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THE GLEN WAVERLEY STORY
(August, 1989, for Issue 2 of Vision -
Building Wesley to the Year 2000, a 1989 Development Appeal supplement of 'The Lion' magazine)
A sequence of events starting thirty years
previously will complete a full cycle when the last finishing touch is made to
Wesley's new boarding facility at Glen Waverley late in 1994.
In the mid-sixties, famous O.W. George
Selleck, himself an ex-boarder, donated his time, skill and farm machinery to
sculpt Wesley's hilltop orchard property in outer-suburban Glen Waverley into
the sweeping multi-tiered campus of today.
Now, the G.G. Selleck gates at the main
entrance to the campus stand in testimony to his efforts and Wesley pupils run
freely on green hectares first shaped by Selleck's graders.
Their blades' first cut came soon after
the 1963 Centenary Appeal - aimed at building a Junior School at Glen Waverley -
had comfortably achieved its half-million dollar target.
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Having commenced in 1966, and added the E.A. Wells Library
and the outdoor H.J. Kroger Swimming Pool - both resulting from
voluntary giving - the campus, in 1977, launched into a period of rapid
development with the introduction of co-education the following year and
plans to more than double its enrolment.
In a quick ten years, Wesley at Glen Waverley:-
- built a new Preparatory School, instantly enrolling 200 children;
- developed an already-built Junior School to accommodate 100 more
students;
- doubled the number of Middle School classrooms, adding 300 pupils;
- rebuilt the Library;
- massively extended the PE/Sports complex and the Visual and
Performing Arts facilities.
During this time, the Wesley College Foundation and the Parents'
Association contributed generously.
And, now, what of the future?
Wesley College at Glen Waverley
stands on the threshold of the
fulfilment of its outstanding potential.
A purpose-built Senior College and a modern co-educational
boarding facility will make it unique in suburban Melbourne. Its complete
services will reach far into the twenty-first century and well beyond
the confines of its locality. |
All this, just thirty years after G.G.
Selleck brought his gear down from Barham, pressed the starter button and began for us
the groundwork on which we, like our 1963 forebears are called to build anew.
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