Phil Beecher: Principal 2008 to present

Phil Beecher was appointed as Principal to Canberra High School in 2008 .

Phil began his teaching career in the ACT in 1984. Prior to that he worked in the NSW system teaching in Yass and Queanbeyan.  His first teaching appointment was to Kaleen High School where he taught English and Drama. In 1990 he transferred to Dickson College and taught English. His first promotion was to Calwell High School in 1995 where he was the Executive Teacher for English, Languages and Student Support.  In 1999, Phil transferred to Hawker College where he was the Executive Teacher for Student Support area, affectionately known as The Den.  Whilst at Hawker College, Phil was promoted to Deputy Principal and acted as Principal in 2006. He was then promoted to Principal to Canberra High School in 2008.

Phil grew up in Goulburn and his father worked on the railways. His was the third eldest in a family of four boys. He attended Goulburn High School for his secondary education, and was a keen sportsman and represented Goulburn in hockey. Phil moved to Canberra in 1977 to study at the Australian National University and lived on campus at Burgmann College. In 1981, he moved to Wollongong to study for his Diploma in Education.

Phil married his wife Gai (the current principal of Gungahlin College) in 1984 and has three grown up children – Andrew, Stephen and Michelle.

During his teaching career Phil has combined his keen interest in sport – playing, coaching or managing teams at club and, state and international level.  In 1995 he was appointed Tour Manager for the Australian Schoolboys Rugby League team that toured England and France.  He is currently the national secretary for the Australian Secondary Schools Rugby League and was awarded Life Membership of this organisation in 2011.

Phil has always had a passion for public education and providing opportunities for all students. This has continued at Canberra High as he has supported programs and activities that provide all students with opportunities to challenge and extend themselves to be the best person possible.  

Credit: Paul Branson provided this bio of Phil.

CHS75: Open Day Map

Note: Not to Scale

Canberra High Open Day in Macquarie: 10.00 am – 2.00 pm

Former and existing students and staff, and members of the community, are invited to the (new) Canberra High School at Macquarie for a School Open Day to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the School.  

The day will start in the hall with an Official Opening and Welcome, before visitors are invited to tour parts of the school where exhibits and archival material of the past and present will be displayed.

Parking will be available on the School Oval, with entry via Halloran Close, off Bowman Street, from 9am.  Parking is also available at Jamison Centre.

 10.15 am  Official Opening and Welcome in the School Hall

                      Welcome from the 2013 Canberra High School Captains
                      Canberra High School Concert Band performance
                      Official Party welcomed to stage
                           Joy Burch (ACT Minister for Education)
                           Mary Porter (Member of the Legislative Assembly)
                           Keith Hawke (Chairman 50 Years Committee)
                           Beth and Merv Knowles (original students from Canberra High School)
                           Alaine King (75 Year Celebration Chairperson)
                           John Bury (current P&C President)
                           Alan Thomas, Helen Burfitt and Anne Dash (Previous Principals)
                           Phil Beecher (Current Principal)

                     Acknowledgement of Country

                     Speeches

                          Joy Burch

                          Phil Beecher

                     Unveiling of Commemorative Plaque

                     Canberra High School Concert Band performs the School Song

                     Fashion Parade of past uniforms

                  

Activities

Front Office

The front office is open for the signing of the visitors’ book and collection of information.  There are pages available for people to write their own ideas on their time at the school which will then be made into a book to be kept at the school.  The old Headmaster’s desk is set up to replicate the original Principal’s Office complete with cane and strap hanging on the wall.

Hall and AB Building

There is a photo display showing on the big screen as people come into the hall.  Technology and Art displays of student work including 75 faces for 75 years are set up in these two spaces.  The Parents and Citizens Committee is running a BBQ and there are cold drinks and food served from the canteen.

Gymnasium

There are Physical Education displays and student reports on the history of Physical Education in the school set up in the gym.  There is also a space arranged for some games that students played throughout the decades at Canberra High.

