In this week’s ‘Year in Focus’ we are heading back to 1974 to consider life at Healesville High School and some of the national and global events of the year.

The first school magazine was published in 1974. Consisting of 14 pages, this magazine was the brainchild of HHS students and they produced most of the content to help students ‘relive, re-experience and re-enjoy the past school year’. It wasn’t called Binalong at this stage and it appears that this name was first used for the 1977 magazine.

Coming from the position of Deputy Principal at Alexandra High School, Ion Whykes started his principalship at HHS and he remained in this role until 1992. Throughout this time he shaped Healesville High School and he continues to be a great supporter of students and the school community.

His principal’s column lists some of the equipment purchased for the 1974 school year including; approximately one thousand volumes added to the library, an industrial vacuum, a small lawn mower, a lawn edger, a slide projector, an electronic typewriter, a photocopier and a colour video recorder. Interestingly, the electric typewriter purchase was possible due to a donation from the Healesville Lions Club, demonstrating the long-standing support this organisation has generously offered our school.

The magazine mostly contains student work and creative interpretations, however, the inclusion of a school calendar does give an insight into some of the happenings of the year. On February 18 the first school bus route started from Yarra Glen and has remained in place ever since. In June the ‘Parents and Citizens’ group held their annual Dinner Dance at the Gables and the Senior School Social took place at the Memorial Hall in December.

The Walkathon occurred in October and involved students walking from HHS to Maroondah Dam and back, complete with a picnic lunch at the dam.

Walkathons became a prominent tradition at HHS and they were not only a successful way to raise funds, but they also built school connectedness and created lasting memories for staff and students. The 1974 Walkathon was particularly successful and students raised an impressive $1700 to put towards the purchase of a colour video camera.

To put this achievement in perspective, the average annual salary in Australia at the time was $7500. Wow!

In June HHS students were bused to Yea High School for the annual day of competition, competing in things like; football, volleyball, hockey, chess, monopoly, debating and various casino related games. According to the report, ‘overall the two schools came out even but we’re all sure Healesville will kill ‘em next year.’

Our very own Nella Lithgow (Griffioen) and Barbara Mathieson (Jensen) were students in Form 3 (Year 9) at HHS, as was Dr Michael Hewson. In the 1974 magazine, Dr Hewson mentioned that his ambition was to become a doctor and one of his peers suggested his probable fate was to become an undertaker. He proved his friend wrong, achieving his goal and becoming a General Practitioner. Dr Hewson has previously worked at the Yarra Valley Clinic and is currently practicing at the Lilydale Medical Centre.

In national news, Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam called a double dissolution election, winning this by a narrow margin.

This success was short lived and he was dismissed the following year. The popular Australian television show, Countdown, was first aired, kick-starting Molly Meldrum’s career in the process.

Road signs switched from the imperial system to the metric system. The VFL grand final was played between Richmond and North Melbourne, with the Tigers winning by a margin of 41 points.

The final episode of ‘The Brady Bunch’ was filmed and Stephen King released his first novel, ‘Carrie’.

Abba won Eurovision with their hit, ‘Waterloo’ and the Rubik’s Cube was invented by Hungarian sculptor and Professor of Architecture, Erno Rubik.

And that’s 1975 in a nutshell.

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