High school history unfolds

A HISTORY of Healesville High School will be launched at a school reunion in March next year.
Author Phil Roberts said the book would mark the birth of the school which began in 1961 in classes in Badger Creek Road, and coincides with the building of the ‘new’ high school on the Camerons Road site. Its official opening took place in 1963.
Rebuilding of the school currently under way and expected to be finished by the end of this year, so the reunion will mark another significant milestone in the school’s continuing story.
The new era will be launched under the banner Celebrating the Past – Looking to the Future.
Mr Roberts, an historian and author of 12 books including two school histories, has been working on the book for the past year.
“It’s very much a people story,” he said. “What I am focusing on is the culture of the school, how it evolved over the 50 years and the traditions of the school.”
Mr Roberts said one of the things that had surprised him was how long it took for the Healesville community to get a high school of its own.
“In pre-World War I students had to go out of the community and there was a lot of agitation in the 1940s and ’50s for Healesville to have its own high school,” he said.
“It was seen as very important for the community to have a high school and it was part of the post war boom right across Victoria with somewhere between eight and 10 new schools being opened up every year in the late ‘50s and ‘60s.”
He said his interviews and research have revealed that people even now have a view Healesville as a country town and highlighted the significance social events such as school fetes and fairs and school speech nights at the Memorial Hall have in community life.
Mr Roberts is compiling a full list of the teachers over the years and would like to hear from anyone who taught at the school or was involved in administration. Any memorabilia would also be welcomed.
“I have a lot for the ’60s, but not so much for the ’70s and ’80s, so photos, notices, news clippings, anything like that would be very valuable,” he said.
Any items or names and contact numbers can be left at the school office for Mr Roberts to collect, or visit the webpage www.healesvillehs.vic.edu.au for more information.