From the Archives: Origin stories of our prizes and awards
Archivist Dr Madeline Bowers explores two newly created Speech Day prizes that honour two significant figures – one from the recent past and one from the days of the School’s founding.
In previous editions of SGS Magazine, we have explored the stories behind our annual Speech Day prizes. In this issue, we provide a preview of two new prizes to be offered for the first time over the next two years.
The Matthew Peacock Prize for Investigative Journalism
In Killer Company: James Hardie Exposed, Matt Peacock AM (OS 1969) describes driving into Baryulgil Square, a small Bundjalung community associated with an asbestos mine and mill run by the James Hardie company. Peacock observed that the dirt roads of the town were red and white – the colour of the natural topsoil mixed with asbestos tailings. Each year, twenty truckloads of asbestos tailings were spread around the town: as surfacing material for roads and the schoolyard, to fertilise lawns, and as play pits for local children.
Peacock was in Baryulgil for an ABC investigation, released in 1977, that brought the issue of asbestos exposure to the Australian public. The health impacts of exposure to asbestos fibres and waste were disastrous: rates of rare cancer and mesothelioma were far higher in Baryulgil than in nearby Aboriginal communities.
Pictured: Horse racing on an asbestos and dirt track at Wittenoom, another asbestos mining town where tailings were widely used throughout the community
Pictured: Cadet Corp Officers in 1969. Matt Peacock is in the back row, third from the left. Credit: Sydney Grammar School Archives
In Killer Company, Peacock showed how widespread Hardie’s corruption went, knowingly allowing asbestos waste to be used in household areas like driveways, disposed of in local tips and public spaces, even dumped amongst the mangroves of the Parramatta River. The hessian sacks used to transport asbestos were recycled, reused on farms and at markets, and even pulped to make carpet and mattress filling. These potential sites for exposure were known by James Hardie, yet rather than warn the public, the company chose to obfuscate the public’s awareness of the health dangers, downplay responsibility, and when finally caught, underfund their own foundation rather than pay out compensation claims.
The inaugural Matthew Peacock Prize for Investigative Journalism aims to impart Peacock’s investigative skills and passion to a new generation. Boys entering the prize will complete an original investigative project on a contemporary issue, resulting in a written paper, a presentation, and viva voce questioning from an academic panel. The prize has been established thanks to the generous donations of the Old Sydneians of the class of 1969.
The Laurence Hynes Halloran Prize
In late 1783, an argument broke out between two midshipmen aboard the HMS Iphigenia. Just sixteen years old, William Guy challenged Laurence Hynes Halloran to box to settle their disagreement. In response, Halloran drew his sword and ran Guy clean through the back. Guy died in hospital two days later, and Halloran was arrested and gaoled in Exeter, although he was acquitted in 1784. History records that he was innocent of the crime.
This dramatic episode was undoubtedly the most extreme of the crimes committed by Halloran in his life, but certainly not the last. He is known to have frequently impersonated an ordained minister, to have forged documents and testimonials, to have committed bigamy, and to have found himself in debt (itself a crime during the early 19th century). He was proud and hot-headed, often involved in conflicts and publishing libel against his perceived enemies.
Pictured: Portrait of Laurence Hynes Halloran, ca. 1825–1827 Credit: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
Yet, despite these crimes and personal faults, he was a talented schoolmaster, earning a reputation as one of the finest educators in colonial Sydney. His experience as an educator began as a tutor in the Royal Navy, where he taught mathematics and navigation to his fellow midshipmen. After his release from gaol for the murder of Guy, he opened the Alphington Academy in Exeter, which he successfully ran for twelve years until 1796, when it was closed due to declining enrolments, the dwindling economy in Exeter, and his own debts. In Bath, he briefly opened another school, before he was discovered as a fraud and fled the city.
He later returned to the navy, serving in the Battle of Trafalgar aboard the HMS Britannia. In 1818, Halloran was transported to Australia and shortly afterwards, opened Sydney Grammar School on the corner of Phillip St and Hunter St. Just like at Alphington Academy, here he provided a classical and commercial education, one that attracted the sons of prominent figures in the colony. Again, just like Alphington Academy, it was shut after a number of years due to economic changes and Halloran’s personal debts.
Pictured: Silver medal awarded to Charles Driver in 1823, designed and presented by LH Halloran. Credit: Powerhouse Collection. Purchased 1982 Photographer Anthony Potter
Undeterred, Halloran proposed the creation of the Public Free Sydney Grammar School. This school would establish many of the principles that define the Sydney Grammar School of today: a liberal education available to all, regardless of class or religion. Although the Public Free Sydney Grammar School was short-lived and Halloran and its Trustees would soon part ways, the school was revived in 1830 as Sydney College, the direct ancestor of today’s Grammar. Halloran would die in 1831 at sixty-five years of age. He was undoubtedly a complicated man. His life as we know it was characterised by deceit and violence, yet he was a pioneer of education in colonial Australia and a key figure in the history of Sydney Grammar School.
In 2027, a Speech Day prize named after Laurence Hynes Halloran will be available for Sixth Form boys in History Extension I to undertake, thanks to the generous contribution of Mr Donald Clark, a direct descendant of Halloran.
Pictured: A notice for LH Halloran’s Sydney Grammar School, published inThe Australian in 1824. Credit: Sydney Grammar School Archives
Sydney Grammar School
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