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Mylrea demanded and received the highest standards of scholarship, at the same time placing great importance on community service and extra-curricular activities. And he led by example. The school band and choir often performed for charities.21’ 20 Mylrea also tutored prospective officers of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.21 He was often known to help students financiallyfinancially. Doubtless it was such actions that prompted Martin Hansen, Director of Education from 1928 to 1932, to write on the eve of Mylrea’s retirement on 21 August 1936, acknowledging Mylrea’s organising abilities, progressiveness, public-spiritedness, teaching skills and the fine influence fine influence on the student body and staff that he had displayed over his many years of service.22
The careers of the Head Teachers who followed Mylrea are shrouded in obscurity. None stayed longer than five years, and little can be discovered about them from their correspondence with the Department. On Mylrea’s retirement, Dower, First Xale Assistant, was appointed Acting Head Teacher until Albert Bryant arrived from Glenhuntly at the beginning of 1937. Bryant welcomed the first waves of refugee children in 1938-9. Frederick Hart, who arrived from Auburn in September 1940, 25 supervised 23 supervised the elevation of Princes Hill to Central School status in 1944. Isaac Bell, who succeeded Hart on 30 January 1945, could be described as a champion of hopeless causes. Forced by a transport stoppage to expend five five gallons of petrol ferrying teachers to and from home and school, he applied for reimbursement from the Department, without success.2‘1 24 By the time he arrived at Princes Hill, he was an ‘old man’, ‘very distant’, and ‘at the end of his career’. His reputation among the students, however, remained ‘formidable’ and ‘awesome’.25
In August 1949, Bell left Princes Hill for Mentone. Ernest Satchell, described as a ‘little man’ who ran the school with fastidious authority, succeeded Bell and stayed for three years before retirement was forced upon him. Although Princes Hill was the last school before his retirement, the Inspectors who assessed the school were impressed by his enthusiasm, ‘dynamic personality’ and ‘insistence on high standards of work and of conduct’.25 26 The teachers, however, were less enthralled by his somewhat ‘autocratic’ attitudes: he allocated tasks without discussion; he insisted on strict discipline in the classroom; and he expected all the teachers to be capable, making few allowances for those who lacked experience.27 By the time he retired in August 1952, he had spent forty-three years in the service of education.25 28 Harold G. Smith arrived the next month from Sunshine. Of medium height, bald, with only tufts of hair above his ears, he had a round, friendly, bespectacled face, welcoming students and staff.29 He quickly endeared himself to the school by arranging a holiday on Melbourne Cup Day.5" 30 Friendlier and more approachable than Satchel, Smith happily participated in the staff ’s weekly snooker competition on the school’s billiard table (kept in the staff room). Less concerned with formality and procedure, he happily delegated authority and encouraged teachers to show initiative. His filing cabinet was the nearest available Gladstone bag. During the Olympic Games in Melbourne, Smith rostered groups of teachers off each day so they could attend the games. Student-teachers were left to mind the classes.51 31 Smith, too, saw out his service with the Department at Princes Hill and retired in December 1957.32
52 The next principal was Richard Dunstan, who came to Princes Hill from Northcote and commenced on 4 February 1958.55 33 Not senior enough to gain the Head Teachership of the newly established high school, Dunstan stayed as head of the primary school until the end of 1960 when he transferred to SS 4713 Olympic Village.51 34 John Alexander replaced him in 1962, and stayed until 1964.55 35 Their brief stays at Princes Hill set the pattern of occupancy by principals at the Pigdon Street school for the next three decades.
Between 1959 and 1989, twenty Principals or Acting Principals have been appointed to Pigdon Street school. Only six Dunstan, Alexander, Adrian Ford (1965-6), A. Bowden (1967-9), Ron Millet (1977-9) and Sue McCall (appointed 1986) have served for two years or more. Seven of the remainder were Acting Principals filling in gaps caused by promotions, transfers, retirements or illness. Where information exists, many of the principals are praised for working diligently and conscientiously for the school’s welfare. But the rapid change of senior personnel disrupted the school.
