Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have the opportunity to work towards the John Edmondson medal. The award scheme was named after IGS Old Boy John Edmondson and all three year levels can become involved striving to gain merit in four core values of Excellence, Leadership, Community and Integrity.

Credit points are earned in all four areas, throughout all aspects of school – academic, sporting, cultural and voluntary while students will keep a log for each of the values.

As an example, a recipient of a certificate for Integrity, in recognition for some deed of worth, would be able to register that in the form of pre-determined points in his Integrity log.

In order to qualify for the Award, each student must gain the pre-set number of points in each area. This would require a certain amount of initiative and planning by the student. All students that attended camp have automatically earned 20 Leadership points. All students will be encouraged to commit to the award and upon completion will be rewarded with a medallion at assembly.

John Robert Edmondson BE (Hons) DQIT BusAdmin MIEA

John Edmondson entered Ipswich Grammar School in 1955, following in the footsteps of his father, Robert (Bert), who attended IGS from 1927-29 and was later a long-serving member of the Board of Trustees. At school, John proved himself in all aspects of the current school values of Leadership, Excellence, Integrity and Community, on which the Award Scheme named in John’s honour is based.

John excelled academically, passing the Junior examinations in 1956, achieving seven As and two Bs, and the Senior examinations in 1958, achieving As in English, Maths I and Maths II, Chemistry and Physics and a B in French. These excellent marks resulted in the award of an Open Scholarship to attend the University of Queensland, which were awarded to the top twenty-five candidates in the State.

In other areas of school life, he was a member of the Debating team in 1957 and the Magazine Committee in 1958, as well as the Cadet Corps. His favourite sport was cricket and, as an accomplished bowler, he was a member of the Premiership winning First XI teams in both 1957 and 1958. He was appointed a School Prefect in 1958. There were less than 200 students during the period that John was at school, but they were years marked by a notable improvement in sports competitions, and by outstanding academic results. As a result, John looks back on his school days as an extremely positive experience that prepared him well for future life.

John entered the University of Queensland in 1959, with an engineering cadetship from the Postmaster General’s Department (PMG), to study electrical engineering. He was a member of Cromwell College. He graduated in 1962 and commenced a thirty-five year career in the Engineering Department of the PMG (which later became Telstra), where he was involved with the planning, installation and maintenance of the Queensland telecommunications network. He completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration at QUT in 1976.

John married Elizabeth in 1965 and they have two children: David, who attended IGS from 1983-1986, and Helen. Besides family, John has maintained a keen interest in cricket, golf and in particular boating and sailing on Moreton Bay, including racing a self-built sailing dinghy in the late 1960s. He also continues the interest in radio fostered by his father and is a member of the Historical Wireless Society of South-east Queensland.

John’s community interests are ongoing. He was a District Chairman for Scouts Australia for many years and since 1982 he has played an active role in the IGS Old Boys Association, first as Secretary and then as Registrar from 2004. Over a thirty-year period, John has contributed enormously to the maintenance and expansion of the school’s database of Old Boys, not only in terms of record keeping but through his research into prominent Old Boys, published as insightful and well-written articles in Red and White magazine. He is the keeper of an astonishing network of IGS contacts and possesses a remarkable depth of knowledge about the school. His contribution to the school’s sesquicentenary publication The Story of Ipswich Grammar School 1863-2013 was invaluable.

His dedication to preserving the history of IGS exemplifies the school value of Community and the John Edmondson Awards are a most fitting recognition of his lifelong contribution to Ipswich Grammar School.