Science Labs

Students have set up a timeline through the decades that highlight significant scientific discoveries over the past 75 years. There are also displays of science equipment and experiments.

Technology

All the Technology rooms are open with displays of student work.  The Tea Tree Café is serving coffee and student-made food in the courtyard.

Photography

The Photography room is set up with activities including cut outs to make funny photographs of visitors in the old uniforms.  Photos prints are available for $2.

Around the school

Students will conduct audio and video interviews of visitors in various places around the school. Student photographers will also be taking shots of people interacting with the activities and displays.

Archives Displays are in the following rooms:

• 1938-1959 and Significant Historical Documents in the Library
• 1960-1969 in Room 125
• 1970-1979 in Room 127
• 1980-1989 in Room 130
• 1990-1999 in Room 110
• 2000-present in Room 111

Helen Burfitt  and Phil Beecher

There are Dux, Honour and School Captains Boards, the World War II Roll of Honour, trophies, cups, plaques and paintings on display in the front foyer and the conference room.

The photographs of all the Canberra High School principals are on display in the conference room.

Canberra High School memorabilia from other sources are available on the computers in the library, e.g. Trove from the National Library of Australia, the National Archives of Australia, the Canberra and District Historical Society and the Canberra High School Honour Roll.

Donations to the Archives

Donations of archive material and memorabilia can be left in any of the display rooms.  There are envelopes available.  Please write your name, contact details and other relevant information on the outside of the envelope.

If you don’t want to leave original material, there is a portable scanner available in the library for you to copy material and one of the supervisors will be able to assist you.  Scanning can also be done at the school’s reception desk.  To help us identify scanned material, please write your name and contact details on a piece of paper, along with the nature of the material, and scan this also.

If you want to contact us about donations at a later date, please contact the school after the Open Day.  If you would like us to contact you, please leave your details (name, phone number and/or email address) with a supervisor in the library.

Memorabilia for Sale

 There is a range of memorabilia and souvenirs for sale, under the tent in the inner quadrangle, including stationery, clothing and other mementos.

Profiling Ralph Wilson: Principal 1970 - 1981

Ralph Wilson was principal when I was at the school between 1971 and 1976. He was affectionately called "Horrie" Wilson and was famous for knowing everybody's name.  The school photos were taken early in the year and Wilson look the time to memorise everyone.  It was a nerve-wracking experience, as a junior student, to be walking along the corridors and be greeted by the principal by name.  Especially when there were some 800 students in the school!

Wilson was a well known public figure in Canberra and received the Order of Australia in 1988 for services to the Performing Arts.  The Ralph Wilson Theatre in Gorman House is named after him.   He was also named The Canberra Times Canberran of the Year in 1988 for his "remarkable contributions to the fields of education and theatre in the ACT". 

Ralph Campbell Wilson was born in Newcastle in 1917, the son of a working-class family. At school he excelled in languages, then studied at Sydney University, where he became involved in theatrical scene, as well as in politics and unionism.  In 1949 he married Antonia Venn in Sydney and in 1954 they moved to Canberra. They had a son Kyle and a daughter, Harriette.  

Wilson originally taught at Telopea Park School and became the Language Master at Canberra High for many years. He was appointed principal of Canberra High School in 1970. While principal, Wilson introduced many innovations including the American Approach to timetabling and the introduction of the Activities afternoon where a wide range of options were available.  I remember learning to shoot a rifle at a target range on Mount Majura as an Activity one year!    During the Wilson years, the change over from the NSW Education System to the ACT Schools Authority occurred and Canberra High became a year 7 to Year 10 High School from 1977.

Wilson's leisure hours were devoted to theatre. His great loves included German, French and Russian literature,and  European cinema. Classical music, wine and Scotch whisky.

Wilson produced over 200 plays for the Canberra stage and a theatre in Gorman House was named after him. Some of his notable productions were Gogol’s The Government Inspector, Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, and Brecht’s Mother Courage. The last production he undertook was Beckett’s play Footfalls. Programs of these productions are available in the ACT Heritage Library.

