During 1954 I had applied to attend Geelong High School the following year. Geelong High School was being swamped by the rapidly increasing population following World War II. We knew that not all hopefuls were going to be lucky and if unsuccessful we would probably be going on to seventh grade at Geelong West or Swanston Street State Schools. These schools were the only ones left in the Geelong area that still had seventh and eighth grades.
On 10th August 1954, the Public Works Minister Mr Merrifield let a contract for £35,652 for the erection of the first section of Belmont High School, Geelong. The school was to contain four general classrooms, rooms for science, art, woodwork, needlework, stores and an administrative section.
Towards the end of 1954 we were told that we would be going to the new Belmont High School which would be finished by the beginning of 1955. We were very disappointed not only as it was further away, but also because the hills made bike riding much more of a grind.
On 28 January 1955 The Argus made the following announcement:
RESHUFFLE FOR HIGH SCHOOLS
First official signs of the 1955 school “classroom squeeze” came last night when the Education Department announced that alternative accommodation had been arranged for pupils enrolled at a number of new high schools. The new high schools are not yet completed so pupils will be accommodated at either existing schools or in public buildings…
Our instructions were to meet at Swanston Street State School at 9 am on Wednesday 1st February. About 200 students and nine staff assembled that morning. All but ten of these students had left the school by the time the final year’s study had commenced. It was impressed upon us that we were the “Foundation Students” of the new school. At our first Speech Day later that year, we were issued with “Foundation Certificates” with our names neatly handwritten and signed by the first President of the Advisory Council, the first president of the Ladies’ Auxiliary and the first headmaster.
I often wondered if the staff had any idea of what to do next or whether they made it up as they went along. They had three classrooms and a staff room at Swanston Street and two portable classrooms at Geelong High available to them. They decided to divide us up into five groups. Form 2 was made up of students who had completed seventh grade the previous year and the form 1 students were divided into four groups. Two form 1 groups were marched over to Geelong High. We would meet during sports times at Eastern Park or during summer at Eastern Beach for swimming. We had no uniform, no facilities and few rules. One of the first rules was that we were not permitted to eat in the street. In winter, we conducted crude science experiments on an open fire in the absence of a Bunsen burner.
On 26 September, which was the first day of third term, we took possession of our new domain at Belmont. The one thing that no student forgot about the first months was the MUD. It stretched around the building area and all the way up Hill Street. The residents living in surrounding streets complained that it was so bad that even the milkman refused to deliver. Anyone who had rubber boots could fill a bottle with tadpoles to take home. We would enter the school by cutting through the gate at Roslyn State School and could dodge most of it.
I remember students who came from Norlane, North Geelong, Lara, Gheringhap, Lethbridge, Lorne, Anglesea, Torquay, Winchelsea, Grovedale, Marshall, Newtown and Geelong West. Buses needed to be arranged, one going over Princes Bridge to Church Street, and another up Vines Road. A uniform was in bottle green was chosen for the girls. The trammies were tickled pink that we were wearing the same colour as them. Tunics were given a miss and the latest style of pinafore dresses was chosen. It was a very poor choice for girls who were growing in all directions. The bottle green soon faded to olive green. A crest was designed using an eagle on a hill and the motto “Strive for the Highest” was very modern as it was not in Latin. This crest is still in use today.
Competitive sport was regularly arranged with Ballarat East, a school which began at the same time as us.
One year later history repeated itself with over a hundred more students moving in to Swanston Street for the first two terms while waiting for the extra classrooms to be finished at Belmont. Once a week each form travelled by chartered bus to Belmont for a full day, so that woodwork, needlework, art and science classes had proper facilities for teaching these subjects, and so that the Belmont students at Swanston Street would feel that they were an important part of Belmont High School. Exactly twelve months later we all came under the one roof for the start of third term when the second section of the building was completed.
At the end of 1956 the first issue of “Summit”, the school magazine was distributed. It was a 32 page booklet containing photos of school teams, student contributions and lists of students and teachers.
The school continued to grow with cookery rooms and music rooms added in 1957.
The following year during education week the Director of Education officially opened the school on 20th August. In his speech he said: When I went to school there was only one High School, and to get into that one High School, Melbourne High School, you had to win a scholarship. Most young people of your age left school when they reached the sixth class at something like what we would call the eighth grade to-day, and that was the only chance that many people had. To-day, there is a High School or a Technical School or a Girls’ School for everybody, and just to give you an indication, in the last six years the number of our High Schools has grown from 58, until in February next, I believe, there will be just over 130 throughout this State of ours. Now there is a great opportunity for you young people; I do hope you will seize it. |