Newcastle Girls High School

But for the boys on The Hill, the old school buildings were widely considered inadequate, unsound and unhealthy. Increasing enrolments, exacerbated by the Depression, when many parents kept their boys at school, were too great for the old premises to accommodate.

In 1929 the total enrolment of Newcastle High School was 565, crammed into buildings designed for 300 pupils. The local community pressed the NSW Government to build the boys a new school on land next to the girls high school. 

But despite the previous success of co-educational schools others argued that it should be located away from the girls, and with it appears Minister Drummond’s support the less central site at Waratah was selected. But more than this, as pointed out by an editorial in The Newcastle Morning Herald, it was high time that Newcastle had two modern, well resourced high schools.

In 1934 Newcastle High School moved to its new campus at Waratah (later to become Waratah High and today is part of Callaghan Campus) while the Tyrell Street site housed Newcastle Boys’ Junior High until 1973. Both girls and boys high schools carried on the traditions established by the original school, including use of the same motto and  colours – which are red and blue and ‘Remis Velisque’ which translates as ‘With Oars and Sails’, meaning ‘with all one’s might’.

The boys main building cost £21,410, much less than the girls school, was constructed of red cavity brick and the roof featured ‘French pattern tiles’. A library, offices and hat rooms were also included. It also had a large population of ravens which were held in high regards by the students, who sae them as a symbol of their teen years and regarded them as a mascot for the school.

The site next to Newcastle Girls High School unsuccessfully proposed for the new boys high was instead chosen for a second new single-sex Domestic Science High School later known as Hunter Girls High School.

This latter school was built and opened in 1931, well before the new Boys High School. In 1958 Headmistress, Miss Aileen Treglown, stated that “Women must play a vital part in our national life, in the home, socially, culturally and politically”.

To that end the school offered all its students the opportunity to participate to their full potential in a wide range of educational experiences. In addition to gaining academic proficiency in Literature, Science, Mathematics, Art, and Domestic and Commercial subjects, the girls were able to participate in debating, public speaking, drama, musicals and opera and many forms of sporting activities.

Between 1974 and 1978, despite entrenched community opposition and a lively local debate, the four selective high schools in the city – Newcastle Girls High School, Newcastle Boys High School, Hunter Girls High School and Newcastle Technical High School – were converted into co-educational comprehensive high schools.

In 1976 Newcastle Girls High combined with Hunter Girls High and enrolled boys to become Newcastle High School. And in 1977 the boys Newcastle High School combined with Wickham Girls High School to become Waratah High School.