Newsletter Oct 2003

1835	Foundation of Melbourne.
1845	Flemington gazetted as a suburb.
1847	James Watson, an early squatter, buys 310 acres of land in Flemington for £782/15/-. The school now stands on this land.
1849	Hugh Glass, squatter, investor and merchant, buys the Flemington Estate from James Watson for £4,100.
1851	Gold discovered in Victoria. Mt. Alexander Road becomes the major highway to the Bendigo and Castlemaine goldfields.
1858	Dec. 1st Flemington National School is established in an iron building owned by Hugh Glass. It was known locally as "the iron pot" because of very hot conditions in the building during summer. The enrolment was 54 children aged from 3 to 15 years. The Head Teacher was Joshua Mason and his wife, Mary Mason, was work-mistress.
1859	Enrolment: boys 31, girls 28, total 59. Average attendance: boys 22, girls 19, total 41. One child is certified destitute and therefore does not have to pay fees.
1861	Feb 28th Joshua Mason retires from the school. He died in 1868. The school closes down until April because the rent on the building is considered exorbitant by the National Board of Education. The owner, Hugh Glass, offers the building rent free and the school is re-opened. The new teachers were George R. Macadam and Mary A. Gladwin (Probationary Assistant Teacher).
1862	Common Schools Act passed in the Victorian Parliament. The Act sets up a new Board of Education replacing the old National Board. The school's name is changed to Flemington Common School and given the number 250. Hugh Glass begins building his mansion, Flemington House, with extensive park-like surroundings. The gates of the present Flemington State School 250, are all that now remains of his impressive mansion.
1863	A system of Inspectors is set up by the new Board to examine pupils. Teachers are paid a basic salary plus bonuses depending on the results of the examinations. This "payment by results" system lasted until 1901.
1865	New Wesleyan Church. The nave of the present brick church was built replacing the small wooden church behind. The wooden building became the Sunday school.
1868	The first permanent building of the school is erected on a block of land measuring 45 ft by 130 ft in Mt. Alexander Road. The land was bought from Hugh Glass for £150. The building was brick with an iron roof and measuring 57 ft. by 28 ft. It had a gallery and a cellar but no ceiling or fireplace. There was a large internal porch at the front of the building which was close to the footpath and traffic of Mt. Alexander Road. The local community paid for half the costs and the Board the other half. The final cost with furniture and equipment was £866/10/0. All classes were conducted in the one room. This building was our Rooms 2 & 3.
1869	Head Teacher: Frederick S. Hayden. He campaigned strongly for improvements to the school.
1885	He retired from the Department In 1907 and died in 1909.
1871	The school applies to buy the land behind the school through to Bignell Street and builds an infants room. The land measuring 100 ft by 89 ft. is subsequently bought from the Colonial Bank for £42.
1872	The Education Acts were passed by the Victorian Parliament to establish a new system of free, secular and compulsory education providing for all children. The Department of Education was set up under a Minister of Public Instruction. The school's name was changed to Flemington State School No. 250.
1873	An inspector described the site and building as not suitable for school purposes and considered it "very desirable that this property be disposed of if possible". It wasn't.
1874	Average attendance: 186 students.
1876	The Bignell Street land is fenced and incorporated in the playground. Frederick Hayden pointed out how urgent the need was to keep out cattle, geese, goats and dogs "which are at present a great nuisance" . He suggests one side should be proof against trespassers because he is "very much annoyed by jockey-boys (of whom there are numbers in this neighbourhood) who enter the yard after school hours and make themselves, by writing on and disfiguring the walls of the back premises, "very obnoxious".
1877	At the beginning of the year an Infants room is completed. It was brick with a slate roof and a tank to improve the school's water supply. It was a gallery classroom joined on to the back of the building by a short passage. This was our Maths Room 1 in the 1960s. In June, the Mayor of Essendon and Flemington, Mr. Taylor, presents a petition to the Minister from the inhabitants of Flemington for the erection of a new school in the locality. In October, the Board of Advice, which gave advice to the Department on schools in a whole district, recommends a separate school for Kensington to relieve pressure on Flemington. Flemington 250 is put up for sale but later withdrawn as no reasonable offers were made.
1878	Average attendance: 327. The old wooden Wesleyan church which was being used as a Sunday School was rented to accommodate the overflow of students, from Flemington. Second or third grade were taught here until 1885. Hayden described it as 14 ft by 30 ft and a "wretched wooden building and unbearably hot in summer".