'The School Council held the Department to blame for the difficulties afflicting difficulties afflicting the school. There was some substance to their claims that the Department was being short-sighted and inconsiderate. In the early 1970s, the Department had undertaken to maintain stability of staffing at the senior level by appointing one principal and two vice-principals to every school, but Princes Hill Primary School had been left straining without adequate administration and personnel to replace senior teachers who were acting principals during the long illness of principal John Bright. Vice-Principals and Infant Mistresses appointed to the school were then transferred elsewhere, often in midterm, again forcing the school to second senior teaching staff to executive officesoffices.55 36
In 1983, four principals were appointed to the school within twelve months. According to one teacher who arrived in the midst of the controversy, the school was split politically and educationally into warring camps. Nola Kennett, who was principal in 1983, believes the School Council was intent on appointing its own locally selected principal, and moved to ‘push out’ both herself and her then deputy principa1principal.37
57 Neil Watson outlined the School Council’s case for local selection of the principal to the Minister, Mr Fordham. ‘The incumbent principal’, the council argued, ‘appeared incapable of embracing the school’s policy and practices’. The ensuing disruptions, it continued, were proving very costly to the school: public confidence was waning, enrolments were dropping and there was growing concern among parents with deep involvement at the school. The Department’s principle of appointments according to seniority, he continued, was a lottery that exposed schools to a mismatching of personnel and school, phi1osophyphilosophy.55 38 In 1986, the School Council’s advocacy of local selection of the principal found favour in the Department, and Sue McCall was appointed principa1principal.59 39 She was the first first such appointment in Victoria. The picture at the High School was quite different. Bill Johnston, Archibald Gibson and Alleyne Sier all recognised the enormous effort that would be required to forge the new Princes Hill High School into an effective institution.
William Johnston, the first Headmaster of Princes Hill High School, 1959-61
Johnston had only been there for two years before increasing enrolments elevated the school into class A ranking, and he was shifted to a smaller school in line with his classificationclassification. Gibson, who followed in 1962, stayed for five five years. Sier died in 1978 while still principal. Each had individual attitudes and methods for organising, overseeing and disciplining the school during its difficult difficult teething period.
Archibald Gibson, Headmaster of Princes Hill High School
...
1964-6
Descriptions of Bill Johnston are compelling. According to one student, he was ‘an athletic-looking man, with thickset jaw, crew-cut, resonant voice, who seemed big to the young ones, and appeared gruff, but was very fair’.‘11 41 The District Inspectors thought his ‘industry, organising ability, sound judgement and sympathetic interest in the welfare of his staff and pupils have won him the full cooperation and support of his staff, of parents’ organisations and of the community which the school serves’.12 42
Without set directives from the Education Department, but determined to build a reputable school, Johnston emphasised the continuity of Princes Hill School’s fine fine tradition. His first priority was to stem the flow of the school’s better students to University High School. He went on to foster a strong school spirit, which to him meant instituting school uniforms and organised sport, as well as holding weekly assemblies in Wilson Hall at the University of1VIe1bourne, just as University High was doing.‘15 He conscientiously honoured his obligations to his school by attending all meetings of the School Advisory Council and Parents’ and Teachers’ Association.‘11 44 His sense of team spirit and solidarity helped the staff cope with the school’s dreadful conditions and shoestring budget.45
‘15 The editorial of the school magazine, Heritage, in 1961 summarised the whole school’s sentiments on the eve of Johnston’s departure: The school would be the poorer for losing a ‘Teacher, counsellor and above all friend. Friend to all pupils, Jew and Gentile, New Australian, Old Australian’. Despite all Johnston’s efforts, the physical facilities Archibald Gibson inherited were far from adequate. Like his predecessor, ‘Old Gibbo’ expended much energy coping with growing numbers. Gibson’s messages in Heritage and in speech night programmes suggest a formal man of strong moral commitment to his students and school. His pride was evident in the lyrics of the school song, which he composed:
Proudly we stand and lift up our voices,
United to praise the great school that’s our own;
Faithful we’ll be to the teaching she gives us,
Reaping the harvest of seed she has sown.