With Philip Mackenzie he founded the Classical Theatre Ensemble in the 1980s. Among this group’s productions were Tartouffe, The Country Wife and Lysistrata.

Wilson died on 28th May 1994. 

2 November Celebrations Update - what is happening?

There are three main events planned on Saturday, 2nd November 2013, to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of Canberra High School: Open days at both the Old and New Canberra High Schools as well as the Cocktail Party.

9am to 11am: OPEN DAY at the Old Canberra High School, now the ANU School of Art, in Acton

Escorts will be available, leaving from the foyer.  We are very grateful to the ANU School of Art for making this available to our alumni.  It is most generous of them!

10am to 2pm OPEN DAY at the (new) Canberra High School, Bindubi Street, Macquarie

1. Go to the School Hall at 10:00 for the 10:15 start to the Official Ceremony, where you will be entertained by the Canberra High School Band; welcomed by Phil Beecher, the principal; participate in the formal ceremony with Joy Burch, ACT Minster for Education and Training; and reminisce while watching the fashion parade of uniforms past and present.
2. Collect your Cocktail Party tickets.
3. Visit the archive collections set up by decade in rooms across the school.
4. Be interviewed by students about what it was like when you were at the school.
5. Be photographed with your former school mates and teachers.
6. Buy some souvenirs to remember the event... we have umbrellas, t-shirts, jackets, cups, ......



Canberra High School Band ... practising for the Open Day
under their conductor, Ms Eileen Curry

7. Enjoy some refreshments from the cafe or the sausage sizzle.

5pm to 8pm COCKTAIL PARTY at the Ann Harding Conference Centre, University of Canberra

Ann Harding Building at University of Canberra

1. Relax, catching up with Canberra High alumni and teachers. 
2. Eat up some snacks and enjoy a drink
3. Be entertained with music from across the last 75 years.

Then, if you wish, catchup with your alumni afterwards.

Profiling Edward G "Digger" Evans: Principal 1960-1969

Edward Evans had a long distinguished career in NSW schools.  He started out as a teacher in Ballina, Canterbury Boys and Goulburn High Schools.  He was then appointed Languages Master at Cessnock and Classics Master at Newcastle High. He was Language Master then Deputy Principal at Maitland High and then Principal at Cowra High. Following this he was appointed as Principal at Canberra High in 1960.

Evans introduced the hobbies period as an innovation, and by all accounts these were very popular!  The hobbies on offer included art, social graces, judo, athletics, choir, cadets, stamps, film projection, chess, drama and public speaking.  He also introduced a small ceremony on Monday mornings consisting of an oath of allegiance, the 23rd Psalm and then the Lord's Prayer.


Evans oversaw the relocation of Canberra High School from Action to Macquarie in 1968.  In all his years at the school he was affectionately known as "Digger" Evans.

Profiling Frank Bennett Jones: Principal 1949 - 1959

Canberra High School's principal from 1949 to 1959 was a World War 1 veteran, Frank Bennett Jones.

Born in Drummoyne in Sydney in 1897, Frank served as a driver with the 37th Battery of the Australian Imperial Forces between 1917 and 1919 in Belgium and France.

Jones was teaching in Hay, Wagga and Armidale before being appointed to Canberrra High in 1949. Jones' French textbook, Explanatory French Grammar for Early and Intermediate Years, was widely used across the NSW Education System at the time.  It was first published by Angus and Robertson in 1931, and four further editions followed, with the last in 1960.

 Jones was well known in Canberra as a member of the Alliance Francaise, of Rotary and the Masonic Lodge.  Jones died on 3 June 1959.

Join us at the Cocktail Party to celebrate the 75th Anniversary

You are invited to join us at the 75th Anniversary Cocktail Party, at the Refectory at the University of Canberra.  CLICK HERE for a map.

To register, please click on the cocktail glasses to the right of this article, or on the second tab under the banner at the top of this page.

We will be setting up the room in different decades, so you can mingle with your former classmates and teachers.

