Design for window, Geelong Grammar Chapel

Thomas Maxwell Fisk was an Australian serving with the Air Transport Auxiliary (A.T.A.) in England during the Second World War. After attending Geelong Grammar School he secured his pilot's licence, however bad eyesight precluded his entry to the R.A.A.F. He gained entry to the A.T.A. during May 1943, where he was engaged in ferrying planes over England and Scotland. He was killed in an aircraft accident on June 25th 1944, aged 25 years. Christian Waller was a significant female Australian artist who specialised in book illustrations, prints and the designing of stained glass windows. She studied at the National Gallery School in Victoria, where she met and later married fellow student Napier Waller. From 1928, Christian primarily focused on designing stained glass windows. This craft was rarely practiced by women in Melbourne and Christian was the first woman in Australia to take up the craft as a profession. She created stained glass windows for a number of churches in Melbourne and rural centre's in NSW. She wrote, "glass is the material to be used, so the design must be "thought" in glass and planned in glass before the actual glass for the window is ultimately selected." This drawing was designed by Christian Waller for the Chapel of All Saints at Geelong Church of England Grammar School, to commemorate the service of Thomas Fisk. Twelve stained glass windows were designed by Waller and installed in the Chapel of All Saints to commemorate the sacrifice of twelve Old Boys during the Second World War. The Windows were unveiled and dedicated by the Rt. Rev. J.D. McKie, Bishop of Geelong on Sunday, 2nd March 1947. Each window was designed to commemorate ideas of service, sacrifice, resurrection and eternal life.