Melbourne High’s story began in 1905. To establish a state secondary school was one of the reformist Director of Education Frank Tate’s aims. Today it is the only public boys’ select entry high school in Victoria.
It first opened as the co-educational Melbourne Continuation School in 1905 in Spring Street, Melbourne. Joseph Hocking was the principal with Margery Robertson, the headmistress. Immediately popular, it quickly developed a strong academic reputation. The school was renamed Melbourne High School in 1912.
The boys were moved to an impressive new building, on Forrest Hill, South Yarra, officially opening in 1928 as Melbourne Boys High School (MHS), with 719 boys. The girls stayed behind, but eventually they moved to their award-winning MacRobertson Girls' High School buildings in 1934.
MHS’s principal, Claude Searby, formed a House system and the Student Representative Council, and continued with prefects, cadets, extra-curriculum activities, the Old Boys Association and a variety of societies and clubs. Continuing their outstanding academic success the boys won scholarships, free university places, and Exhibitions. To the school’s traditional motto 'Honour the Work' was added the unicorn motif for the school being the only boys' high school. The unicorn’s crown symbolises that it was the first State-controlled high school.
Prospering, the school became overcrowded. So, from 1930 new students began at Year 9, and not Year 7 as previously. Privations during the Depression and World War Two years, restricted building plans. Parents and the Old Boys Association assisted with funds.
1955 was its Jubilee year. Celebrations were held with the school’s wider community and the 1,233 students. Buildings and facilities were upgraded along with other significant changes. A sports and gymnasium centre, a pool, a boat house and a new library were completed. Extra-curricular activities increased. The first woman teacher was employed in 1969. It became a select entry high school in the 1970s, so students wishing to attend sat a special entry test.
The 1980s and 1990s brought new facilities and renovations, including computers. The four-storied ‘Nineties’ building was completed. In 1999, the school oval was upgraded and named in honour of the former students and outstanding cricketers Keith Miller, and Bill Woodfull, who was also a former principal. The new millennium saw the school celebrate its centenary in 2005. The cadets gained their own building. A new Arts Centre was constructed with major donations from former students, including Australian businessman and founder of logistics company Linfox, Lindsay Fox AC. By 2009 the school had 1,366 students.
Today the school provides an approved curriculum for selective-entry, high ability students. However, the school’s educational philosophy is based on the concept of, ‘More than Just Marks’. ‘That a well-rounded liberal education will prepare students for all aspects of life.’ Leadership awards are for service and sport. Wellbeing is considered a shared responsibility between the whole community. In 2020, house competitions were re-named Derrimut after the leader of the Yalukit-willam clan of the Boonwurrung peoples.
Cherishing its close relationship with the MacRobertson Girls’ High School, both schools are proud of their tradition and academic success, and share annual activities including concerts, musical and theatre productions, and co-curriculum activities. MHS and MacRob join with the newer selective high schools, Nossal, Suzanne Cory and John Monash, for leadership programs and other events.
Melbourne High School has maintained its popularity. Every year there are over 1,600 applicants for approximately 380 places. Over 99 per cent of their students pursue a tertiary education. The Old Boys Association, established in 1907, continues to support the school in multiple ways. Alumni have dominated careers locally and internationally in business, engineering, arts, law, science, medicine, politics, education, and sport and their significance to the Australian community is recognised in Who's Who in Australia and the Australian Dictionary of Biography.
- Written by Dr Deborah Towns OAM
Dr Deborah Towns OAM is an Honorary Fellow in the Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Melbourne. A former teacher and public servant, she is a sociologist, historian and author.
At the 2022 conference ‘Free Secular Compulsory: 150th Anniversary of the Victorian Education Act 1872’, she delivered the keynote.
Deb won the 2018 Collaborative Community History Award shared with co-author Dr John Andrews for A Secondary Education for All? A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria (2017).
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