Adelaide High School (GA3068)

Adelaide High School is a Year 8 - 12 secondary school located at West Terrace, Adelaide.

Adelaide High School was formed in 1908 as an amalgamation of the Pupil Teachers' School (a training college for teachers, established 1900), Grote Street Model School (a primary school established 1874) and the Advanced School for Girls (a girls-only secondary school established 1879). These three schools were located side-by-side on Grote Street.

At the beginning of 1908, the Pupil Teachers' School and Grote Street School amalgamated to form the Adelaide Continuation School, with Mr. W.J. Adey appointed as Assistant-in-Charge. The school was for older students, aged 14 and up, so the younger students from Grote Street were transferred to the nearby Observation School on Currie Street.

The Advanced School for Girls soon joined the Adelaide Continuation School, which was re-named Adelaide High School. The Advanced School for Girls had been the first public secondary school in Australia and Adelaide High School was proclaimed the "first free High School in the British Empire." W.J. Adey was appointed the first Headmaster of Adelaide High School. The headmistress of the Advanced School for Girls, Miss Madeline Rees George, was in charge of the girls' section at the school.

Adelaide High School was formally opened on 24 September 1908 by the Premier and Minister of Education, Mr. Thomas Price, who would later send his daughter, Florence, to the school. By the end of its first year, there were 263 girls and 245 boys enrolled.

When it opened, the school had a number of innovative features, including a physics laboratory, a relief map worked out in sand in the schoolyard (used in geography lessons), a library and a collection of nature study exhibits. As the school did not have a hall, the school's opening ceremony was actually performed at Victoria Hall in Gawler Place.

From 1908 - 1926, then 1950 - 1972, the school had an Army Cadet Corps. In 1911, a training scheme was introduced for teachers to form Senior Army Cadet Corps in schools and over three hundred boys from Adelaide High School were involved.

Adelaide High School introduced a prefect system in 1912 but girls were not permitted to be prefects until 1914. Rowing was introduced in 1910 and is still a specialist program at Adelaide High School as at March 2021.

A school uniform was introduced by the 1920s and, by 1949, Adelaide High School students wore navy blue and white, with parts of the uniform specially made for the school by John Martin's or Myer's.

In 1917, the school was outgrowing the Grote Street site and classes were taught in the Church of Christ building opposite the school. By 1928, there were at least five classes in this building but it was still used as a church, so students had to pack up blackboards and equipment at the end of each day. The school soon took over the former Printers Trade School on the corner of Brown Street (later Morphett Street) and Gouger Street, which occupied three boys' classes until 1929.

In 1929, the school split across two campuses - Grote Street and Currie Street. The Currie Street campus was on the same site as the Currie Street Practising School, which closed in 1931. Currie Street accommodated male students who were in the First, Second and Intermediate Commercial classes, with some boys and all female students remaining at the Grote Street site. Although on separate campuses, the school was administratively a single school. The principal was based at Grote Street but made daily visits to Currie Street.

In 1939, the Grote Street campus increased to include a property across the road known within the school as 'The Factory'. Although it was designed as temporary accommodation during renovations, it ended up as a permanent fixture due to increased enrolments.

During the 1930s and 1940s, multiple sites were suggested for a new, purpose-built high school, including Frome Road (behind the Adelaide Technical High School), Adelaide Gaol, Port Road, the intersection of North and West Terraces, and Gilles Street. Frome Road was denied because Adelaide City Council deemed the site too small and Adelaide Gaol was dependent on the Government moving prisoners from that site to Yatala.

In 1939, the Observatory at West Terrace was earmarked for use as a school and the land was dedicated a school reserve in September 1940.

A public competition was held to design the new school, with Premier Tom Playford announcing the winner on 20 September 1940. Construction was delayed due to World War II and did not start until 1947, following the retirement of George Dodwell, the Government Astronomer, and him subsequently relinquishing his home on the Observatory site.

Adelaide High School closed on 17 May 1951 and was split into Adelaide Boys' High School and Adelaide Girls' High School. Adelaide Boys' High School occupied the new site at West Terrace, with Adelaide Girls' High School remaining at Grote Street.

For information about Adelaide Boys' High School, see GA 3069, and for Adelaide Girls' High School, see GA 2642.

Although separate schools, both Adelaide Girls' High School and Adelaide Boys' High School marked the jubilee of Adelaide High School in 1958. A swimming pool was opened at the girls' school and a memorial library at the boys' school. Both schools had a combined assembly at Centennial Hall, Wayville.

At the beginning of 1977, the two schools amalgamated and became known as Adelaide High School again. The boys' and girls' schools still had their own principals though (Mr. W.J. Bentley and Mrs. Enid Ryan), with a principal for the combined schools (Mr. Colin Brideson) not appointed until 1978.

Adelaide High School maintained two campuses until 1979, when all female students had moved from Grote Street to West Terrace and the Grote Street site was closed.

In 1979, Adelaide High School was designated South Australia's Special Interest Language School - a program is still runs as at 2021. The Special Interest Language program enables students to study two of eight languages offered by the school: Auslan, French, Italian, German, Modern Greek, Modern Standard Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. As part of its international program, Adelaide High School has sister schools in Japan, Germany, Italy, France and Greece and a Memorandum of Friendly Cooperation Agreement with Qingdao No. 9 School in Shandong Province, China.

Adelaide High School has a House system, with houses Adey, Macghey, Morriss and West. Adey and West were named after W.J. Adey and R.A. West, the first two principals (headmasters) of Adelaide High School, and Macghey and Morriss are named after Miss Veta Macghey and Miss Elsie Morriss, the first two principals of Adelaide Girls' High School.

As at 2021, the school has several Special Entry programs, including language, rowing, cricket and international students. It also has a Centre for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, and a learner intervention team (Hive) that offers support for students with disabilities and learning difficulties.

The school is zoned, with students drawn from the Adelaide CBD and inner suburbs. It shares a school zone with Adelaide Botanic High School, located on Frome Road, with parents able to nominate their preferred school.

Old scholars of note include: singer Sia Furler, neurosurgeon Sir Hugh Cairns, physicist and Governor of South Australia Sir Mark Oliphant, politician Tom Koutsantonis, actress Anne Haddy, and footballer Shaun Burgoyne. Several principals of Adelaide High School (including the separate boys' and girls' schools) were also old scholars, including: Wybert Symonds, Mr. A.H. Campbell, Mr. W.J. Bentley, Colin Brideson, Veta Macghey and Elsie Morriss.

As at March 2021, no records from this school have been transferred to State Records' custody and they are believed to still be held by the school.

References:
- 'Adelaide High School: The Official Opening', "Evening Journal", 24 September 1908, p. 1
- Adelaide High School website, accessed 17 March 2021: https://www.adelaidehis.sa.edu.au/About/About-AHS
- SRSA GRS 17662/1: "75th Anniversary Souvenir Book", published 1983.