This week we’re taking a quick trip back to 1999 to consider some of the biggest local, national and global events of the year. As we prepared to farewell 1998, Prince’s hit, ‘1999’ seemed to be played every ten minutes. Despite being released in 1982, radio stations couldn’t help but capitalise on the lyrics, ‘So tonight I’m gonna party like it’s 1999.’ Moving on…

Last time we reflected on the year that was 1982 and wrote about the opening of the Education and Community Activity Centre (ECA Centre) and the important role this building has played in the local community. In 1999 the construction of the top stadium was completed. The decision to add a second stadium was supported by a 1996 Shire of Yarra Ranges feasibility study and its eventual construction was the result of ‘a concerted effort by community groups and individuals’. Healesville High School and the Healesville Mountain District Basketball Association were the driving forces behind the project and between them they raised $80,000 to contribute to the building. Once again, HHS were well supported by the Rotary Club of Healesville and The Healesville Lions Club and both groups made significant contributions towards the build.

The ECA Centre continues to be a busy, well utilised and important part of the Healesville community.

A number of individuals were celebrated for their sporting achievements. Impressively, three past students still hold school records from 1999; Nathan Williams (U13 Shotput), Kizzi Neale (U21 200 metres, athletics) and Natalie Irvine (U21 50m Backstroke and U21 50m Breaststroke). Year 11 student, Adrian Maynard represented Australia in the Junior Rugby Union Championships in Singapore and Jodi Mathieson competed in the National Acrobatic Championships.

Natalie Irvine (swimming), Brendan Murphy (athletics), Justin Crabtree (athletics) and Mitchell Gavan (cross country) represented HHS at the state championships.

Denis Brown started his Binalong Principal’s foreword by stating that ‘1999 has been a year of contradictory experiences; both sad and uplifting.’ They were happy moments but there was also significant tragedy. Specifically, the school lost two community members to car accidents. Mairi Murray was HHS’s ‘Queen of Drama’ and in addition to teaching English and Japanese, she was responsible for many of the school productions of the late 80's and 90's. She had already started work on the 1999 production of ‘Heroes’ when she passed away in a car accident during the Easter holidays. The show went on and was dedicated to Mairi. Further tragedy struck towards the end of Term 3 when popular Year 9 student, Greg Blake, passed away in another car accident. As Denis stated in his foreword, ‘through the grieving and sorrow the school was able to remember the many fine things both people added to our community.’

Among the graduates of 1999 are Phillip Urquijo and Nick Whitmore. Phillip is an Associate Professor of Experimental Particle Physics

and he was once described by Melbourne University as ‘the Justin Bieber of the physics world….like Beiber, he’s everywhere.’

Nick, son of popular past teacher, Steve Whitmore, completed a double Law/Engineering degree and is currently making use of this as a Lead Senior Legal Counsel, specialising in providing risk management and dispute resolution advice across the construction and engineering industries.

In other local news, 1999 saw the Healesville Hotel reopen and rebrand itself as a big player in the local tourism and hospitality scene. This was symbolic for the town and as the hotel started to attract more and more Melbournians, further businesses and restaurants were established to cater for this new market.

In 2020, weekend tourists continue to flock to Healesville to enjoy all the beauty and gastronomical delights locals take for granted (well, they did in pre COVID times, anyway).

The AFL grand final was contested between North Melbourne and Carlton, with North winning by a margin of 35 points.

Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera made it big and Killing Heidi’s first big hit, ‘Weir’, became a teen anthem. Among the most popular movies was ‘The Sixth Sense’ and ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.’

The world was bracing itself for the Y2K bug, which was apparently going to send the world into chaos as the clocked ticked over to the year 2000. This proved to be unnecessary panic and 1999 was farewelled with relative calm.

It is interesting to note that in the 1999 Binalong Denis Brown prophesied, ‘I can see, in the not-too-distant future, students learning from home, connected to virtual schools via the internet.’ Well, it has only taken 21 years, but here we are… Teaching and learning from home for a significant proportion of 2020!

There we are, 1999!

Hidden Talent