100 years ago
24 December 1925
Dandenong High School Speech Night
The public’s warm interest in the Dandenong High School and the annual speech night was shown by the attendance at the Boomerang Theatre. The large building was filled with residents from the town and district, neighbouring districts and outer suburbs.
ATTENDANCE
The numerical expansion of the school continues. In 1919 the school was opened with an attendance of 80 pupils. Now in 1925, we have 290 pupils on the roll, with an average attendance of nearly 250. The school was built to accommodate a maximum of 250 pupils and as we have 290 on the roll, and if the yearly increase continues, more rooms will be required.
IMPROVEMENTS
During the year the appearance of the school has been greatly enhanced owing to the generosity of the public. The school bazaar raised approximately 120 pounds. This was supplemented with a grant of 90 pounds from the Education Department and enabled necessary improvements to be carried out. The front lawn was planted with a cypress hedge and fenced, two tennis courts were enclosed with a substantial nine-foot fence and three sides of the grounds have been planted with pines.
50 years ago
15 December 1975
Welcome ‘Angel’ or not?
The bed shortage at the Dandenong Hospital is so acute that Matron Sheila Ewin told last week’s meeting of the management committee 211 patients had been admitted, although they are only supposed to have 205 beds. And as she looked out the window and saw the helicopter air ambulance dropping into the hospital grounds, she expressed the hope it was coming to take away patients- not bringing more in! She said “This is the third time the air ambulance has been here today!”
20 years ago
19 December 2005
Boundary changes ‘benefit’ residents
Boundary changes to Greater Dandenong suburbs will give residents a closer affinity with the revitalised town centre. Residential areas of Dandenong South will be reclassified as Dandenong in an effort to distinguish Dandenong’s industrial and residential areas. As part of the change, 83 Lyndhurst and 62 Bangholme properties will be rezoned as Dandenong South. Dandenong will inherit 2151 Dandenong South properties. The new Dandenong South boundary will extend to Dandenong – Hastings Road, south to Thompson Road, west to Eastlink and north to the new Dandenong Southern Bypass.
5 years ago
15 December 2020
Extraordinary year buried
After remote learning and isolation left many year 12 students feeling a little bit robbed of their final year at school, missing out on many celebrations and rites of passage due to Covid 19, students and teachers at Killester College came up with a new way to way to commemorate the unprecedented year: an old-fashioned time capsule. A group vote divvied up different items for each year level, with students contributing items including face masks, hand sanitiser, school badges, jocks and socks as well as more personal items photographs, lists of Netflix Shows, Black Lives Matter protest information and letters to future selves, to name a few. The difficult restrictions endured by Melbournians were arguably most difficult for students, particular this year’s graduating students. The time capsule was handed to the school’s principal, Sally Buick and will be reopened when the current Year 7 students are in year 12 in six years’ time – 2026.
Compiled by Dandenong & District Historical Society
