North Sydney Technical High School

Location: 33°50′25″S 151°12′26″E / 33.84040833333334°S 151.2072°E

North Sydney Technical High School on Blue Street, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Over the years, the school has been progressively upgraded as St Leonards Public School, St Leonards Superior Public School, North Sydney Superior Public School, North Sydney Primary School, North Sydney Intermediate High School, North Sydney–Chatswood Junior High, and, finally, as North Sydney Technical High School until its closure in 1969.^[1]

History

Former North Sydney Technical High School building (now Greenwood Hotel)

Developing from probably the first school on the colony’s northern shore, the origins of the school started in 1844 in a two-room weather-board cottage (no longer in existence) on Blues Point Rd close to Lavender Street, then to a small stone school house at 12 Miller Street.

A new school-house was built during 1877 in Gothic Revival style at Blue Street, North Sydney by the New South Wales Council for Education. Officially opened in 1878, it offered education for boys and girls from Infants to Primary. Extensions were added over time, with the second story class-rooms completed in 1893.

Often referred to colloquially as “Greeny’s” for Nimrod Greenwood, its longest-serving head-master (1884-1914), the school grew, spawned others, was modified and shaped; its curriculum specialities and name, changing to reflect the needs of a rapidly expanding north shore community; its educational philosophy inspiring achievement over generations.

• 1874: St Leonards Public School

• 1886: St Leonards Superior Public School

• 1910: North Sydney Superior Public School

• 1912: North Sydney Intermediate High School.

• 1914: "Intermediate" graduate girls seeking further study transferred to the new North Sydney Girls High School on Lane Cove Road (now Pacific Highway).

• 1915: "Intermediate" graduate boys seeking Leaving Certificate qualifications enrolled at the newly opened North Sydney Boys High School at Falcon Street.

• 1931: "Infant and Primary" students were transferred en bloc to the new North Sydney Demonstration School on the Lady Hay Estate, at the corner of Pacific Highway and Bay Road.

• 1934: Due to the demolition of school buildings to make way for the Harbour Bridge access road cutting, staff and "Household Arts" girls were transferred to be the initial student population of the new Willoughby Home Science School at Mowbray Road.

• 1936: North Sydney & Chatswood Boys Junior High school

• 1942: North Sydney Technical High School

At its closure in 1969, due to the increasing commercial density of the North Sydney CBD, it was one of only two selective boys high schools on the north shore. The few remaining pupils were transferred to North Sydney Boys High School. The School Principal and many of the teaching staff transferred to Killara High School, which opened the following year. The substantial library was also transferred to Killara High School.

The Old Lions, together with the North Shore Historical Society, lobbied to have the building saved, restored and now heritage-listed for all to enjoy. The restored stone building on the school site is now leased to the Greenwood Hotel.

Alumni

The Old Lions

The Old Lions is made up of the former students and teachers of that school and provides a contact point for those connected with the school via its newsletters and reunions, website http://oldlions.org.au/, https://www.facebook.com/groups/greenys

The Old Lions holds a members' dinner and a teachers' lunch each year, and provides a monetary award to Killara High School students for Excellence in Technology and Applied Studies.

A large proportion of The Old Lions' memorabilia is recorded in an online database https://ehive.com/collections/5095/old-lions

Membership of the association remains very strong considering that the school closed more than 40 years ago.

Notable alumni

The school has had a number of notable Australians amongst its former students:

• Peter Finch – international stage and screen actor

• Nancy Wake – World War II heroine

• Roger Woodward – world-renowned pianist

• Barry Cohen, Ian Macphee, Alan Cadman and Bill Morrison, Ministers in various Australian Governments

• Gerald Bruce Muston and Peter Brain, Anglican Bishops

• Dick Smith – entrepreneur, aviator, publisher, philanthropist;

• Neville McWilliam – Australia's first blind barrister

• James Staunton – chief judge of the NSW District Court

• Ken Shadie – co-writer of Crocodile Dundee (member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

• Carl Halvorsen – boat builder

• Colin Parker – landscape artist

• Geoffrey de Groen – abstract artist

• Richard Coxon – Olympic yachting

• David Humphreys – Olympic cycling

• Allan Livingstone – Olympic kayaks

• Bill (William) Ronald – Olympic fencing

• James Devereux – 1908 Kangaroos team

• Winston “Blow” Ide—1939 Wallabies team

• Trevor Allan – rugby international and Australian captain

• Rod Batterham – rugby international

• Peter Rothwell – rugby international

• Bevan Wilson – rugby international

• Gavin John (Bon) Andrews – rugby. North Sydney Oval No 2 is named after him

• Allan Border – cricket international

• David Colley – cricket international

• Ken Eastwood – cricket international

• Ken Gulliver – baseball international

References

1. "Government Schools of New South Wales from 1848". NSW Department of Education and Communities. Retrieved 2 Nov 2016.

2. Maclean, Alan (2015), Greeny's, Mosman, N.S.W. The Old Lions, ISBN 978-0-9944118-0-8

3. http://www.northsydney.nsw.gov.au/Library_Databases/Heritage_Centre/Leaflets_Walks_Publications/Heritage_Leaflets