| Osborne Ladies' College | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 33°37′49″S150°16′38″E / 33.6303928°S 150.2773247°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Independent, single-sex, boarding |
| Denomination | Non-denominational |
| Established | 1910 |
| Status | Closed |
| Closed | 1958 |
| Principal | Violet Gibbins |
Osborne Ladies' College was an Australian girls school located in Blackheath, New South Wales from 1923 until 1958. It was renowned for being run in the tradition of the Royal Navy.
Violet Gibbins was a pupil teacher who attended courses at the University of Sydney. Though she did not obtain any qualification, she became a teacher and later the principal of Cairns High School. She started a school in Bondi in 1910 initially for boys, but the school was later changed to girls. The school was advertised as being run along Royal Naval lines with a White Ensign being presented to the school in 1912 by the visiting HMS Drake. [1]
During the First World War, Gibbins brother, Captain Norman Gibbins, was killed in action at Battle of Fromelles. [2]
She later moved her school to Epping, changing the name of her school from the Epping Ladies' College to Osborne Ladies' College, in honour of the Royal Naval College, Osborne, on the Isle of Wight.
In 1923 Gibbins moved her school to its final location on 40 acres (160,000 m2) near Blackhheath overlooking the Kanimbla and Megalong Valleys. The building was the former site of an unused hotel built in 1888. [3] The average enrolment of the school was 50 students aged 7 to 16 years of age.
The school uniform was in naval blue worn with Royal Navy buttons. Junior girls of the school were known as "Middies" from the term Midshipman, with prefects being addressed as Lieutenants, and the head girl being addressed as lieutenant commander. Military courtesy applied with the senior girls being saluted. Gibbins was known as "the Admiral" while her governess Victoria Everingham knows as "the Commander". [4]
In addition to the quarterdeck, the rooms of the school were known by the names of Royal Navy ships such as:
The Osborne girls were marched to location and not allowed to speak to people outside the school. An emphasis was placed on physical fitness, spartan living (only one room was heated at the school, the library), archery, shooting, sports, and dramatic arts.
The school was closed in 1958 following the illness and death of Gibbins. The original building burned down in a fire in 1963. A new school, currently the Mountains Christian College was built on the site.
Memorabilia from Osborne Ladies' College is on display in the Mount Victoria museum.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Osborne House is a former royal residence in East Cowes, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. The house was built between 1845 and 1851 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a summer home and rural retreat. Albert designed the house himself, in the style of an Italian Renaissance palazzo. The builder was Thomas Cubitt, the London architect and builder whose company built the main facade of Buckingham Palace for the royal couple in 1847. An earlier smaller house on the site was demolished to make way for a new and far larger house, though the original entrance portico survives as the main gateway to the walled garden.
HMS Sirius (F40) was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN) built by H.M. Dockyard Portsmouth, and was the penultimate RN warship to be built there for a period of forty years, until Vosper Thornycroft built HMS Clyde. Sirius was launched on 22 September 1964 and commissioned on 15 June 1966. The ship continued in front line service until February 1992.
Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, England. Royal Naval officer training has taken place in Dartmouth since 1863. The buildings of the current campus were completed in 1905. Earlier students lived in two wooden hulks moored in the River Dart. Since 1998, BRNC has been the sole centre for Royal Naval officer training.
The Royal Naval College, Osborne, was a training college for Royal Navy officer cadets on the Osborne House estate, Isle of Wight, established in 1903 and closed in 1921.
Captain Stephen Wentworth Roskill, was a senior career officer of the Royal Navy, serving during the Second World War and, after his enforced medical retirement, served as the official historian of the Royal Navy from 1949 to 1960. He is now chiefly remembered as a prodigious author of books on British maritime history.
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Caspar John was a senior Royal Navy officer who served as First Sea Lord from 1960 to 1963. He was a pioneer in the Fleet Air Arm and fought in the Second World War in a cruiser taking part in the Atlantic convoys, participating in the Norwegian campaign and transporting arms around the Cape of Good Hope to Egypt for use in the western desert campaign. His war service continued as Director-General of Naval Aircraft Production, as naval air attaché at the British embassy in Washington, D.C. and then as Commanding Officer of two aircraft carriers. He went on to serve as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff in the early 1960s. In that capacity he was primarily concerned with plans for the building of the new CVA-01 aircraft carriers.
Admiral Sir Herbert ("Bertie") Annesley Packer KCB, CBE was an officer in the British Royal Navy and ended his career as an Admiral and Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic.
Osborne House is a historic building built in 1858, located in North Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
Admiral Sir Eric John Arthur Fullerton, KCB, DSO was a Royal Navy officer.
Admiral Sir Wilfrid John Wentworth Woods, was a Royal Navy officer who served in the Submarine Service in the Mediterranean.
Admiral Sir George Hamilton D'Oyly Lyon, KCB was a distinguished Royal Navy officer as well as an English sportsman who played first-class cricket and represented the England national rugby union team.
Vice Admiral George Napier Tomlin, CMG, MVO was a British naval officer.
Rear Admiral Ian Jaffery "Tim" Lees-Spalding, was a senior marine engineer in the Royal Navy before becoming Administrator of the London International Film School and co-founder of the Macmillan and Silk Cut Nautical Almanac.
Wenman Humfrey "Kit" Wykeham-Musgrave (1899–1989) was a Royal Navy officer who has the possibly unique distinction of having survived being torpedoed on three different ships on the same day.
Admiral Sir Michael Maynard Denny was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Sea Lord.
Admiral Sir Maurice James Mansergh KCB CBE was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth.
Vice-Admiral Sir Stephen Hope Carlill was a Royal Navy admiral who served as the last British Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy from 1955 to 1958, when he was succeeded by Vice-Admiral Ram Dass Katari.
Admiral Sir Gerald Vaughan Gladstone, was a Royal Navy officer who served as Commander-in-Chief, Far East Fleet from 1957 to 1960.
Admiral Sir Charles Saumarez Daniel, was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Third Sea Lord and Controller of the Navy.
Vice-Admiral Sir John Gilchrist Thesiger Inglis,, sometimes known as Tommy Inglis, was a Royal Navy officer who served as Director of Naval Intelligence from 1954 to 1960. In this capacity, he attempted to cover-up the "Buster Crabb affair" in 1956.