Page History

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John Thurgood outside classroom at PHHS

John Thurgood taught at PHHS for 13 years from 1962. He started off began teaching junior through to middle school maths. In the latter years he had progressed to co-ordinator of senior maths, chemistry and physics.
He was innovative in his methods of teaching at a time when curriculum content and delivery was very strictly dictated by the education department.

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John Thurgood in the classroom

After the burning down of the main school building he was deeply involved in the co-ordination and running of the school program, conducted over four different campuses in the North Carlton area.
John was instrumental in the initial discussions on the abolition of final year examinations being the only criteria for which students were accepted or rejected into further education and was an active member of the Victorian Secondary Teachers Association for many years. In the early 70's he delivered a fundraising and awareness campaign for the development and integration of Aboriginal communities.
He was a very dedicated and unique classroom teacher, but the acquisition of the Mirimbah camp by the school in about 1969, provided an opportunity for John Thurgood to begin to realise his true purpose. He teamed up with Eddie Beacham, Burnie Rhymer, David Buckland, David Scott along with the principal Alan Syer, to name a few, to acquire and develop the campsite and bring to life this wonderful concept.
Mirimbah was the place he combined his true passion for nature, bushwalking, survival skills, youth development, personal growth and ultimately of course, teaching.
Today our year 7 students and a few other lucky students attend the Mirimbah Country Centre camp. 40 years ago every pupil at PHSC went to Mirimbah for a camp during the year. In the early days of Mirimbah two staff members lived at the camp and met the student groups when they arrived by bus. For teachers Ros Robertson and John Thurgood, 1975 was their first year as a team. Year 11 & 12 visit at the beginning of term one followed by year 7. Year 8 & 9 in term two and finally year 10 in term three. Also visiting that year was an ex-students group and a couple of year 12 study groups. The camp buildings were much as they are today but with an outdoor toilet block and only one of the houses had been built at that time. The second was built during this year along with the machinery shed to store andbuild canoes. There were also plans to build a field research laboratory a place where the local plants, animals, rocks could be collected, stored, identified, read about, studied, etc. John and Ros were planning many new activities for students, some of which survive to this day.

John Thurgood with a bushwalking group at Mirimbah, 1970

The Delatite river is not suitable for canoeing, but there are good, safe parts of the Howqua River near the area where it enters the Eildon Weir. The canoes built in the 70s at Mirimbah are still inside the shed and were used right up to the 1990s. Fishing tackle had also been bought for keen fishermen or women to use. During the winter, groups were going up into the snow country to build snow caves, go tobogganing and cross-country skiing. A rope and obstacle course, including a flying fox, were built during the year in the bush in front of the country centre.

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John Thurgood, Ros Robertson & John Steele

For the evenings and wet days, a lot of art/craft material was available. Students were able to do such things as kite-making, macrame, talc-stone carving, candle-making, woodwork, painting, bread-making, bean bag making and weaving. All of these were BIG in the 70s! An Orienteering course was marked out which involved groups finding their way around the bush with a compass to different spots marked on a map. A lot of books and games were purchased for the library up at Mirimbah.

John Thurgood with Student Council members Alf Quattrochi and Peter Ferigno

On the 16th of December 1975, 40 years ago, on the last day of the school year, John & Ros packed their gear, locked up the camp, following the same ritual as staff do today, and began the drive back to Melbourne.

They hadn't gone far when their car was involved in an accident at an intersection in Mansfield. John was killed and Ros very badly injured. John Stirling, who shared an office with John Thurgood and was later an assistant principal at PHSC, recalls the disbeleif felt at the time by staff and students. Stirling recalls "John was a great person, a creative and analytic thinker, a jovial, fun person going in exciting directions". Thurgood also represented staff and students as president of the local VSTA branch during a difficult time for the school. A plaque mounted above the fireplace at Mirimbah camp reminds us of his loss while keeping generations of students warm for 40 years.