Headmater, Dr. Francis Brown's original 1918 plan of window subjects for the chapel followedthe theme of'All Saints' in which fictional and legendary subjects found no place, although later in the 1920she accepted Sir Galahad and St. Nicholas as suitable subjects for the vestries. This line was relaxed further during the second stage of the building under James Darling's term as Headmaster (1930-1961), and this example from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress was acceptable. Mervyn Napier Waller created a dynamic composition that symbolised 'steadfastness and devotion to purpose', in a reference to the best attributes of Australian soldiery. The gift of Lieutenant Kelly's mother, the window was unveiled by Brigadier WWS Johnston and dedicated by the School Chaplain on Sunday 10 October 1943.
Charles Cornelius Kelly was born at Longreach Q. on 7 October 1919. He was among the reinforcements for the 2/12 Battalion that embarked on the Dominion Monarch on 15 June 1940, bound for England. From March 1941 Lieutenant Kelly was in the Middle East with 2/31 Battalion and leading his platoon when he was killed in action in Syria on 8 June 1941, the first day of the battle. Eight men of the platoon did not survive the heavy fire and a decision was made to abandon daylight warfare. Lieutenant Kelly was buried near Qlaar but later re-buried on 11 September in the Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery, Syria.
References & Acknowledgements
AWM Roll of Honour; NAA: B883, QX6069; James Affleck, Geelong Grammarians at World War Two, The Old Geelong Grammarians Incorporated, Corio, 2002; Weston Bate, Light Blue Down Under: the history of Geelong Grammar School, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1990, opp. p.226; The Corian, August 1941.
