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On 27 October 1913, 29 former pupils of Lauriston gathered together to form an “old girls” club. The aims of the Club were primarily social: through regular meetings, the members hoped to maintain the friendships formed in their school days, while enjoying a range of extracurricular sporting, dramatic, literary and philanthropic activities. A small subscription was levied on members, and this was used to finance a school magazine (the Lauristonian) which included a section with news of old girls. Since Lauriston was at this time a private business, owned by headmistresses Margaret and Lilian Irving, the Old Lauristonians' Club was not expected to provide significant financial support for the school. However, the Club (renamed the Old Lauristonians' Association in 1923), did raise funds over the years for sporting facilities and for a scholarship to be awarded to the daughter of a “fallen soldier”. The OLA played an important role in keeping the school afloat during the difficult years of the Great Depression, rallying around the school’s new Headmistress, Miss Elizabeth Kirkhope, and doing its best to bolster enrolments from within its own community. In 1948, the OLA was represented on the provisional committee set up to establish Lauriston as a non-profit, limited guarantee company, securing the right to elect three members annually to the newly-formed governing body of the school.
For many decades, the most important event in the OLA calendar was the annual “At Home”. Held on the school premises, the “At Home” attracted large numbers of old girls and their children, who enjoyed afternoon tea served by the prefects and probationers, followed by games and entertainment. In 1951, the OLA “At Home” was re-named “Founders’ Day” to mark the school’s 50th Jubilee, and to honour the memory of the Misses Irving, who had died in the previous decade. Nearly 300 people were present on the first Founders’ Day. In later years, Founders’ Day was replaced by a luncheon, and in 1989, by an annual dinner. In 2013, 100 years after the establishment of the OLA, Founders’ Day was once again celebrated at Lauriston as a formal school assembly held in February annually.
There have been several versions of the school song.
“We are the girls of Lauriston School” (1918) was composed by Dr. A. E. Floyd, organist and Choirmaster of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The third verse was only sung at the final assembly in third term.
According to The Lauristonian December 1946, p.6 “This year, Mr. William Tainsh was asked to write a new school song for Lauriston. He was kind enough to do this for us, and also suggested the music for it, which was completed and arranged by Miss Webb.”
There is not a lot of information about William Tainsh. He is not listed in any of the reference works on Australian composers – presumably he was an acquaintance or personal friend of Miss Joan Webb, who taught at Lauriston 1933 - 1955. William Tainsh was a Christian Scientist – his children attended Huntingtower School (originally down the road from Lauriston, but now in Glen Waverley).
The introduction of the new school song was resisted by many girls who preferred the catchy tune of the old song. Apparently the music teachers Miss Webb and Miss Weir felt that the old song was insufficiently “uplifting” and so commissioned William Tainsh to compose a new one.
William Tainsh, born in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1880, became a central figure of the Scottish community in Melbourne through his nostalgic poetry, journal articles and Sunday evening broadcasts on Melbourne radio.
We are thrilled that many Old Lauristonians from the 1950s and 1960s still come together at the annual Lauriston Luncheon and sing the old school song with passion and robust! They are the girls from Lauriston school, and proud of the fact they are.....
