...
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 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 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
...