The Wilkinson banner

There is a piece of bottle green cloth stored in the Brisbane Girls Grammar Archive in the metal Plan Cabinet Drawers, Drawer Number 14, and when folded it is the size of an A4 piece of paper: small, but once unfolded its significance is fascinating, and untangling its story is just as intriguing.

The strip of material unfolds into a banner 180 cm x 42 cm, with the name WILKINSON machine sewn in white letters across its length and four ties, one sewn to each corner. The care and skill exhibited in the making of this banner speaks to the pride the Wilkinson students, and more particularly, their captain, Regina List.

Shared with the House would have been one significant woman’s contribution to Girls Grammar. Milisent Wilkinson was the seventh Head Mistress of the School, from 1900 to 1912—but the banner does not look to be over 100 years old - it is obviously not from Miss Wilkinson’s era. In fact, this object represents an important event which occurred fifty-two years later.

In 1964, Form II students (later called Year 8s), commenced their secondary schooling for the first time in Queensland. In addition, the Headmistress, Mrs Louise McDonald, introduced a new structure for co-curricular competitions (predominantly sporting), namely Houses. 

Initially, there were ten Houses, each with their own distinct colour. Five were named after Chairs of the Board of Trustees: Lilley, Griffith, Woolcock, Lockhart–Gibson (shortened eventually to Gibson), and England, while five were named after former Headmistresses: O’Connor, Mackinlay, Beanland, Wilkinson, and Mackay. 

Naming a House after Milisent Wilkinson was a perfect choice as she believed that, if girls were given an equal opportunity to play sport and participate in team activities, they would be given the opportunity to develop qualities like self-restraint, good fellowship when pursuing a common aim, the ability to take defeat in good part, and esprit de corps (Head Mistress’s Report at the 1908 Speech Day). 

Regina and her mother, Sheba (1935), were avid seamstresses and the family consensus is that it is highly probable that Regina and her mother created the Wilkinson House banner.

In 1966, the number of Houses was reduced to five: Gibson, Griffith, Lilley, Woolcock, and England. Wilkinson House was merged with Gibson, the “purple” House. With approximately 143 students in each House, sporting and cultural activities flourished but the bottle green socks disappeared.