Chorus
Labore et fide words to inspire us,
Our motto and emblem, we’ll follow their rule.
Labore et fide with toil and honour;
Fight the good
...
fight and bring fame to our school.
Fight the good fight and bring fame to our school.
We’ll model our lives on the ways of the great ones,
Men of vision whose faith in our land burnt clear.
Batman and Flinders, Monash and Lawson,
Fit names for our houses, names we revere.
So here’s to our school, may she grow ever stronger,
Gaining from each since she’s given to all;
May she always be proud of her sons and her daughters
Who will show themselves ready at duty’s call.
61 The core of his message was epitomised by the school motto, ‘Labore et Fide’ (‘with toil and honour’), which he regularly invoked. While praising individuals for outstanding academic and sporting achievements, he urged all students to strive to their best of their ability inside and outside the classroom. He frequently extolled the virtues of punctuality, attendance, dress, good citizenship, good manners, pride in surroundings and care for public property. By contrast, he dismissed the ‘barbarians’ who disregarded school uniform, the lazy, discourteous, vulgar, untidy and vandalous as users who shirked responsibility and blackened the school’s image.‘15 46 Although discipline appears to have been a problem in the school, Gibson preferred reason to corporal punishment.‘17 47 He was also a humane man, concerned not just for the academically gifted but for all the members of his school. One speech night, while addressing the assembled parents, Gibson commented on the academic pressures confronting migrant children, and assured the parents that the school was doing everything to help. The school, he added, was doing everything possible to help the academically ungifted too. He illustrated the point from his own experience. As a university graduate, he said, he had found difficulty coping with a son who was not academically gifted. But he had come to take as great a pride in his son’s ability to build fine fine furniture as he did in his graduate son’s academic success.48
‘15 Many labels have been attached to Gibson’s successor, Alleyne Sier. He has variously been described as ‘schizophrenic’, ‘visionary’, ‘Machiavellian’ and a ‘demigod’. Opinions and assessments differ depending on particular individuals’ experiences with this complex man. He was known to lock out students who were late; yet he abolished school uniforms and introduced the country’s first smoking pit for students within the school building.‘15 49 He howled down students who spoke at assembly, but made it onto the cover of the school newspaper, Yabberstick, dressed as Santa Claus. His staff mistrusted the ‘Ministry’s Man’; but, galvanised by his energy and commitment, they disregarded the very rights their union was agitating for and often worked double shifts, from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 12 p.m. to 5 p.m, without a break.
