Faculty of Education - Theses

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The girls of Melbourne High School, 1912-1934

Green, Barbara J. ( 1998)

The Education Act of 1910 marked the official entry of the state of Victoria into secondary education and the formal foundation of the school known as Melbourne High School. Prior to 1927, the students' educational experience at the school was nominally co-educational. As the state expanded its involvement in secondary education, a desire developed in official circles for a prestigious school to rival the independent schools of Melbourne. Coincident with this, the state also strengthened its view that boys and girls had different educational needs that would be best served by separate secondary schools. This view was implemented when the boys of Melbourne High School moved to their new premises in October 1927, leaving the girls in the old school buildings in Spring Street. Girls' secondary education was not a high priority for the Education Department during the 1920s and 1930s and the provision of an academic education for girls did not conform to government policy that girls should be educated for their future role as wives and mothers. The notion that women might enter the workforce was irrelevant to government planning. For Melbourne Girls' High School, this meant a lack of official interest, concern, commitment and activity. It also meant several years spent in temporary and often unsuitable accommodation as well as increasing uncertainty about the school's continued existence.