You will be welcomed with a drink and there will be a range of finger foods throughout the evening.  A bar will be open for you to purchase other drinks through the evening.

You will be entertained with music from all the eras of Canberra High, the 30s through to the present day.  And there will be videos and photos displays for you to look at.

Please note that registrations and payments should be submitted by 11 October as we need to let the caterers know the numbers that we are expecting.  Dress is smart casual.

You will be able to collect your tickets for the Cocktail Party with your registration pack when you attend the Canberra High Open Day on Saturday 2 November between 10am and 2pm, or at the Cocktail Party itself.

CHS75: Who is coming?

As the 2nd of November draws nearer, we have started to look at who is coming and where people are coming from, based on those who have registered their interest.

At the moment we have people registering from around the world. From San Jose in California, Epernay in France, Jönköping in Sweden, and Pieks in Finland. 

Most people are coming from Canberra and Sydney.  With others from farther away including Perth, Adelaide, Claremont, Richmond, Wauchope and New Farm.

The vast majority of registrations are from former students with some 25 former or current teachers also registering.

The graduation year with the most registrations is 1968 - with 10% of all registrations.  Followed closely by 1976 - which as you may recall was a "double year" with Form 6 and Form 4 graduating with the transition to the ACT College System.

We know that many people haven't registered their interest yet so please encourage them to do so if you can.  This will let us contact them directly by email and also give us some insight into who is coming.

Connect with your Year Group

We are delighted to have former alumni volunteer to co-ordinate an extra event for year groups on the weekend of 2 November 2013. We don't have year co-ordinators for all the years, so if you are interested in being a Year Co-ordinator please let us know.


Those of you who have registered will know that we have asked for information about when you started and finished at Canberra High School.  We have tentatively assumed that your graduate year is when you finished - although it won't be the same for every on because some left before graduating.

If you have registered your interest, and you finished in a year with a year co-ordinator (as below), then your year co-ordinator may be making contact with you soon.  If this doesn't happen then please let us know if you would like us to put you in contact with these people.

We are also happy to act as a link for former teachers who may want to get together.

(Please note: To protect these volunteers private email addresses from the risk of being spammed, we can act as a go-between until you have made contact.)

Our Year Co-ordinators are:

1989: Rachel Wilkinson

1986: Alisoun Garrard

1976: Jacqui Lines and Julie Hopkinson

1975: Kathy Vicol

1974: Trevor Dowling

1970: Lachlan Kennedy

1968: David Holmesby, Marianne Johnson, Robert McKeon and

         Michael Edwards    

1967: Ross Kingsland

                    1964: Jenny Moore

1960: Pamela Murray

1959: Margo Hodge

1958: Susan Nancarrow

1957: Ian Spencer

          1956: Ron Fraser

          1950: Graeme Kelleher 

Profiling Frederick Charles Wootten: Principal 1946 - 1948

Frederick Charles Wootten was appointed as principal to Canberra High School in 1946.

Born in Lismore in 1895, Wootten was one of six children. He went to Sydney University to study modern languages between 1913 and 1915, and concurrently completed his Diploma of Education in 1915 at the Sydney Teachers College.

In 1915 he joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) and was assigned to the 55th Battalion, bound for the Western Front. Wootten was recently married and left his wife behind in Marrickville to board the HMAT Star of England on the 10th of September 1915. He was an acting corporal when he left.

When Wootten returned to Sydney after the war he joined the staff at Sydney Boys High and resumed his studies, obtaining a Masters Degree in Modern Languages in 1922. He worked in both country schools and Fort St Boys High before being appointed Principal of Grafton High in 1935. Over the next 10 years he was principal at several schools including Mudgee, Broken Hill and Goulburn. Appointed as principal to Canberra High in 1946 he was also instrumental in establishing Alliance Francaise in Canberra. Leaving Canberra High in 1948, Wootten worked at Gosford, Paramatta and Enmore High Schools. He died suddenly in Sydney in 1955, survived by his wife and two children.

