Education Week 2022

The evolution of Lowanna College

As we celebrate 150 Years of Education in Victoria, I am prompted to reflect on the history of secondary education in the Moe - Newborough area.

The first secondary school in the area was the Boys Yallourn Technical School which began in the local Presbyterian Church Hall in 1928. Eventually, a new modern technical school for boys was built in 1936 in the Yallourn township which offered more specialised programs basically aimed at working towards apprenticeships for the growing State Electricity Commission (SEC). Girls wanting to proceed with a secondary education needed to go to Warragul High School.  In the late 1930s, girls were also able to extend their education locally when the Yallourn Primary School became a Higher Elementary School.  It reverted to a Primary School when the Yallourn High School opened in 1945.   The High School closed in 1977 with the end of the Yallourn township. 

In 1949 the Argus Newspaper published a plan for a new modern school to be built in Moe.  It was to be a two-storey brick building with Assembly Hall, Library and Gymnasium.  That building never eventuated, but it is interesting to note that a very similar designed building was built as Brighton High School. What became known as a light timber construction was commenced and opened in 1953, even though it was still being constructed.  That school was known as the Moe High Technical School.  In 1957 the Yallourn Technical School moved to a new site in Monash Road, Newborough.  It was renamed the Yallourn Technical College and the Moe school was renamed Moe High School.

In 1962 Newborough High School opened in portable buildings on the Moe High School site in Lloyd Street, Moe until it moved into its new buildings on the corner of John Field Drive and Old Sale Road. From then, over the next 30 years the Moe-Newborough Region was serviced by three schools. 

In the late 1980s to early 1990s a change to how schools were to operate was heralded by a change of name with each of the schools becoming ‘Secondary Colleges’.  Enrolments had dropped with the privatisation of the SEC and a resultant decline in the population of the area.  The schools on their own initiative looked to how they might cooperate at senior levels.  This resulted in the development of a common timetable with each school specialising in certain disciplines.  Buses ran between the schools at the start of the day, recess, lunch and end of the day to allow students to access the subjects that they wished to study. While this was a successful program it was also very costly.  At this time, the Education Department commenced what they called Quality Provision Taskforces which were charged with looking at how secondary education might best be offered in communities.  The Moe-Newborough schools were to commence this process at the beginning of June 1993, but on the 27th May the Moe High School fire intervened.   The Taskforce was suspended to give the Moe Community time to recover and re-establish the school in temporary accommodation.

The taskforce meetings finally commenced around July.  The schools were represented by their Principal Team and College Council Presidents. It was agreed that the schools would merge and form a new college entity.  The question was how it would be structured on one, two or three sites. The preference was for a single campus site. The major concern was where, as we were not necessarily wanting to have a new school built in and around existing out dated buildings.  There had already been a commitment by the State Government to rebuild Moe Secondary College and local funds had been raised for this purpose so we thought it opportune to press the Government to rebuild on a green-field site.  We were successful in our lobbying and the search for a site began.  It came down to a site along Haigh Street or Newark Avenue. The Newark Avenue site was larger than what would have normally been the case but because it was difficult to make smaller the larger site was approved.

After the process of planning and working with architects and accepting tenders was completed construction began in 1996.  In the meantime, the new college - Lowanna College - came into operation in 1994. A plan was set to commence the move from the three existing campuses to the new site over time.   In 1994 and 1995, both the Moe and Newborough sites had year 7-10 classes and the year 11-12 students went to Yallourn.  In 1996, all the year 7 students went to the Moe site and Moe also had years 8-10, Newborough had years 8-10 and Yallourn 11-12.  In 1997, Moe had years 7 & 8 only, Newborough had years 9 & 10 and Yallourn years 11 & 12.

In July 1997, the Moe campus closed and the year 7 & 8 students moved to the new site.  Entrance at this time was off Dinwoodie Drive and the site consisted of the ‘B’ block (Science, Technology & Arts) and what is now the Middle School block with the rest of the school including Office, Library & Staffroom being in portables.  The site was very much a work site.  Students changed out of their shoes into slippers when they entered the classrooms due to all the mud around the site (reminiscent of the beginnings of Moe High in 1953).  At this stage, the current Senior School block and the ‘A’ block were being constructed.

1998 saw the year 9 & 10 students move onto the site. They moved into the current Senior School block, the year 7s & 8s remained in the ‘M’ block and the Office, Library & Staffroom moved into the newly completed ‘A’ block. Year 11 & 12 students were still at Yallourn. 

1999 was the final move with everyone onto the new site.   The year 7s & 8s moved into the newly built Junior block, the year 9s & 10s moved into the ‘M’ block and the 11 & 12 students into the ‘S’ block.  The official opening was held in the newly completed Auditorium.

No one could ever claim that those years from 1994-1999 were easy.  In the case of students, the junior and middle school students of Yallourn had the greatest upheaval having to move to either Moe & Newborough, and then over the years different cohorts of students were relocated around the campuses. Some of the group of year 12 students in 1999 who finished on the Newark Avenue site had come through the other three sites over that time.

For the staff (both teaching and non-teaching) the changes were even more confronting.  Three schools with set staff and administration suddenly became one.  Firstly only one Principal was required.  Yallourn had Chris Corcoran as Principal and Graham Goulding as Assistant Principal, Newborough had Graham Armstrong as Principal and Roger Barnes as Assistant and Moe had Jo Howley as Acting Principal and Graeme Nicholls as Acting Assistant.  Chris Corcoran was appointed as the Lowanna College Principal and then Graham Armstrong was made Campus Principal at Yallourn, Jo Howley as Campus Principal at Newborough assisted by Roger Barnes and Russell Monson was appointed as Campus Principal at Moe assisted by Graham Goulding.   Once the Principal team was formed the staff were then split between the campuses which required many to move from where they were previously working.  With the senior students being at Yallourn many staff also travelled regularly to that campus for classes.  There were numerous changes in staff at all levels over those initial years.  By the time everyone made it to the Newark Avenue site the College Principal was Chris Corcoran, Assistant Principals Graham Armstrong and Graham Goulding and the Sub School Leaders were Junior - Graeme Nicholls, Middle - John Vrieze and Senior - Brian Stephens.  

After five years, Lowanna College was settled on one site with new buildings including a Theatre/Auditorium, Gymnasium, Library, Computer Laboratories and fully equipped and dedicated rooms for Science, Art & Technology and landscaped grounds.   The buildings had been well planned to cater for the large number of students on one site, working in three distinct mini-schools, but as one College.  Secondary Education in the Moe-Newborough area was once again settled and in the first-class facilities that were originally proposed in that Argus Newspaper article back in 1949.

Graeme Nicholls

Former Assistant Principal at Lowanna College