Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

West Wallsend High School will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month and I advise the House of the festivities to promote the history of the school and its community. Whilst the first stage of the high school was built in 1962, students at the time were required to walk around a mile back to the old central school in Brown Street for manual arts, home economics, needlework and science lessons. It was not until January 1964 that the separation of primary and secondary school students occurred with the new high school operating full-time under founding principal, Mr Reg Thomas. As so many pioneering towns did, West Wallsend grew around its colliery; this coalmining history is celebrated and preserved in the West Wallsend District Heritage Museum, located on the grounds of West Wallsend High School. Last year, I had the pleasure of touring the museum. It contains a vast collection of photographs, artefacts and memorabilia available for viewing by the public and these are also used to enhance the learning experiences of students at West Wallsend High School.

The school will hold an open day on 14 March to celebrate the anniversary and the museum plans to display a range of ex-student memorabilia on the day. The last Labor government delivered close to $15,000 towards this event, which has supported the construction of a replica poppet head made by current metals and engineering students and their teacher Kevin Gray. The poppet head sculpture will be the main feature of a commemorative garden at the entrance to the school, forever reminding those attending West Wallsend High School of the town's proud mining origins. Pavers engraved with the names and messages of past students and families will also be laid in this garden. The funding also enabled the production of a historical DVD which involved videorecording of interviews with local residents in order to preserve their memories of the town's early days. Students from the school assisted with the capture and production of the video as part of their history studies. I am proud to say that the former heritage minister, the member for Port Adelaide, visited the school with me last year and recorded a personal message for this DVD which will be buried in a time capsule at the open day.

I would like to thank the principal of West Wallsend High School, Ann Campbell, and her staff—in particular, Daniel Winter, Leah Buchanan, Kerri Cottrill and Mara Ellerton—along with Lillian Price and the Sugarloaf District Heritage Group for their work in promoting the school's history within our community. West Wallsend has a proud history of coalmining—it is the heart of that community—and this project will add to that legacy, in conjunction with murals that are appearing in the town commemorating this proud history. I wish the school and past and present students of West Wallsend High School a happy 50th anniversary and wish them all the best for their celebrations.