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Without set directives from the Education Department, but determined to build a reputable school, Johnston emphasised the continuity of Princes Hill School’s 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 of1VIe1bourneof Melbourne, just as University High was doing.‘15 43 He conscientiously honoured his obligations to his school by attending all meetings of the School Advisory Council and Parents’ and Teachers’ Association.44 His sense of team spirit and solidarity helped the staff cope with the school’s dreadful conditions and shoestring budget.45
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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 financially.53 Mirimbah, the 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.54
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
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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
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