THE KING’S SCHOOL MAGAZINE

 I ENTERED King's School on the day it opened, and may even claim to have been the first boy there.      
       The School was first held in a large building in George Street, and, as the number of scholars rapidly increased, additional classrooms had soon to be erected, and the adjoining building had to be taken. From the beginning King’s School took its place among the leading Grammar Schools in the Colony and it has always retained its popularity.
      The first President was Bishop Broughton, who visited and examined the School. The Head Masters were always Clergymen of the Church of England. Some of the teachers were also Church of England Clergymen, among them the Rev. Clarke the well known geologist.
      The first Head Master was the Rev. Robert Forrest, a gentleman of noble bearing, a through scholar, a successful teacher, and greatly respected by all in the school. I thought, however, during my school days, and I am sure now, that he used the cane a little too freely. Mrs. Forrest was tall, very thin, somewhat delicate, and rather reserved in manner. She was always very anxious about the health of the boys, and good at administering medicine. This prompted one of the wags at the school to write –

“Long Bob and Slender Jane
One gives physic and the other gives cane.”
      But though, as I have said, Mr. Forrest used the cane too freely, he was  very kind, and always greatly delighted when a boy got on well, and was ever  ready to help the weak and struggling. I remember my first examination in English, and how signally I failed, and how a few kind words by the Head Master encouraged me to plod on.
      Mr. Forrest took a great interest in our sports, and frequently played cricket with us. He was not a great cricketer, but we were always glad to have him with us, and, and if he could not bat or bowl first-rate, he had Virgil and Homer at his fingers’ ends, and occasionally gave us an apt quotation at a good stroke or failure in the game. Once when one of the team measured his length on the ground, and his weekly pence rattled in his pocket, Mr. Forrest quoted from Homer a line in which he described the fall of one of his heroes, and the loud rattling of his armour.
      He was no bigot. He used to tell us boys that he was thoroughly a Church of England man, but that if he was in any place where there was no Church of England service, he would go to some other Protestant Church. When I returned the first time from Fiji I called on him and he was delighted to see me, and to hear of the work of the Wesleyan Mission in the Islands.
      Mr. Forrest was a great snuff taker. His box was generally before him on his desk, and when he was absent for a few minutes the sweet-scented Tonquin bean tempted many a boy to take a pinch, and. I fear made them as bad snuff-takers as the Head Master himself.
      We had one “barring out” while I was at the school. Mr. Forrest had told us a story of the “barring out” of the master of a school where he was educated, and, keeping our precentor’s example in view, arrangements were made for barring him out. All the boys entered heartily into the preparations. Desks and forms were piled against the doors and windows, and every precaution was taken to prevent the Head Master’s entrance. The school-hour came, and when Mr. Forrest presented himself at the door he found it closed. He tried again and again to open it but failed. All within the schoolroom were very quiet for a time, until someone laughed, and the rest quickly followed, and then there was a row. Mr. Forrest now understanding what had happened, stormed and threatened to bring in the police, and I know not what else. But it was all in vain until the courage of a few began to fail, and they escaped through one of the windows. This soon brought the rebellion to an end. A great many of us were in disgrace and expected some punishment, but, although Mr. Forrest was very angry when we were called before him, and in answer to his enquiry, “Why did you do this ?” one of the boys replied, “ You told us, sir, that you had done it once,” his anger cooled down in a moment, for he saw the mistake he had made in telling that story. He required each one of us to promise on our honour that we would never repeat the offence, and we never did.
      Mr. Forrest was well-known in the town, and exerted a powerful influence for good. The fear of him was on evil-doers. I have known him to go between men who were quarrelling, in the street, and separate them without difficulty.
      Among the other masters in the school were Mr. Hatch, a very quiet man, but a good teacher, and the Rev. William Woolls, D.D., whose works on Botany are well known in New South Wales. Dr. Woolls was very popular, and greatly beloved by the boys, and indeed by all who knew him. I had the very great pleasure of meeting him at his home in Burwood, Sydney, in January, 1892, and had a long and deeply interesting conversation with him about King’s School, its masters and boys in the days long ago. He died at Burwood on March 14th, 1893. In a letter of that date, the Rev. C. J. Prescott, M.A., President and Head-master of the Methodist Ladies’ College, Burwood, writes :- “You will be grieved to hear that your old master, Dr. Woolls, passed away this morning. I saw him lying in death, his face placid and quiet as if in sleep. He was a sweet, benevolent, religious soul.” In 1890, I had a letter from Dr. Woolls, in which he said very few of the ‘Old Boys’ of the King’s School are now living. “With the exception of H. Taylor, G. Martin, and J. Oxley, I do not know of any residing near Sydney ; and I believe of all the old masters I am the only one left. Dr. Harris, the present head-master of the school, is a worthy successor to Forrest and Macarthur. In addition to his scholastic labors, he takes a lively interest in useful institutions.”
      Not only Parramatta and New South Wales, but all Australasia owes much to the King’s School. Of the large number of boys educated there, very many have made their way into Parliament, into the medical, legal, and clerical professions, and into the army and navy. One of them G. F. Macarthur, became a clergyman of the Church of England and head-master. Foster and Sutton were at one time members of the New South Wales Government. Another Foster was a barrister. A Cox was elected a member of parliament in New Zealand. One of the Bloomfields entered the army and returned to the colony as Colonel Bloomfield. Among the earliest scholars in the school were the Palmers, Oxleys, Blaxlands, Lockyears, Martins, Suttors, Lumsdens, and Taylor, Rutter, Armytage, Gordon, Styles, Millard, Ritchie, Chisholm, D’Arcy, Bettington, Dangar, Tindale, Lane, Brown, Betts, Druid.
       After being a pupil at King’s School between five and six years, and a year’s absence, I was engaged as a teacher for two years. I am now in my seventy-eighth year, but I remember with gratitude to God that I had the very great privilege of being a scholar there.

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Transcribed by John Raymond, Brisbane, Australia - Sept. 2004