1879	A new site for the school is investigated because of the growing number of students.
1881	Kensington State School No. 2374 is opened. Frederick Hayden requests the provision of shelter sheds.The request is denied. The Manse is erected on the Wesleyan site.
1882	There is an outbreak of typhoid fever in the school. Steps are taken to improve the toilets. Inspector Charles Tynan recommended that a new site be obtained for the school. In September the Department of Education purchased land fronting Bank Street, Ascot Vale.
1883	The footpath is built at the front of the school by the Borough of Flemington and Kensington. The Borough of Essendon complains that the school at Flemington "..is totally inadequate to supply the requirements of the district".
1884	Hayden again complains of the over-crowding. He says there are sometimes over 116 children in the infants room (our Room 1) and concludes that "in fact there are no facilities for properly conducting the school". Alfred Deakin, Minister of Public Works In Victoria and later one of Australia's greatest Prime Ministers, pushes for expansion. Ascot Vale State School 2608, is being built. Local residents, the Borough of Flemington and Kensington and the Board of Advice, want Flemington 250 to remain open after Ascot Vale Is opened. The Minister receives a deputation to this effect but decided Flemington will be closed and have its windows boarded up.
1885	1st March: Flemington school is closed. The Head Teacher, Frederick Hayden, the staff, students and furniture all moved to Ascot Vale 2608, which opened on the 1st April. The school is rented by the Wesleyan Church for Sunday School purposes. The boards had to be taken off the windows. The Head Teacher was Horatio Rernfry 1885 - 86. 8th September: Flemington S.S. 250 is re-opened to relieve overcrowding at Kensington S.S. 2374. The school is refurbished with old desks to cater for 100 students.
1886	Head Teacher, William J. H. Martell, retired 1892 died 1904.
1886	It is decided to keep Flemington open because of insufficient accommodation at Kensington and Ascot Vale.
1887	More land is acquired for the school. A 30ft. frontage of the adjoining police land is bought. The Chief Commissioner of Police warns that "the new boundary will be within a few feet of the lock up, and It will at times be found that very objectionable language of a drunken prisoner will be plainly heard by the school children in the playground. Wesleyan Sabbath School is built. This will be used by the school for many years. It was demolished in
1882	Alfred Deakin expedites the transaction of the land and improvements in the school.
1888	The students and furniture are moved to John Crichton's Royal Hall, Princes St. near Racecourse Road while alterations and extensions take place. Two new rooms and a Master's Office are added. Theses became Rooms 4 and 6 and the office. The exterior of the old building is re-modelled to match the extensions. It is also divided to make two rooms (presently Room 2 and 3). The town clock on the gable of the old building is removed, having served its time as the time-keeper for the travellers on Mt. Alexander Road. 17th September: The building is officially opened by the Minister, Mr. C. H. Pearson.
1889	Average attendance: 384. Sufficient accommodation is still a problem.
1891	The police property is bought as the police have built a new station in Wellington Street. The property contains a six-roomed house which is demolished In 1892. The Wesleyan Sabbath School is rented pending further extensions to the school. 263 children are taught in this hall.
1892	August: A new extension is completed. This comprises a two-storey building containing two large rooms and a bell tower. These were Room 7, 10, and II. It had a verandah across the back. A caretaker's cottage was built at 19 Bignell Street with materials from the old Police Station.
1893	William Martell retires and is replaced by David Manson who retires in 1894. J S Morrison is Acting Head Teacher until June 1895.
1895- 1905	Head Teacher is Sinclair McNab. He was a firm headmaster and a man of high moral principles. He died in 1905 and is commemorated in the school by a marble plaque in the corridor of the 1888 building which was, at that time, the main entrance His inscription reads "Their works do follow them".
1897	Average attendance: 525
1901	Federation of the Australian colonies into the Commonwealth of Australia.
1903	Sinclair McNab endeavours to improve the grounds by planting of more trees. This may be when the peppercorn trees were planted. 1905 Sewerage connected to the school at a cost of £314.
1906	Head Teacher James Moloney - retired 1914. Died 1924. A Cadet Corps formed at the school. Military training of boys was strongly encouraged at this time as Australia's own defence forces were just being established. No doubt, many of these cadets ended up at the Great War. \ More land bought. The block, a narrow one with a 33 ft. frontage to Mt. Alexander Road and running through to Bignell Street was between the school and the church. It had an old weatherboard house and large garden. It was first offered for sale to the Department twenty years earlier. The owner was Annie Maria Heenan, who sold it for £150.
