Denis Joseph Sullivan

The name of Denis Joseph Sullivan (1873-1952) is integral to High’s early participation in the Athletic Association of the Great Public Schools (AAGPS).

Sullivan entered the teaching profession as a pupil teacher in 1889. He gained a scholarship to attend the Fort Street Training School in 1894 and, from 1895, commenced teaching at suburban and rural public schools. He graduated with a BA from Sydney University in 1899.

He was appointed to Sydney High School on 31 August 1905 and was a teacher of modern languages from 1905-1914. By November 1905, he had also taken up the role of sports master. In that month, the Headmaster, John Waterhouse, wrote to the Chief Inspector of Schools suggesting an allowance be provided to Sullivan:

In a school such as this, it is desirable that sports - cricket, football, swimming, athletics, etc - should be fostered, and that one of the Masters should when possible accompany the boys when competing with other schools or when swimming. 

Mr Sullivan, who has recently been appointed to this school, is taking up this work with enthusiasm: as he is put to an expense of 4 [shillings] or 5 [shillings] per week, travelling and incidental expenses, in going with the boys to their various competitions etc, I beg to suggest that an allowance be made to recoup him the expenditure thus incurred.

The Chief Inspector, in supporting the proposal, noted:

It might be argued that the boys’ clubs should contribute the necessary funds, but to wait on such help for the fostering of sport in this school is likely to damp any movement in that direction. Moreover the High School is different from other schools in that it cannot draw upon local generosity. The neglect of athletics in this school I wish to see wiped out.

By early 1906, Waterhouse had become convinced of the desirability of High joining the AAGPS. Among other things, he considered it would:

afford a stimulus to the younger boys to excel in sports in order that they might be selected as representatives of the school in the Great Public School competitions, and would help to give to the school the status to which it is entitled by scholarship.

So, on 14 February 1906, Sullivan appeared before the Committee of the AAGPS and successfully sought High’s admission.

Sullivan had sole responsibility for superintending all the sporting activities at High, which included rugby, cricket, tennis, swimming and life saving. This meant that, in addition to his duties as a teacher (including 2-3 hours of preparation or marking per night), he gave up a considerable amount of his own free time. 

One statement of expenses is preserved in the Department’s archive. In the 8.5 months from 1 April until 16 December 1910, Sullivan made 29 journeys accompanying rugby and cricket teams to their various matches; 23 journeys (twice weekly) to Bondi for swimming; as well as 26 journeys for administrative purposes (including to eight AAGPS meetings).

In an application for a pay raise in 1909, Sullivan wrote to the Department of Public Instruction:

In order to keep in close touch with the cricket, swimming, football, tennis and life saving activities of the school, I am forced to give up many hours of my private time; and this I submit is as much in the nature of being a duty as if I were actually teaching. The school closes at 3.15 each day, yet on three and four days each week it is frequently six o’clock before I am free, and I not infrequently spend my Saturdays in accompanying teams to the various grounds. I never grudge my private time to the work, but it is obvious that one who interests himself in all the manifold activities of the school in this way, must have an earnest regard and solicitude for the welfare of the boys, and should receive some more tangible recognition of those services than their gratitude, and the approval of the Head Master and his colleagues.

He considered his work important, observing:

It cannot be denied that physical development is of equal value with intellectual progress, and it is clear also that the character stimulus and general ethical tone of a school are gauged largely by a survey of the temper and quality of the boys’ attitude towards games. These are effective with organisation, futile without it, beneficial with supervision, harmful without it.

The Under Secretary of the Department decided that he was not prepared to grant the request: 

Mr Sullivan should look to the ordinary ranks of the Service outside the High School for promotion.

A position was offered at the Stockton Public School for a considerable increase in salary, but he declined. 

However, within a few years, the growing number of high schools led to increased professional opportunities for high school teachers. It was inevitable, then, that Sullivan would take up opportunities elsewhere. He left in 1914, to take up an appointment at the newly opened Sydney Technical High School.

The Record of June 1914 farewelled Sullivan in glowing terms:

Whether on the football field as coach, and, on occasion, as centre-forward, or on, the cricket field, or out diverting himself, like some "leviathan of the deep" in the placid waters of Bondi, or as an officer of the School Company, he proved himself a "thorough sport." In the internal working of the school, no master has done more thorough and conscientious work, that will long be remembered with gratitude by any boy worthy of the name. A fine disciplinarian, his class was always a model of order and industry, and not a boy but felt a pleasure in the class work. With regard to the social life of the school, we all know with what zest Mr. Sullivan joined in concerts, debates, and such other functions‑not forgetting the mock banquets‑ready to sing, recite, or speak, at a moment's notice, and always delightful to listen to.

Endowed with the true Milesian humour and gift of oratory, he could entertain the school by the hour, had time, on such occasions, permitted. Well, despite all his loveable and excellent qualities, we were unable to keep him with us; for, much as he would have liked to stay, when one's interests are at stake, it is a case of carpe diem, and old ties and associations are broken.  But Mr Sullivan may feel sure that, whatever the future may have in store, and wherever he may be, he will always bear with him the best of good wishes from his old pupils, in whose hearts there can never be for him anything but the greatest esteem and affection.

In 1931 Sullivan transferred to Maitland High School to be Master of Modern Languages before returning to Sydney Technical High School in 1935.