The photograph depicts 12 young women students who were part of the 1951 Ruyton Girls' School hockey team. The students are all dressed in light coloured shorts with a collared, buttoned blouse, wool blazers, white socks and white sneakers. Three girls are kneeling in the front row, and nine are standing up in the back row. All of the students are holding their own hockey stick. The photograph was taken on School grounds, next to a pond which is no longer in existence at Ruyton. The idea of field hockey for female players was brought to Victoria by two sisters, Lillian and Margaret Irving, who had first seen girls playing it during their travels in England in 1902. By 1903, the Irving sisters were joint headmistresses of Lauriston, a school they had founded two years earlier. Both had deep connections to Ruyton Girls' School through their time as teachers at the older school during the 1880s-1890s. For Lilian Irving, this had included seven years as Ruyton's co-Principal with Miss Eliza Bromby from 1888-1895. With these links it was only natural that Ruyton students would join Lauriston to try out the new game. On a vacant block on the corner of Mercer and Malvern Roads, students from Ruyton and Lauriston Girls' Schools had assembled to play Victoria’s first ever inter-school hockey match for girls. Some students from Melbourne Girls' Grammar School came along to watch the spectacle and assess the new game's potential. Hockey quickly caught on, and friendly games were soon being played amongst a number of Melbourne's girls' schools. An Association was formed in 1905, and the rules formalised. These included arrangements around the competition fixture and the length of games (35 minutes for each half). In celebration of their joint role in bringing field hockey to Victorian school girls, Ruyton and Lauriston have met for friendly re-enactment matches in 2003 and 2018. The photograph also illustrates the shift in hockey uniform and apparatus. In the early 1920s, Ruyton established instructions for playing attire: "skirts must be eight inches off the ground. No white petticoats...", and importantly, least any team get an unfair advantage, "hard-rimmed hats and hatpins must not be worn during play." Ruyton appears to have taken the latter instruction to heart, and adopted the soft tam o’shanter hat as seen in surviving photographs of early teams. The tam o’shanter may have been removed for play, but the blouse and long skirt had to be put up with. According to Lilian Irving they had "a horrid habit of parting company", and she was delighted to see the transition to a more comfortable tunic in later years. Another change she observed was the hockey stick itself, which originally were all of "uniform thickness from handle to head, about the thickness of a stout walking stick" and so very different from the hockey sticks that are used today.The record has strong historic significance as it depicts a former notable student, Helen Gordon (maiden name Cole), pictured third from the right in the front row. Helen started at Little Ruyton in Prep 1940 and finished Year 12 in 1952 as School Captain, Bromby Captain, Form Captain for Matric, Tennis Captain, Hockey Captain, Swimming Vice Captain, and an award for Best All-Round Girl. She also played baseball for Victoria. After finishing school, Helen went on to graduate from the University of Melbourne as a physiotherapist in 1956. Her first position at age 19 involved setting up clinics with the Victorian Health Department Poliomyelitis Rural division. Helen’s strong ties to Ruyton continued when she held the position of President of the Old Ruytonians’ Association from the start of 1966 to the end of 1967. In 2019, Helen received an Order of Australia Medal for service to community health as a physiotherapist. She was also the recipient of the 2022 Victorian Senior Achiever Award at Parliament House. Helen passed away in July 2023 at age 88. The record's significance is further enhanced by its strong provenance, having been produced by Ruyton Girls' School and donated to the Archives by a familial connection.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper.Reverse: Felicity Jacobs / Ann Dickinson / RGS011/1951/0002 /ruyton girls' school, ruyton, hockey, sport, school sport, field hockey, kew, melbourne, girls school, students, school uniform