1907	.An armory to house 40 rifles is built at the school. The Defence Department urges the erection of a miniature rifle range in the school yard. This was never done. The galleries in the present Room I and 2 are removed and desks put in. Another block of land 79 ft by 189 ft facing Mt. Alexander Road is bought from the Federal Bank for £276.
1907	Average attendance: 580
1910	Head Teacher: Peter Robin. Electric tram route was built along Mt. Alexander Rd.
1911	Head Teacher: Archibald L. Weir, retired 1919.
1911	School Committees replace the old District Boards of Advice. F.W.CIarey of "Clar-e-ville", 22 Norwood St., Newmarket, becomes the first Correspent of the Flemington School Committee. The rough conditions of the playground and drainage in wet weather continue to be problems.
1912	A school bazaar raised funds £70 for a shelter shed. Extra funds requested from the Department are denied. 1913 Archibald Weir complains of overcrowding in the infants. The old church building is rented again for school purposes. A new fence with a gate is erected along the church boundary.
1914	WWI . The Department sets up a Patriotic Fund to raise money from the efforts of students and teachers. This money was to help the Australian soldiers at the front In Europe. Flemington school contributed £323/13/10 by the end of the war in 1918.
1915	It was from this time that a strong campaign was mounted for a new school. Two shelter sheds are erected near Bignell Street, one boys, one girls. These were first requested in 1881. One of these was removed to the new Flemington S.S.250 in 1924 .The Minister (Hon. T. Livingston M.L.A.) received a delegation lead by E.C.Warde M.L.A. and the School Committee. The delegation requested the rebuilding of the school and the purchase of land in Wellington Street and Bignell Street. Noise from the heavy traffic on Mt.Alexander Road was considered a major problem, especially on race days. The Minister visited the school to see the problem for himself. A.E.Lyons, the Chairman of the School Committee reported later that the Minister "being an ex-schoolmaster he tried to conduct a class. He miserably failed and promised the children a new school, stating that It was unfair to Teacher and Scholar to impart or receive tuition under such circumstances." Such were the conditions of teaching in the old building. A block of land was purchased in Wellington St. for £400. It is what we referred to as top court. To help overcome overcrowding, a pavilion classroom (portable) was transferred from Moonee Pond West S.S. 2 This was a rectangular wooden building with half-walls and canvas shutters (which were torn and damaged).
1916	Another deputation from the school visits the Minister, Hon. JSW Lawson MLA. They again outline the problem of traffic noise and the need to move the school. They suggest buying the wood yard and a brick house in Wellington Street on the corner of Bignell Street and the row of small wooden cottages in Bignell Street. The new school could be built there, away from the road. This Is the site of the present Debney Park High School’s first new building.
1917	The Department says It will spend no more money on the school at present because of severe financial stringency. Electric lighting Is connected to the new school.
1918	Travancore, owned since 1910 by Henry Madden, is to be subdivided for residential purposes. The estate was 90 acres. The Minister, Hon. W. Hutchinson MLA., visits the school on therequest of the School Committee. He concluded that instead of extending the site, there should be a new site altogether, possibly on the Travancore estate.
1919	Areas of Travancore are considered including the conversion of the mansion into a model school or a domestic arts school. They also thought of buying enough land for a primary and a high school. It is suggested by the School Committee that the old school could be used as a Technical School or for the Vocational Training of Returned Soldiers. The Department does not act because of finance. After 3 years of an "open" classroom the tattered canvas shutters of the pavilion classroom are replaced.
1920	Headmaster: William H Bulleid until 1922.
1921	30th April. Yet another deputation sees the Minister, Sir Alexander Peacock. Politicians, Melbourne City Councillors, Health Officers, a Minister of Religion and the School Committeeall condemn the old school and asked that "this blot be removed from the Education Department". The Travancore site should be bought and a new school erected.14th July. The present site of Flemington S.S. was bought for £6,640.
1922	Headmaster: Alfred W. Williams. Retired 1923. 14th December. The Governor of Victoria, the Rt Hon Earl of Stradbroke KCMG, lays the foundation stone for the new school. and the Minister Sir Alexander Peacock. The site is described as magnificent for a school and that the school being built as "an up-to-date school with the most modern hygienic arrangements".
