The proud history of Hughesdale Primary School

The school is very fortunate to have a resident historian, Helen Gobbi, as a member of staff. Helen researched and presented the 'History of Hughesdale PS' as a beautifully bound book to celebrate our 80th Birthday in 2004.           

Below is a brief History of Hughesdale PS written by Helen for the website.             

Hughesdale Primary School 1924-2004

Hughesdale Primary School celebrates eighty years of education in 2004. Back in 1924 our school opened in Brine Street as Oakleigh South State School, No. 4176 in a single-storey building of 10 rooms. Post-war growth in the 1920s in the Oakleigh area was so rapid that the school was soon overcrowded.  A second storey was decided upon to accommodate the 800 or so students enrolled. It was added in 1929 and during its construction the Head Teacher had the strenuous task of cycling between five locations in order to visit his school, which was being conducted wherever temporary accommodation could be found.  From 1930 the school assumed a more steady growth pattern until after the Second World War, when it grew to become one of the State’s largest primary schools.

In 1938 the school’s name was changed to Hughesdale to reflect the name progressively being adopted in the district. In that year junior technical school classes were established at Hughesdale State School and comprised sheet metal and woodwork classes for post-primary boys. These classes were devised to provide relief to the first-year intake at Caulfield Technical School and were conducted at Hughesdale until 1954. 

The earlier years of the 1930s had not been so productive with the Great Depression causing retrenchments in all fields of employment.  Severe distress resulted for many families and the Education Department suffered cutbacks.  During those desperate years the school’s governing body, the School Committee, managed a relief fund and distributed unemployment relief in the form of food and clothing.  A cooperative school community sent in an extra lunch for those who would otherwise have gone without.

The declaration of the Second World War presented more challenges to the school and its community. Staff shortages occurred as teachers enlisted and some of the student’s fathers and older brothers took up the call to active duty. A war effort was organised to which Hughesdale State School responded energetically for the duration. At the end of hostilities a State-wide housing crisis loomed.  In response the government’s Housing Commission constructed prefabricated houses around Melbourne. From 1944 around one hundred of these were built adjoining Hughesdale State School’s boundaries. Once occupied, the families in them provided more student enrolments.

Numbers continued to rise in the post-war years at Hughesdale, to the extent that conditions for staff and students became intolerable. School Committee begged the government for more schools in the vicinity and for more accommodation.  New primary schools were established but not before Hughesdale’s population peaked in 1953. It is hard to imagine but 1296 children were squashed into classrooms at Brine Street, some of which held up to 65 students!  Playing ground was also limited until the Education Department purchased more land enclosed by the school’s north-eastern boundaries. The north-western corner held tennis courts and the technical workshop on site since 1938 reduced the northern yard’s available playground, as did occasional flooding after heavy rain.

During the 1960s the population stabilised and enrolments commenced a gradual decline. A portable building of four rooms helped with accommodation and an active Mothers’ Club purchased sports equipment, classroom and library books and sought improvements to the grounds. Up til then the school grounds were sparsely planted but this was about to change in the 1970s with many native species springing up on boundary fence lines.  A celebrity gardener, Kevin Heinz, gave the greening programme a boost with his acceptance of an invitation to assist with starting a ‘mini-forest’ in the southern yard.

In the 1970s and 1980s Hughesdale Primary held a large migrant population, predominantly of Greek nationality. Two of the main building’s twenty rooms were devoted to teaching English language to migrant children until a separate migrant resource centre was established. Since then the community has become truly multicultural. New facilities were obtained, but not without a sustained campaign to achieve them. An art/craft wing opened officially in 1980 and a dedicated library in 1983.The opening of the library was a particularly satisfying moment as it had been ten years since the first application was made for its establishment.  

Demographic change in the school’s catchment area during the 1990s saw enrolments reduce so significantly that Hughesdale Primary was cited in the press as a school that should consider amalgamation, as part of a government rationalisation.   Our school however has a history of coping with change and rising to challenges. An extraordinary meeting of School Council was held in October 1996 where the community voted that Hughesdale Primary School would remain open.

Since then enrolments have surged and our refurbished school is regarded as a dynamic educational institution.  Hughesdale Primary School has entered the new millennium in a pattern of upward growth and with a positive outlook. A vital staff, strong School Council, and a vibrant Parents’ Group, all support and ensure our school’s survival. Congratulations on 80 successful years Hughesdale!

Helen Gobbi

December 2004

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