AustLit

'Two very big books about two rich and varied lives, linked by their successive terms as headmaster of Geelong Grammar School (GGS). James Ralph Darling served three decades and retired somewhat jaded by education but reluctant to relinquish authority; Thomas Ronald Garnett set himself twelve years in harness, stuck to his limit, then built himself an entirely new career as one of Australia's greatest gardeners and garden writers. Darling in retirement was no slouch, serving as possibly the best-ever chair of the ABC, fending off attacks on its independence from political (but mostly conservative) critics and interferers, and standing up for quality public broadcasting and high standards in cultural and civic life. Hence if the setting is the same red-brick gleaming towers by Corio Bay, the men, their lives and the marks they made as educators and public figures were very different.' (Introduction)