Born in Greenock on 24 September 1881, Agnes Scorgie was the only daughter among several sons. At the University of Glasgow from 1900, she studies Maths, Education, Physics, Logic, and Languages and graduated with an Arts degree in 1903. She then taught for 12 years at Glasgow High School.
Miss Scorgie, then 34, left Glasgow and arrived at Fremantle on 26 February 1916. As Prof Ross later noted from the day she arrived, “ she took a most downright and compelling view of her great responsibilities.” It was Miss Scorgie who successfully established the Peppermint Grove campus from April 1917 and managed students at both the North Perth and Peppermint Grove campuses until North Perth closed at the end of 1918. Two months after the official opening of the new campus in Peppermint Grove, Miss Scorgie brought up the issue of a science curriculum, which was the first time anybody noticed that there wasn’t one and ought to be. She also advocated strongly for the establishment of scholarships.
In 1919, she oversaw the construction of two new classrooms on the part of land purchased from Sir John Forrest (six blocks fronting McNeil Street), as well as two large dormitories built onto the back of Scorgie House. With an opinion on female education well ahead of her time, Miss Scorgie bravely advocated throughout her career for girls to continue their education until age eighteen or nineteen before entering university or “any other calling they have in mind”.
By 1920, enrolments stood at 175 (52 were boarders) and she was justifiably proud of PLC’s exam results – but her real achievement, she was convinced, was something more inchoate and far less quantifiable. As she wrote in her report that year, “What is more gratifying than examination successes is the feeling that there is an ‘esprit de corps’ now. I have waited and hoped for it during the last four years, and then I realised that it was present, and very forceful. It is the greatest satisfaction that I have had in the four years of building up a school. Now I feel it is a school.” However, the strain of the past years on Miss Scorgie’s health proved too great. She resigned by 19 August 1921.
In 1958, Scorgie House was officially named in her honour.
As Prof Ross said at the time,” I well remember Miss Scorgie saying to me one day, soon after she came to Australia, what a heavy responsibility it was to direct a new school, without history, without traditions, without a guiding spirit of the past. What was my delight, a year or two later, to hear her say, with a smile of joy on her face, that almost before she commenced to look for it, she was conscious that PLC had a true and forceful school spirit.”
And it still does, 110 years later.
In 2025, PLC proudly celebrates 110 years of Capability, Bravery, Compassion, and Strength. To mark this milestone, we are sharing the stories of inspiring women from our community – past and present – who have shaped our rich history. Read more here.
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