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William Gillies loved literature and the beauty of the natural world, and he wanted the children of Victoria and their families to appreciate the finer things, too.
When he died in 1925, he left in his will £10,000 to the state education department – a sum worth about $1 million today.
His bequest was to be used, his will stated, to encourage the growth of school and village bands, to help children in rural areas learn to enjoy reading aloud, and to study nature – all for the enjoyment of families, though he was unmarried and had no children himself.
By 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, the Gillies Bequest had funded 11 school orchestras, 38 brass bands, 22 fife and drum bands, and two infant school percussion bands.
Circulating libraries were established, enabling 160 rural schools to receive a new selection of books every term. And in state schools across Victoria, films promoting the study of nature were available.
The bequest enhanced Victoria’s education system for decades, and still exists.
And yet, this generous philanthropist lies in an unmarked grave in Box Hill Cemetery, all but forgotten for almost a century.
The Box Hill Historical Society plans to put that to rights, says the society’s president, Helen Harris, who has extensively researched Gillies’ life.
The society is planning to have a plaque placed in the cemetery dedicated to the memory of Gillies and his works.
First, it needs to raise $2400 for the project.
In the early years of last century, the name William Gillies was familiar to many thousands of Australian school students, teachers and parents.
Having lost his investments and a farm in Box Hill and being forced into bankruptcy during the banking crisis of the early 1890s, Gillies started over by writing on history and nature studies.
The resulting series of books, used in schools across Australia, became wildly popular – and profitable.
Gillies saved the money earned from the sale of his textbooks and bequeathed almost all of it to the state of Victoria, to be used in consultation with the director of education.
His will made clear he wanted the bequest to strengthen family life.
The first purpose, he wrote in his will, should be the establishment of school bands in the hope of also increasing “the number of village bands and orchestras, and most important of all, family orchestras”.
Second, he wanted to broaden “the art of reading aloud, leading, it is hoped, to the admirable pastime of reading aloud in the family circle”.
Third, he wanted to encourage “any branch of nature study”.
The aim of all three was “to make home life, especially in the country, more attractive”.
Gillies died in 1925 in his home in Kew, having outlived a brother and sister who had lived with him in the house.
He was born in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1852 and graduated from Glasgow University with a master of arts in 1877.
He quit his early work in a legal office to become head teacher at a charity school.
In 1880, suffering what was described as “an ailment of the throat”, he sailed for Melbourne.
There, he took a teaching position at Toorak College, then a private boys’ school, and also lectured on literature at several private girls’ schools.
He was drawn to Melbourne’s intellectual life, where he became friends with future prime minister Alfred Deakin, future Victorian premier Alexander Peacock, and teacher Frank Tate, who as Victoria’s director of education from 1902 to 1928 introduced numerous lasting reforms.
Gillies bought land in Box Hill and ran it as a market garden before the land boom went bust, his savings and investments were lost in the banking crisis and he was declared bankrupt.
His personal pleasure, however, cost nothing. It was to wander around Melbourne’s quiet places, according to a retrospective published in The Argus in 1933 written by his friend Frank Tate.
“With a few sandwiches and a couple of books in his pocket he would go off for a quiet day along the Maribyrnong River, or the Back Beach at Williamstown, or along the Yarra from Kew to Heidelberg, or the bay front from Black Rock to Mordialloc, or for a restful sojourn in that gem of the city, the Fitzroy Gardens,” Tate wrote. “For he believed in ‘leisurely delights and sauntering thoughts.’”
And so, when this solitary man died, he chose to use his wealth to enable children to enjoy his passions, but within their circles of school friends and family.
Now Box Hill, where William Gillies once grew fruit trees, wants to give something back: recognition
A link to the fundraising effort for a plaque is available on the Box Hill Historical Society’s website.
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Tony Wright is an associate editor and special writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.From our partners
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