Local High Schools on or connected to the Koo Wee Rup Swamp

In Victoria, the Education Act, which came into effect on January 1, 1873, made State education ‘secular, compulsory and free’. The Act said that parents of children of ‘not less than six years and not more than fifteen years’ were required to send their children to school. (1). Primary schools in those days went up to Grade Eight.

For children who wanted further education, if their parents were wealthy enough, they would have been sent to a private school as the first Government High School in the area didn’t open until 40 years after the Education Act came into effect. This was Warragul High School, the construction of which began in March 1911, however classes started in the Shire Hall in the August of that year and the School was officially opened in 1912, with Mr J. McLennan as Head Master and a staff of four.  The School was opened as an Agricultural High School. It was situated on 23 acres, and the first students had to help with the clearing, draining and fencing of the site.  By the 1930s, enrolment numbers in the agricultural courses had declined so this arm of the curriculum was dropped, and the school concentrated on the Academic curriculum and introduced Technical courses. In 1936, Domestic Science was introduced for the girls and by 1940 there was a blacksmith, metal work and wood work rooms. (2). 

In 1940, enrollments were around 400 and accommodation was at a premium, so much so that in 1945 when my father, Frank Rouse, started his Form 1A had all their classes at the Warragul State School, where Olive ‘Bonnie’ Marrabel, instructed the pupils in all subjects. The school bus, which had picked up students from Garfield, Vervale, Modella and Bunyip used to drop Dad and his fellow students at the High School and they had to walk the mile every morning and night to and from the State School.

It seems that Cora Lynn was the border of the Warragul catchment area, as pupils who lived on the west side of Cora Lynn State School went to Dandenong High School and pupils on the east side went to Warragul.  The Dandenong High School (DHS) was opened on March 10, 1919. This was later than the usual School opening date due to the outbreak of pneumonic influenza that was prevalent at the end of the First World War. When the School opened it was in temporary premises with the junior students housed at the old Fire Station and the senior students at the Temperance Hall and Church of Christ. There were 104 students. The foundation stone of the permanent building was laid on November 21, 1919 and the School was officially opened in late 1920. In 1920 the DHS enrolment was 150 of which 60 students came from the Berwick, Pakenham, Garfield, Bunyip, Hallam, Lyndhurst, Cranbourne, Koo Wee Rup, Carnegie and Murrumbeena areas. (3).

However, the journey to these schools often required an early start and a late return – there was one report in a paper that said that pupils leave home at 5.45 a.m. and did not reach home until 8 p.m. (4). This was for students who lived around Heath Hill / Yannathan, so it was not surprising that there was agitation for closer school, which had actually started in the 1920s. 

In the May 13, 1926 issue of the Koo Wee Rup Sun, there was the following report -

High School Desired - A movement has been initiated by Garfield residents with the object of securing a high school to serve the swamp area. Such a proposal should have the  heartiest commendation and support of all parents of the district. The various branches of the Women's Section of the Farmers' Union are taking the matter up enthusiastically, and the different school committees and other public bodies are also giving support. This afternoon a meeting will take place at the Kooweerup State School, when the matter will be discussed. The children of the district who desire to reach a higher educational standard are beset with man difficulties, and it is earnestly hoped that something of a concrete character will be achieved for them. To reach success will involve  a good deal of work and organising, but we must keep on knocking until the doors are opens. At the Lord Mayor's dinner in Melbourne on Monday the Chief Justice, Sir William Irvine referring to the conditions of the country, said that one of the many ways of making the country more favorable was to give greater educational facilities. (5)

In August 1926, The Age reported that -
A public meeting was held at Cora Lynn when representatives were present from all parts of the Kooweerup swamp area, from Lang Lang and Yannathan to Narnargoon. Cr. P. Walsh, of Berwick shire, presided. The meeting was organised by the Iona women's section V.F.U., who have for some months been engaged in a movement to establish a high school in the swamp. A motion in favor of this was carried. Mr. Wrigley, assistant chief inspector of secondary schools, delivered an instructive address on the establishing of high schools. He said the department existed for the education of the children, but parents must take advantage of it. A site of eight acres was necessary for a H.E. [Higher Elementary] school and 10 acres for a high school, to be vested in the Minister. The local cash contribution varied from £1000 for a H.E. school to £10,000 for a high school. A committee was appointed representing 22 school centres, Cr. McCulloch and Cr. Dowd to represent Cranbourne and Berwick shires respectively. The lona and Kooweerup branches are to continue to act. (6).

The Age reported again the next month - 

 At a meeting of district representatives at Cora Lynn the high school proposal was further considered. Sites at Cora Lynn and Bayles were reviewed, and it was unanimously decided to recommend an area of Crown land at Bayles, which is above flood level and large enough for all requirements. It was resolved to ask the Education department for an early inspection of the site. An active canvass for subscriptions and guarantees from parents is to be undertaken. Mrs. Shreeves was elected president, and Mrs. Terrill secretary. (7).

Another meeting was held in  February 1927 -

At meeting of delegates held at Cora Lynn from the various centres of the swamp settlement it was decided that a site at Bayles be selected for the proposed higher elementary school. It will probably be some time before the school becomes an established fact. The Education department is to be asked to allow a temporary school to be held in the hall at Cora Lynn. (8).

