The Right Reverend Horace Henry Dixon Cbe

30 THE RIGHT REVEREND HORACE HENRY DIXON C.B.E., M.A. (CANTAB.), Th.D. (1869-1964), AND THE GENESIS OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL by C. G. PEARCE, O.B.E. The Clem Lack Oration delivered at a General Meeting of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland, at Newstead House, Brisbane, on 25 March 1976 May I thank your Society for the privilege you afford me through The Clem Lack Memorial Oration of placing on record the work and achievements of Horace Henry Dixon and his associates before it is too late: memories fade with the passage of time; and the legends round such a man become facts, and the truth has to be sorted out. Perhaps I should confess that I do not find it easy to identify this dissertation with an oration. Horace Henry Dixon, one of the eleven children of Thomas and Lucy Ellen Dixon, was born in Cambridge, England on 1 August, 1869. Little of his early life is known except that he worked for three years as a housemaster at Warkworth House, Cambridge, before graduating B.A. through the non-resident Fitz- william Hall, Cambridge, in its first year, 1892. He was ordained in St. Albans Abbey — deacon 1893, priest 1894. He served after ordination in three English parishes — Epping 1893-94, St. Michael and All Angels, Walthamstow 1894-97, St. Matthew's, Burnley 1898-99, and gained some experience in the east end of London. He took his M.A. Cambridge from Australia in 1908, and in 1932 was granted an honorary Doctorate in Theology from the Australian College of Theology. In 1897 in England he married Florence Marie Godbold, daughter of Bowler Godbold. There were two sons born in Queens land, Bowler who lives in Brisbane now and Cecil who lives at Southport. In his "Recollections of Twenty Five Years" at The Southport School, Horace Dixon wrote in 1926 after the opening of the impressive new building on the hill, "I would have it remembered that all the eariy years of building up a big school would have been quite impossible but for the invaluable help of Mr. C. G. Pearce, O.B.E.. B.A., B.Com.. A.Ed., M.A.C.E., was Headmaster of The Southport School from January 1951 to January 1972 after having been Master of the Junior School 1931-1936 and 1941-1950 ° 31 my wife, who devoted herself to the task in right pioneering fashion. If I had to be Jack of all trades outside, she had to be whatever the feminine of it is, inside. For her loyal help I have always been thankful and she ought to rank as the Foundress". Florence Marie died in 1932, and in 1936 he married Enid Rose Morgan-Jones, daughter of the Rev. D. Morgan-Jones of Brisbane. At his retirement in 1961 at the age of 91 he was claimed to be the oldest active Anglican Prelate in the world. He is remem bered firstly as the Founder and first Headmaster of The Southport School 1901-29, and then as a prelate and social worker. Horace Dixon in his senior years as Bishop Coadjutor of Brisbane. AUSTRALIA 1899 On arrival in Moreton Bay in 1899 his ship was delayed by a breakdown, and when it finally docked up river, an exasperated Bishop Webber, who had been waiting for his new staff, greeted 32 him with, "Oh dammit! I've wasted the day". "What a strange place", the young Englishman remarked to his wife, even ttie Bishop swears!" Horace Dixon found himself consigned to Southport. It was an immense parish extending from Beenleigh to the border of New South Wales and including miles of the hinteriand, and he had to cover it all on horse-back. He continues his "Recollections": "I had charge of a great district of over 2000 square miles and in the many hours which I spent in the saddle, riding, with no one to see or speak to, I used to feel that somehow a great deal of time was being spent and very little being accomplished. I was constantly reminded that Southport was the chief seaside resort of southern Queensland and so attracted a large number of visitors from all parts of the State, and one day the thought suddenly flashed upon my mind that it was a natural centre for a school." He often talked about the idea with an enthusiastic Church Warden, Hall, whose duty it was to drive round Southport in a sulky collecting the Rector's stipend, and in 1901 he discussed the idea with two men who knew the district and its possibilities even better than he did — the Hon. E. J. Stevens, who was the Member for Logan in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, and Dr. R. S. Berry who was in practice in Southport. They expressed themselves