Now, please allow me to take a tangent and share with you a brief history of the 55th Battalion, which Wootten lived through  ...... it is both heroic and terrible.

The 55th Battalion was raised in Egypt in February 1916 as part of the “doubling” of the AIF. It was made up of Gallipoli veterans fresh reinforcements from Australia, including Wootten. The 55th arrived in France at the end of June 1916, and entered the trenches on the Western Front for the first time in early July. The first major battle was fought at Fromelles a week later. The battle was a disaster. There were heavy casualties across the division. Despite its grievous losses the 55th Division continued to man the front in the Fromelles sector for a further two months.

Some of the German machine guns captured by the
55th Battalion in the Battle of Polygon Wood on
26 September 1917. [AWM C01085]
Source: Australian War Memorial  https://www.ww1westernfront.gov.au

After a freezing winter manning trenches in the Somme Valley, in early 1917 the 55th Battalion joined with the advance
that followed the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line. It defended gains made during the second battle of Bullecourt. Later in the year, the AIF’s focus of operations switched to the Ypres sector in Belgium, and the 55th’s major battle here was at Polygon Wood in late September 1917.

When Russia collapsed in October 1917, a major German offensive on the Western Front was expected in early 1918. This came in late March and the 55th Division moved to defend the sector around Corbie. When the German offensive was defeated, the Allies launched their own offensive in August 1918. The 55th fought its last major battle of the war, St Quentin Canal, between 29 September and 2 October 1918. One of Wootten's fellow soldiers, Private John Ryan, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his valour during this action.

Ryan was 28 years old, from Tumut.  During the 55th's attack near Bellicourt on 30 September 1918, Ryan went forward with others under heavy fire and bombing, and was one of the first to reach the enemy trench. There was a fierce German counter attack and the Germans drove the Australians back.  Ryan organised and led a party to attack the Germans with bayonets.  Under heavy bombing only three men reached the the position, and then proceeded to kill three Germans.  Ryan alone rushed the remainder and drove them back across no man's land. He fell wounded in the shoulder, and his action enabled the trench to be retaken.

The battalion was resting out of the line with the rest of the Australian Corps when the Armistice was declared on 11 November 1918. Shortly afterwards, demobilisation began and slowly men were repatriated back to Australia. During its active service, the 55th Battalion suffered 1,835 casualties of which 507 were killed. 

Plans for the Anniversary Celebration are taking shape

The enthusiastic members of the CHS 75th Anniversary Organising Committee are starting to finalise the events of the 2nd of November.

We have tried to offer choices for all those who wish to participate, with plenty of time for people to catchup with former schoolmates and teachers.

The day will start at the Old Canberra High School. The ANU School of Art has kindly agreed to open the premises between 9am to 11am for you to have a look around the premises and remember what it was like when it was Canberra High School.

The Canberra High School, Bindubi Street, will be open between 10am and 2pm.  Archive material and memorabilia will be displayed by decade in classrooms for you to look at. There will be a range of materials available and we encourage you to help us identify people in photographs and so on.  donations will be gratefully received.  A formal opening of the school will be arranged for around mid-day, with the timing to be confirmed.  You will also be able to view a range of art and technology exhibitions created by current students, some of which will be themed around the 75th anniversary.

The cocktail party will be held at Canberra University between 5pm and 8pm.  It will be an opportunity for you to mingle with your former schoolmates.  There will be a brief formal ceremony during the evening to acknowledge the contributions that Canberra High School students and teachers have made to our community. A range of canapes will be provided through the evening and a drink will be offered on arrival.  Seats will be available for those who wish to sit down for the event.  The cost of this event will be $42 per person.

We will be forwarding a registration form to those of you who are registered an expression of interest within the next 6 weeks.

Hope to see you there!

