Melbourne High School (Victoria) - History

History

Brains, not money, should be the passport to the higher realms of knowledge.

“ ” Frank Tate

Under controversial circumstances arising from the opposition of private schools, on February 15, 1905, Frank Tate, the first Director of Education, established Victoria's first state secondary school, the Melbourne Continuation School, with 135 girls and 68 boys. Tate's motivation for establishing the school was to allow students from state primary schools to continue their education, which would otherwise have ended if they could not afford to join one of Melbourne's private schools. The school's original campus was that of the Old National Model School in Spring Street. Joseph Hocking, an inspector of schools, was named the first principal, emerging from a large number of varied applications for the job. Hocking followed Tate's vision, and moulded the school into one which produced students of high quality as evidenced by their final year results. By 1919, it had the greatest number of students at Melbourne University (the only university then) from any school.

In 1910, the first sporting exchange with Adelaide High School occurred, years later this would be followed by an exchange with North Sydney Boys' High School. Sport, music, cadets, the school magazine and social events became important areas of the school. In 1914, with the school just nine years old, the school's ongoing growth and development was disrupted by World War I, where over 500 students served. The school has since developed a special association with Anzac Cove, sending cadets and students to partake in ANZAC Day ceremonies every year. Hocking spoke of the students as:

"...so many upstanding, fearless-eyed Australians, full of the joy of life, physically fit and with mind-power and heart-power, duly exercised under favourable conditions" —Joseph Hocking

The school's growth soon resumed, but the building they occupied was beginning to feel dilapidated. In the 1920s, it was announced that the school would split and the boys and girls would move to alternative locations. In October 1927, the boys moved to Forrest Hill in South Yarra and formed the Melbourne Boys' High School. The old campus was renamed the Melbourne Girls' High School. Between 1931 and 1934, the girls of the old Melbourne Continuation School moved from Government House, to the King Street Central School and finally to Albert Park, renaming the school as the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School. The new campus at Forrest Hill soon developed, and traditions like the house competition began. The Depression did not prevent Melbourne High School from expanding the Forrest Hill campus and developing sporting facilities. Old traditions in music and debating continued, with the addition of house chorals, which is now an important event in the school calendar. New traditions began, such as a house system, with competition in various sports, debating and with the strong music tradition of the school, house chorals. A Memorial Hall paid for by past students was a feature of the new school.

Just as had occurred in World War I, World War II disrupted the school's proceedings greatly. The school building itself was requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy. The students of the school moved to either the new Camberwell High School or the Tooronga Road State School. It was only until 1944 that the students returned to Forrest Hill under the new principal Major-General (later Sir) Alan Ramsay. Ramsay was the first 'Old Boy', or former student, to have become principal. Since then, all but one of his successors have been Old Boys. In the 1950s, Brigadier George Langley set up reviving the school, laying down the plans for a swimming pool and physical education centre while also reestablishing the Tecoma camp. This led to an upgrade in the school's facilities. In 1960, the physical education centre and swimming pool opened. In 1965, a new library was established. In 1968, portable classrooms were built. In 1970, the Junior Science Block was opened.

In the 1980s, the ageing buildings needed refurbishment and new facilities were needed to meet the rapidly changing demands of a modern education, most notably the need for computers. Neville Drohan, the principal from 1987 to 1991, combined government funding with donations from the school community to construct a new four level building: the Nineties building (see facilities below).

In 1992, Raymond Willis became the principal of the school. 1995 was the scene of the full refurbishment of the original building, which was built in 1927, including the addition of a computer suite, dark room, a new general office, improved classroom, a conference room, the heritage room and an upgraded canteen and dining area. The grass hockey field that had originally existed was replaced with a synthetic one and next to the hockey field two plexipave basketball courts were built. The school oval was the next to be revamped. In 1999, new turf wickets which would be maintained by a curator were added along with new drainage and watering as well as an upgrade to the lighting. The new oval was given the name of the Woodfull-Miller Oval in honour of Bill Woodfull, a former student and principal, and Keith Miller, another former student, both of whom were highly regarded Australian test cricketers. Willis continued his plans to upgrade the school's facilities with the construction of a cardio room in the Nineties building, and the addition of four junior science classrooms. The Army Cadets and Air Force Cadets received a new building in 2002, a building which included orderly rooms, meeting rooms, seminar rooms, display areas, kitchen and toilets. In 2002, new changerooms were also constructed in the Old Boys Pavilion, along with the construction of a new Hockey Pavilion overlooking the synthetic hockey field.

The expansion had other ramifications. The school now had extra space, and as a result increased its enrolment to a new high of 1366. However, this meant a lower cutoff in the entrance exam, which led to the school's median ENTER dropping to second in the state. The median only returned to first place again in 2009 (see Academics).

After making numerous innovative changes and advancements, Ray Willis died in July 2004 as the school's longest serving principal and the school went into a state of mourning. In January 2005, Jeremy Ludowyke was appointed principal. In 2007 a new Arts Centre began construction and after nearly two years was officially opened by major donator and 'old-boy' Lindsay Fox (who was asked to leave). In 2007, Year Ten students were assigned to produce their own 'Citizenship Statement'. The results were collated to create an official 'MHS Citizenship Statement', that details the expectations of Melbourne High students and now appears in the student planner.

The school admits that it is primarily seen as an academic school but it nonetheless has developed a wide range of co-curricular traditions of music, with massed singing, formal assemblies and speech nights, the house sporting competition, house choral competition, Army and Air Force cadet corps, current affairs groups and school sports.