Brooke Nicholas Pavilion: The People
The Pavilion celebrates the traditional relationship between a story and its teller. The two men it is named after represent an intergenerational continuity, which sees how the School develops the growing of families and makers, of people that leave a mark and who have a welcomed place once they have left.
The stories of Nicholas Brooke and Richard Nicholas start similarly. They were both Foundation students of the School in 1966. Richard's parents migrated from England in 1960 largely to provide greater prospects for their children. They lived on an expansive, rural 10-acre property in Kilsyth, and got word of plans for a school in Ringwood. Impressed with the project, it became the next step in life for son Richard.
Nick grew up in Heathmont. His father Graham was a partner in the accounting firm Buckley and Hughes. Bob Hughes was on the Yarra Valley Formative Committee and later became a member of the School Council. It was primarily because of this connection that Nick enrolled.
They experienced Yarra's adolescence: both can reminisce on the days where a handful of boys walked to the remote school each day.
Their futures would become tightly interwoven with that of the School. Both were members of the Old Boys cricket team, Nick would become both President of the Parents and Friends Association and Yarra Foundation Director, while Richard became Past Students Association President. They would come together as members of the School Board, and both families had children who were students at the School. The Pavilion marks their lasting legacy woven into the everyday life of the School.
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