWS
36 |
36 | ALUMNI NEWS
FR
FROM THE ARCHIVIST
OM THE AR
CHIVIST
Due to the pandemic I was forced to work from home, so I took
the opportunity to sort through boxes that had been neglected
for too long.
My first box contained many artifacts from the time The King’s
School administered BMGS in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Mr Tommy Cuff, who was the Deputy Head of King’s, was
appointed Headmaster of Blue Mountains Grammar School
and was responsible for introducing co-education and closing
boarding for the boys. I have collated all this information so it is
available for future reference.

My second challenge was to sort a box of Coorah history
(many would remember this building as Pitt House). I found
a wonderful letter from the Reverend Albert Pitt-Owen,
Headmaster from 1953 to 1967, who wrote of his knowledge
of Coorah and his thoughts on Mr Robert Matcham Pitt, who
built the homestead for his holiday home and planted acres of
daffodils. In 1989, a book was written by Mrs Joan Edwards
(Humanities teacher) and Mr Michael Burge (1987), to celebrate
Coorah’s centenary, but I found further information in regard to
the Matcham Pitt family in the form of a novel based on the early
residents of Coorah called This Quiet Dust. Coorah is clearly
discernable on the book’s illustrated dust cover.
Mrs Marlene Plummer
M r s M a r l en e Pl u m m er
Archivist
A r ch i vi s t

V
VALEDICTORY DINNER SPECIAL GUEST
ALEDICT
ORY DINNER SPECIAL GUEST
After four years of working across industry
sectors and travelling, Dr Ward-Fear completed
her Ph.D in Conservation Science in 2016, again
at Sydney University, conducting her research
on the reptiles of tropical Australia.

Dr. Ward-Fear is currently a post-Doctoral
Researcher at Macquarie University. She
developed a conservation program to decrease
the impact of cane toads on the predators
of northern Australia and created a large
collaboration of organisations - in conservation,
government and land management - to roll out
this strategy.
It is a tradition at our Valedictory Dinners to invite a past
student to be our Guest of Honour, as each one has ‘walked Dr Ward-Fear is
a mile in the shoes’ of the Year 12 students they address one of Science
on the night. It is our hope that their stories resonate with and Technology’s
our current Year 12 students as they commence their own ‘Superstars of STEM’
journeys beyond school. and her biography
has been included
This year, we were delighted to welcome back Dr. Georgia in the 5-book series
Ward-Fear. Dr Ward-Fear, pictured above with School ‘Aussie STEM Stars’,
Captains Nicholas Mayrhofer and April Foster-Powell, was a for children aged 10-
member of MacLaurin House and graduated from BMGS in 13. We are extremely
2002. grateful to Dr Ward-
A lover of nature, Dr Ward-Fear went on to study a Bachelor Fear for donating two
of Science at Sydney University, majoring in Biology. A year copies of her book
later she did her research Honours in Invasive Species to our School libraries.
Ecology, for which she received the University Medal.