From the Archives: Origin stories of our prizes and awards

Mary Fairfax Prize for Latin The Mary Fairfax Prize is awarded each Speech Day to boys in Forms V and VI for academic achievement in their study of Latin. The name Fairfax has been enshrined in the modern Australian consciousness as belonging to the trailblazing clan of paper magnates, but their contribution extends far beyond the media sphere. Today, the Mary Fairfax Prize remains a reminder of the Fairfax family’s historic contribution to the fabric of Grammar life and wider society.

Mary Elizabeth Fairfax (b. 1858 – d. 1945) was the eldest daughter among Sir James Reading Fairfax’s seven children and granddaughter of the family’s patriarch, paper magnate John Fairfax. Her grandfather had originally embarked from England as a penniless editor of a town gazette, the family name having been sullied by a lengthy court case. In an unusual rags-to-riches occurrence, John Fairfax’s own ingenuity for editing was noted by friend, Empire editor and ‘Father of Federation’ Sir Henry Parkes.

It was within this wealthy family of humble English origins that Mary was reared. She had a natural disposition towards charity work, the result of an upbringing founded in the Christian values of the Congregationalist church. Mary’s humility was such that she did not allow her familial wealth to delude her, instead she actively sought out philanthropic work.

In writing to the School, Miss Mary Fairfax outlined her reasons for granting the prize: “I have had five brothers at the School and would like to show my appreciation of what they gained there.” Her five brothers (John) Hubert, James Oswald, Geoffrey, Harold and (Edward) Wilfred attended the school during a period spanning from 1878 until 1893.

Grammar’s liberal education, with its appreciation of different opinions and lively debates, led to the Fairfax brothers’ understanding of the importance of using the media to represent a variety of different opinions. The Fairfax family was instrumental in laying the foundation for media which strived to inform, not to sensationalise or scandalise.

Pictured: The Fairfax family at Ginahgulla. Photo courtesy of State Library of NSW, PXD 1462, File 18, No. 15.

The Fairfax family was not only financially devoted to the School but Mary’s brother, Sir James Oswald Fairfax, the inheritor of his father Sir James Reading Fairfax’s media enterprise, served as Trustee (1923-1928) and President of the OSU (1926-1928).

Miss Mary Fairfax’s donation of 200 pounds – 100 pounds to provide for the costs of two Latin Prizes, and the remaining 100 to assist the School endowments fund – was mentioned in a section on the Endowment Fund from the April 1922 edition of The Sydneian.

However, Miss Fairfax did not donate her generous grant with the intention that a Latin prize would be set up in her name. Rather she gave the money to the School’s Endowment Fund and it was the Trustees who then proceeded to establish two prizes named in her honour.

Darcy Blahut (VI)

Pictured: The Fairfax tombstone at South Head Cemetery, Vaucluse

The Mary Fairfax Prize was not the only senior Latin prize, with the existence until 1966 of the George Knox Latin Composition Prize. Knox (b. 1845 – d. 1888) granted 50 pounds in 1879 for the express purpose of starting a prize for Latin composition, and later, for Latin prose. The George Knox Prize for Latin Prose in the Sixth Form was last awarded to Douglas R Walker in 1965, incidentally the recipient of the Mary Fairfax Prize in the same year. As the Wyndham Scheme was introduced, Latin composition and prose was withdrawn from the curriculum, and this prize was phased out and resurrected as an award for Ancient History in 1967.

The last edition of SGS magazine detailed the history behind the Junior and Senior Knox Prizes, awarded to the Dux of the School. This was introduced by George’s father Sir Edward Knox, Elected Trustee and parent to two sons at the School, Edward William (OS 1863) and George (OS 1862).

Pictured: A drawing of George Knox from theAustralian Town and Country Journal of 12 March 1887

Pictured: Letter of recommendation for George Knox to be awarded the Salting Exhibition of 1863

“We must remember that though many of our students may be first drawn to the University by the hope of “money returns”, they will, when once within its embrace, be compelled to lay a foundation of classical and general education on which to build up their later special trainings – and that some of better metal [sic] may be expected to learn to value their education on higher grounds, and to love and cultivate letters for their own sake, who could never, without the lower original attraction, have come to know or appreciate them.” (Vitality or Endowments?, pp. 5-6)

More pointedly and perhaps less practically, Knox goes on to detail that the formal sentences with which the candidates are admitted to their degrees used to be in Latin; “They are now in English, presumably because the public does not understand Latin and therefore may not comprehend its significance. The Prize exercises are no longer recited, and those who wish to judge of the literary standard of the students of today have no way of gratifying their wish …” (Vitality or Endowments?, p. 10)

George Knox would be satisfied to know Grammar’s Classics department is thriving and countless Grammar pupils continue to embark and excel in Arts and Humanities subjects in universities the world over. Furthermore, the University of Sydney currently offers a variety of scholarships for domestic undergraduate students, with 11 specific to the School of Humanities and 86 across the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Ms Bridget Cohen
Lead Archivist