From the Archives

From the Archives: Friendship Through Music

Last week, Northcote High School’s Centenary Concert was made even more significant by the presence of students and staff from our sister school, Huaibei No. 1 High School. Their performances continued a tradition of sharing music, culture and friendship that stretches across the 27-year relationship between our schools.

Music was part of the partnership from its earliest days. When Northcote’s first staff delegation travelled to Huaibei in 1999, they attended a student concert as part of the school’s formal welcome. The following year, Northcote students made their first visit to Huaibei. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, students joined their host families in an evening of music, songs, storytelling and celebration.

As reciprocal exchanges became established, concerts increasingly brought the two school communities together. During the 2005 Huaibei delegation’s visit to Northcote, students from both schools performed in a joint concert, an early example of the shared performances that would become an enduring feature of the partnership.

In 2013, a Northcote music group travelled to Huaibei and performed alongside students from Huaibei No. 1 High School. The experience demonstrated how music could cross language barriers and allow students to collaborate, learning from one another through rehearsal and performance.

Music was again central to the exchange in 2017. In March, 33 Northcote students and six staff toured China, performing at five schools, including Huaibei No. 1 High School. Later that year, when the Huaibei delegation visited Melbourne, students from the two schools shared another concert at Northcote. This tradition continued in 2018, when three staff and 14 students from Huaibei joined Northcote students in performance during their August visit.

In 2019, the schools marked the twentieth anniversary of their partnership with a formal celebration in our School Hall. Past and present participants gathered for speeches, performances and shared memories, recognising the many students, staff and families who had contributed to the friendship.

Following the interruption to international travel during the COVID years, music helped bring the schools together once again. In September 2024, Northcote’s Instrumental Music students returned to Huaibei for the first visit since the pandemic. At a friendship concert attended by approximately 1,000 people, Northcote students, as part of their performance, performed The Moon Represents My Heart, while Huaibei students shared singing, dancing, traditional folk music and an operatic duet. The concert celebrated both the twenty-fifth anniversary of the partnership and the renewal of face-to-face exchange.