The Fifth Headmaster: George Sydney Stiles 1911-1919
Stiles came to All Saints’ with high references, both English and Australian. He was a “fine French and German Scholar”, having studied both languages on the continent. His early education was at The King’s School, Parramatta, where he won a scholarship to study at Oxford University, graduating with a B.A. in 2006. On leaving Oxford, he taught for a year in a Prussian Gymnasium, studying the Prussian system of education, and then at Marlborough College, Wiltshire, England. On returning to Australia, he joined the staff at King’s before his appointment to All Saints’ as headmaster.
He had won an amateur boxing championship whilst at Oxford, an achievement which added to the respect with which he was treated when he refereed in football matches between Bathurst town teams. His reputation even spread to the boxing troupes who used to visit Bathurst for the show, where he was often challenged to a round as “the professional from the College”!
Before his appointment, there had been a considerable decrease in school numbers, and Mr Britten had voiced his anxiety on the subject in his farewell speech on Speech Day 1910.
To enlist support, Stiles followed the example of Mr Bean by touring the outback Western districts during the vacation of 1910-1911 so as to get into personal touch with the heads of families of the Anglican community and invite them to send their sons to All Saints’. The fact that, in the following six months, he was able to double attendance may be due to his energy and zeal.
On the first day of school in 1911, there were 23 boys present, and by the end of that day, the number had doubled. From 1913 to 1919, attendance at the school fluctuated between forty-five and fifty, and there was a strain on staffing due to several staff members enlisting during the war, as well as some of the most senior boys. Lack of staff during the last years meant the headmaster often had to take two classes himself, boxing classes before breakfast, teach and coach all day and at night would read with one boy who was studying Greek!
The school was still able to field sports teams despite the small numbers and on two occasions defeated St Stanislaus in rugby. There were also some outstanding students at the school, one notable was Alan Blacket, whose “character and athletic skill set set the standards by which boys at the school were judged”. (There is a memorial plaque in the Chapel for Lieut. Alan Blacket, who died of wounds in 1916 in France.
At the beginning of 1919, prospects of improvement for All Saints’ College were still discouraging; the headmaster announced his resignation, and the school was temporarily closed until its reopening in 1923 on the present site. The school lost many material things from the old site, but its traditions and history are being safely restored in the Archives on the present site in Esrom.
Stiles Oval has been named after the “boxing” Headmaster and is an essential playing oval on the campus where it is used for cricket, athletics and rugby matches. The Chapel was the only building that could be moved brick by brick, and it now has pride of place at the front of the Junior School campus of Scots All Saints College.
Mrs Memory Sanders
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