The Japanese garden

Between the Main (Gailey) Building and East Wing—and often overlooked as you rush past—sits the Japanese Garden with its distinctive ‘toro’ or ‘ishodourou’ Japanese stone shrine. Behind this tranquil space is a story central to the heart of Brisbane Girls Grammar School.

In the late 1970s, with the growth of interest in the Japanese language and culture, there was an increasing number of students studying Japanese at Grammar. In fact, this School was one of the first Queensland schools to introduce the Japanese language into the curriculum. A relationship was created in 1978 with Hirayama Gakuen Tsushima Girls High, located in Tsushima City, to enhance this language experience. Later, in the early 90s, the school became known as Seirinkan High School. This was our first Affiliate Sister School.

The former owner and Chairman of Seirinkan High School, Mr Tetsuryo Hirayama, decided that this garden would be his gift to commemorate the tenth anniversary of our mutual friendship and exchange. Mr Hirayama agreed with then Principal, Mrs Judith Hancock, to construct this garden at our Spring Hill campus.

Mr Hirayama brought his own school gardener, Mr Yoshinori Ishihara, to Australia. His educational colleagues, Mr Ishihara with Mr Masayoshi Uchiyama, both from Sydney, surveyed the area, purchased all the construction materials and equipment to bring the garden to life on our campus. Mr Ishihara, familiar in his grey jodhpurs, carefully selected every rock and, as if sculpting a work of art, carefully determined the placement and orientation of each.

The garden was formally opened on 4 August 1988, by Principal, Mrs Judith Hancock, in the presence of Mr Hirayama, the Chair of the Board of Trustees, and the Japanese Vice-Consul to Brisbane.

This gesture and extraordinary gift on the part of Hirayama Gakuen Tsushima Girls High School, is an opportunity to consider the relationship between our two schools and to understand the common values and shared educational goals. Every year, before the COVID-19 pandemic, Brisbane Girls Grammar School welcomed students from Seirinkan High School. In return, many of our students over the years have also had the opportunity to go to Tsushima City, live with a Japanese family, and attend the school there.

The commitment to a close and genuine relationship between the two schools, so far apart in geographical terms, is attested when the granddaughter of Mr Tetsuryo Hirayama, Remi Hirayama, is spending her secondary education here as a Grammar girl.

The Hirayama garden remains a testament to our ongoing intent to forge genuine sister school relationships and encourage and guide Grammar girls to share the world in understanding. Shaded by a large (now mature) Lillypilly tree and surrounded by flowering shrubs and grasses, it provides a moment of beauty, reflection, and peace.