Who would ever have dreamt that anyone would want to build a school in the middle of the dry Matabeleland bush, many miles from any big centre? Yet this is just what did happen when a group of far-seeing, courageous men got together and purchased a derelict old gold mine, the Bushtick Mine, and with 36 boys and a handful of staff, created the school you see now.

That of course was over 40 years ago. The College opened its doors to the boys on Wednesday 3rd February 1954 and was officially opened by the Governor General of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Lord Llewelin, on Saturday 10 April 1954. Much has changed since then but if you look around very carefully you will find much that is still there, all or in part, of those long gone days.

Early days

The old mine and its buildings and facilities were adapted to the needs of the school, and (over the years) a great deal was added. The boys were first accommodated in small groups, in old mine houses which were given the names Kestrel, Augur, Shrike, Bateleur, Hawk, Harrier and Kite and their living conditions were pretty primitive. Most did however have indoor toilets, unlike the staff who also lived in old mine houses but with 'snake infested outside P.K.'s.' Classes were held in the old mine offices (now the present Arts Block) and to make it easier and quicker to move around, the boys were allowed to have bicycles.

The first Headmaster was Mr Frank Cary who had been Head of Eagle School in the Vumba, and he was the inspiration behind the early days of the school. He was known as 'Tank' and he and his wife Anne became the centre of the Falcon 'family'.

In the beginning the boys were divided into three colour groups for sport, Whites, Blues and Khakis. Later, the houses were named A,B,C and D and in April 1956, Sir Robert Tredgold, Chairman of the Board of Governors, announced that the houses were to be renamed Hervey, Oates, Tredgold and Founders. Founders was so named to commemorate the Founders of the School; Tredgold after Sir Robert Tredgold, who was also Chief Justice of Southern Rhodesia; Oates after Frank Oates, explorer and naturalist who travelled extensively in southern central Africa in the 19th century; and Hervey after Hubert Hervey, adventurer, gentleman and soldier, who was killed in the 2nd Matabele war, and who was buried in the Matopos.

Original facilities

There were no playing fields at the start, the only sports facilities being the swimming pool on the hill, the tennis courts in the circle at the top of the road and the remains of the famous Bushtick Mine golf course, which was the first in the country to have grass greens. Bulldozers were brought in to carve out the fields, which were then planted with grass by the boys!

The old School Hall was the Recreation Hall used by the Mine, and housed the Bushtick Mine Club - you can still see the brass name plate outside the Tuck Shop. The Tuck Shop was in the present Prefects' Common Room. Later it was moved to rooms underneath the Hall and then to its present position.

Originally there were two main entrances. The present access road was guarded by a grid near San field, and it carried straight on over the area which later became Founders and Main Fields (the metal poles placed on the sharp corner of the present road were erected to prevent those familiar with the old road from driving over the new embankment!). The main entrance was in front of what is now Mr Todd's house, where the white-washed gate-posts and grid can still be seen. The road led up to the circle round the tennis courts and then down the main street, as now, between the flamboyants.

The College had no Chapel at first, so assemblies and chapel services were held in the hall. When a chapel was built in 1957 it was very small, and materials were used from the old mine compound, which had been largely demolished. The chapel was later extended twice to form the present cross shape it is now, but originally it was just the square shaped front or western end.

The developing campus

Naturally as the number of boys grew, so new buildings had to be erected, and old ones were either knocked down or added to.

There used to be a line of classrooms down from the present administration block to the old laboratory, but these were demolished and the classrooms which form the northern and eastern sides of the present quad were built. Then the science laboratories were built, to replace the old ones down in the Mine offices. Mrs Margie Tredgold, niece-in-law of Sir Robert Tredgold, made and presented the beautiful mosaic of falcons above the present Science laboratories. Other classrooms on the right-hand side of the road were also constructed at different stages.

George Grey House, named after an early adventurer and pioneer in Southern Rhodesia, George Grey (who was later killed by a lion) was completed in 1961, to make the fifth house. Chubb, named after Geoff Chubb (a Springbok cricketer, friend of Falcon since its inception and later Chairman of the Board), was a much later addition, opening in 1984. In the meanwhile, alterations and extensions as they were needed, were made to the other four Houses, so that very little remains of the original buildings. However, the two sections of Hervey which jut out towards the main street are original, as are the first and second year dormitories of Founders.

The Sanatorium of the early days was what is still referred to as the Old San, where Mr Matatu lives and it was only in 1964 that the present new Sanatorium was completed.

Recent additions

The beautiful Dugmore Memorial Library was opened in November 1975, in pouring rain, by Mrs Molly Dugmore, widow of the late Baffy Dugmore, friend and benefactor to the College, and one of the early Chairmen of the Board of Governors.

The ugly old kitchen and dining hall, relics of the mine bachelor quarters, were replaced in stages, by the new dining hall and kitchen you see today. It was in use by 1984 when the paved area in front was also completed together with the memorial fountain, which records the names of those Falcon Old Boys, who lost their lives in the War of Liberation. The falcon you see above you in the front of the dining hall, was designed by Mr Taylor, the art Master who retired at the end of 1994.

The old hall burned down at the end of 1986 except for the front section, which was the original entrance for the Bushtick Mine club, and which has been retained. The new Turner Hall, so named to acknowledge that much of what you see around you today we owe to Falcon's longest serving Headmaster, Mr Dougal Turner, looms behind it on the same site as the original hall.

More recent additions to the College have been new science laboratories; and the resources centre, which houses the computer room, a lecture theatre and an audio visual centre, which is enhanced by a satellite dish. This resources centre was named after, and opened by, Mr Mick Davis, past Chairman of the Board of Governors.

To the north of Falcon lies a piece of property owned firstly by Mr J. Mylne and then by Mr S. Longden, named 'Quiet Waters.'
This was often used by the boys on bush exeats and fishing expeditions later, to the dam known as Longden's Dam. Some years ago it became possible for Falcon to purchase this land, some of which was transformed into the Nature Reserve known as 'Quiet Waters', and which was officially opened in 1988 by the President of Zimbabwe.

The uniform

Falcon's uniform has remained mostly unchanged over the years, except that boys used to have straw boaters to wear with number ones, and the badges are not the same. The original badge was of a falcon on a branch with a rising sun behind it, with the motto "Arduus ad Solem". This was later changed to the present badge, designed by Mrs Jill Turner, while the present motto (Sic itur ad astra) which comes from writings by Virgil, a Latin philosopher, means 'Look to your new-found courage, young man, for that is the way to the stars.'

Heather Macdonald