Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Sydney Leonard Buckley was born at Rutherglen in north-eastern Victoria on September 8, 1882. He was the fourth son of a family of six boys and four girls. On completing his schooling at Hawthorn College, he returned to Rutherglen where he joined the staff of the lo- cal branch of the State Savings Bank as its first junior clerk at a salary of £20 per annum. It was during his employment with the Bank in Melbourne that Buckley first became interested in social work. Ultimately he decided he would seek to enter the Ministry of the Anglican Church. After taking his Arts Degree, Buckley set to work to obtain his Licentiate of Theology. He took his Diploma in 1910 and was ordained at St Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne, in the same year. Buckley began his ministry in 1910 as curate of St Thomas's Church, Essendon. He was later sent to Ivanhoe, where he commenced the St James Grammar School in 1915. It became the institution that we know, 99 years later, as Ivanhoe Grammar School. In an article from Hoe, published by the Old Ivanhoe Grammarians in 1964, a special article paid tribute to Buckley’s 33 years as Headmaster, over 49 years of service at Ivanhoe. “Some two thousand boys passed through his hands.”
Sydney Buckley enlisted in the First AIF in 1917, serving as Chaplain on the troopship Ballarat, and with the 66th, 49th and 21st Battalions. “On his return, in 1919, he decided with the approval of the Archbishop of Melbourne, to devote himself entirely to the school and it was due to his tremendous energy and sense of dedication that its present beautiful property was acquired and the school itself became firmly established as a leading secondary school for boys.” In 1927, he married Sister Evelyn Flett, matron of the boarding house. Their daughter Mary was born. Hoe remarked: “Mr Buckley was a man of vision and of the highest integrity. As a schoolmaster, he was interested primarily in the development of character and the ideal of service to the community. “Indeed his inspiration was communicated to his boys by precept and ex- ample, right from the early days; this was his dedicated life’s work ...” Sydney Buckley, and some of his brothers, were members of the Eagle-mont Lodge, which met at the Ivalda Masonic Temple. There were plans to form an Ivanhoe Grammarians Lodge in 1939, but the outbreak of World War II interrupted. The consecration of Ivanhoe Grammarians Lodge took place on Tuesday night, July 2, 1946, at Ivalda. Up to 150 Masons attended on that night. Buckley’s brother, Harry, was our first Master. ‘Cobber’ (Sydney) was Chaplain for many years. His name consistently appears as proposer or seconder for many of the Lodge’s candidates in those early years. The editorial writer of The Ivanarian magazine in 1947, writing about Cobber’s imminent retirement, said it this way: “Even the youngest amongst us have been unable to help liking the informal kindly advances of the bronzed old warrior who patted them on the head at morning assembly or during his frequent visits to the Prep. playground. “As the years pass, that liking grows into a tremendous respect for a truly great man. It is said that willingness to serve is a mark of true greatness. “If this is so, then our Head must be ranked among the greatest, for truly has he served God and his country. “There are few fields of national service greater than educating its youth, and countless boys can testify to the willing service, help and friendship tendered to them by their Headmaster.” Bro. Sydney Buckley passed to the Grand Lodge Above on March 9, 1964.

http://documents.mx/documents/ivanhoe-grammarians-lodge-newsletter-feb-2014.html