History

HISTORY Adelaide High School can trace its origins to the early days of the colony of South Australia founded in 1836. Adelaide High School today is an evolution of the original State boys and girls schools.

In 1875, a bill was passed in Parliament, which made attendance at school compulsory until 13 years of age, but it was not until 1891 that education, although compulsory, was free for students (of sick and poor parents) up to the equivalent of Year Six today.

At this time the only State secondary education available was for girls, where students paid for instruction. It was considered that ample facilities were available for boys at the private schools. th Established October 7 1879, the Advanced School for Girls was at first housed in Franklin Street, but as the enrolment increased, the school shifted to the Eastern Building in the Grote Street complex. In 1900, the Headmistress adopted a motto for the school saying, We can but work humbly and faithfully according to our light, and it is in this spirit we have adopted for our school the motto, We work not for the school but for life: We toil not for time, but for eternity (This is the basis of Adelaide High School’s motto today.)

At the turn of the century, education, and particularly secondary education, became a lively topic for discussion, and eventually it was recommended that a State secondary education system be established.

As a result, on 23 January 1908, the Adelaide Continuation School (occupying the Central and Western buildings of the Grote Street Complex) commenced with 300 students. This new school was an 1 amalgamation of existing schools: 

The Pupil Teachers’ School (established January 1900) which had occupied the Central Building and the Grote Street Model School. This school consisted of 60 boys and girls who were receiving a secondary education prior to entering the Teachers’ College.

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A group of 60 boys known as the Exhibitioners, who had been successful in winning three year Exhibitions for secondary education (the first students other than Pupil Teachers to receive a free secondary education under the State system). A fourth year was not provided by the Exhibition, so a student would leave at the end of the third year and attend a college for further secondary education.

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The Grote Street Model School (boys, girls and infants) was housed in the Western building. At the commencement of 1908 these student comprised the sixth class (Year Seven) students.  In 1908 the Advanced School for Girls (again with 60 students) became a part of the Adelaide Continuation School, which by then occupied all the buildings at the Grote Street complex.

In 1929, three classes of boys were moved to the ground floor of the Currie Street Model School (now part of the Adelaide Remand Centre), and by 1931 the whole of the Currie Street School was occupied by about 450 boys.

During the latter part of the 1930s the Government heard about the plight of the school, as far as accommodation was concerned. The school was at this time housed in five different buildings.

Tenders were called for a new boys’ school and over 60 entries were received for the school’s design as a result of a national architectural competition. The Premier of the day, Mr Playford announced the winning design entry on 30 September 1940, but with the intervention of World War II, the new boys’ school was not built until the end of the 1940s, with the foundations being laid in 1947. The school is 2 listed on the Register of the National Estate and the South Australian Heritage Register.

In 1951 Adelaide High School split into Adelaide Boys High School (at West Terrace, the current site) and Adelaide Girls’ High School at Grote Street. The Currie Street School was closed.

It was thought that this new arrangement would resolve the accommodation issues. This proved to be incorrect. In the 1970s an Education Department School Zone Policy diminished the population supplying the two schools. The decision was made in 1976 to amalgamate the two schools, and again form Adelaide High School, using the West Terrace site. Therefore the first intake of girls was enrolled at West Terrace in 1977, and by 1979 all of the girls were on the one site and the Grote Street site ceased to be a school. For the first time since 1917, Adelaide High School was together on the one site.

In July 1908, the Adelaide Continuation School had its name changed to Adelaide High School, and thus the State High School system, and the first free High School in the British Empire was established.

By the end of its first year the enrolment of the new High School had grown to 508, with 263 girls and 245 boys.

However, the school had to meet challenges related to accommodation for both teaching and recreation space from its first year because the Grote Street site was very limited. Soon after the school was founded, a building program was begun. Redevelopment at the site only solved the accommodation issue for a few years, as in 1917 the school was overcrowded. The school rented space in the Church of Christ building (opposite the school). At the end of each day the students had to move the desks, chairs and tables, pack up the blackboards so that the Church authorities could hold meetings in the rooms.

Still the numbers grew, and new accommodation was critical in 1928. In that year, a large two-storey building (recently vacated by the Printers Trade School on the corner of Brown – now Morphett -Street and Gouger Street) was used for classes.

1 Education Gazette, January 23rd 1908, page 21