Carey Baptist Grammar School, commonly known as Carey, is an independent, co-educational, Baptist day school in Victoria, Australia.
The school has five campuses: Kew (ELC to Year 12), Donvale (ELC to Year 6), the Carey Sports Complex in Bulleen, the Carey Sport Complex in Kew and an outdoor education camp near Paynesville in eastern Gippsland called Carey Toonallook.
Carey is affiliated with the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV), and has been a member of the Associated Public Schools of Victoria (APS) since 1958. The school has offered its Year 11 and 12 students the choice to study either the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB) since 1997 or the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).
The school is named in honour of William Carey, a Baptist missionary and self-taught language scholar who carried out humanitarian work in India for the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) in the late 18th century. Carey's motto was based on William Carey's 1792 sermon from Isaiah 54, in which he called on Baptists to establish a missionary society.
Contents
History
Carey Baptist Grammar School was founded by Leonard E. Tranter in 1923 after the Urangeline estate was purchased by the Baptist Union of Victoria (BUV) in 1922 for £14,000 in the pursuit of providing a Baptist education for boys. The Urangeline mansion estate was originally designed by architect, Joseph Reed for the Scottish-born solicitor, James C. Stewart. Work was completed in 1884 with the mansion being originally named Edzell then Mildura and finally Urangeline by its final owner in 1899. On Carey's opening day, 68 boys and four teachers were present for the official photograph on 13 February 1923.
In 1925, the school council appealed for a £10,000 amount to build a boarding house for students. After funds had been attained later that year, construction began and the Laycock House was officially opened in 1926. Between 1926 and 1951, it would be the boarding house. By 1951, the school chose to close the boarding house and convert it into classrooms. In 2008, the school decided to replace the Laycock house in exchange for a new performing arts centre, named in honour of its principal at the time, Phil de Young, who opened it in March 2010.
Carey opened Raymond Hall and its preparatory school in May 1925 at a total cost of £5,000. The hall was named after George Nelson Raymond, a wealthy boot factory owner and Baptist. The hall provided for the space to conduct assemblies and other large events until the Memorial Great Hall was completed in 1955. By 1942, the preparatory school housed over 100 students. In the 1990s, the hall and rooms were repurposed for the Middle School.
By 1926, the student population had grown to over 200 boys, demanding the need for an oval on the Urangeline estate. At a cost of £1,250 from the Oval appeal, levelling went underway with 7,000 tons of earth moved by horse. In 1927, the oval was opened for use and named Sandell Oval after the 1926 dux of the school, Arthur K. Sandell.
The Memorial Great Hall (MGH) was opened by governor of Victoria, Dallas Brooks as a way to memorialise the fallen students who fought in World War II. It was opened in 1954 and seated most assemblies and other meetings. The hall included a stained-glass window of the school badge. However, the building was renovated on two separate occasions, first in the 1990s and more recently in 2020, in which it now seats 1,000 students.
Principals
There have been eight principals (formerly headmasters before 1989) since the school was founded in 1923. The current principal is Jonathan Walter, since January 2020.
Notable alumni
Media, entertainment and the arts
Bianca Censori – model and architect
Seb Costello (2004) – journalist, Nine News & Triple M
Tom Elliott (1985) – investment banker and media personality
Marieke Hardy (1993) – writer, broadcaster, television producer and actress
Andrew Holden (1977) – editor-in-chief of The Press and The Age
Kevin McQuay (1967) – 'Big Kev', television personality and entrepreneur
Noel Mewton-Wood (1934) – pianist
Steve Vizard (1973) – media personality and comedian
Suzie Wilks (1987) – television personality
Tom Wright (2001) – actor
Gary Young (1964) – founding drummer for Daddy Cool
Tommy Dassalo (2003) – podcaster and comedian
Politics, law and business
Peter Costello (1972) – former Treasurer of Australia
Ron Castan (1956) – barrister and human rights advocate
Brian Eaton (1934) – RAAF air vice marshal
John Elliott (1958) – former president of Carlton Football Club and the Liberal Party of Australia
Murray Kellam (1964) – former Supreme Court judge and first president of VCAT
George Lush (1929) – former judge on the Supreme Court of Victoria
Alfred Mellor (1933) – stockbroker and banker
Tony Smith (1985) – former Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives
Brian Walters (1971) – barrister and human rights advocate
Vernon Wilcox (1936) – former Attorney-General of Victoria
Religion and humanitarianism
David Baden-Powell (1989) – hereditary peer and Scout leader
Tim Costello (1972) – former president of the Baptist Union of Australia
Hugh Evans (2001) – Young Australian of the Year in 2004 and co-founder of The Oaktree Foundation
Science and engineering
Keith Farrer (1933) – food chemist and Baptist pastor
Albert Lloyd George Rees (1933) – chemical physicist
Rutherford Ness Robertson (1925) – botanist and biologist
Sport
Noah Anderson (2019) – AFL player for Gold Coast Suns
Jason Ashby (2012) – AFL player for Essendon Football Club
Laura Barden (2012) – hockey player for Hockeyroos
Hana Basic (2013) – Olympic sprinter
Harriet Cordner (2011) – AFLW footballer for Richmond Tigers, Melbourne Demons
Johannah Curran (2005) – netball player for Melbourne Vixens
Nick Daicos (2020) – AFL footballer for Collingwood Magpies
Jesse Dattoli (2024) – AFL footballer for Sydney Swans
Ollie Dempsey (2020) – AFL footballer for Geelong
Jake Fraser-McGurk (2020) – cricketer
Andrew Gaff (2010) – AFL player for West Coast Eagles
Ellen Gandy (2010) – Olympic swimmer
Renae Hallinan (2004) – netball player for Australian Netball Diamonds
Nathan Hrovat (2012)- AFL player
Kristian Jaksch (2012) – AFL footballer for GWS Giants, Carlton Football Club
Matthew Laidlaw (2005) – former AFL player for Sydney Swans
Daniel Jackson (2004) – AFL player for Richmond Tigers