Depicted are nine Ruyton Girls' School prefects for the 1951 school year. The image is a formal school portrait taken outdoors on school grounds outside of Henty House (formerly Tarring). In the background, we can see three bicycles with cane baskets. The students are all dressed in knee-length check skirts, a dark jumper, light-coloured collared button-up blouse with a dark tie, wool blazers, and dark coloured shoes. Four girls are standing in the back row, and five are positioned in the front row. Students in the back row have been identified from left to right as M. Murray, B. Addison, T. Abson and H. Cole; in the front row, from left to right we can see S. Backhouse, J. Wigg (Vice Captain), F. Jacobs (Captain), E. Duff, and A. Dickinson. The same photograph appears in the Ruytonian 1951. Student leadership commenced at Ruyton Girls' School in 1906 with the introduction of the prefect system. Prefects had numerous responsibilities—gate duty, grounds duty, classroom marking, assembly door watch, uniform monitoring, and even supervising student detention. In 1947, a dedicated Prefects Room was erected on the east side of the Ruyton Girls' School Assembly Room in Henty House. The prefects system was revised in 1968 with a new leadership structure: there would be a permanent School Captain, Vice Captain and School Sports Captain; six permanent prefects would be elected, and the rest of the Matriculation class would form committees. These included Library, Social Services, S.C.M., Editorial, and Music. In this way, it was thought "that each Matric girl would have a certain amount of responsibility." With this revised structure came a brand new Prefects' Study, located in a former classroom next to the Domestic Science building. Each prefect was allocated one book locker, one clothing locker, "a small share in the heater", plus a new shared lounge. The prefect system was updated again in 1974. All sixth formers would become prefects, or "school officials." This saw the sixth form divided into two halves: one group would be prefects for the first half of the year, then the second group would take the reigns in the latter half of the year. In October 2023, Ruyton announced a new collaborative leadership structure for captains, prefects and house leaders, which would see two students in each leadership role.The record has strong historic significance as it depicts a former notable student, Helen Gordon (maiden name Cole), pictured third from the right in the front row. Helen started at Little Ruyton in Prep 1940 and finished Year 12 in 1952 as School Captain, Bromby Captain, Form Captain for Matric, Tennis Captain, Hockey Captain, Swimming Vice Captain, and an award for Best All-Round Girl. She also played baseball for Victoria. After finishing school, Helen went on to graduate from the University of Melbourne as a physiotherapist in 1956. Her first position at age 19 involved setting up clinics with the Victorian Health Department Poliomyelitis Rural division. Helen’s strong ties to Ruyton continued when she held the position of President of the Old Ruytonians’ Association from the start of 1966 to the end of 1967. In 2019, Helen received an Order of Australia Medal for service to community health as a physiotherapist. She was also the recipient of the 2022 Victorian Senior Achiever Award at Parliament House. Helen passed away in July 2023 at age 88. The record's significance is further enhanced by its strong provenance, having been produced by Ruyton Girls' School and donated to the Archives by a familial connection.Black and white rectangular photograph printed on matte photographic paper.Reverse: Felicity Jacobs / Judi Olsen / Ann Dickinson / Bev. Addison / RGS011/1951/0004 /ruyton girls' school, ruyton, students, school, senior school, girls school, kew, melbourne, school uniform, prefects, photograph, henry henty, henty house, marion henty, tarring

Hard Copiesreunion, tinker, cunningham, 1952, parkinson, east, matthews, callaghan, blackie, wilkie, ahern, mclean, wilkes, tantau, fitzpatrick, holloway, jasper, gough

Hard Copiesmargaret, griffiths, gallagher, 1952, pts

Photohourigan, beattie, finalists, april, 1952

Photoalison, gough, july, 1952, margaret, morrish, thomas, jan

Digital Photowinsome, menadue, yvonne, snibson, oct, 1952, pts

Paper A4 sizepts, exam, 1952. collard, smith, ballarat base hospital,

Hard Copymenadue, pts, 1952, bed, sponge,

Photosr, elwyn, wilkes, 1952, 1955

Photooctober, 1952, pts

Back Row: Anne Matthew; Pam Knipe; Barbara Knight; Alison Brennan; Alma Beattie; Mabel Gallagher. Middle Row: Mary Abernethy; Nita Harris; Anna Ritchie; Renate Akers; Margaret Arthur; Julie Hourigan. Front Row: Jennifer Dunstan; Edna Howard; Margaret I. Thomas; Valeria Menhennett; Isobel Tyrrell; Joy Wilson; Fay Eudey.bbh, pts, april, 1952, 52b

