In any event, justified or not, GGS’ position as a pre-eminent school among eminent schools is generally assigned primarily to one man Sir James Darling who became its Headmaster in 1930 aged only 31, and retired from that position in 1961 to become Chairman of the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He is quite often referred to as having been ‘Australia’s greatest Headmaster’ or even ‘the Australian Arnold’ and while that might be something of an overstatement, he certainly as profound influence on Australian education (and it extended beyond private schools in many ways) as any man. He lived well into his nineties and many taught in elite schools in my generation and at least a generation before and after it got used to the feeling that he was watching us and making sure we preserved the legacy, he and others with him had built.
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