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Atlassian billionaire Scott Farquhar has stunned the well-heeled parents of Sydney's eastern suburbs with a surprise move after his historic win to allow girls into elite boys-only Cranbrook.
The tech boss led the charge for the Bellevue Hill private school - where fees are up to $60,000 a year - to end 130 years of strictly male education to become co-ed.
The high-profile campaign finally succeeded three years ago, with girls to be admitted for the first time from January next year, initially just for years 7 and 11.
The iconic institution will now become fully co-ed in 2029.
But Farquhar, one of Australia's richest men with an estimated personal fortune of $21billion, has now dropped a bombshell.
After battling fierce opposition from the likes of late Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson - who believed turning Cranbrook co-ed was like the Biblical end of days - Farquhar has pulled his own son out of the school.
The Australian has reported that Farquhar and his wife, Kim Jackson, are now moving their child to an all-boys school next year.
The bill for Farquhar's campaign to end the boys-only tradition at the alma mater of Sydney's rich and famous reportedly ran into millions, and was thought to be a doomed cause.
Atlassian billionaire and his wife Kim Jackson (pictured) have reportedly pulled their sons out of the elite Cranbrook school following years of passionate campaigning for the boys-only school to accept girls, which begins in January
Girls in Years 7 and 11 will finally walk through the gates to study inside the hallowed walls of the onetime all male Anglican college for the mega-wealthy
It was supported by James Packer's philanthropist sister Gretel Packer, who sent her two sons there, and billionaire property fund manager Will Vicars.
The Packers' late father, media mogul Kerry, was also a former pupil there, as was his son who met his one-time right-hand man Ben Tilley there, along with his former best friend and ex-Nine Network CEO David Gyngell.
It also boasts Olympians, athletes, politicians, actor Gary McDonald and Nobel prize-winner Patrick White, plus Farquhar's Atlassian co-founder, Mike Cannon-Brookes among its former pupils.
But throughout its history, it's been strictly boys only, apart from its two co-ed pre-schools which led to mockery and an old taunt from students at rival schools.
Heard across rugby fields and playgrounds for decades, and in various versions, it went something like: 'Get a girl, get a girl, get a girl if you can; if you can't get a girl, get a Cranbrook man'.
Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes, also an Old Cranbrookian with an estimated $12billion fortune, did not speak out about Farquhar's campaign.
He and Farquhar fell out last year, with the latter stepping down as Atlassian's co-CEO in August 2024.
Farquhar, who is not a Cranbrook old boy and attended the much more humble but selective James Ruse Agricultural High School at Carlingford, was an enthusiastic proponent of the co-ed plan and a generous donor.
Scott Farquhar (left) had waged a passionate campaign against bitter opposition to allow girls to attend Cranbrook, whose male establishment alumnus include the late media mogul Kerry Packer and his billionaire businessman son, James (right)
He became the face of the campaign waged while the school’s governing council was engulfed by a virtual civil war over the issue and resignations ensued.
Farquhar and Jackson also offered to sponsor scholarships for girls whose parents could not afford six years of the annual $49,521 fees, or for girls coming from other schools who needed to board at Cranbrook, for a yearly fee of $93,627.
International students in Year 12 face an annual fee bill of $60,012.
Daily Mail has contacted Farquhar to determine if the sponsorship offer still stands, and to comment on the reported withdrawal of his son.