Brighton Technical School opened at 45 Cochrane Street in 1922. The girls’ technical school was opened in 1924 in the ‘Cora Lynn’ adjunct building. By 1926 enrolments exceeded 1,000 (including apprentices). The TAFE separation on the late 1970s and early 1980s had a negative effect on the number of secondary students, which had fallen to 356 by 1981. It was rebadged as Brighton Bay Secondary College in 1990, but the writing was on the wall due to plummeting numbers in the junior forms. Sure enough, the Kirner Government closed the school at the end of 1991, although it lingered as the Brighton campus of Ardoch-Windsor Secondary for 1992. The valuable site was sold in 1995 ($9.8m) to St James Park Estate P/L and became the St James Park Drive housing estate. Bayside City Council later paid $400k to incorporate some public open space – the Cora Lynn Park. Notable alumni included Sidney Nolan and George Johnston (and his brother Jack, a founding student).
Then
Now
Furthermore
There is no shortage of historical material for this former school. Shirley Joy runs a remarkable website: Brighton Technical School, Victoria, Australia. If it ain’t in there, it never happened. For an erudite companion-piece, don’t miss Kurt Liffman’s Brighton Technical School, Why Schools Fail.
Links
Brighton Technical School – a very busy public Facebook group
Brighton Technical School – private Facebook group