Margaret Hamilton Brown

Margaret Hamilton Brown OBE aka Maggie-Meg Brown (20 May 1858 – 5 December 1952) was a Scottish born school founder and headmistress in Adelaide in Australia. After her father's business collapsed Margaret led the family's initiative to found a school. What started out as a mixed kindergarten developed into the Wilderness School – a leading school for girls. All of her family were involved in some way and her successor was one of her first pupils, her sister Mamie Brown.

Life Brown was born in Edinburgh in 1858. She was the first born daughter of a teacher Mary Brown (born Home) and James Brown who had a shop and sold music. Her father went to Australia and in 1863, she, her mother and her sister, Kate, emigrated to join him. She was educated in South Australia where she taught at the North Adelaide Model School from 1878 to 1883. In the following year her family encouraged her to start a small school in their home. Her youngest sister, Mary (Mamie) Home Brown, was one of the four founding female pupils and there was also a single boy.

The school became a boarding school that increasingly employed Margaret's sisters as teachers. Margaret's brothers constructed the schools tennis courts. Margaret was awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours of 1948 and in the same year the school was made into a company so that it was independent of its founders.