This history of one of Australia's best known public schools explores Geelong Grammar's beginnings, early failure and subsequent revival under the remarkable John Bracebridge Wilson, whose aristocratic background and warm personality attracted the pastoralists of the surrounding Western District, leading them to send their sons to what promised to be an Eton on Australian soil.

Geelong Grammar School's light blue colours support this analogy, and Eton collars have been worn at the school, but its ethos and history are distinctively its own. English public school practices were modified by Australian attitudes and experiences, including the much-loved Saturday Parties, which were organized so that boys could roam the bush from dawn to dusk, and by the ultimate expression of that idea - Timbertop, where Prince Charles was a student in 1966.

In addition to a chronological treatment of its growth, relocation at Corio and the recent dramatic amalgamation with two girls' schools, Clyde and The Hermitage, five of the book's fourteen chapters explore the school's built environment, way of life, sights, sounds and smells, personalities 'out-the-back', and the quirkish experiences of staff and pupils, many of whom, like the famous twentieth-century headmaster J. R. Darling, were to become leading figures in Australian public life.

Rich in anecdote, preceptively written and strongly illustrated, this book will delight all those connected with the school. It will also inform and entertain those with an interest in Australian history and education, or simply curious to learn more about one of Australia's great public schools.