Students from the ‘80s invited to tell their stories

In 2024, Frankston High School will celebrate its 100th birthday. To commemorate the centenary, former student and teacher Sue Robinson is creating a book titled 100 Years 100 Voices. The book will celebrate one student from each year from 1924 to 2024, showcasing the students’ variety of careers and achievements.

Sue was a student at Frankston High in the 1960s and ‘70s and then worked there as a teacher for 10 years. “I retired from teaching in 2017 and have been running the school museum for the last few years,” she said. “For the book I have over 80 names already, lots from the very early years, but it is the cohort from the 1980s that I’m really struggling to find.”

Frankston High has a rich history and has built a reputation as a well-respected secondary school. However, information documented in Optima Semper: Frankston High School 1924-1994 by Mary A Evans, Heather Murray and Jenny Evans shows that the school wouldn’t have opened if it weren’t for the determination of many residents. Not surprisingly, mothers were particularly vocal.

In 1921, the Shire of Frankston and Hastings had a combined population of 3843, so the shire requested that a secondary school be built to service the Peninsula. However, some residents felt that anything beyond Year 8 was unnecessary because, as author and historian Don Charlwood remembered, they believed “young people spending so much time at school when they should be out working would end up having too high an opinion of themselves”.

A referendum was held and it was agreed to hand over to the Education Department a parcel of land in Cranbourne Rd that would become the Quality St site. But the issue was still not resolved. The new Public Education Minister Sir Alexander Peacock was confronted on his way back from a holiday in Portsea by residents who pressured him to speed up the process.

Stories are told of mothers blocking Nepean Highway with their prams to make their point. Badges were sold as part of a fundraising and publicity campaign. One badge has survived and now has pride of place in the school’s museum. It depicts a very rural-looking Olivers Hill surrounded by bush without a house in sight. How times have changed.

If you or someone you know was a student at Frankston High School during the 1980s or indeed any other decade, Sue would love to hear from you at srobinson@fhs.vic.gov.au