Alleyne Sier, Headmaster of Princes Hill High School 1967-78
Sier was the consummate politician. He loved children, loved mathematics, and loved to lead.55 50 Because of the fondness, respect and awe that still surround ‘Mr Sier’, it is all too easy to lose perspective and eulogise his memory. His period at Princes Hill High School was a time of intellectual, social and political ferment in the community, and of significant pedagogical developments at the school. Opinions differ as to whether Sier had a vision for the school and, if so, what that vision was. In the view of ex-teacher Emile Hamer, when Sier first arrived at Princes Hill he was concerned only with, getting the best academic results. Sier’s first message to students in Heritage 1967 extols the values of individuality, independence of thought and action, and the spirit of inquiry. Two years later, he wrote in Yabberstick that the essential function of a school was to provide students with character, expressed in self-discipline and the ready willingness to help others.51
While some disagree about the depth of his intellectualism or educational innovation, all concur that Sier’s dynamism, energy and enthusiasm inspired, coaxed and bullied the school through the ‘bad years’ of the early 1970s. Everywhere, there was teacher militancy and alienation. At Princes Hill, everything tumbled about in disarray: a burnt-out school, strikes, staff-room fisticuffs, acrimony, tired teachers, wandering students and lax discipline. Through it all, Sier had to attend to fund-raising, meetings with teachers, discussions with parents, negotiations with politicians, architects and builders. Believing that little would be achieved if democratic processes were adhered to in the school at that time, Sier manipulated meetings and individuals, demanded much, ready to surrender a little, and always got what he wanted. At times he exploded and vented his wrath on offenders, but he bore no grudges. And eventually the new school was built. Teachers worked long hours under trying conditions, but morale remained high, largely because of Sier. Inspired by his determination, the staff strove to emulate him, and identified identified strongly with ‘their’ school.52
Sier’s ability to gather talented staff around him and his willing reception of new ideas won the praise of his teachers. The establishment of Yabberstick, the school newspaper, is a good example. Convinced that the project had merit, Sier encouraged it and supported it financiallyfinancially.55 53 Mirimbah, the schoo1’s school’s country centre at Mansfield, was another. The school also experimented with a number of pedagogical programmes, among them General Studies, creative workshops, equal opportunity, special classes for maladjusted children, English as a second language and the establishment of the Princes Hill School Park Centre.5154
Olive Hamilton, Senior Mistress at Princes Hill High School, searches the ruins of one of the classrooms, 1970. Photograph courtesy of the Age, 9/2/1970
The achievements, however, were achieved at a price. Sier’s relations with the teachers remained distant. While he mixed with the staff over a social Christmas drink, otherwise he kept aloof.55
According to one ex-teacher, Sier’s death on 11 February 1978 threw the school into some disorder. Uncertainty about the future stifled stifled innovation. Acting Principal Greg Cooney stayed for a year and was replaced by Charles Johnston, who retired two years later. Olive Hamilton, who succeeded Johnston in 1981, had been Senior Mistress at Princes Hill between 1967 and 1970. Her positive attitudes helped to stabilise the school.55 56 As principal, she aimed to create a cohesive and structured school that was easy to work in and achieved its goals without fuss. She emphasised the need for an education that was humanistic in tone and provided students with opportunities to interact with others. She expressed the hope that, when students leave Princes Hill, they would look back at their time at school with pride, and take something of the school with them into society.57 Relations between the principal and school council soured, however, when a combination of study/long service 64 leave and secondment by the Education Department took her away from the school during 1983-4 and briefly in 1985.58
55 During Olive Hamilton’s incumbency, Princes Hill was confronted with a critical threat to its independence. In 1986, following the Blackburn Report into secondary education, the Victorian government proposed various measures to rationalise the inner-suburban high schools. Organised by the Education Department’s Regional Director, ‘Local Planning Committees’ were directed to reorganise and amalgamate Princes Hill, Fitzroy High, Collingwood Technical School, Collingwood Educational Centre and Exhibition High into a number of mini-campuses teaching years 7 to 10 and a new Secondary College to teach years 11 and 12, all controlled by a centralised ‘Super School Council’. Princes Hill objected to the proposal. According to Princes Hill, despite the general decline in enrolments, it still had proportionately more students than the other schools. If it amalgamated, it would lose the financial contributions, personnel and equipment provided by the Melbourne City Council. Amalgamation would also disfranchise parents whose main interest was the immediate locality and sever the school’s ties with its traditional Carlton feeder schools. The school also noted that the students at Princes Hill already enjoyed the benefits the Blackburn Report saw as flowing from having a Secondary College for years 11 and 12 - namely, being part of a large student body with diverse backgrounds and curricula. On 2 August 1987, Education Minister Ian Cathie ended the debate by elevating Princes Hill to the status of a Secondary College.59
55 In 1988, Olive Hamilton took leave and John Stirling became Acting Principal. On the announcement of her retirement in 1989, the School Council voted to select the new principal. In its own small way, this marks the end of an era.