[7] Queenwood was established on 21 September 1925 by Grace Lawrance, assisted by Beatrice Rennie, as an independent, day and boarding school for girls.

[citation needed] The two women had met in 1918 at the Glennie Memorial School in Toowoomba, Queensland, where Lawrance was Principal, and Rennie first assistant-mistress.

In 1932, a combination of the Depression, Lawrance's death in November, and Rennie's illnesses, meant that Violet Maude Medway often assisted in managing the school.

Queenwood prospered despite the Depression and Second World War, and by 1950, Rennie was president of the New South Wales branch of the Headmistresses' Association of Australia.

[10] In 1962 Rennie retired as co-Principal but the school remained her home as she worked in the library and helped with the students, as far as her health permitted.

Miss Rennie said, "Per Aspera precedes Ad Astra and so it is that strength and courage are necessary, for the highest and best are not attained without struggle.