Photonurses home, bbh

Photo

Photo1952 -1956, alison gough

Photo1950, margaret downes,1949, 1952, clunes

Created during her residency at Laughing Waters, Ash, the performance is a response to concurring world events and continues Orr's practice of using her own body as the site for creating provocative imagery. In Ash, she explored a familiar theme - our relationship with the environment. The audience was are asked to peer inside a rough wooden hut where Orr laid motionless on a coffin-like slab. The floor was strewn with forest litter and her own body, covered in ashes, carried text messages as reflections on human suffering, in particular the plight of refugees in Australia.Photograph - cibachrome depicting the artist Jill Orr in a reclined position, swathed in fabric. There is black text all over her body carrying messages about war and the plight of refugees.laughing waters, jill orr, ash

The 'Cycles' series is an extension of two large scale provisional installations '150 Rotations', Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, and '356 Rotations', AC Institute in New York, which also re-purposed and aestheticised multiple paper units into hundreds of circular motifs.The immediate tactile connection with the material excesses and detritus of contemporary consumer culture informs the theoretical framework and conceptual understanding of Gower's practice, and associates her work with ideas of recovery and re-purpose, sustainable practice and thrift strategies that critique excesses of mass production and the notion of impermanence. This series was made ‘in transit’ during the artist’s recent studio residencies at Point[B], New York and Laughing Waters, Eltham, and at three temporary studios in Rome, Berlin and Collingwood.Kaleidoscope pattern of multiple segments (logos-Lipton tea) from commercial (food) catalogues on commercial packaging (cardboard - round lid). No inscriptions and markingscycles, gower, collage, pattern, logos, commercialism, consumerism, repurpose, recycle, riverbend, laughing waters

The 'Cycles' series is an extension of two large scale provisional installations '150 Rotations', Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, and '356 Rotations', AC Institute in New York, which also re-purposed and aestheticised multiple paper units into hundreds of circular motifs.The immediate tactile connection with the material excesses and detritus of contemporary consumer culture informs the theoretical framework and conceptual understanding of Gower's practice, and associates her work with ideas of recovery and re-purpose, sustainable practice and thrift strategies that critique excesses of mass production and the notion of impermanence. This series was made ‘in transit’ during the artist’s recent studio residencies at Point[B], New York and Laughing Waters, Eltham, and at three temporary studios in Rome, Berlin and Collingwood.Kaleidoscope pattern of multiple segments (logos-Purina 'fancy feast') from commercial (food) catalogues on commercial packaging (cardboard - round lid). No inscriptions and markingscycles, gower, collage, pattern, logos, commercialism, consumerism, repurpose, recycle, riverbend, laughing waters

The 'Cycles' series is an extension of two large scale provisional installations '150 Rotations', Melbourne Now, National Gallery of Victoria, and '356 Rotations', AC Institute in New York, which also re-purposed and aestheticised multiple paper units into hundreds of circular motifs.The immediate tactile connection with the material excesses and detritus of contemporary consumer culture informs the theoretical framework and conceptual understanding of Gower's practice, and associates her work with ideas of recovery and re-purpose, sustainable practice and thrift strategies that critique excesses of mass production and the notion of impermanence. This series was made ‘in transit’ during the artist’s recent studio residencies at Point[B], New York and Laughing Waters, Eltham, and at three temporary studios in Rome, Berlin and Collingwood.Kaleidoscope pattern of multiple segments (logos-Lipton 'Green Tea') from commercial (food) catalogues on commercial packaging (cardboard - round lid). No inscriptions and markingscycles, gower, collage, pattern, logos, commercialism, consumerism, repurpose, recycle, riverbend, laughing waters