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