1923	October. A deputation of politicians, councillors and School Committee suggest the old building could be used as a Domestic Arts School. The Minister agrees. 23rd November. The new Flemington S.S.250 is officially opened. The cost of the building was £13,458. The front gates of Travancore were moved and rebuilt with new wing walls. This was dedicated as a memorial to the ex-students of the school who had died in the Great War.
1924	The old building was remodelled and repaired and a staff room was added. This was the office opposite Room 7 (Cookery). The re-modelling provided two classrooms, a needlework room, a demonstration and housewifery room, laundry, cookery and dining room. Flora Pell organised the setting up and equipping of the Domestic Arts school.
1925	Flemington School of Domestic Art was opened. Marie L. Arnold becomes Headmistress, in which position she remained until 1938. The curriculum included subjects such as English, Maths, History, Geography and Science, and also practical subjects like cooking, catering and dining etiquette, needlecraft, dressmaking and millinery, house-wifery, mothercraft, laundering and ironing, and also art, drawing and music. The girls took turns at providing and serving in the dining room a three-course meal of soup, roasts and puddings. The public could come in and have a meal for 9d. (7.5 cents). The school catered for girls from Form I to Form 3. The uniform was a navy tunic with white blouse, and hat and gloves. The school motto was "Think and Thank" which the girls often parodied.
1926	Average attendance: 244. An electric bell is installed. A telephone (wall type) is connected to the school. 1st December, the Director of Education opens an Exhibition of work at the school. A new shelter shed is erected.
1929	The laundry floor is concreted (Room 4). The laundry provided coppers, tubs, a mangle and flat irons heated on a gas stove. The clothes line was at the back of the building. Electricity is extended to the upstairs rooms.
1930	The beginning of the Great Depression. The provision of a practice flat for house-wifery, and improved art and science facilities are refused by the Department.
1931	The name of the school is changed to Flemington Girls' School.
1934	Mr. J. J. Holland, ML. A., makes a speech in Parliament. He refers to the state of unemployment and the need for repairs in schools. He cites as an example, "There is in Mt. Alexander Road a school of domestic arts and I say frankly and candidly that the condition of the play area of that school is a disgrace to the Education Department. " This got some action. The Sustenance Department provided the labour, the Melbourne City Council, the supervision, and groundworks were completed.
1935	The Minister, Dr. J.R.Harris M.L.C., visits the school at the request of J.J.Holland. The school was shown to be overcrowded with two classes in the one room. Each year 50 - 100 prospective students were refused admission. Every qualified girl leaving the school had no difficulty being placed in employment. The Minister approves two new classrooms but didn't have the money at the moment.
1937	20th February. The school was moved temporarily while extensions and repairs were carried out. The Royal group of Luncheon Rooms at the Showgrounds were used for three months. The extension comprised an art room and a classroom (room 9) and office. It is the only example of a school building built this century that matched the 19th century work. The classical design is also very rare among schools. There are 12 teachers at the school with an enrolment of 286 girls.
1939	World War II. During the war years the school had little money spent on it and little equipment. Precautions were taken, such as trenches being dug in the playground, in case of air raids and air raid practices and plans for evacuation to the country in an emergency. Healthy Oslo lunches were introduced and physical fitness emphasized. The school was put out of bounds for the American servicemen stationed at Camp Pell, Royal Park. Parents believed that the soldiers hanging around were undermining the morale of the school. Headmistress: Frances M. Higgins
1940	Supplementary grades (year 7 and 8) for girls at Flemington S.S. are discontinued. All girls who have completed 6th grade and who have not transferred to other secondary schools, must attend Flemington Girls' School.
1942	Headmistress: Doris M. McRae. The Church Hall is rented by the Department so that it can be used for physical education classes for I - 15 periods a week. It still continued to be used during our time at Flemington.
1946	Renovations to the school were approved but there was a critical shortage of labour and materials. Evening cookery classes are introduced retrain- ing WAAAF's (Women's Australian Auxiliary Air Force) to return to civilian life.
1947	A bicycle shed is built to cater for 40 bicycles. Reconstruction trainees come into the school to learn painting and maintenance. They remained there the following year renovating the school and the caretaker's house. Book-shelves are provided in the Dining Room. New equipment is gradually supplied.
