Mr Christopher Morey

A certified Master Builder, August 1992 was a busy time for Chris Morey and his family, with three daughters attending Girton College and Chris having only just started his own commercial construction company. He first learnt about the decision to close Girton the evening prior to the official announcement, through a phone call from school council member John Gullan. With the school production taking place that very evening, Chris immediately drove to the Capital Theatre to find many parents gathered in shock and consoling their children. As he reassured his own girls, his immediate thought was ‘What’s next?’.

Having met Jan Thomas through his daughters’ sporting commitments, he joined several other like-minded parents at a fateful meeting at her house opposite the school – the first of many gatherings of the ‘Friends of Girton’. With Bendigo not having the alternative education options offered by other regional cities such as Geelong and Ballarat, it was clear from the outset that the group's aim was to establish a new school. During these early meetings, Chris had the job of taking minutes, which little did he know would evolve into him assuming the role of Board Secretary in the years to come! 

Chris’s construction background and contacts became immensely valuable when the committee decided to return to the MacKenzie Street campus. While others dealt with the challenges of government funding, curriculum and staff appointments, Chris took on the enormous task of campus restoration. The first challenge came immediately after the lease had been negotiated with the owner of the site, Peter Wade, who handed Chris a bucket of mostly untagged keys. After replacing all the key cylinders, the next step to obtaining registration for the dilapidated campus was to complete a survey of all the works that had to be carried out. With no money for labour, 90% of the work was completed by volunteer parents, teachers and students, with working bees taking place at every available moment to carry out everything from painting and landscaping to plumbing and electrical. The day the school opened, although physically exhausted, Chris was exhilarated to have achieved something that most people had deemed impossible. His mantra: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence”.

Chris continued to work as a Master Builder until his retirement, and was for many years engaged by the Master Builders Association of Victoria to judge the best construction projects in all categories across the state. Today Chris and his wife Lyn closely follow the progress of their eight grandchildren – including three who are currently studying at Girton and one who has graduated. Living on a 12-acre property with a small vineyard and 100 olive trees, he is kept busy producing wine and olive oil, and he has also achieved success breeding and racing thoroughbred racehorses. A regular attendee of the Board AGM, productions, assemblies and Speech Nights, Chris finds immense satisfaction witnessing the thriving legacy of the school he played a pivotal role in building.