Alistair Harvey-Sutton recounts memories of his early school days, sharing stories of a time when the Second World War penetrated the lives of every Cranbrook student.

In 1938, at the age of 5, I entered the junior school at Cranbrook, which had always been an important part of my family’s life. We lived near Dangar playing fields, my two elder brothers were Cranbrook students and my father was a member of the School Council. As a medical practitioner concentrating on the new field of preventative medicine, he emphasised the importance for a growing child of a nutritious diet, regular exercise and a happy social life. He saw Cranbrook as a school which encouraged a full development of a child’s mind and body.

At that time, Cranbrook had over 300 boys, including a good number of boarders. Although only 20 years old, its development had been quite successful in view of the financial difficulties caused by the Great Depression. Its size was shown by the fact all its senior students were able to attend the daily morning assembly in the gym, which the junior school also used for teaching and activities like the band, in which most of the boys played an instrument. I played the triangle in time with the music!

While in junior school, my life was greatly affected on 3 September 1939 by the declaration of war by the British Empire against Germany. Everything changed for us and until August 1945, my days at school were dominated by the Second World War. General Iven Mackay resigned as headmaster as he was required for military duties in Egypt and the Middle East. My own family was affected. An uncle and cousin volunteered for active service and left Sydney with their unit on the Queen Mary before an audien

ce of half a million Sydneysiders. Food, clothing, travel and petrol rationing were introduced for all in the community and many household items were not available. Wartime conditions resulted in several of the male teachers being called up for military duty. They were replaced by elderly teachers, some of whom had fought in the First World War.

The Council appointed Mr B W Hone as Headmaster, which was a masterstroke. He was a big powerful man who came at a difficult time for the school in terms of staff, finance and student numbers. He also had difficulties with discipline as many of the school leavers knew that their futures would only be in military service on leaving school, but his strong determination enabled him to deal with these problems and earnt him the nickname “The Blitz”.

In May 1942, Sydney was shelled by a Japanese submarine, and midget submarines torpedoed vessels in the harbour. That night, my family hurried down to our air raid shelter in the garage on Kent Road. I was aged 9 and found it all extremely exciting and dangerous. We were suddenly all at war, including the school, which quickly built wooden air raid shelters on the fringes of Hordern Oval and held air raid drills for the boys.

We were suddenly all at war, including the school, which built wooden air raid shelters on the fringes of Hordern Oval and held air raid drills for the boys.

Alistair Harvey-Sutton

Later, when I joined the main school in the Perkins Building, I was taught mainly by older men in their sixties who had replaced the younger teachers on military service, and I particularly remember Messrs Bell, Felton, Child and Captain Scott. They were all competent and kindly men but never friends to us. Their discipline was firm and they required a high standard in the classroom. They all tried to help us, but I felt that they were lacking in warmth, unlike the young post-War teachers such as Mark Bishop and Harry Nicolson, with whom I became a life-long friend.

Alistair Harvey-Sutton scored over 10,000 runs for the Old Cranbrookians’ Cricket Club.

Generally in those years, the teaching program in the main school was dominated by the need for success in the state examination, and there was a great deal of tension and strain for students in preparing and sitting for those examinations. But the other important obligation for students was to be a member of the Cranbrook School Cadets and do training once a week with the regular army on Hordern Oval. As the school had considerable difficulties in being able to obtain assistance for cleaning and repair of the buildings and its grounds during the War, the boarders also did a great deal of cleaning work, while the main school students were sometimes required to dig out the weeds and briars at Dangar.

I spent a lot of time in school sports, particularly cricket, rugby and athletics, and I played in the 2nd XI cricket and the 2nd XV rugby. Cranbrook sport engendered a love of cricket in me, partly due to the headmaster’s standing in the game. I well remember Mr Hone around 1949 bringing out two Test players in the great Keith Miller and the test leg spinner Bruce Dooland to Hordern Oval to play a match against the 1st XI and to practise in the nets beforehand. As well as playing for the Old Cranbrookians’ Cricket Club, I helped to run it, becoming secretary in 1953 and, over the years, assisted further as a team captain, president and player. I closed my active playing career in 1994 aged 61, once I had reached my goal of scoring 10,000 runs for the club. I have retained a close connection with the club since then and can count many of my former teammates as friends, something that’s very important to me.

In 1951, I had the opportunity to study law at Sydney University as I had been awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship and I became a resident of St Paul’s Anglican College, where the Warden, the Reverend Felix Arnott, told me that he was happy to have Old Cranbrookians as residents as they were “all-rounders’’. I was admitted as a solicitor by the Supreme Court of NSW in April 1957 and worked for several city firms and then as a sole solicitor from July 1973 until ceasing practice on 30 June 2020.

Now, at the age of 88, I am in retirement in Point Piper. I remain a supporter of the school and I feel I could be described in some ways as a “100 per cent Old Cranbrookian”. It’s a curious fact that I was born at home in Kent Road, which has an entrance to the Cranbrook School and the Dangar playing fields, and that I’m now living on Wolseley Road, which leads directly to the Hordern Oval school entrance on New South Head Road, which I pass daily. In some way it may be said that I have not really left Cranbrook.

FRIENDS FOR LIFE
“Alistair and I first met when we were about five years old. I am now 89. We started school together at Cranbrook and then at Sydney University in adjacent colleges where we played many games of table tennis and billiards. Together we discovered cricket and it was the OCCC that really cemented our friendship. I played and he organised and played. Although I have not seen him recently, we have kept in touch over the years. He is still my oldest friend.”
Dr Edward Bosch (OC 1950)