Item 04: Memoirs of a Colonial Boy by Robert Joseph Stewart, ca. 1971 - Page 145
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[Page 145]
72
In May 1910, our King, Edward the Seventh, died after a very short reign and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son as George the Fifth. People were mourning but not nearly to the same extent as they did for the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, nine years previously. At "Scots" we covered the School hatband of our boater hats with black crepe for six months.
After school in Summer, the School Sergeant conducted swimming parades to Farmer's enclosed baths at Lyne Park, Rose Bay, about a mile away from the College. These baths have long since been demolished, and the "Caprice" restaurant was built on the site many years afterwards. I fancy that we noisy sky-larking schoolboys were considered very much of a nuisance by the sweating weary businessmen from the city, who came down later, for a cool refreshing swim, before their evening meal. They always seemed glad to see us mustered and marched back to "Scots".
Sometimes during the long Summer Saturday afternoons, and weather permitting, we enjoyed boating outings on Rose Bay, and to Shark Island, in rowing skiffs hired at the local boatshed. The small boats usually scattered, which aggravated the Sergeant's task of controlling his boisterous charges and getting them back to the College on time.
In the Winter months, a professional football coach came twice a week to train our senior teams in the latest Rugby tactics. One of these was Blair I. Swanell, a famous Welsh ex-international. He was a tough aggressive character, whose battered scarred face looked as though it had been walked on frequently by studded football boots. But he was an excellent coach, and in 1911 our "Firsts", in which I played centre forward, won the G.P.S. competition. Each school met each of the others twice ; once on their home ground, and once on the other school's. We had to make long journeys by train and harbour ferry to play St Josephs or St Ignatius on their home grounds at Hunters Hill and Riverview, but the longest trip was to Parramatta to play Kings School.
Swanell was also a fine soldier and was given a commission