For this column, we take a break from reviewing the Headmasters of The Scots School and look at another group that made a major contribution to Scots. Each year in their annual reports, Headmasters have mentioned the important role that the School Council or Board has played in the governance of the School, and thanked the members for their efforts and the time they have put into their roles. This article is about the men (and they were all men) who chaired the School Council and Board.
The foundation Chairman of the School Council was Rev. Alan Dougan. He had helped Scots College establish the Branch School in Bathurst and chaired the Local Committee that assisted with its running. He was one of the leading proponents for the foundation of a Presbyterian school in Bathurst. Rev. Dougan was Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in NSW in 1956. In 1957, he was appointed as Master of St Andrew’s College at Sydney University, a position that he held until 1974. He was offered the position of Moderator General of the Presbyterian Church in Australia in 1979, but declined because of health issues. Rev. Dougan did return to the Scots Council for a time in the 1960s, representing the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church. He is commemorated with the Dougan Wing of classrooms, and the Day House is also still Dougan House.
Lorna Ray, the College’s neighbour at the Senior Campus, knew Alan Dougan. She once told a story about Alan Dougan being a bit of a closet racing driver. She told us that he used to enjoy getting up some speed on the Highway and testing out cars.
From 1958 to 1964, the Chairman of the Council was Dr Ralph Cameron. Dr Cameron was the School Doctor for many years and a partner in the Busby Medical Practice. His patients included one-time Prime Minister Ben Chifley. Dr Cameron was notable for introducing several new pieces of medical equipment and modern treatments into Bathurst, including the first cardio encephalogram machine. The Library was named in his honour in 1991.
After the position was filled for a year by the Bathurst Presbyterian Church’s Minister Rev. J. A. F. Watson, in 1966 Mr Campbell Alexander was elected Chairman. Mr Alexander was an accountant from Sydney. His period as Chairman (until 1981) covered the Headmasterships of Michael Aikman and John Hunter. In that time, a school that was in danger of closing in 1966 was not only turned around but also grew to record high levels of enrolment. It was also a period of massive capital expenditure on new buildings and other facilities. Cam Alexander decided on a change in his life, and after retiring from the Council, he went back to university to study Law and made a new career in that field. The Alexander Maths Centre commemorates his contribution.
A peak in enrolments was achieved during the time of the next Chairman, Mr D. L. (George) Dalziell. In 1986, the enrolments reached 386, a figure not attained again until three decades later. As a result of several successful building appeals, the Hunter-era building boom continued under his Chairmanship.
There was no one reason for the problems that beset Scots in 1996, but recession, drought, and boarding schools going out of fashion were some of the problems that the school’s governors battled as the 21st Century approached. At the time, too, the Principals of the state High Schools in Bathurst were running very successful schools. Various strategies were employed, and the Headmaster and Council worked very hard to advertise and promote the school and make changes to make it more attractive to a changing market. As a result of the financial crisis of 1996, the Presbyterian Church re-organised the governance of the School. A new School Board, as it became known, was constituted with Mr Col Langford as Chairman. Mr Langford worked for the NSW Department of Agriculture, was an Adjunct Research Associate at Charles Sturt University and a member of the Presbyterian Congregation in Goulburn.
Before he took up the Chairman’s position, Mr Langford questioned whether or not Scots had a future. He was challenged to take on the role of Chairman to resolve its problems. He took up the challenge and remained ever after a staunch advocate and promoter for the School, and the longest-serving Chairman in its history. The first major challenge of his Chairmanship was reducing the School’s debt level and re-organising its finances to ensure the problems did not recur. Increasing the number of overseas students was one strategy, which resulted in a number of outstanding students from China, Korea, Japan and Thailand becoming students of Scots and taking up Rugby League. There were setbacks, mostly caused by drought, which affected rural enrolments, but over the next few years, the numbers steadily crept up again, and there was, for the first time in many years, some new buildings, notably Dougan House (2003), the Lamrock Performing Arts Centre (2010) and the new Swimming Pool (2011). Col Langford resigned from the School Board in 2013. He was elected Moderator of the Presbyterian Church for that year.
Col Langford’s replacement was Adrian Lamrock, already well known to the Scots community from his term as Principal of the school, 1998-2003. During Adrian’s time, a member of the teaching staff observed that the Chairman’s Speech Day reports no longer mentioned debt levels and were quite upbeat. Enrolments approached the 1986 peak, the School was able to match the funds raised by the P&F to build the Tim Richards Pavilion, and was generally in a strong financial position.
One Sunday morning in August 2017, Adrian received a phone call from a senior member of the Presbyterian Property Trust and was advised to sit down, as he had some important news. Adrian was informed that the Presbyterian Church had made an offer to the Bishop in Council of the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst to buy All Saints College. The financially troubled Diocese had been forced to sell All Saints—but that is another story. The Bishop in Council had accepted the offer, and a little over a year later, Scots All Saints College was inaugurated. It was to be governed by a new Council.
Between 1946 and the end of 2017, Scots had 7 Chairmen of Council or Board. In the same period, there had been 11 Headmasters and 1 Principal. There were two occasions during those years (1966 and 1996) when there was doubt about whether or not the school would continue, but despite the various circumstances that conspired to make life difficult for Scots, the School’s governance team had successfully navigated it through all of them, and in Scots’ 80th anniversary year, we recognise their work.
Mr Andrew Maher
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