Hurlstone Agricultural High School

File:HAHSclass1913.jpg

Hurlstone was established as a boys-only school in 1907 in Hurlstone Park, approximately ten kilometres south west of Sydney, at the present site of Trinity Grammar School. The original owner of the land was a teacher, John Kinloch, one of the first graduates of the University of Sydney. He named the land 'Hurlstone Estate', after his mother's maiden name and set up his own school on it in 1878 which he called the Hurlstone School and College.Hurlstone Agricultural High School. [http://www.hurlstone.com.au/public/content/ViewCategory.aspx?id=11 School History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070828224101/http://www.hurlstone.com.au/public/content/ViewCategory.aspx?id=11 |date=28 August 2007 }}

In those days most students completed their schooling after primary school and students at 'Hurlstone Agricultural Continuation School' (as it was known at the time) studied there for only two years. In 1926 the school moved to its present site in Glenfield, approximately 42 km south-west of Sydney (between Liverpool and Campbelltown) and adjacent to Glenfield railway station. By then its student numbers had grown from 30 in 1907, to 148. The school supported government policy to promote productivity in the agricultural sector through the training of boys in all aspects of agricultural sciences and farm management.

For a brief period in the early 1940s it was known as 'Macarthur Agricultural High School' in honour of wool-grower John Macarthur, but it soon reverted to its previous name.

Hurlstone was a boys' school until 1979, when the decision was made to become co-educational.

In 2008, the New South Wales Government declared 140 hectares of Hurlstone's farmland 'surplus' and proposed the sale of the land, leaving the school with just 20 hectares. The announcement was met with immediate public protest and the formation of a local community group Save Hurlstone Educational and Agricultural Property (SHEAP){{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|392273425}} |last1=Diamond |first1=Jenny |title=Hurlstone inquiry's key finding welcomed |journal=Education |location=Surry Hills |volume=91 |issue=3 |date=29 March 2010 |pages=8 }} eventuating in a government inquiry into the proposed sale and proceeds of the sale. There was further pressure against the plans when the National Trust heritage listed the school in late 2009.{{Cite news |last=McDougall |first=Bruce |year=2009 |title=Hurlstone School's farm sale put into National Trust |work=The Daily Telegraph |publication-date=9 October 2009 |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/hurlstone-schools-farm-sale-put-into-national-trust/news-story/c0da4b5759b20d4990dde9f1e783ec32 |access-date=5 August 2022}} The government inquiry resulted in a recommendation of the sale of a small parcel of school land with the proceeds intended to help upgrade school facilities.

On 18 November 2015, there was another proposal to sell the land the school and its farm operated on.{{Cite web |title=Principal's letter to HAHS alumna |url=https://www.hahsalumni.com/HAHS_Alumni/FarmSaleInfo/DC_Letter.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804144311/https://www.hahsalumni.com/HAHS_Alumni/FarmSaleInfo/DC_Letter.pdf |archive-date=4 August 2022 |access-date=5 August 2022}}

File:HAHSCigcard.jpg 1910s]]

The following individuals have served as principal of the Hurlstone Agricultural High School:

File:Hurlstone boarding school.jpg

Enrolment at the school is dependent on selective examinations of Year 6 students from across the state. New students coming in later grades have to sit a similar exam.Enrolment section of: http://www.hurlstone.com.au/

File:Hurlstone dairy.jpg

Hurlstone features a fully functional farm and a commercial dairy. Animals on the farm include: beef and dairy cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, and chickens.Farm section of: http://www.hurlstone.com.au/ Clarke House is a heritage listed building which houses Hurlstone's memorabilia museum.{{Cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/37523188@N00/646528871/|title = HAHS Clarke House|date = 28 June 2007}}

The school also hosts a memorial forest and cairn on Roy Watts Road, past the boarding school. Established in 1950, it is believed to be Australia's first living war memorial, with a gum tree dedicated to each of the 600 students from the school who served in WWI and II.{{Cite web |title=Hurlstone Agricultural College Memorial Forest {{!}} Monument Australia |url=https://monumentaustralia.org.au/themes/conflict/multiple/display/21288-hurlstone-agricultural-college-memorial-forest |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=monumentaustralia.org.au}} Currently, ANZAC and Remembrance Day ceremonies are held at the memorial forest.

As part of the 2008 mini-budget, the New South Wales Government declared 140 hectares of the school to be surplus to educational needs and the land will be sold in 2011.{{cite web |url=http://www.andrewstoner.com.au/media/media-releases/labor-must-abandon-plans-to-sell-hurlstone-agricultural-high-schools-land.aspx |title=Andrew Stoner – Media – Media Releases – Labor Must Abandon Plans to Sell Hurlstone Agricultural High School's Land |access-date=2009-05-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090914231958/http://www.andrewstoner.com.au/media/media-releases/labor-must-abandon-plans-to-sell-hurlstone-agricultural-high-schools-land.aspx |archive-date=14 September 2009}} NSW Government Mini-Budget - Andrew Stoner However, due to a strong public protest against this action,{{Cite web|url=http://www.southwestadvertiser.com.au/news/local/news/general/hurlstone-protest/1364300.aspx|title = Liverpool news, sport and weather | Liverpool City Champion | Liverpool, NSW}} an inquiry was led into process of selling approximately seven-eighths of the school.http://www.hurlstoneinquiry.nsw.gov.au {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309093010/http://www.hurlstoneinquiry.nsw.gov.au/ |date=9 March 2011 }} As a result, Mal Peters, the Inquiry Chair, recommended the school's agricultural sector to be upgraded in order to reflect current industry practice and standards due to it being an economic, wise and important public investment for the people of NSW as it supplies young scientists with the knowledge for the ever declining, but demanding agricultural sector of the world.{{cite web |url=http://www.hurlstoneinquiry.nsw.gov.au/downloads/final_report/intro.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-03-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309093330/http://www.hurlstoneinquiry.nsw.gov.au/downloads/final_report/intro.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2011}}

