Uni High in Revolt!

This term, the library collaborated with the Humanities department to curate a display showing some items from the University High School archives, focusing on student activism between the years of 1968 and 1971. Ubique Underground was a leaflet made and circulated by students, starting in 1968. Separate from the mainstream Ubique magazine, which was approved by the school administration, Ubique Underground was all about protest, dissent, and activism.

The students who made it were passionate about anti-war activism, fighting against fascism, Indigenous rights, and advocating for free, equitable education.

Ubique Underground was one of many student-run underground papers being spread around Australian schools at the time. There was even one for Victorian schools to communicate between each other, called Tabloid Underground. Underground student news-sheets were a site for subversive, controversial discussions, and were connected to many actual demonstrations in Melbourne! Protests were held against student suspensions or expulsions in other schools (for crimes like boys having hair that was too long), poor working conditions for teachers and students, the Vietnam War, and censorship.

The documents in this display come from the University High School archive, which holds papers, artefacts and ephemera from our school’s history dating back to its establishment in 1910. The display can be viewed in the cabinets in the 600s – well worth a look!

Bianca Oder - Teacher Librarian