wholeheartedly in favour of the project, and supported Horace Dixon with advice and financially in the initial efforts to start the school. AVAILABLE BUILDINGS 1901 A Mr. Henry Biggs had built a house on the Nerang River about 1870. Adjacent to this building was constructed some years later a two storey tower and other residential buildings round a square. As was hoped, Sir Anthony Musgrave, Governor of Queensland 1883-88, occupied this set of buildings, as a summer residence, several times until a member of his household, Joseph Derrick, was drowned while bathing in the Nerang River on 20 December 1887. Sir Henry Norman, Governor of Queensland 1889-1895, also used the buildings but after Sir Henry Norman the buildings lay unoccupied for some years and on holidays and weekends the young men of Southport had free access to the billiard room and its equipment which was the bottom floor of the tower. The road on the western side, now Surch Avenue, was for many years known as Musgrave Avenue. Horace Dixon continues: "The next step must be, of course, to lay the matter before Bishop Webber, and after a number of 33 interviews it was arranged that I should carry the financial respon sibility of the venture and that if it proved to be a success, the Church, at the earliest moment possible, should take over the school and make it 'the Diocesan School for boys'. I then inter viewed the owners of the property known as 'Government House and Estate'. In 1901 everything was in a wonderful state of dis repair and with the exception of the very small area around the buildings the land was just bush. The owners offered me the land and buildings for a year, rent free, if I paid for any repairs. At the end of three years I was to have the option of purchase for £1000. Dr. Berry's kind loan enabled me to carry out the repairs. I often smile when 1 think how three of us drove out from Southport in my sulky to do the work. Two of the men were carf>enters and I was their labourer. During those weeks of repair work we accom plished a great deal and I learned many a lesson with shovel, pick and hammer. ^^ The original "Government House" on the school site. Left, Mr. Biggs' house, the Tower. Right, the northern wing. "At any rate we managed to produce order out of chaos: we made the buildings clean and habitable, and we tidied the ground around, and after furnishing a number of rooms, we were ready • for a start." Dixon had a few boys at a house in White Street, Southport, in 1901, and before the end of 1901 two boarders took up residence at the Southport High School, as it was named till 1913. The late Frank Taylor, who was the second boy enrolled, confirmed in 1968 that he and the late A. A. MarkweU, the first boy enrolled, were 34 in residence by September 1901. Horace Dixon remained formally in charge of St. Peter's Parish, Southport till 1905. The first term of 1902 brought six boarders and after the first six months four more came. During the third term there were about 15 boarders, and from that time there was a steady increase in numbers. The eariiest boarders at the school were A. A. MarkweU, F Taylor, H. Hicklin, L. Hicklin, S. G. Rogers and F. Davis After the first six months M. G. Delpratt, L. A. Delpratt, L. Salisbury and D. MarkweU were enrolled. COMPETITION — OTHER SCHOOLS Another early private school had been opened by a Miss CarghiU on the hill across the road at the north-west corner of the present school property. This closed after a few years but was re-opened by the Rev. D. W. Wyld under the name of Southport College. This college succeeded until at least the death of D. W. Wyld, but coUapsed later, and an advertisement, alongside Horace Dixon's advertisement for his Southport High School, in the Brisbane "Courier" of 4 January 1907, appears thus: "Southport Boys' Seminary, P. G. H. Guilletmot, Headmaster, Classical and Coin- mercial education, overlooking Pacific, weU ventilated dormit ories." This Southport Boys' Seminary has not survived either, and it seems that running a school, then and there, had its prob lems, and Dixon was not without competition. Dixon of course was running his school under the auspices of the Church of England and Archbishop Donaldson, himself an Etonian, who arrived in Queensland in 1903, was an invaluable patron with advice and encouragement. Dixon was a strong man who rarely failed to get his own way, and he thought sometimes that the Archbishop was over zealous and interfering.

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