Another report of this meeting noted that -

Crs. McCulloch (president of Cranbourne Shire Council), Dowd (president of Berwick Shire Council), Bennett and Sage (Cranbourne Shire) have been appointed a deputation to request the Minister for Education to establish a higher elementary school at Bayles. (9)

Two years later, in June 1929, The Argus reported that 

The Education department has decided to establish a temporary elementary high school at Cora Lynn if sufficient inducement offers. A permanent site has been chosen at Bayles. (10).

Clearly, nothing happened about that as there was never a secondary school built at either Bayles or Cora Lynn. Students were still attending Warragul High, in large numbers, as the Herald reported in December 1943, that The High School, which serves from Moe to Pakenham and from Noojee to Korumburra, has been asked to take more than 500 pupils next year, although it was over crowded this term with 390. (11)

As we saw before, with students having to start their journey at 5.45am a new bus service commencing in February 1944 would  have been unlikely to have made this day any shorter -  a new daily school bus route will be commenced from Yannathan to the Dandenong High School, opening up the way to a High School education for about 26 pupils who would otherwise be unable to attend….starting from Yannathan, thence to Catani, Cora Lynn, Bayles, Five Mile, Island road, Cardinia and Clyde North. (12).  Any students on the train line such as Lang Lang, Caldermeade, Koo Wee Rup or Tooradin would have caught the train to school. 

Dad had been at Cora Lynn State School and he had to sit an exam, in Grade 6, before he was accepted into the High School. His brother, Jim, who was two years older than him, completed Grade 8 at Cora Lynn, and also went onto Warragul High School in 1945. Despite Jim having his Merit certificate and being two years older, he was also put into Form 1. This appeared to be a common practice.  Apart from Miss Marrabel, Dad also specifically remembers two other teachers - Roma Bull (Mrs Gordon Jenkins) and Gladys Worthington (later Mrs Lindsay Jones, who incidentally is the sister-in-law of George Jones, with whom Dad did his National Service. You can see a photo of Dad and George, here.)

In 1953, the Dandenong Journal reported Tynong, situated roughly half way between Dandenong and Warragul High Schools….. feels that it has strong claims for the establishment of a High School there - and is pushing them.  (13).

Buses at Warragul High School

State Library of Victoria Image H2008.12/44

By this time (1952) the enrolment at Warragul High was around 800 and was obviously not relieved by the establishment of a High School at Tynong  as that never happened;  but did decline with the establishment of Drouin High School. Drouin High opened in 1956 and classes were held at the primary school and various Halls. It opened on the current site in 1957. This was the same year as Koo Wee Rup High School. Koo Wee Rup had started as a Higher Elementary School in 1953 with classes up to Form 4. Drouin State School operated a Form 1 and Form 2 from 1953 to 1955 as Drouin Central School. (14) Dad’s sister, Marion, had been at Cora Lynn State School until May 1951 when it became part of Pakenham Consolidated School, she then did the rest of Grade 5 and Grade 6 at Pakenham, then Form 1 and Form 2 at Drouin Central and finally went on to Form 3 at Warragul High.

Pakenham High School, the other nearest High School to Garfield, opened in 1967 with classes being held at the Consolidated School and moved to its current site in 1970. (15)  Interestingly, when Pakenham High was established the population of the town was something like 1,700 - it is now over 46,000 and when I first wrote this post in 2019, there was still only one Government High School in Pakenham and no additional High School between Pakenham and Drouin.  If you want a prime example of how none of the State governments of either persuasion have planned for infrastructure in growth areas, then this would be it. Getting back to Warragul High School - in the late 1950s there was a move to separate the Technical and High School streams and in 1959 Warragul Technical School opened. In 1994 they were merged to form the Warragul Regional College. (16)

All the Grenda's buses lined up at Pakenham High, early 1980s.

Casey Cardinia Libraries photo

Trove list - I have created a list of newspaper articles, on Trove, relating to High Schools on the Koo Wee Rup Swamp.You can access the list, here.

Footnotes 

(1)  Read the Education Act here (it is only 6 pages long) http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/vic/hist_act/tea1872134/
(2) Blake, L. J (editor) Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria,  (Education Department of Victoria, 1973), vol. 3; Warragul High School, 1911-1991: 80 years on (published by the School in 1991)

(3) Blake, ibid; Mitchell, K.B., A history of the Dandenong High School, 1919-1968 (published by the School in 1968)

(4) Dandenong Journal, January 12, 1944, see here.

(5) Koo Wee Rup Sun, May 13, 1926, p.4.

(6) The Age, August 28, 1926,  see here.

(7) The Age, September 17, 1926, see here.

(8) The Argus, February 19, 1927, see here.

(9) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, February 24, 1927, see here.

(10) The Argus, June 1, 1929, see here.

(11) The Herald, December 15, 1943, see here.

(12) Dandenong Journal, February 2, 1944, see here.

(13) Dandenong Journal, October 28, 1953, see here.

(14) Blake, op. cit;  Hooper, Fred The tale of the Blackfish: a history of the Koo Wee Rup High School 1957-1977 (published by the School in  1977)

(15) Ibid

(16) Warragul High School, 1911-1991: 80 years on , op. cit; Warragul Regional College website  https://wrc.vic.edu.au/

I have written about other local High Schools here 

Dandenong High School https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2024/02/dandenong-high-school.html

and local Technical Schools here 

Technical Schools in the Shires of Berwick and Cranbourne https://victoriaspast.blogspot.com/2024/02/technical-schools-in-shires-of-berwick.html