1948	Drinking troughs with bubble tops and hand basins were installed.
1949	Fourth form is introduced taking the school up to Intermediate standard. The curriculum gradually becomes more academic. The electric bell is extended to all classrooms, replacing the electric bell outside the building.
1950	Several residents in Bignell Street backing onto the school want the peppercorn trees cut down because they interfere with their fences. They are cut back away from the fence.
1951	Headmistress: Hester May Houston. Classes are overcrowded and the shelter shed is even used as a classroom. Department provides prefabricated double classroom unit to alleviate space problems. This was theBristol building used as Art rooms. It had no heating or electricity.
1952	The needlework room is divided to create an extra room, (Room 10 and 11).
1954	A fifth form is established. The laundry is remodelled and a partition is put across to form a locker room. A refrigerator is installed In the cookery centre replacing an ice chest.
1955	Headmistress: Sylvia E. Coman.
1956	A public address system is installed.
1957	Science benches are completed in Room 8. The Minister, J. Bloomfield M.L.A., visits the school to see the problems at first hand. The school needed proper staff accommodation, a sick room, a library and another classroom.
1958	Two new rooms are added to the Bristol building. These were used as a library, a staff room and a sick room. It is of LTC design. (Light Timber Construction).
1960	Headmistress: Annie Beatrice Boardman. A canteen is built to serve lunches to the students. It is built onto the end of the shelter shed and is named the S.E.Coman Canteen after the recent Headmistress. The curriculum is extended by the introduction of commercial courses.
1961	Headmistress: Eva D. Daniel. Two new classrooms are added to the LTC building.
1962	The Housing Commission develop Debney's Paddock for high rise housing. A second stairway is added to the 1892 building on the advice of the Fire Department. The slate roofing Is also replaced with tiles.
1963	THAT’S WHEN THE GIRLS FROM ’63 BEGAN ….. The school introduced high school courses, including French, into the curriculum.
1964	Headmistress: Edna Usher. Enrolment: 399.
1966	Flemington Girls School is officially renamed Flemington Girls High School. Some of the girls from the first high school class, unfortunately have to leave Flemington to pursue the academic subjects which were currently not available in the Leaving Certificate Course at Flemington and no decision had been made about introducing a Matriculation year. This was also the year that Flemington High School, in Epsom Rd. was completed and the identity of the two schools was often confused. For example, teachers took up duty at the wrong school, both schools receiving copies of the same staff list, official communications, accounts and telephone calls.
1967	Headmistress: Miss Lambourn.
1968	Headmistress: Miss Price (Acting Headmistress)
1969	Headmistress: Mrs Bernice Barker
1970	The Department decides to set up Flemington Girls High as a co-educational high school to cater better for the changing needs of the local community. Land is bought on Wellington Street. This was first suggested in 1917.
1972	Principal: Mr Brian Krahnert. Three houses in Mt. Alexander Rd. and Wellington St. were bought to extend the playground. One house in Wellington St becomes the caretaker’s house, replacing the 1892 cottage in Bignall St. The two other houses were demolished in 1975 and the area grassed in 1976.
1973	Form 1 level became co-educational and from then, co-education progressed through the school. The last all girls class was in Form 5, 1976. A new name had to be found and after much debate, the school became Debney Park High School.
1974	The Bignall St houses were demolished and a three-storey new building was erected. Commonwealth funds provide a Library and Science rooms, and State funds cover the rest of the building. It was intended that the school could cater for up to 700 students. The school was a proto-type design for small sites. Supplementary Grants are introduced. This provided for a greater diversity in the curriculum.
1980	H.S.C. is introduced, taking the school to Year 12 level for the first time.
1982	Plans made for new developments on the school sites. The church is taken over from the Uniting Church on a long time lease. The old Sabbath school or Sunday School, built in 1887, is demolished. A new modular canteen is delivered to the school just as Mrs Beasley retires after 25 years service to the canteen.
1983	Enrolment 427. Modular toilets are delivered replacing the old brick ones in the yard. The LTC building is renovated and remodelled, to provide new staff facilities, offices and conference rooms. A new ECA Centre or indoor sporting complex is begun on Mt Alexander Road to cater for physical education classes and community sports. On 16th October, the school’s 125th anniversary commemorated with a reunion.
2003	GIRLS from form one in 1963 REUNITE, to celebrate 40 YEARS ON….. and plan for the next reunion in 2008 - 150 years of schooling at Flemington