A Centenary History Committee comprising Old Grammarians and members of staff has been formed. The School has commissioned a centenary history which will highlight the School's growth and will be set in a social context of the development of educational opportunities for girls in the last century. The historian, Helen Penrose, has had extensive use of the Archival Collection. Oral history interviews with a range of individuals who are representative of the Firbank community, both past and present have also been undertaken.

The official launch of the Centenary History, by Old Grammarian and Chief Justice of the Family Court, Diana Bryant, will be held on Thursday, 2 April at 6.00 p.m.

She who conquers  is a scholarly and, at the same time, compellingly readable history of Firbank Grammar School. In a skilful blend of chronology and themes, Helen Penrose covers the hundred years of Firbank’s existence, tracing its evolution from a small, struggling school, founded and supported by the Church of England ... to the well-established and successful institution it is today. 

The author’s lively narrative is given further vitality through the generous use of recollections from former pupils and teachers and by the lavish illustrations.  Both as an historian and a Firbank Old Grammarian, I warmly commend She who conquers.   Dr Diane Langmore AM, (1958) former General Editor, Australian Dictionary of Biography. 

Helen Penrose portrays Firbank, perceptively, as a village within a village. It was inhabited mostly by the daughters of self-contained and strongly middle-class Brighton.

This was also an expression of the caring, church-centred philosophy of Maud Cameron, Head Mistress, monumentally, from 1911 to 1954. Under her, the School grew, within the Anglican system, to one of the largest girls schools in Australia.

Friends of Firbank will delight in the comprehenseive account of the activities and personalities of pupils and teachers. They will find not only the School they knew, but also much that was hidden to them when they were there. Helen has honoured her duty as a historian with a multitude of interesting interviews.

Readers will learn a great deal about the educational, social and religious context in which the School developed and the way its 'family' rose to the challenge of women's needs in the latter part of the 20th century. It was be seen as a case study of the girl in our national story, though with a special Brighton flavour.  Weston Bate

To order your copy / copies of 'She who conquers' for $70.00 each, click here to download the order form. Complete the form and forward it, together with your payment, to She who conquers Order, Firbank Grammar School, 51 Outer Crescent, Brighton Vic 3186. For further enquiries telephone the School on 03 9591 5188 or email aminahan@.vic.edu.au