1945 and The Yarralumlan

Were you in Canberra in 1945?  Here is a description of the city on 16 August, after the end of the second world war was announced, when shops and schools were closed for the day:

Peaceful Canberra has never known such scenes as were witnessed immediately after the announcement of peace and throughout the night.
The climax came the last night when revellers converged on Manuka Oval and the Albert Hall where the great throng for a time blocked communication between the north and south sides of the city.  
When the announcement by the British Prime Minister (Mr. Atlee) came through, shops has just opened, offices had begun thier day's work and school children were on their way to school.
Immediately, the news spread, shops shut their doors, office workers "downed tools" and the children made for the shopping centre.
By 10:30, Civic Centre presented a scene of jubilation never before witnessed in Canberra.
One reveller had gone all around the shops and painted yellow "V" signs on the windows, while salvage baskets were uprooted and papers showered on the roadway and people singing and yelling everywhere.
Cars, everywhere were held up by the happy throng, many of whole packed on the cares and loaded them without regard for capacity. There were no mishaps.
Most vehicles had a yellow "V" painted across them and no one cared so long as it was for victory.

The Canberra Times sourced from Trove at the National Library of Australia

Last week I was lucky enough to see one of the oldest items in the Canberra High School Archive collection.  The Yarralumlan - the school year book - from 1945.

The Yarralumlan was produced most years up until the end of 1976, when the new College system was introduced and Canberra High went from teaching Forms 1-6 to Years 7-10.

The earliest edition of the Yarralumlan in the Archives is from 1945, so if you have an earlier edition we would really love to get a copy.

The 1945 edition has a directory of the staff and sports team captains, and it was full of articles on sports days, creative writing pieces, poems and documentary pieces.  It was Andrew Watson's last year as head master, and of course there were photos of staff and prefects, as well as an aerial shot of Canberra High.

 

Headmaster Andrew Watson with Prefects 1945

In 1945 Canberra High was surrounded by playing fields and paddocks. The white building in the background, now housing the National Film and Sound Archive, was the Australian Institute of Anatomy, which was completed in 1930. This was one of the last major projects of the Federal Capital Commission and it was built to house the anatomy collection of Professor Sir Colin MacKenzie. The site was formally gazetted in 1924 as the National Museum of Australian Zoology, and architectural plans show that zoological gardens were intended for the grounds.

Canberra High School 1945

Profiling Andrew Watson: CHS Headmaster 1938 - 1945

Did you know that Andrew Watson was the first principal of Canberra High School?  Watson was a distinguished scientist and was part of the team that Mawson led to Antarctica.


Andrew Dougald Watson (1885-1962) was born at New Lambton, near Newcastle in New South Wales.  He was the fourth son of nine children, of Scottish-born parents William Watson, miner, and his wife Jane, née Thomson.

After attending primary school at Newcastle, Andrew attended Maitland Boys' High School. He was a pupil-teacher at Hamilton (1901) and New Lambton (1902), and was awarded a teacher's scholarship to Fort Street Training School, Sydney, in 1905. Following several teaching appointments, he received a scholarship, initially in arts, to the University of Sydney (B.Sc., 1913) in 1908, where he studied geology, chemistry and biology.


An accomplished sportsman, Watson represented New South Wales at baseball in 1907-11, and in 1914 when he played against visiting teams from the United States of America. He was a first-grade cricketer for the University in 1910-11 and North Sydney in 1918-19.


Watson joined (Sir) Douglas Mawson's 1911-14 Australasian Antarctic Expedition as a geologist and photographer. He spent almost a year in 1912-13 in the group of eight led by Frank Wild, at the Queen Mary Land or Western Base. There he trained the party's dogs and dug a shaft to study the glacial ice. He also studied glacial effects on the landscape and accessible rock such as the Hippo Nunatak. In the summer expeditions, Wild, A. L. Kennedy, C. T. Harrisson and Watson explored to the east, but broken ice hindered their mapping of the coast. A promontory on David Island was named Watson Bluff. In December Watson was rescued from a crevasse: 'in an instant I found myself dangling at rope's end, fully fifteen feet, into a yawning chasm, with sheer walls'.


