70 years celebrations

A year in review 

Some things we learned when celebrating our seventieth anniversary in 2025

• We were fortunate to have Nina Carr as our inaugural principal
• That for the first decade of this school, the teachers were generally female
• The first students graduated from university in 1964
• We have been blessed with having highly educated teachers and Olympians on staff such as Judy Amoore (Pollock), Val  Roberts  and Win Dennis (Cripps)
• Commonwealth Games diver Jane Bognar-Davis was also on staff in the 1980s and she imparted her knowledge of her discipline to our divers
• Girls who became star athletes attended our school - Winter Olympian Kirstie Marshall, world champion swimmer Linley Frame and Commonwealth Games medal winning gymnasts  -  Zina McLaughlin and Trudy McIntosh
• We had a Travelling Theatre from the early 1970s until the late 1980s which celebrated the artistic contributions of our school populace
• We have had long-term success with our aerobics team under the tutelage of Tess Molina who has built upon the legacy of Val Roberts
• We produced some highly meritorious gymnasts as early as the mid 1960s when we had Olympian Val Roberts guiding them to become Victorian champions in this field
• Kate Keltie was an actress on Neighbours playing the role of Michelle Scully and she juggled her schooling here and acting for some time
• The athletic sports used to feature events such as the diamond throw, the hockey dribble, leader ball, tunnel spry, crossball, sack races and the skipping relay
• We had already grown to 800 students by the mid-1960s
• Three of our erstwhile principals went to MacRobertson Girls’ High School in the same role - Nina Carr, Lesley Boston and Toni Meath
• The school conducted debutante balls in the mid 1960s
• The Year 7 tradition of holding the bonding camp early in the school year began in 1977
• Nina Carr used to live on the school premises in an area which became the common room for the Year 12s before it made way for the current VCE Centre
• Female teachers did not begin wearing trousers until the early 1970s
• Our school changed its name from Mentone Girls’ High School to Mentone Girls' Secondary College in 1988
• Michael Constable became the first and only substantive male principal in 1983
• Mackellar’s current house colour of purple used to be white
• Casual dress days were first introduced during the 1960s
• The Year 12 students wore casual clothes from the 1970s through until 1991 when the new VCE differentiation jumpers were introduced for Year 11 and 12 students
• The Win Dennis Technology Centre officially opened in 1993
• The opening of our  gymnasium was presided over by Andrew Gaze in 1998
• Our sporting trophy cabinets are replete with the silverware celebrating many victories in State finals
• We have recently completed the Steam Centre to add ballast to the girls in technology and Maths areas
• The Science laboratories have undergone several makeovers
• Many of our ex-students have graduated to enjoy celebrated careers on the public stage in eclectic fields
• Our tradition of producing great musical bands began during the 1960s and continues to this day

Anne Gamble

School Historian and English Teacher