Queen Margaret College
The Tower
The Tower is a symbol of our history from when it was part of a house and then part of our school. The Tower was built in 1874, about 135 years ago. In the early days of the Tower's life, it was part of a house and people used to view the harbour at the end of the road, wh in front of our school today. In the afternoon they would sit down, having a cup of tea and admire the views with their guests. The parapet was used by many to watch the ships sail in and out by the harbour. Actually the Tower has its own story.
Years passed and the house was turned into a school and so, the Tower was no longer used to watch the ships, but instead was turned into to a maids' dormitory. The dormitory had thick curtains that blocked out the light coming from the parapet. The young girls attending the school, who wanted to look in the harbour, had to walk across the maids dormitory's to the parapet. The girls weren't allowed to look at the maid's accommodation. So they had to keep their eyes straight ahead so that they would not see any of the maids' possessions.
Later on the Tower was used as a Latin classroom. After a while it was became a storage room for our books. Layers of dust covered the books and they were moved elsewhere. The Tower then became the office of Queen Margaret College's Deputy Principal. Years later the room was used as a costume cupboard. For this, all the furniture was removed and all the windows were boarded up. This was so the sunlight wouldn't fade and ruin the costumes.
As time passed the tower became unsafe and could collapse during an earthquake. Students were banned from entering the Tower and it was then turned into a place to store all the spare desks.
Signatures began to gather on the plaster walls leading up to the tower. Generations and generations of signatures marked the walls. The year 13's would sign their name onto the walls. Originally the 12's and 13's would sign the walls since most girls never entered year 13. Ms Pivac our Dean of Year 13 said that the signing began around 1940. Everyone wanted to leave a mark on the school that some may have thought was a "torture" at the time but then it became a treasure to the girls. Ms Pivac also said that when you are young you may think that you don't enjoy school that much, but as you get older you realize how important school is. This could be the reason the students wanted to leave their mark.
Now in 2004 the Tower is due for a makeover. It will be rebuilt to its former glory and will continue to stand strong and be part of our future. The Tower was built in the past, reconstructed in the present and will carry on to stand strong in the future. The Tower will hopefully live for a very long time and will cast a shelter on all girls of Queen Margaret College.
THE TOWER SIGNATURE: My Thoughts
My nine years at Queen Margaret College seemed to go so fast, and on my last day at school after the carol service, the seventh formers of 1999 made the journey to the tower to sign our names. It was quite an emotional moment as I remembered thinking back to when I was an 8 year old junior pupil at QMC and was introduced to the 'signatures-in-the-tower' tradition by the seventh formers. They had sneakily taken me up into the tower to show me all scribbles of years and years of school leavers that had gone before them. I was in awe of the seventh formers back then, they seemed so old! And yet we were now the ones to leave school, preparing to go down our different life paths and I definitely didn't feel old or ready!!! Now, five years later...out in the 'real world' so to speak, a lot older, and hopefully a lot wiser, it's a very comforting thought thinking of all our names in the tower together- in a way creating a bond between all the past pupils of the school. I guess it's another one of those very special Queen Margaret College traditions that make our school such an amazing place to be at, and makes it a place I will always look back at with such treasured memories, and pride.
SARAH BEABLE
Pupil: 1991-1999.
Deputy Head Prefect - 1999
