Melbourne Continuation School

{{Short description|First public secondary school in Victoria, Australia}}

The Melbourne Continuation School was Victoria's first state secondary school, established in 1905,{{Cite web|title=History {{!}} Melbourne High|url=https://www.mhsviceduau.com/history|access-date=2021-11-01|website=www.mhsviceduau.com}} from the initiative of Director of Education, Frank Tate.{{Citation|last=Selleck|first=R. J. W.|title=Tate, Frank (1864–1939)|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tate-frank-8748|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|place=Canberra|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|language=en|access-date=2021-11-01}} The school was founded on the old National Model School in Spring Street, with principal Joseph Hocking. The opening of the school marked the beginning of secondary state education in Victoria. The school site is now occupied by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Secondary state education

State secondary education was co-educational and secular. "Continuation" was used to name the school to bypass legal blockages of secondary state education in Victoria. Criticisms of the school were that it was to be secular, and it would not be single-sex. However, the idea was supported in a very short time, and was renamed to Melbourne High School in 1912.

By 1914, the school was reaching overcapacity. The favoured solution was to split the school into two single-sex schools. In 1927, the boys moved to a site in South Yarra - leaving the girls in the old building in Spring Street. From then on, Melbourne High School was a single-sex school for males. In 1931, the girls moved to a new site, named the Mac.Robertson Girls' High School.{{Cite web|last=School of Historical Studies|first=Department of History|title=Model School - Entry - eMelbourne - The Encyclopedia of Melbourne Online|url=https://www.emelbourne.net.au/biogs/EM00990b.htm|access-date=2021-11-01|website=www.emelbourne.net.au|language=en-gb}}

The Melbourne Continuation School no longer exists, but it marks the beginning of Victorian secondary state education.

Notable students

Ellen Balaam, the first woman surgeon in Melbourne

References

External links

[https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/items/2256062 Photo of class in 1914 - State of Victoria Library]

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Category:Public high schools in Melbourne

Category:Educational institutions established in 1905

Category:Defunct schools in Melbourne

Category:1905 establishments in Australia

Category:Buildings and structures in Melbourne City Centre