In 2020 a new school called Hurlstone Agricultural High School was to open at Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury.{{cite web |url=http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-the-department/our-reforms/innovative-education-successful-students/newschools/glenfield-educational-precinct/hurlstone-agricultural-hs |title=New Hurlstone Agricultural HS - NSW Department of Education |website=www.dec.nsw.gov.au |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119175442/http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-the-department/our-reforms/innovative-education-successful-students/newschools/glenfield-educational-precinct/hurlstone-agricultural-hs |archive-date=2015-11-19}} The existing school in Glenfield would be renamed Roy Watts High School (after Hurlstone alumnus Roy Watts) and would remain fully selective but would no longer be an agricultural school.[https://www.wollondillyadvertiser.com.au/story/4986104/ironic-twist-in-hurlstone-saga/ ‘Ironic’ twist in Hurlstone saga] Wollondilly Advertiser 13 October 2017 However, this decision was cancelled in December 2019. The farm land would have been converted to a new public school as well as housing and a shopping centre.{{cite web |url=http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-the-department/our-reforms/innovative-education-successful-students/newschools/glenfield-educational-precinct |title=Glenfield Educational Precinct - NSW Department of Education |website=www.dec.nsw.gov.au |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151119211938/http://www.dec.nsw.gov.au/about-the-department/our-reforms/innovative-education-successful-students/newschools/glenfield-educational-precinct |archive-date=2015-11-19}}

• Phil Burton – Australian musician, member of the Australian pop vocal band Human Nature
• Alan O. Trounson (1958–1962) – biologist, stem cell researcher and IVF pioneerp. 45 {{cite web |url=http://www.hurlstoneinquiry.nsw.gov.au/downloads/s92089.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-11-15 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309120444/http://www.hurlstoneinquiry.nsw.gov.au/downloads/s92089.pdf |archive-date=9 March 2011}} Hurlstone Inquiry.

• Mark Binskin – Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) Australia.[http://campbelltown.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/flying-high/1224629.html Flying high – Local News – News – General – Campbelltown – Macarthur Advertiser] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120707044513/http://campbelltown.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/flying-high/1224629.html |date=7 July 2012 }}
• John Hurst Edmondson {{post-nominals|country=AUS|VC}} – soldier in World War II; the Hurlstone school hall is named in his honour{{cite encyclopedia| last = Grant | first = Ian | encyclopedia = Australian Dictionary of Biography| title = Edmondson, John Hurst (1914 - 1941) | chapter = John Hurst Edmondson (1914–1941) | url = http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A140091b.htm?hilite=Victoria+Cross| access-date = 2008-01-23| edition = Online | year = 1996| publisher = Melbourne University Press| volume = 14| location = Melbourne| page = 80}}
• Sir William Keys {{post-nominals|country=AUS|sep=,|AC|MC}} – National Secretary of RSLp. 619 Who's Who in Australia 1977

• John Kerin – Australian Labor Party politician, former Federal Treasurer (1991), Minister for Transport and Communications (1991), Minister for Primary Industries and Energy (1983-1991) and Member for Werriwa
• Mark Latham – politician, former Leader of the Australian Labor Party{{cite news| first = Kelly| last = Burke| title = One of the old school| url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/02/09/1076175083880.html| work = TV & Radio| publisher = The Age| date = 2004-02-10| access-date = 2008-02-20}}
• Dick Klugman – Member for the federal seat of Prospect 1969–1990, Co-founder of NSW Council for Civil Liberties;Obituary in Sydney Morning Herald 14 March 2011

• David Lyons – rugby union player, WallabiesPatty, Anna (26 May 2006). [https://www.smh.com.au/news/national/stood-aside-headmasters-ebay-blunder/2006/05/25/1148524820524.html From the principal's desk: furniture sale means I've been carpeted] Sydney Morning Herald.
• Cec Ramalli – Wallaby{{Cite book |last=Blackburn |first=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1nk2Vcl2jGQC&dq=blow+ide+north+sydney+school&pg=PA30 |title=The Sportsmen of Changi |date=2012 |publisher=University of New South Wales Press |isbn=978-1-74224-100-5 |language=en}}
• Charles Melton – winemaker{{cite web|url=http://www.baronsofbarossa.com/?p=5&bid=104#bid104 |title=Charles Melton |publisher=Barons of the Barossa |date=2007-10-20 |access-date=2011-09-21}}

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Category:Agricultural schools

Category:Educational institutions established in 1907

Category:Boarding schools in New South Wales

Category:Selective schools in New South Wales

Category:Public high schools in Sydney

Category:1907 establishments in Australia

Category:Glenfield, New South Wales

Category:Macarthur (New South Wales)