Corporate entry: Launceston Church Grammar School
Details
Launceston Church Grammar School opened on 15 June 1846 and lays claim to the longest continuous history of any school in Australia. Its genesis lay in a meeting held in Launceston in 1838 called to establish Church of England schools in Tasmania. In 1845-46 subscriptions were raised in both England and Tasmania with approximately £800 allocated to establish a school in Launceston. The school opened in George Street under its first headmaster, the Rev Henry Plow Kane, and in 1847 moved to purpose-built premises in Elizabeth Street.
Growth in the School population led to a move to its present Mowbray Heights site in 1924. A preparatory school was established in High Street in 1930 but closed in 1970, with classes consolidated at Mowbray. Co-education was introduced in 1973. The School absorbed the Launceston High School in 1912 and its sister school, Broadland House, in 1982. In 2003, the enrolment was 748.
Thomas Gunn