Watson married Esther Enid Godfrey, to whom he had become engaged before leaving for the Antarctic, in May 1913 at St Stephen's Presbyterian Church, Sydney. He lectured in geology at the University of Adelaide in 1913, then returned to the New South Wales Department of Public Instruction the next year as a science teacher at Sydney Boys' High School. A long period followed at North Sydney Boys' High School, first as science master and then as deputy-headmaster. He was headmaster at Glen Innes (1933-35), Bowral (1935-37), Canberra (1938-45) and Homebush Boys' (1946-49) high schools.

Respected by staff and students, Watson set the tone in his schools. About 6 ft (183 cm) tall and of solid build, he wore spectacles and an academic gown at school. He was 'a very dignified man', courteous and quietly spoken but aloof and austere. A Canberra High School colleague commented, 'Andy went southward ho with Mawson and he hasn't thawed out yet'. Watson died on 9 January 1962 at Cremorne, Sydney. His wife and son survived him.

Source: Australian Dictionary of Biography.  (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/watson-andrew-dougald-13237)

Adding to the Canberra High School Archives Collection

Do you know these people?

They are Helen Burfitt, Betty Growder, Sue Young and Geoff Young sorting through Canberra High School archives materials.

Do you happen to have any old uniforms, documents, photos and other materials that you can donate to the Canberra High School Archive? While the school has a good collection of archive material, we are always looking for more to contribute to the story of the school and fill in the gaps.  Much of the current collection will be on display at the Canberra High Open Day on 2 November 2013.  

We are very lucky to have an enthusiastic team of volunteers who meet regularly to go through the archives and identify, assess, electronically catalogue and store the many items the school holds.  Helen Burfitt, a former Canberra High principal (1991-2003) is the convener.  Helen is assisted by three former staff members, Betty Growder, Sue Young and Geoff Young.  

So if you have items from your days at Canberra High School, please consider sending them to the school.  All donations will be acknowledged.  Examples of the items we would like include:·     

•  School magazines and yearbooks 
• Uniforms, ribbons and badges
• Programs from musicals, plays, soirees, concerts, and graduation ceremonies
• Letters and newspaper cuttings
• Photographs (with names and dates if possible)
• Reminiscences and reunion information
• Any other items related to Canberra High School

Please contact us at canberrahs75@gmail.com  if you would like more information.  The school’s address is Canberra High School, Bindubi Street, MACQUARIE, ACT 2614.

Please help us get the word out .....

Hi Everyone

Thanks to those who have registered their interest on the EventBrite site.  Much appreciated!

It is coming up to 6 months to the anniversary day on 2 November and there is a lot to get happening.  The organising committee is meeting again on Thursday 2 May at 7pm at Canberra High.  Please join us if you can. We need to make a decision about where to hold the cocktail party, and to discuss what memorabilia people will be interested in to commensurate the event!  Do you have any ideas??

Importantly, we need to start to get the word out there!  Please help us if you can by sharing this blog with others.  Three links have been added to the Alumni section on this blog where there are Canberra High students registered.  By accessing these sites you may be able to contact some of your old school friends!

I hope you are enjoying the fabulous autumn weather.  With best wishes,

Alaine

Welcome

Welcome to the blog for sharing information about the Canberra High School 75th Anniversary Celebrations.
Canberra High School was established in 1938, in what is now the ANU School of Art.  The school was relocated to the Jamison Centre in 1969.
My name is Alaine King, and over the next few posts we will be meeting the small group of enthusiastic alumni and teachers have formed a team to pull this event together and we invite you to joint us!  We are planning two main events on Saturday 2 November.  An open day at the school and a cocktail party.
Of course the first thing is to find out how many people will be coming so that we can get the right venue for the party!  Please register your interest in the window below.
Over the next few weeks we will be building up the Alumni lists and we are looking for year co-coordinators to act as the "go to" people for each year.  We will also be building links to existing alumni networks.
We are looking to collect stories from you, about your experiences at Canberra High School, to add to the considerable collection in our archives, and any artifacts will be gratefully received by our archives team.
With best wishes
Alaine