Wilderness School

The school was created by the Brown family who encouraged their eldest daughter Margaret Hamilton Brown to take an interest in education after her father's business had failed. Margaret was born in Edinburgh and educated in South Australia and she showed a talent for teaching. In 1884 she started a small school in her parents home It became a boarding school that increasingly employed the five Brown sisters as teachers. The Brown family helped to run the school which had no uniform. Classes took place around the dining table, in an old tram or in the stables. Margaret's younger sister Mamie Brown showed a talent for teaching. She introduced the ideas of Charlotte Mason while Margaret moved aside to manage the school's business rather than the education. By the end of the second world war the successful school had 360 pupils. Margaret was awarded an OBE in 1948 and in the same year the school was made into a company. Margaret died in 1952 and Mamie in 1968 leaving a thriving school. == House system ==

The Wilderness School has five houses, through which all girls partake in intra-school activities: • Amaryllis (Pink) • Antholiza (Blue) • Carob (Green) • Cedar (Purple) • Sparaxis (Orange) ==Sport==

Wilderness School is a member of the Independent Girls Schools Sports Association (IGSSA). The school maintains the sporting grounds at Park 6 on Robe Terrace, for use as hockey, lacrosse and soccer fields. Other sporting facilities include a gymnasium which was completed in 2005, and a boatshed at the South Australian Rowing Association complex at West Lakes for rowing. IGSSA premierships Wilderness school has won the following IGSSA premierships. • Badminton (3) – 2009, 2014, 2015 • Hockey (7) – 1981, 1982, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2019 • Swimming – 2010 • Australian Rules Football - 2025 ==Notable alumnae==

• Mamie Brown – founding pupil and the second principal • Annabel Crabb – the ABC's chief online political writer, formerly political columnist with The Age • Ally Fowler – actress • Mekhla Kumar – pianist • Susan Magarey – historian and author • Georgie Parker – member of the Australian National Hockey Team. • Phiala E. Shanahan – theoretical physicist • Ellinor Gertrude Walker – teacher and women's rights activist ==See also==