Book Launch

Launch of 'A Secondary Education for All?': A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria

Last week the new History of State Secondary Schooling was launched at the Historical Society by Historian and Academic Geoffrey Blainey. Written by retired teachers and academics John Andrews and Deborah Towns it features Northcote High School quite prominently – being a long established leader of state education in Melbourne’s inner north. In fact, as the book has taken almost 10 years to be written and get to print, Northcote HS (and our Archivist former Principal Gary Israel) was singled out as one of the most active in supporting the book’s realisation. Sophie Freeman, the School Captain of 2009 (yes that’s when the project started!) wrote a thoughtful comment about what she hoped for her school in twenty years time.

It’s worth remembering that schools like Northcote were established in the tumultuous years after World War One when the desire to create a better society was so strong. Still, establishing state secondary schools was no easy matter. There were strong objections to establishing state secondary schools from Independent schools who saw Years 8-12 as an area of educational activity for them only.

It’s a great read and contains a great deal of information about all of the state’s secondary schools, including the many that have closed and moved. There are also short snapshot histories of some of the better known schools, including NHS.

You can order the book through the Historical Society’s website:

http://www.historyvictoria.org.au/shop/a-secondary-education-for-all-a-history-of-state-secondary-schooling-in-victoria-by-john-andrews-deborah-towns